Chapter 13 - The Sheriff Sat Where Tyler Sat
I heard the car before I saw it. Not our car. It was slower on the driveway rocks and it stopped and didn't turn off right away. I was sitting at the dining room table with my hands in my lap. Dad told me to keep them out of my pockets.
My name is Emma. I was five. That night the sheriff came to our house.
Dad went to the door. I heard him say, "Thanks for coming," and a woman say, "Sheriff Reyes. Welfare check." She came in with a flat bag and not a loud voice. She had short dark hair and brown pants and a star on her chest. She looked at the table and at the chairs and at me.
Vanessa stood up fast. She had on jeans and a sweater, not the burgundy dress. She smiled big. "We weren't expecting — can I get you coffee?" she said.
"No thank you," Sheriff Reyes said. "I'd like to talk to everyone one at a time. It won't take long."
Tyler stayed by the china cabinet. He didn't sit down. He kept his hands in his suit pockets, but it wasn't a suit today, just a dark jacket.
The sheriff pulled out the chair across from me. The wood made a sound on the floor. She sat down and put her bag by her feet. Dad sat next to me. His chair was close enough I could feel his sleeve.
"Emma," she said, "your school counselor asked me to stop by. Just to check in. Is that okay?"
I nodded. My throat felt dry.
She took out a little dollhouse from her bag. It wasn't like mine. It was plain wood with little rooms and little people with no faces. She set it on the table between us. The plates from breakfast were gone. The table was just wood.
"Can you show me the rooms in your house with this?" she asked.
I pointed. "This is this table. This is the kitchen. This is the pantry."
"Can you show me what happened in the pantry?" Her voice stayed the same. Dad didn't talk. He breathed next to me and kept his hands on the table.
I picked up the little girl with the brown hair. I put her in the little pantry box. My hand was shaking a little. Then I picked up the lady with the yellow hair. I didn't look at Vanessa. I could feel her looking.
"She came fast," I whispered. I moved the lady doll. "She grabbed my arm like this." I showed with my fingers around the little doll's arm. "She said be quiet."
Sheriff Reyes wrote something down. "What did she say, exactly?"
I swallowed. "She said Dad wouldn't believe me anyway." My voice got small. "She squeezed."
"Then what did you do?" she asked.
"I put this in my pocket." I touched the front of my dress. My pocket was empty now because Dad had the proof in his office. But I still touched it.
Dad's hand moved a little closer to mine, but he didn't grab. The sheriff nodded. "Thank you, Emma. You did a good job telling me."
Vanessa laughed a little from the end of the table. "She has a big imagination since —"
Sheriff Reyes looked up. "Mrs. Cole, I'll talk to you next in the living room. Alone."
They went to the living room. I stayed with Dad and Tyler at the table. I could hear Vanessa talking through the doorway. She talked fast and a lot. She said what time dinner was and what she cooked and that I was tired and that Tyler was there the whole night and nothing happened in the pantry because she was never in the pantry. She kept saying "honestly" and "to be clear." Dad stared at his hands.
Then Tyler went in. I couldn't hear him at first. Then I heard the sheriff ask, "Did you hear anything from the kitchen that night?" There was a long quiet. Tyler said, "I heard them. Vanessa and Emma. In the pantry hall. It got loud, then quiet." Vanessa said, "Tyler—" and the sheriff said, "Let him finish."
After, Sheriff Reyes came back to the table. She closed her little notebook. She looked at Dad, then Vanessa, then Tyler.
"I'm logging inconsistent statements about that night," she said. Plain. "Until the counselor and I close this, no coaching, no pressure, no pulling her aside about what to say. Do you understand?"
Dad said, "Yes." Tyler said, "Yes." Vanessa crossed her arms and then uncrossed them. "Of course," she said. "We would never."
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Sheriff Reyes looked at me one more time. "If you feel scared, you tell your dad or your teacher right away. Okay?"
I nodded. She picked up the dollhouse and put it back in her bag. The car started outside and the rocks sounded again. Nobody at the table moved until it was gone.
