Chapter 3 - THE INTERVIEW ROOMEmma was not interrogated by a room full of adults.
Thank God.
A child-forensic interviewer named Sarah Klein arrived at the hospital that evening after Emma had been medically checked and the initial chaos settled.
I was allowed to watch from another room.
Trevor was not.
Neither was Diane.
Sarah sat on the floor across from Emma.
No leading questions.
No:
Did Grandma poison the babies?
No:
What did she put in the bottles?
Instead:
“Tell me about the bottles.”
Emma squeezed a stuffed rabbit a nurse had given her.
“Grandma made them.”
“When?”
“When Mommy was sleeping.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
Emma thought.
“She had the little bottle.”
“What little bottle?”
“The brown one.”
“Where was it?”
“In her purse.”
“What happened next?”
“She poured some.”
Sarah did not react.
“Into what?”
“The babies’ milk.”
“Both?”
Emma nodded.
Sarah said:
“Use words.”
“Both.”
“Did Grandma say anything?”
Emma looked toward the mirror.
She could not see me.
I still felt caught.
“She said they needed to sleep.”
My stomach turned.
Sarah asked:
“Had you seen her do that before?”
Emma shrugged.
“One time.”
“One time total, or one other time?”
“One other.”
“Did anyone else see?”
“Daddy came in.”
My heart stopped.
Sarah stayed calm.
“What happened when Daddy came in?”
“Grandma put it away.”
“Did Daddy say anything?”
“He said, ‘Mom, not that much.’”
The room disappeared.
I stood so fast my chair hit the wall.
Detective Bennett caught my arm.
“Grace.”
“He knew.”
“We don’t know what he knew.”
“He said not that much.”
“We need the whole context.”
I wanted to break the glass.
May you like
Instead I sat.
Barely.
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