The Babysitter Murders - By Janet Ruth Young Page 0,28
is known by too many people. She feels the wrongness seeping from the other side of the line into this life.
“It’s so awful, Mom. I can barely tell you.” That childish wail-ing again. She grabs Beth’s hand.
“It’s okay. Tell me.”
“I keep thinking about hurting Alex.”
Dani expected Beth’s face to come closer. But her expression turns inward, the way Mrs. Draper’s had. Maybe she’s seeing pictures like the ones Dani saw.
“Is Alex okay? Did you hurt him? Is that why they brought you here? Is Alex . . . dead?”
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“Alex is alive, Mom. I didn’t hurt him.” Beth isn’t connecting this conversation to the one Dani tried to have.
“Does your daughter have a history of mental illness, ma’am?”
Officer Pinto asks.
“Alex isn’t hurt? No one’s hurt?”
“No, they’re not hurt. Ma’am, does your daughter have a history of mental illness? Ever threaten to hurt or kill anyone in the family? Anyone at school?”
“Kill anyone at school? Oh my God. What kind of question is that?” She stares from one officer to the other.
“I didn’t do anything, Mom,” Dani wails. She’s crumbling and she needs all of her mother’s attention. “I just kept thinking about it.”
“But why? Why would you want to hurt Alex? I thought you loved Alex!”
“I never wanted to hurt Alex. I kept asking to get out of babysitting, but Mrs. Alex wouldn’t let me go. I’m just glad it’s over.”
Dani wants over to be the word everyone hears.
“I can’t believe you or anyone would think about hurting little Alex,” Beth says. She turns to the police. “Did she do anything?
Has she done anything? Tell me she hasn’t done anything.”
“You don’t have to tell us right now,” Sergeant Mason answers, “but someone is going to ask whether there is a history of this nature.” When he puts his hands on his hips he looks broad enough to protect someone. “I suggest—and I cannot stress strongly enough—that you make an appointment with a psychologist. You may also want to retain a lawyer, in case news of this gets out, or in case Mrs. Draper pursues any legal action.”
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“What kind of legal action would it be?” Beth Solomon asks, envisioning something, starting to shift ahead. Maybe there are events to come from this, bad events, that Dani hasn’t thought of yet. She’s still looking forward to the relief part.
“You never threatened that child, correct?” Mason asks in a kind voice.
“I told you, no. It’s still no. Can you leave me now so I can rest? Can I be alone with my mother?”
“You’re probably all right, then,” he says to Beth. He even winks at her, but Beth doesn’t notice.
The younger officer speaks. “Do you monitor her online activities, ma’am? Has she ever sent death threats over the Internet?”
“That’s enough, Mike,” Mason says. “Did Mrs. Draper say anything about death threats on the Internet?”
“She did not, but I regard it as a routine line of questioning.”
“Dani, have you?” Beth was starting to sit, but she gets up again. She looks drained, like her skin has gotten too big for her body.
“Of course not!” Dani says. “You know I would never do that, Mom.”
“I wouldn’t respond to any of this, ma’am,” Mason suggests.
“Not until you see a lawyer.”
“I wonder just what it is you know and don’t know,” Pinto persists. “Did you have any inkling of this, ma’am?”
“No . . .” It took a while, but Beth is crumbling too. When the cops came in she was ready to protect Dani. Now Beth blinks a few times and looks from Mason to Pinto to Dani, with dampness 100
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trapped in her eyelashes. “I didn’t know about it. How long has this been going on, Dani?”
Dani plops down on the couch. “A few weeks.”
“A few weeks? It’s been going on a few weeks.” Beth consults some internal calendar and closes her eyes.
“Ma’am,” Sergeant Mason begins, “I’m a parent too. And if my kid ever said something like this, I would find it unsettling.
I would not delay in taking her to a child psychologist or therapist.”
“All right,” Beth says. “You hear that, honey? We’ll find a therapist. I’ll start calling around tomorrow.” Mason leans toward her.
“Today.”
Dani knows Beth is thinking about all she needs to do today, meetings and client appointments and searches in the registry of deeds,