Autopsy of a Mind

When we reached the station, it was buzzing with activity. I saw Sebastian coming out of his office and called him over. "Are you busy with something?" I asked.

"Yeah, It's all hands on deck, apparently. We have six girls to interview. Nash, you, me, and a couple of others have been called in." He looked cautiously at my face. "You already have everything figured out, don't you?" he asked. 

"I think I do. I can feel it in my gut. I'll tell you later." I could see the parents arriving with the kids, so I stopped short. "Oh, they are here. Have you been briefed on the crime scene?" I asked, breathless with anticipation. 

"Yeah, we got the pictures and statements, too, thanks to you." He patted my back. "You look positively gleeful." He chuckled. "Don't get so excited."

"I am not excited because I like seeing crimes happen. I am excited because of what I found. You will be... very happy with the results." He gave me an odd expression and turned to Nash. 

"What is she talking about?" he whispered.

Nash snorted. "Even you haven't seen a case like this, Sebastian." He gave me an appreciative look. "This girl really has a good head on her shoulder. You taught her well not to just go by statistics and look at the facts. She reads between the lines like no one's business." He looked mildly horrified. "Should we be taking more students from the language and literature streams? I think they will do a much better job than some of the students we get."

"Okay, we are getting late!" I said firmly. I turned back and saw Carol standing with a very unassuming woman. By the curve of her mother's brows and the biting of her lips, she looked very nervous. I approached them with a warm smile. 

"Mrs. Myers?" I called to get her attention. 

"Miss," the mother corrected me immediately. "Miss Grace Myers," she said quickly. Her eyes darted around the cops in uniform. 

"I'm sorry for the mixup, Grace. I assume you know why you have been called?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes. Carol will be interviewed for being one of the first people who arrived." Her voice was flat. No sign of panic when she was talking about her daughter being at the scene. This meant that she didn't know her daughter did anything. Then, there was something else that frightened her. Not the people, that I could tell...

She had done something else wrong. How fascinating. If only that was on the agenda today. I shook it off. 

"That's correct. If you don't mind, can we talk to Carol in the interview rooms? You can sit in if you want," I said slowly. 

"Do we need a lawyer?" she asked quickly. I shook my head. 

"We're hoping to get a clear insight into the scene after the first discovery. Carol isn't in any danger," I assured her. I knelt down beside Carol and smiled at her. "What do you think? Is it okay if I talk to you?" I asked. 

"Yes, I was so curious about you and what happened. Can I ask you some questions, too?" she had an angelic voice, like bell chimes. Just like her name insisted. Her eyes were icy blue and the piercing look in her eyes was disconcerting for most. 

I bounced back on my feet and held my hand out to her. "Come, do you want some hot chocolate? Or do you like anything else?" I asked. 

She craned her neck to look at me. "Can I get a hot chocolate and some soda?" she asked in that tiny voice of hers. I chuckled and nodded. 

"As you wish," I told her. Good thing we had a machine at the station for both. I made her a big mug of hot chocolate and left the cola for later. "You just came inside. It's getting cold outside, so warm yourself up." I helped her into the room and after she sat down, I scooted over to take my seat beside her. 

I had come with no pen or paper and no pictures of proof to show her. As a child, there was no need for me to interrogate her. I would just ask her questions to gauge her reaction.

"So, can you tell me what you were doing when you saw the other kids find Tyler?" I asked. She took a small sip and mulled over her answer. 

"I had just gone over to play with the girls," she replied. "They came out screaming from the shed, you know? Like they couldn't handle someone lying on the floor. Stupid," she grinned maliciously. 

"They screamed?" I asked, pretending not to hear what she was saying. Marked sadism was present in her words. Moreover, she knew Tyler was lying on the floor. It could be that the other kids had told her, but it was something to consider. 

"And what happened then?" I asked.

"Oh, they were flailing around, saying that Tyler was hurt." She clucked her tongue. She was tapping her finger on the table as she remembered the scene. "He wasn't hurt," she claimed. 

"He wasn't?" I asked. She shrugged not saying more. "So, who called the cops?" It continued on and she gave details about everyone who was there, including the police officers and who talked to who. 

She was a very intelligent girl, but her eyes were frightening.

"Do you know Tyler well?" I asked.

"Nope." She emphasized the 'p'. 

"Oh, I thought you were familiar with him. Wasn't that why you waited to watch?" I coaxed. Say something. Questioning kids was definitely hard, especially because you couldn't put pressure on them or use manipulative techniques. That was unethical.

"No, I wanted to watch you guys try and figure everything out." She burst into giggles. 

"Oh?" That was all I said.

"It was funny. All those people fluttering around, trying to figure out how Tyler died!" And she laughed and laughed. 

Well, there you have it. No one apart from the parents knew that Tyler was dead. We had not allowed them to say a word to the others. I paused and stared at her. I could see that she wanted to say more. A lot more.

"But you are different, you know? Your eyes... they look like mine," she whispered. I pressed my lips together, taking in her implication. 

"Is that so?" I commented. "Carol, Tyler isn't dead," I said. That was the official statement. I wasn't manipulating this little girl, I told myself.

She stopped and gaped at me. "Of course he is dead!" she claimed. I shook my head. "I thought you wouldn't lie... He is dead."

"Why do you think so?" I asked placidly.

"I saw him, lying right beside the rake and he wasn't breathing." Her voice was low, but I was sure the camera had captured it. 

"You saw him? When?" I asked. She blinked and tilted her head to the side. 

"I saw him. Before the kids came in," she said. She hadn't said she was the one who had done it. And I certainly wasn't going to pin it on her until she said it herself.

"Why didn't you call the adults?" I asked, sounding confused. 

"Because they would know," she said. "I don't want them to know..." she hung her head.

"What do you not want them to know?" I asked cautiously. 

"That..." she stopped. "They're too big, so I can't scare them away."

"Who's too big?" Damnit. She was abused, undoubtedly. She wouldn't say. She wouldn't say another word. She screamed and threw a fit all of a sudden. Between her calm answers and the screaming, five minutes had passed. I had been nothing but polite and understanding so I was flabbergasted.

It was Nash who barrelled into the room. He looked at me with shock and confusion. I was bewildered and out of my wit. Carol jumped towards him and circled her arms around his leg. She buried her face into his thigh and then asked him to take her out of the room. 

I sat, jaw-slacked as she was led out.

I could hear Carol's mother shouting outside. Nash pulled me outside. 

"The mother wants to know what happened," Nash whispered. "Evie, tell me!"

I stared at him for a second. "She was saying some things... pretty incriminating things and she turned to talk about adults being too big to scare away... I asked her who she meant and she clamped up. She was silent for a long time and then she screamed bloody murder." My voice was hollow. Nash patted my shoulder. 

"Great work. She was trying to evade you, okay? I'm sorry it startled you. You didn't do anything wrong." He stroked my back. 

She had intentionally screamed so that people thought I had done something wrong. And yes, that was what people thought. Grace was one of them. 

"You said you wanted to ask some questions! She's shaking with fear. What did you do to her?" the woman wailed.