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A middle-aged woman in a dark fitted summer dress, a perfect tan, and her hair pulled back into a French twist takes aseat on the other side of the window and smiles. “How can I help you?”
I look disheveled in comparison, but I only had an hour to put myself together. “Hi, yes, I’m supposed to be meeting with Jared Keffner in just a few minutes.”
She swivels to the right in her chair and takes a hold of a computer mouse, tapping it a couple of times before clicking. “Do you have ID on you?”
I reach into my purse and slide my license out of my wallet to hand to her. She scans it on a small machine next to her desk and watches her screen before removing my ID. “All set,” she says, handing it back. “You’ll want to go down to the public defender’s office. It’s around this corner.” She points to my right where I see a conjoining hallway. “Then straight down the hall, two rooms from the end on the left. You can’t miss it.”
I take my ID and slip it back into my bag. “Thank you.”
The hallway isn’t lit as brightly as the foyer but isn’t as long as I was expecting it to be. The public defender’s office has plenty of windows outlining the door, allowing me to see Madden seated at a table inside among a few other unfamiliar faces.
I knock, watching a younger man look over in my direction and hustle for the door. “Yes,” he says, “are you?—”
“Haley Vaughn,” I respond.
“Jared. Great to meet you,” he says, holding his hand out to shake mine. “Come on in.”
Madden doesn’t say anything but perks up in her seat and waves at me with a small smile. Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are watery. She looks so small sitting at a table full of stiff adults in professional attire.
I’m not sure if I expected Corbin or Lara to be here too, but I know Jared mentioned a social worker, which I assume to be one of the two women sitting on either side of Madden.
“This is Ms. Jillian Mann, Madden’s assigned social worker,” he says, gesturing to the woman in the black polka-dot skirt suit who stands up to shake my hand. “And over here, we have Ms. Kandice Maxwell, a well-versed child psychologist.” She stands up to shake my hand as well. Her emerald-green blouse and short coppery hair reflect the fluorescent lights as she moves around. Kandice holds her stare over me like an Arctic blast. The slight lift of her eyebrow suggests she doesn’t like the fact that I’m here, which makes me wonder if she’s truly here to assist Madden or drain her of information that could be held against her. I know everyone in this room is supposed to be here to protect Madden, but protection doesn’t always mean setting someone free.
I feel out of place and I’m more confident now that I won’t have much influential purpose here. Regardless, I take a seat across from Madden and make myself comfortable in the high-back chair as Jared paces around the table. “This is part of our pre-hearing preparation where we collect as many details as we can. Our goal is to build the best defense possible for Madden.” I nod with understanding, assuming he’s catching me up on what the others have already heard. “As you know, most details about the case came to fruition the night you were left to babysit Madden and her sister, Blakely. By having you here, we’re hoping you can confirm occurrences that took place that night. Anything discussed here today will only be used for legal purposes.”
“Of course,” I say, feeling more comfortable knowing that I knew absolutely nothing about Fallon that night.
“Great. I’m going to have Ms. Kandice take over with the questions now,” Jared says, taking a seat next to me in front of a notepad and pen. “But first, Madden, we all want you to know that we understand how challenging this situation is for you, especially at just nine years old. But it’s so important that youare completely open and honest with all of us so we can help you, okay?”
Madden swallows what looks to be a lump in her throat and folds her hands together on top of the table, squeezing her fingers so tightly they lose circulation. “Okay,” she says.
“Perfect,” Jared replies.
Kandice twists her chair to face Madden and folds her hands on top of her lap. “Okay, Miss Madden, let’s start by you telling us, in your own words, what happened when you were with Fallon last?” Her voice is higher pitched than the average adult but not like nails on a chalkboard. It’s as if she wants to sound like a child to resonate with her. I’m not sure that always works the best when trying to have a mature conversation with a child though.
Madden peers at me and twists her lips. Her forehead crinkles, and she takes a deep breath.
I give her a nod, urging her to respond to Kandice. With another deep breath, Madden opens her mouth to speak. “Well…”
Nothing follows and I’m wondering if she’s nervous or debating where to begin.
“Maybe we can start with something a bit easier. What kinds of things did you and Fallon like to do together?”
Madden shrugs and squints her eyes. Her jaw swivels back and forth and she twists her head to look at the hanging blinds along the window. “She just turned one at the beginning of spring, so she just learned to walk. I taught her because Mommy wasn’t ready to have three kids running in different directions.”
“Did Mommy say that or is that what you think?” Kandice follows.
“I heard Mommy say that when she was on the phone.”
“Did you hear her say anything else?”
Madden sighs and peers down to the carpet. “No, but I know she never wanted Fallon. She said Fallon was a mistake.”
“Hmm,” Kandice says. “What does a mistake mean to you, Madden?”
Another shrug. “I don’t know. I guess it’s something people do by accident, but I don’t know how Mommy could have kept Fallon in her tummy forever, so…I’m not sure what she meant.”
“What about Daddy? Did he ever say anything like that?”
