Until Proven Innocent

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

AFTER
Detective Gerard Sullivan
Friday May 19, 2016

We step into the home-office. It's a spacious room, I assume where Cordelia is stationed for work twice a week. Perhaps where Weston comes to think.

There's a large desk in the corner with a built in book shelf and a large Mac desktop computer. A single chair sits behind the desk, so it's decided that we'll stand.

Lily and Jonah Cruz look around the room nervously, their minds distracted with thoughts of their daughter and missing grandchild.
"I understand you've just arrived back from Florida," I start. "How was the Sunshine State?"
"It was lovely," Lily forces a smile. "We love escaping the cold for a couple of months."
"I bet," I return the smile. "I'll try to make this quick, I know you want to get back to your daughter," I pause, pulling out the notebook. "I just have a few things to go over."
"Of course, anything we can do to help." Jonah says.
I clear my throat. "I'm aware that you've been out of state for a little while. But prior to this, did you come here often to visit your daughter and her family?"
"We try to, yes," Lily smiles. "We live up in Evanston, which as you probably know, is about a three hour drive from here, but we try to come down as often as we can."
I look up and meet her eyes. "Why did Cordelia decide to move out here? Away from the family and hometown?"
"She just wanted a change. I think she was tired of the same-old routine, wanted to get away from Chicago. She found Davenport, out and away from everything. A smaller, quaint place. She loved it."
"I'm assuming you're close with Cordelia?"
"Yes, of course. She's our baby. Our only girl. We've always been very close with her." Lily explains.
"And what about your sons? I understand you have two."
"Liam and Colton," Jonah says. "We were closer when the kids were young, but once they grew up... everyone just grows apart, eventually."
"Liam's the baby of the family." Lily takes over. "He and his wife moved out to Indiana years ago. They have two children now, Sophie and Clayton."
"But he doesn't speak with us." Jonah adds.
I eye him, remembering what Colton told me earlier this morning. "Is there any particular reason?"
Lily smiles gently. "Liam just doesn't see eye to eye with us. It happens."
"Are you close with your other son?"
"Yes, fortunately," Lily says. "He and his wife, Jada, live in Evanston as well, so we're able see them often. We've been trying to come see Cordelia and Emerald since she was born. The first months are the most important."
"And how did you feel about your daughters' condition after the birth of Emerald?"
Lily and Jonah turn to each other, then, exchanging expressions. "It was difficult," Jonah finally speaks. "Seeing her like that. It was heartbreaking."
"Were you aware that Cordelia didn't want children?"
Again, a long pause. "Cordelia always made it abundantly clear that she never intended on having children," Lily explains. "But people grow up, they change their minds. I knew she would have children eventually. We were so happy when we found out about the pregnancy. A third grandchild – what more can a grandparent ask for?"
"Was there any particular reason that Cordelia didn't want kids? Or was it just a phase you think she simply grew out of?"
"She, um," Lily hesitates, turns to her husband again. I watch them carefully. She's seeking approval. Of what, I'm not sure.
Jonah nods his head. "Tell him."
Lily keeps her eyes locked on her husband, her mouth beginning to tremble slightly. Then finally, she returns her eyes to mine. "There was an incident," she says. "When Cordelia was a child. Only eleven years old."
"What kind of incident?"
Just like that, she begins to cry. She squeezes her eyes closed and tears stream down her cheeks. I turn around, searching the desk for a tissue box.
I find one, grab it, and hand it to her. She grabs a tissue and begins dabbing her eyes, blows her nose.
I wait patiently, allowing her to take her time. Something happened. And whatever it is, it's bad.
After a few moments of calming herself down and Jonah rubbing her back, reassuring her, Lily is ready to speak.
"When the kids were young," she begins. "There was this boy who lived on our street. He was a couple years older than Colton, so maybe fourteen or fifteen at the time?" she turns to her husband to confirm. "His name was Samuel. The kids called him Sammy. Liam didn't play with them, he was only nine at the time. But Cordelia and Colton would play with him and some of the other kids. You know, go swimming in the summer time, ride their bicycles to the park, the regular stuff. But then, something happened with him and Cordelia. We didn't find out until much later, when she began acting strange."
"Strange how?"
"She didn't want to leave the house or go to school. It was very odd because she was such a friendly, outgoing kid who loved seeing other people. But this sudden change – it worried us." She stops and turns to her husband, signalling him to take over.
"We took her to see a child psychologist," Jonah begins. "After multiple assessments, he told us that he believed Cordelia was being, or had been, sexually abused." He pauses, as if to let this information sink in. "We were shocked. Outraged. We didn't believe it at first. We wondered how such a thing could be possible and who could be doing that to our daughter. Someone at school? A teacher perhaps?" he pauses again, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. "It took a while to figure it out, but eventually we discovered that it was Samuel. Cordelia would never say his name, and we began putting together the pieces from what Colton would tell us about their play-time and what some of the other kids in the neighborhood were saying. Although Cordelia has never spoken a word to us about it to this day, she did confirm a couple of months afterwards with her psychiatrist that it was indeed Samuel. He would make her do things..." he stops, closes his eyes.
"That's fine, thank you," I say to spare him from reliving the gruesome details. I look down and jot his words into point form.
"The psychiatrists said she was suffering from PTSD," he continues. "This lasted a few months. We thought she was never going to be herself again. But eventually, she returned to the same old Cordelia we knew and loved. It was almost as if she forgot about the incident entirely. She pushed it so far back into her subconscious, almost viewing it from a third person perspective, as though it didn't happen to her, but rather, someone she knew, or a character she watched on television. Like I said, she never talked about it again. But," he stops. "She began suffering from minor blackouts."
"Blackouts?"
"Yes. She would block out certain periods of time. The teacher's noticed that she would suddenly gain a sort of consciousness and not remember where she was or what had happened in the past hour. She would have gaps in her memories, forgetting major events, like her brother's soccer tournaments, or a school test. She didn't even remember writing them.
"Again, we went back to the psychiatrist and he said that, in situations such as Cordelia's, children often suppress difficult memories or experiences as a coping mechanism, to deal with the pain. She learned to subconsciously block out specific experiences, sometimes bad ones, and sometimes arbitrary ones. She most likely has gaps in her childhood that she doesn't even know are missing, because to her, they never existed in the first place."
"Does Cordelia remember the abuse?"
"We're not sure," Lily says. "As I said, she's never spoken about it, so we can't be certain. For all we know, she blocked it out completely. She may not remember most of that year."
"Mr. and Mrs. Cruz," I start. "Does Cordelia still experience blackouts?"
"No. This happened years ago. I'm sure it wouldn't have continued for this long," Lily turns to her husband.
"I mean, we're not sure. We don't live with her with her anymore. But I highly doubt it." Jonah says.
"And essentially, you believe that this is the reason that Cordelia didn't want children?"
"Well, that's what we thought. I mean, why else would a woman not want to have kids? She experienced a traumatic event, sexual abuse," Lily pauses, closing her eyes. "It damaged her. It changed her."
I nod.