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“My dad’s girlfriend, remember the one who worked in the daycare, she had family down in Falkland,” Mary-Anne stated as she sat down in the chair, opposite Officer Harris, “and with the parents talking to the social worker, my dad decided it was time to take off.”
“He brought his stupid girlfriend with us. We moved down to Falkland and he started to work on her uncle’s ranch. She was so stupid! I mean, my dad wasn’t going to marry her! She bought him booze and drugs, so he was happy and she always did it with him too. I really hated her.”
Maggie took a seat on the couch. She patted Lisa’s arm, trying to give support with her touch. Lisa looked over, half-smiled and returned her focus upon Mary-Anne.
“Anyways, I was put into playschool. I remember ‘cause the teacher was so nice and not like this witch at all. She was always smiling. But I was mean, you know. I’d do things like put spit into her coffee. But she never yelled at me. She was kinda strange that way.”
Officer Harris watched Mary-Anne, observing the shifts in emotions, which were occurring rapidly – one moment she was laughing, the next almost in tears and the next anger. Silently he allowed Mary-Anne to set the pace. In this way, he hoped to gain her trust and eventually discover what happened to Tracey.
“Well, one day I took my Dad’s pot to school and sprinkled it in her salad. I wanted to see her act goofy like my Dad did when he and his stupid girlfriend were using this stuff. She took one whiff of her salad and called the police! I was terrified!”
Bobby looked up startled. Mary-Anne had spoken of many things to him over the years but drugs? He had never heard her talk of that before. The more he heard, the less he wanted to know but he didn’t want to leave either. Torn, he stayed and shoved his emotions deep down inside.
“Well, nothing happened. They couldn’t prove it was me. And there was another girl there whose parents did drugs too. I blamed her. I even put the pot into her knapsack! And she was thrown out. I hated my teacher after that. I mean, couldn’t she have done something different? Why did she throw the girl out? It didn’t make any sense.”
Maggie started to talk, to explain what she believed would have motivated the teacher to carry out this action but was cut short. Officer Harris cut her off mid-sentence and directed Mary-Anne to continue.
“So another adult I didn’t trust. And I liked her too. But oh well, too bad.”
Mary-Anne got up and walked to the kitchen. Sighing, Lisa rose up and started to walk to the kitchen to get her. Officer Harris directed Lisa to return to her seat. He assured Lisa that Mary-Anne would return, they simply had to be patient.
Mary-Anne returned with a glass of water and sat down. Taking a long sip, she watched the officer from half-closed eyes. After placing the glass upon the coffee table, she asked, “Doesn’t anything upset you? Do you always believe?”
Officer Harris answered with a firm, direct tone, “Mary-Anne, there isn’t anything I haven’t heard. And do I believe everything? No. I’d be a fool in uniform if I blindly believed. I trust my instincts. And right now they are saying there is one terrified girl in this room who is using every ploy to avoid telling the truth.”
Mary-Anne stepped back as if hit – the impact of his words drilled deep into her soul.
“Yeah, there sure is,” she stated in a whisper, “but if you hang on and trust me, I’ll be okay.”
“You know I will Mary-Anne, no matter how long it takes.”
The others in the room remained silent as the watched the interaction unfold in front of them. As hard as it was, they simply had to sit and trust the process….and the officer.
Mary-Anne sat back down and continued, “One night that stupid witch was out with her cousins. They went over to Vernon to listen to their friends play in a bar. Dad actually didn’t expect her home as they had planned to get a motel for the night."”
Mary-Anne bit her lower lip as she talked, “He came in my room all drunk and stoned. We played games like always and like always, I disappeared into the walls. Then I remember the light hitting my bed and someone screaming really loud! Next thing, I was being dragged off my bed and thrown out of the house!”
Her words came faster and faster, “She had come home and found my dad with me! But was she mad at my dad? NO! She was really furious at me! She ran out of the house and kicked me hard. Then slapped me and punched me! She was crazy! My dad? I don’t know where he was or anything. Then I don’t remember nothing until the morning. And we were driving really fast down the road, my dad and me. My dad was saying that woman was crazy and we had to get out of there fast. I didn’t listen ‘cause I hurt way too much. But we just kept driving and driving and driving.”
“The car ran out of gas outside of Revelstokke. We had to hitch a ride into town and Dad made up some story of my falling while camping and wanting me to go to the hospital ‘cause I was hurt. Do you know who the person was who helped us?”
Officer Harris shook his head.
Mary-Anne whispered, “It was Tracey.”
© 2001
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