Chapter 6 - What Emily saw
The formal child interview happened two days later.
I was not in the room.
Laura was not.
A trained forensic interviewer handled it.
Emily said she came downstairs around 10:30 after Derek told her she was:
“Too sick for school.”
She had not been sick.
He took her tablet.
Told her she could watch television.
Then she saw him carrying black bags outside.
She followed because she wanted her tablet back.
She saw him put something silver into one bag.
“What was it?”
“Mom’s computer.”
How did she know?
“Sticker on it.”
Laura’s laptop had a small yellow St. Anne’s sticker.
Emily told Derek:
“That’s Mom’s.”
He said:
“Go inside.”
She refused.
She asked why he was putting things in the pool.
He told her:
“Because people who look at things that don’t belong to them disappear.”
Then:
“Your dad’s always looking where he shouldn’t.”
That was why Emily panicked when I looked at the water.
She interpreted the threat literally.
She thought the bags might contain people.
Then she said:
“I told him I was calling Dad.”
Derek took the child watch I had bought her.
He had not found the tiny emergency phone Laura kept in Emily’s backpack because it was at school? Better no extra.
How did Mrs. Harris know?
She heard Emily after Derek put her in the cage.
Derek grabbed Emily’s arms.
Dragged or marched her toward the dog run.
She kicked him once in the shin.
He shoved her inside.
Padlocked it.
Covered part of the cage with the blue tarp.
Told her:
“Maybe sitting still will teach you not to spy.”
Then went inside.
At some point Mrs. Harris heard crying.
Looked over the fence.
Saw the tarp move.
Called Laura first.
No answer.
Then me.
Then 911.
That timeline would later be supported by Mrs. Harris’s home security camera showing Derek moving between the house and pool around 11:06 and placing the tarp over the kennel around 11:31.
May you like
No camera captured inside the cage.
It did not need to.
