Splintered (2 page)

Perhaps I’m being too cynical.

Wallace knew his judgment had been off lately, his attitude hardened when it came to dealing with victims. Yet he couldn’t afford to be burned on another case. He had to take his time uncovering all the facts before passing judgment on the veracity of this fifteen-year-old’s allegation.

Dispatch had called him out on the attempted abduction earlier that morning, and he’d been sitting in the Eastins’ living room for the better part of an hour going over the events with Maddy and her mother, Lily. The hysterical girl had tried relaying what had happened while she was still at the scene, but with the group of neighborhood onlookers growing in number, Wallace had decided to walk the two back to their house.

Lily and Maddy sat across from him on a tattered couch, each perched as close to their respective armrest as they could manage. The faded piece of plaid furniture leaned lower on the girl’s side. A phonebook wedged underneath it made a handy-yet-unbalanced fake leg. A pillow stacked on top of folded bed sheets sat on the floor next to it.

As Maddy’s latest bout of crying ended, Lily tried traversing the space between them. She took Maddy’s hand and rubbed it. Lily had a faraway look in her eyes though. It seemed as if she were stroking a cat, not consoling her daughter.

Maddy jerked her hand away and shot her mother a dirty look. She turned toward Wallace. “Why don’t you believe me?”

Wallace leaned in closer. He ignored the poke of the chair’s spring underneath him. “I believe you, Maddy. Repeating your story helps me uncover details you may have forgotten the first time we talked about the incident. It’s standard operating procedure.”

“The incident? The
incident
? You mean two sickos trying to snatch me off the street. All you want to do is talk. Why aren’t you out there looking for those perverts?”

“Please calm down,” Lily told her daughter. “Detective Wallace is simply doing his job.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Mother. I have every right to be upset. In fact,
you
could try looking a little more distraught. Your only daughter gets attacked and you haven’t shed a single tear. Have you even called Dad yet? If he were here, he’d know what to do. He’d make everything better.”

Wallace saw Lily cringe at her daughter’s stinging accusation.

“I left him a message,” she said, “but I haven’t heard anything back. He’s probably on one of his business trips.”

“Maddy.” Detective Wallace waited until he had the girl’s attention. “Maddy, I can’t lie to you. This will be a difficult case to pursue. There’s not much of a physical description to go on. You only saw one adult, dark-skinned male. He could have been Latino, though you’re not sure. First you said he was of average height, then you said he was tall. You remembered later that he had facial hair. A scraggly beard.”

“And don’t forget the bad teeth,” Maddy added.

“Right. Bad teeth.” Wallace looked down, referring to the scant notes he’d taken. “We don’t even have a concrete description of the vehicle. You thought it might have been a white van, but other than a noisy idle and bad-smelling exhaust, there’s not much to go on.”

Maddy looked at Detective Wallace with wide eyes brimming with new, unshed tears. She seemed to be screaming out a silent plea for someone to hold her and never let go. To show her that she was loved and that life would be worse if she’d disappeared. The sadness stretched from her down-turned face into her body; she leaned forward into her lap and slowly rocked back and forth.

Wallace looked away. He knew the girl’s emotions were genuine. He just wasn’t sure if her story rang true. Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, he said, “There is one more thing I want to try. Back at the station, we have a computer program that helps us create a visual representation of a suspect. Like what a sketch artist would do, but an electronic version. Do you think you could describe your attacker to the officer who runs the program?”

Maddy slowly looked up from her tucked position. “I can try.”

“Will the picture run in the newspaper?” Lily asked. “Maybe you can arrest the cretin if someone recognizes him and turns him into the authorities.”

“If the newspaper decides to run an article, I’m not certain they’ll include the sketch,” Wallace said. “It’s a bit premature to say. Let’s see how this goes first.”

“The paper won’t use Maddy’s name, will they?” Lily asked.

“No,” Wallace answered. “She’s a minor. It’s likely the newspaper will only report an attempted abduction took place in your neighborhood. This will help inform the public, so they can be on the lookout in case these men try it again.”

Maddy gave her mother a scathing look. “Great, Mom. Don’t worry about me. Only think of what the neighbors will say if they see your daughter’s name in the newspaper.”

