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“Last month, we went to court for a motion hearing, but no judge was there, so the hearing was continued a week. Again nothing happened. So we went a third time. That time the judge, Yvette DelliCicchi, didn’t come onto the bench until almost 11:45. One of the court officers told us she’d gone shopping. Unbelievable. Bea was disappointed because she’d heard DelliCicchi gives the DA’s office a hard time.
“The next time, Fogarty, the assistant DA, wasn’t there. Finally, we got the hearing and Fogarty misrepresented Goldblatt’s findings to the judge.”
“Judge DelliCicchi?” asked Larry. “Did I say that right?”
“I don’t know. Bea says ‘Deli chee key.’ Others say ‘Deli kich ey.’” Bill laughed. “I don’t know which is right. Anyway, no, it wasn’t her. It was a Judge Mathers, an older man.”
“What did Bea do?”
“Bea corrected Fogarty and told the judge we were going to call Judge Goldblatt as a witness to corroborate what Chloe had said to him in his chambers.”
“Judge Mathers boomed, ‘Not in my court.’ Mathers wanted Goldblatt to call or write him.”
“What did Bea say?”
“Bea said she wanted Goldblatt to testify to what Chloe had told him because the transcript of Chloe’s testimony had disappeared from the court files. Bea thinks Fogarty got her hands on it and deep-sixed it. It hurts their case. It puts the date of the so-called crime back six years.”
“Did she tell the judge about the missing transcript?”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Do you know why?”
“She had a list of reasons. I don’t remember all of them. I do remember, though, her saying she’d never be able to prove Fogarty did it.”
“Can’t you get another copy of it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“The stenographer committed suicide and her tapes or notes—whatever they’re called—are missing.”
“Murphy’s Law.”
“That too!” Bill laughed nervously. “Bea said she’d heard unrequited love was the reason.”
“When do you expect the trial to be?”
“Supposedly May 3d. I’m waiting. I want the trial, but I’m afraid. This judge, Judge Mathers, wouldn’t commit on Bea’s motion asking she be allowed to question Denise about her rape story, about her past. Bea was worried he’d be the trial judge. She expected him to deny her motions, all of them. She also wanted him to limit what the social workers could testify to. He wouldn’t do that either. He said it was a motion for the trial judge. They had an argument about something she calls a fresh complaint. He told her she didn’t understand the law on fresh complaint.”
“What did Bea say?”
“I think she told me she said, ‘I most certainly do understand the law.’”
“Did she say anything to you afterward?”
Bill laughed. “She said he’s a real bastard. Then she apologized to me for swearing. She always does that. Swears her head off and then apologizes.” He laughed again. “She said he’d just been overturned on a case about fresh complaint, and she used it to point out to him what the law was. She said it was a little dangerous to do that, but it was one of the latest cases on the subject.”
“What did you think about the judge?”
“I can’t tell. I really can’t. They all wear black.” Bill snickered.
“What’s happening with Rhonda Cavanaugh? Has she made any recommendations yet?”
“Nope. We’re just waiting. I think she’s through interviewing everyone, so it should be soon. At least I hope it is. But it’s so hard to be optimistic. She wanted me to sign the Center’s form regarding physical contact, but I refused. Frankly, my frustration level is maxed out. I just want my visitations. I mean, I still talk to Chloe on Thursdays and send her things, but I miss her so much. I’ve seen her only one time in six or seven months! And nobody cares.” Bill began sobbing.
Larry encouraged him to let it all out. After a while, Larry asked, “When was the one time?”
“At Cavanaugh’s office three months ago... in December. The first time in ages. I hugged and kissed her. We played pick-up-sticks. I’d bought her a puppet and she brought it to the meeting. It was nice to see, actually see, that she liked it.”
“How long was the meeting?”
“About an hour. It was nice to feel we could pick up where we left off.” He began crying again.
When his tears abated, he began to laugh at himself. “I cry when I’m alone in the car too.” After a brief pause, he continued, “I’m journaling my thoughts and feelings as a way of ventilating.” He blew his nose. “The idea of writing—nobody can take that away. Someday Chloe will be aware of my feelings.”
Still choked up but regaining some composure, he managed to say, “We had so much fun at the meeting at Cavanaugh’s. But then, when the meeting was over, the reality of my problems set in. Not being able to give her Christmas presents. Having to leave them with Denise’s family.
“I did call her on Christmas, though, to learn whether she’d received the gifts. My mother and father got to talk to her, too. I’d called from their house. Kate and I, we’d had dinner with them.
“At least Kate has reassured me she’ll be there for me at trial. In the meantime, I went away with her to Jamaica. The airfare was a gift from her and we stayed with friends. It was nice. That was my first real vacation since all of this started. Away from the craziness here.” Bill was teary again. “Our relationship has become somewhat stronger since then. I enjoy spending time with her. We laugh a lot.”
“How’s your mother, Bill?”
“My mother is better. She’s still taking meds, but fewer than before. She goes out to dinner, with my father, of course, and out more generally than before. There’s a big difference. Eating better, talking more, sleeping nights. It’s okay. My father is able to deal with it now that it’s easier.
