113 Shred of Control (1/2)

I stared right into Grace's eyes as I apologized. ”I'm sorry, Grace. I think the whole incident spooked her.” I bowed to show sincerity.

”I will sue you if this hurts her mental health,” she yelled. She dragged Carol out of the station and the others stared.

”I'm sorry for the inconvenience,” I said softly to everyone. When I went back to Nash's side, Sebastian had already come out.

”So, what is the plan?” he asked. I thought about it for a minute.

”She said some troubling things about adults and being at the scene before everyone. Can we use the interview tapes to get child protective services to go to her house? Do a welfare check?” I asked.

Nash thought about it for a moment. ”Not a bad idea. We'll say you were suspicious and find out the living conditions, talk to neighbors about the people who come in and out. We'll give the officers a heads up to search through everything and see if we can find more clues.”

Sebastian was stoic. ”A child serial killer, huh? Why did she scream, though?”

”I think she wanted to say more but her mother had taught her not to answer questions about herself and her life. She took a long pause before deciding on screaming.”

”A smart girl,” Sebastian responded. I glared at him. ”Oh shush, you're still the smartest girl I know. Don't be jealous of a nine-year-old.”

I sighed.

”That is not what I meant!” I gritted through my teeth. ”You're too excited to find a young female serial killer,” I discerned.

He nodded enthusiastically. ”Ask Nash how prominent this find is!” Nash nodded in agreement. ”Rarely do we get female serial killers. It is not that there are fewer female serial killers but that they go unnoticed and the police force is indoctrinated to think a female incapable of such a heinous crime.” He clucked his tongue. ”That is still findable, but young serial killers are harder to spot. Mostly, male serial killers experiment with animals and explore their fantasies. Female children rarely exhibit this. But when they do exhibit such tendencies, they don't go for animals... they go for humans.” He raised his brow.

”I understand all of this but we need to take into consideration how young this girl is and how we should approach her.” I implored.

”A checkup from social services, a police officer follows them and interviews the neighbors. We also need to bring on the child psychologist to talk to Carol and we shall have more answers.” I nodded.

The next morning, I filled out the form and Nash called the social service. I played the footage, emphasizing the portion that bothered me the most.

The middle-aged woman who had come looked sad beyond belief. ”This is so sad. If she is committing crimes to compensate for the abuse she is suffering, it is the most unfortunate outcome.” I could see her eyes redden as she dabbed at the corner.

”Did you say anything to make her scream here?” She watched the footage of her scream quite a few times, frightening the officers a few times.

I shook my head, supplying all the answers politely. I knew by then that questions were part of the procedure and to make sure everything was well documented and public resources not misused. I would oblige with the procedure any day if it made my job easier.

”Whatever I said is documented in the video,” I announced. ”If you look carefully, she pauses and thinks about what she will do next.” I paused at the exact location and the silence on her part carried on for a while. ”And here she starts screaming. You will see that she has finally decided.” I played the next segment as well.

”Positively fascinating,” the woman murmured. ”I would love if you come with us,” she said.

”The mother doesn't want me anywhere near the girl. She was very nervous when she entered the station and equally enraged and terrified when Carol came out. I think she feared Carol would say something incriminating which would get the mother in trouble.”

”Guilty conscience, huh?” The woman took diligent notes and then took two police officers for the trip. ”I'll inform you if I find anything.”

A few hours later, we received a callback. Apparently, they had hit a bullseyes.

Bags upon bags of evidence came in and everyone gaped. It was rare for such vivid evidence to be found against any criminal, so when a diary was placed on the table in front of me, I twitched with delight.