Lily turned away and stared at the wall.

“Maddy, you must be exhausted,” Wallace said. “Why don’t we take a break? Take a few moments to collect yourself before we head over to the station. I need to talk to your mother anyway.”

Maddy shot Detective Wallace a skeptical look.

“Routine, I assure you,” he said. “I need some information on the neighbors before I talk to them later today. Hopefully, I can find someone who saw the van. Another witness would certainly help the case.”

“Maddy, why don’t you go lie down in your bedroom?” Lily suggested. “I’ll knock on the door when it’s time to leave.”

Maddy sighed loudly in the way only teenagers could. She showed her displeasure at being shooed away by stomping down the hall.

“I have to apologize for my daughter’s behavior. She’s had a tough go of it lately.”

Wallace nodded, offering a sympathetic smile. “Maddy’s experienced a very traumatic event.”

Lily gave a slight eye roll and flicked her wavy hair back over her shoulder. The color was similar to Maddy’s, but with a darker shade of red mixed in with the blonde.

“Don’t you believe your daughter’s account of the attempted abduction?” Wallace asked.

“Of course I believe Maddy. It’s just . . . I don’t know.” Lily sighed. “How about we go into the kitchen? I’ll make a pot of coffee.”

“Sure.”

Lily seemed the type of woman who felt more comfortable staying busy. She’d probably be more forthcoming if her hands were occupied. Wallace took a seat at a scarred kitchenette table. Everything in the house seemed secondhand, from the well-worn armchair Wallace had just vacated to the battered appliances. The cramped house was in a lower-income neighborhood of Temple Terrace, a small incorporated city adjacent to Tampa on the northeast side of Hillsborough County.

Wallace flipped to a new page in his notebook and readied his pen. “Mrs. Eastin, what did you mean by your earlier comment that Maddy’s been having a tough time?”

Lily stood at the counter, her back to Detective Wallace. He waited a minute, figuring she was gathering her thoughts. When another minute went by, he knew she was somewhere else. Probably stuck in the what-if loops. What if the abductors had been successful? What would have happened to Maddy if she hadn’t gotten away?

Wallace coughed, trying to reengage Lily’s attention.

Lily Eastin stood with her back to Detective Wallace, fumbling with the coffee filters.

Screw it.

She jammed two stuck-together paper cones down into the filter tray. The coffee would only work to magnify her jittery nerves, but nevertheless she wanted a cup. Maybe the steaming mug would thaw the chill that had settled into her bones the moment she’d received Maddy’s frantic phone call.

Her daughter had complained she’d yet to show any emotion over the attempted abduction, that Lily hadn’t cried for what Maddy had gone through. It wasn’t that she didn’t care—quite the opposite. Lily’s tears were simply frozen, unable to flow. She’d almost lost Maddy once before, and the possibility of living through that again had paralyzed her.

Detective Wallace coughed.

The distraction reeled Lily back from the edge and deposited her firmly back in the confines of the small kitchen. She wondered how long she’d been silently standing at the counter.

She looked over her shoulder at the patient smile on Detective Wallace’s face. “Do you take cream or sugar in your coffee?” she asked.

“Neither. Black is fine.”

Lily stared at the man sitting at her table. A bronze glow seemed to radiate from the black hue of his skin—a color as dark as cocoa beans. Lily tried to imagine what colors she’d mix to create just the right pigment if she were to paint him on canvas. She would’ve enjoyed trying to capture the contradictions that defined him. Detective Wallace had an imposing presence, yet his chubby face lent him a warmth. Those cheeks looked like they could hold a dozen acorns—a real juxtaposition to his tall, athletic body.

The detective seemed nice enough, intent on helping, but as Lily prepared the two coffees she wondered how much of Maddy’s recent past she should divulge. Could this be just another of her daughter’s stunts? Five months ago, Lily would’ve said Maddy didn’t have a devious bone in her body, but when her dad had walked out, it was like an injection of sneakiness had been plunged into her veins. Like Maddy’s very DNA had changed. The once-sweet little girl had morphed into a deceitful young woman hell-bent on making Lily’s life miserable.

Maddy blamed Lily for her dad leaving.

She’d probably felt blindsided when he walked out. Understandable, considering Maddy rarely heard raised voices in the house.

