Page 27 of Shamed

“Did you and Elsie find lots of walnuts today?” Mackie asks the question in a nonchalant, casual way, as if it’s an afterthought and she doesn’t care whether she gets an answer.

“Two bags,” Annie says in a small voice.

Good girl, I think. Talk to us, honey. Talk.

“What happened while you were picking up walnuts?” Mackie asks.

The girl turns away, sets her face against her mamm’s dress, and seems to fold in on herself. Pulling away. From us. From questions she’s already been asked too many times and doesn’t want to face again. From the memory of her dead grandmother and the knowledge that her sister is gone.

“Was there someone else there?” Mackie asks gently.

The little girl puts her thumb in her mouth and begins to suck.

“I wonder if the stranger was picking up walnuts, too?” Mackie asks of no one in particular.

The thumb comes out. “He was in the house,” Annie tells us.

“A man?”

“Ja.”

“Hmmm. What happened next?”

“Grossmammi was in the house, too,” the girl says.

Mackie casts a look toward me. “‘Grossmammi’ is ‘Grandmother’?”

“Yes.” I wink at Annie and whisper, “She doesn’t know Deitsch.”

Mackie continues. “I wonder why your grossmammi went into the house.” A pause and then, “Did she hear something? See something?”

“She just likes it because she used to play there when she was little.”

“I see.” Mackie gives an exaggerated nod. “Did she go in through the front door or back?”

“Back.”

“What were you and Elsie doing?”

“Putting walnuts in our bags. We wanted to fill them up so we could play.”

“Did you see anyone else outside?” Mackie asks.

“No.”

“So you and Elsie were playing and picking up walnuts.” Mackie slants her a smile. “Having fun?”

“Ja.”

“And Grossmammi was in the house, looking around. What happened next?”

The girl snuggles against her mamm. “We heard Grossmammi yelling.”

“What did she say?”

“I don’t remember.”

The agent nods thoughtfully. “What did you do?”