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I’m going to take a wild guess in that Jared isn’t used to representing children.
“I understand your frustration Mr. Keffner, but we need to have a bit of patience right now,” Kandice says.
Jared leans his head back and folds his hands behind his neck. “Madden, where do you think Fallon is right now?” Jared asks, pushing aside the childlike exchange.
Madden twists in her chair to face my side of the table. “I don’t know where she is.” Madden grimaces and folds her arms over her chest.
“Do you think she’s still alive?” That’s a hard question to ask a nine-year-old regardless of the situation.
“Maybe,” she says, with another shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe not. Mommy would be happy if she isn’t, though.”
The chairs around the table all scrape against the floor, signs of discomfort from everyone. My chest tightens, wondering what Madden might say next and I feel the urge to fidget in my seat the same way she is right now.
Kandice takes in a deep breath and presses her lips together into a tight smile before saying whatever is conjuring in her mind. “Madden, I’m sure your mommy loves Fallon very much, just as much as she loves you and your sister, Blakely,” Kandice says.
“No. That’s not true,” Madden says, new confidence showing in her suddenly straight posture. “Just like she prefers Blakely over me. Blakely is smarter and more helpful than I am so she’s Mommy’s favorite. Still, Mommy doesn’t hate me as much as Fallon, I guess. She hates Haley more because she said it’s her fault that Fallon is missing.”
Jared slices a look at me as if I knew Madden would say something along these lines. “I thought you didn’t know the Smiths before the night you were hired to babysit them. Why am I just learning about this now?” Jared grumbles. “What else do I need to know?”
“Lara and I knew each other thirteen years ago,” I say, my throat tightening beneath the remaining sore areas around my neck.
“That’s when Mommy’s sister died.”
I close my eyes, wishing Madden would focus on what’s currently happening rather than what can easily be misconstrued from the past. Though, it shouldn’t go unknown that Lara knowingly hired me when I was in the dark to who she was through her changed names.
“Lara’s sister died?” Jared questions.
Nausea laced memories fill my head as I try to pull myself together to speak. “Yeah, we—ah—we lived in the same townhome complex and there was a fire. Her sister didn’t make it. My father was the landlord and their family sued ours for negligence with building maintenance. I was only thirteen at the time.”
“So Lara is blaming Haley and Madden for Fallon’s disappearance,” Jared said. “Interesting.” He presses his fingers through his sweat-glazed hair. “Madden, if there’s a chance that Fallon is somewhere besides in the ocean right now, we need to know so people can try to find her.”
“Well,” Madden says, looking up to Jared through her long white lashes. “What if Fallon was never born?” Madden asks.
“Was she?” Kandice blurts out.
Madden’s chest moves up and down, showing erratic breaths, nerves…something. “I don’t know,” she says, a sob breaking through her throat.
“I noticed there weren’t any pictures of Fallon at home,” I say. “Have there ever been pictures of her hanging on the walls with yours and Blakely’s?”
Jared hums with a sound of encouragement as if his interest is more piqued than it’s been since I arrived.
“When Mommy and Daddy were asleep one night, I took them down and tore them up,” Madden says. “I also deleted them from Mommy and Daddy’s phones. They leave them on the kitchen counter a lot, especially when they’re arguing over something.”
“Oh my goodness. That must have made you so sad to do such a thing with those photos,” Kandice says. “How come you felt it was important to do that?”
Madden plucks at a thread on her solid white T-shirt and pauses for a moment before answering. “To make Mommy like me more.”
“Do you think that worked?” Kandice asks her.
Madden shakes her head. “No. She just cried and shouted at me, asking me what was wrong with my head. I told her she’s the one who said she wishes Fallon was never born and I was trying to make her feel better.”
There’s a wave of subtle gasping breaths from the adults at the table and I’m wondering if the rest of them are just figuring out how deep the root of this issue truly is.
“Madden, do you have aunts, uncles, or grandparents that you see often?”
“No one likes my mom,” she says, keeping her gaze set on her lap.
Jared clears his throat. “Okay, I think we’re going to take a short break. Haley, we really appreciate you coming down here today. We’re going to continue with some additional questions to Madden, but I don’t want to hold you up here. You’ve been very helpful so far. I may be in touch again if we need any more of your assistance. Would that be okay with you?”
