Chapter 11 - The Interview Room With ButterfliesThe forensic interview center did not look like a police station.
That was intentional.
The walls were painted soft blue. There were bookshelves, stuffed animals, puzzles, and a mural of butterflies flying over a field. Lily chose the chair shaped like a small green turtle.
I sat in another room behind glass with Marisol, Detective Hale, a child advocate, and an assistant district attorney named Priya Shah.
I hated being separated from Lily.
Even by glass.
Especially by glass.
The interviewer was a woman named Dana who spoke in a gentle, ordinary voice. She did not ask Lily what happened. She asked about school, favorite colors, pancakes, and whether stuffed owls should be allowed to eat waffles.
Lily answered in whispers.
Then Dana placed the wooden dollhouse on the table.
“You can show me things if words get tired,” she said.
Lily nodded.
For a while, she played silently.
Mother doll outside.
Little girl doll upstairs.
Father doll basement.
Yellow-haired doll sofa.
Then Lily added a new doll.
An older woman.
Grandma.
She placed Grandma by the front door.
Dana asked, “Who is that?”
“Grandma Margaret.”
“What does Grandma Margaret do?”
Lily’s fingers tightened on the doll.
“She says I make Daddy sad.”
I closed my eyes.
Priya wrote something down.
Dana stayed calm. “What happens when Daddy is sad?”
Lily moved the father doll to the basement.
“He talks red.”
“To people?”
Nod.
“What do the people say?”
Lily’s face changed. She looked toward the mirror.
I knew she could not see me, but I pressed my hand to the glass anyway.
Dana said, “You’re safe. Mommy is close.”
Lily whispered, “They say Mommy knows too much.”
No one in the observation room moved.
Dana said, “Who said that?”
“Bad snow man.”
“Do you know his name?”
“Pavel.”
Priya’s pen stopped.
Dana asked, “Did Daddy talk to Pavel?”
“Yes.”
“What did Daddy say?”
Lily looked down. “He said Mommy coming home soon. He said he needed more time.”
My blood went cold.
More time for what?
Dana gave Lily space.
Lily picked up the yellow-haired doll.
“Vanessa got mad when I listened.”
“What did Vanessa do?”
Lily pressed the doll’s foot onto the little girl doll’s hand.
Marisol looked away.
Dana asked, “Did that happen one time or more than one time?”
Lily held up three fingers.
My stomach turned.
Three times.
Dana asked, “Did Daddy know?”
Lily nodded.
“Was Daddy there?”
“Sometimes.”
“What did Daddy do?”
Lily placed the father doll beside the sofa.
Then she turned him away.
That was worse than hitting.
He had watched.
He had chosen not to see.
Dana asked, “Did anyone help you?”
Lily paused.
Then she picked up another doll, a woman with brown painted hair.
“Mrs. Alvarez.”
I looked at Arthur.
He whispered, “Housekeeper?”
I nodded slowly.
Carmen Alvarez had worked part-time at our house for four years. She had been with her sister in New Mexico when I left.
Or so I thought.
Dana asked, “Who is Mrs. Alvarez?”
“She cleaned. She gave me crackers.”
“Where is she now?”
Lily’s face crumpled.
“Daddy made her go.”
“When?”
“After she saw bad room.”
Detective Hale was already moving toward the door.
Priya followed.
The interview continued.
Dana asked, “What did Mrs. Alvarez see?”
Lily whispered, “Me sleeping there.”
I stood so fast my chair fell.
Marisol caught my arm.
“You need to stay.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to.”
Through the glass, Lily placed the little girl doll on the floor of the basement.
Then she covered it with the unicorn blanket.
“She said little girls need beds,” Lily whispered. “Daddy yelled. Vanessa laughed. Grandma said Mrs. Alvarez forgot her place.”
My body shook.
Arthur stood beside me, silent and pale.
Dana’s voice remained steady, though I saw her eyes shine.
“What happened after that?”
“Mrs. Alvarez cried.”
“And then?”
“Daddy said she stole Mommy’s bracelet.”
I knew which bracelet.
My mother’s.
The one I kept in my bedroom drawer.
“He fired her,” I said.
Detective Hale opened the observation room door. “We’re locating Carmen Alvarez now.”
I nodded without taking my eyes off Lily.
Dana gently shifted. “Lily, did Daddy ever tell you not to talk?”
Lily nodded.
“What did he say would happen?”
Lily picked up the mother doll, carried it outside the dollhouse, and placed it face down on the table.
“Mommy disappears.”
Then she picked up the little girl doll and put it in a toy suitcase.
“And I go away.”
Dana asked, “Away where?”
Lily looked directly at the mirror.
“Where nobody knows my name.”
And that was the moment the case stopped being about one abusive father, one cruel mistress, and one stolen company.
It became a race.
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Because Grant had not been planning to escape someday.
He had been planning to erase my daughter.
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