That was part of the problem. Tom and Lily had grown so far apart, they were mere roommates at the end, barely speaking to each other unless it concerned their daughter. Of course it hadn’t always been like that, but even at the height of their fighting, Maddy never observed the nastiness. They’d kept it behind closed doors.

There were lots of reasons why Tom left. All of which Lily wouldn’t burden Maddy with. The girl had always looked up to her father, had raised him high on a pedestal. Lily knew what it meant when a father didn’t live up to a daughter’s expectations. She couldn’t bear to pop Maddy’s bubble, even if that meant she took on the role of the bad guy.

She handed Detective Wallace his mug.

“Thank you for the coffee.” He blew on it, took a hesitant sip, then a long swallow.

Lily wanted to be honest with Detective Wallace, but she didn’t want to say too much and get Maddy into trouble. What happened today wasn’t simply a case of ditching school. Maddy had reported a crime. If it was a lie, the possibility that she could be charged with filing a false police report would hang over her daughter’s head like an executioner’s ax waiting to drop.

Lily resumed her position with her back to the kitchen counter, her cup of coffee untouched.

“Mrs. Eastin, earlier you mentioned Maddy’s been having a tough time. In what way?”

“Maddy’s father left us in April. Our divorce should be final in a few weeks.” Lily paused, looking down at her hands. She noticed they were shaking and locked them together in front of her. “My finances took a big hit when Tom walked out. I had to move us here this past summer. Maddy hasn’t been taking the change or the breakup well. The real problem is that Tom’s completely shut Maddy out of his life. He’s always travelled a lot for business. He’s a Regional Sales Manager for a food packaging equipment manufacturer. So Maddy’s used to his absences, but this is different. He hasn’t seen or even called her in five months. The last time he and I spoke, Tom said he had to find himself.” She emphasized the last two words by making air quotes.

“Did Mr. Eastin leave because of another woman?”

Lily crossed her arms in front of her chest, as if that action could keep the words from penetrating her heart. “No.”

“I’m sorry. Please don’t think I’m prying. These questions are only asked in the hopes of gaining a clearer picture of the circumstances Maddy’s been dealing with.”

Detective Wallace didn’t look sorry at all. He may have played the mock-embarrassment card well, but Lily knew it was all a tactic to try and get in her good graces.

He probably hopes I’ll open up and blab the whole sob story
.
That’s not going to happen.

Lily couldn’t even trust herself to think about why her husband had left, much less relate the reasons out loud to a stranger.

She grabbed her mug of untouched coffee and slowly turned the decorative cup in circles on her palm. Tiny colorful fingerprints dabbed into the shape of a Christmas wreath adorned it. “You don’t believe Maddy’s account of what happened this morning, do you, detective?”

“That’s not what I said.” Wallace straightened his golden tie clip as he spoke. “I apologize if you think my words or actions imply I don’t believe Maddy. The investigation has only begun. I don’t have enough facts to form an opinion yet. I only know kids change during a divorce.”

“Do you have children?”

“None of my own, ma’am, but my wife and I foster kids stuck in the system.”

“Well then, I’m sure you’ve seen children at their worst. How they can be angry at the world because of the circumstances forced upon them. That’s Maddy. When you check into her school background you’ll find a history of truancy, plunging grades, marks for belligerence, and a tall stack of detentions. Last month, a store owner even caught Maddy stuffing a tube of lipstick into her purse. It took some doing, but he didn’t press charges.”

Lily watched Detective Wallace’s eyes narrow. His face grew serious when he heard her admit to smoothing over the offense. Actually, Lily had gotten lucky because the owner was a friend of a friend. Although now she’d never be able to patronize the store or even hang out with that girlfriend again. She’d die of embarrassment if the woman found out that Lily had used her name to get Maddy out of a jam. She’d think Lily was the worst mother in the world.

“I know what you’re thinking, detective. I’m one of ‘those mothers.’ The kind who jumps through flaming hoops to fix her daughter’s mistakes rather than let the girl own up to the consequences of her actions. You’re right. I am that kind of mother. I refuse to let Maddy ruin her future. Tell me, why should she have to pay for her parents’ shitty decisions?”