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She kept her eyes down and shook her head again.
“Have you ever felt scared when you were with Mommy?”
Opal pulled her eyebrows together, then nodded.
“When do you feel scared when you’re with Mommy?”
“When bad things happen.”
Hunter squeezed Vanessa’s hand. What was Opal talking about? This wasn’t coming out right, whatever it was.
“What bad things happen?” Nicholas asked.
“Sometimes people get mad, and Mommy is there.”
“Which people?”
“Umm.” Opal looked afraid to answer, but said, “Daddy.”
“So, Mommy was there when Daddy got mad and that’s when you were scared?”
Opal nodded, looking a little relieved that he seemed to understand.
“Thank you, Opal.” Nicholas stood and came over to Hunter and Vanessa.
“Can I go play now?” Opal asked.
“Sure. Why don’t you go back into your room.” Vanessa smiled, then turned to Nicholas. “Thank you for coming. What happens now?”
Hunter felt uneasy. Vanessa might have thought it went well, but Nicholas’s body language was saying something else.
“Well, to be honest, we’ll need to investigate further,” Nicholas said curtly.
“So that you can get evidence that Jeremy was the one who hurt her? I can also give you evidence that he was hurting me. Would that help?” Vanessa asked.
“Afraid not, Mrs. Powers. We need to investigate because it seems to me that all this was staged.”
“Staged?” Vanessa’s face went white. “What do you mean?”
“I think you coached her to lie,” Nicholas said. “The way she kept looking at you, her unease. All signs that she was uncomfortable—”
“She was,” Vanessa snapped. “What do you expect her to feel when she’s been hurt, had to go on the run to hide from a horrible father then a strange man shows up asking about it? She’s afraid he’ll come back and hurt her again or me, and she doesn’t know who to trust except me. She was looking at me to make sure it was okay to tell the truth.”
“I’ve been doing this a long time, Mrs. Powers. And the way she acted is how children act when a parent has told them to lie. We’ll investigate more to make sure, but this certainly doesn’t help your case.”
“Then why even talk Opal with her mother in the room?” Hunter asked. “You had to know that Opal would be afraid and nervous to talk to you. You have to know that any child looks to their parent for comfort when they’re uncomfortable.”
“Like I said”—Nicholas tucked his pen in his pocket and folded his clipboard under his arm—“I’ve been doing this a long time. I can tell when a child is being told to lie.”
Vanessa’s mouth hung open and tears sat low in her eyes. “But she’s not lying.”
“That’s why we’ll investigate more.” Nicholas walked to the door. “Have a nice day.”
He let himself out and Vanessa jumped when he shut the door. She looked over at Hunter, then burst into sobs as she fell into his arms.