“For a while there last year, she was in and out of the hospital. We were wondering whether it was Alzheimer’s, because she was having problems with her memory.” His eyes widened. “But then they changed her meds and she was okay!”
“What are your emotions re your mother?”
“It’s hard.” Bill’s tears came. “I had nightmares as a child.” He stopped to clear his throat. “When my mother was first in the hospital, I had the dream again. In it, I was a kid and my mother was a monster, out of control. It was scary, very emotional. She didn’t hurt me, just scared me. The doctor was a person like my mother: screaming, face distorted, running after me—chasing me. I used to be afraid to go to sleep for fear I’d have the dream again.”
Larry had heard about this dream before, but this time, Bill went into more details.
“Who was there for you?”
“Nobody.” He paused. “It was overwhelming.” He paused again.
“Other than that, everything is status quo. It’s discouraging, you know. It’s hard to sleep.” He shook his head and slightly wrung his hands. “Do you realize this all started almost four years ago? Chloe will be nine in April. I think of her, court... prison... I get panicky. It would mean a total loss of control. I could lose everything: Kate, my career, Chloe.
“Sharing with Kate is helpful, though.” His head bobbed very slowly, as if in thought. “Even Judge Goldblatt is wondering why the DA is pursuing the charges.”
“How do you know that?”
“At a lobby conference we had. It sounded that way to me from something he said. I mean, he knows the evidence. He heard Chloe himself. And he didn’t believe it happened. So how is the DA going to prove it?”
Pitbull and the Victim
Hugh had already changed his clothes, and was feeling refreshed when Bea came in and opened her mail. He’d seen the envelope when he picked up the mail, and expecting a possible onslaught, he’d also fortified himself, not excessively, just enough so he’d be able to bear it. He’d even thought it a good idea to take affirmative action: he had begun preparing the evening meal: food, not just liquid over ice.
“Oh, m’god, I don’t believe it.” Bea groaned when she opened the Appeals Court envelope.
“Sonuvabitch, I don’t believe it.”
“They said Leslie Calhoun’s appeal was frivolous and are making her pay Pitbull’s appellate fees.” Hoping she’d find some nerve-numbing ice cream, she opened the freezer. “I don’t believe it. How could that appeal have been frivolous? I was put in the bizarre position of having to appeal a dismissal based on a non-existent final judgment of contempt arising out of a non-existent order. I could have been sued for malpractice had I not appealed.”
“Let me see the decision.” He was supposed to avoid discussing her cases, which might ultimately make their way to his desk at the Court.
“The appeal was timely filed,” she said when she saw Hugh’s eyebrow raise. “And Pitbull’s brief was horrible. Probably one of the worst I’ve seen. And the fees. It’s as if the court is punishing the rape victim for complaining by making her pay the perpetrator for raping her. It’s unconscionable.”
Hugh put his hands up and let his fingers slide from the sides of his nose, along his cheeks, and up to his ears. He didn’t want to listen.
“Hugh, to find civil contempt, there must be a clear and undoubted disobedience of a clear and unequivocal order. There was not only no clear and unequivocal order, there was no order when Leslie was found in contempt. How could that dismissal be proper? I don’t care what Pitbull said in his brief, he was never able to produce the order she was supposedly in contempt of. There wasn’t even a piece of paper entitled judgment of contempt. After McGill found the contempt, he converted it to a Final Judgment on the Merits, at Pitbull’s request, mind you. And then, even later, he reduced the amount and amended the Final Judgment. I gave notice of appeal within a day of whatever piece of paper he issued.”
“Bea, I can’t say anything. You know I can’t.”
“I know. I do know,” she reassured him. “But I’m so frustrated. I counted on the big guys to make it right, as they did for Rita Petrillo. But they didn’t.”
He took her in his arms and held her.
Into his chest, she said, “How am I going to tell Leslie? How am I going to tell her?”
He rocked her back and forth in his arms.
“And they didn’t deal properly with the default issue, the removal of the default. He had no excuse at all. But the fees—I’ll have to petition the appellate panel for a rehearing and make an application for further appellate review by you guys.”
Hugh had known one of Bea’s cases would land on his desk one day at the SJC. He also knew she’d forgotten to open the other envelope, the one from the attorney who defended Bea on Pitbull’s contempt case against her.
The attorney’s envelope was thicker. It was probably a copy of the Appeals Court opinion in Pitbull’s case against her. She probably lost that one, too: if she’d won, Bea’s attorney probably would have phoned to tell her the good news. Bea’d be writing two petitions for rehearings and two applications for further appellate review.
It was going to be a demanding night.
The Cavanaugh Report
On February 25, 1993, a concerned and caring Judge Leonard Goldblatt wrote to the hardliner, Judge Cortland Mathers, in criminal court.
That same week, Dick Fast, the PI, told Bea that Carol Tracy had become a licensed social worker only three months earlier. So, when interviewing Chloe three and a half years earlier, Tracy probably had no training as a social worker.
Meanwhile, Fogarty left the DA’s office and became counsel to the State Senate. Laura Jane Cooke took over as prosecutor. Rhonda Cavanaugh submitted her report to Goldblatt, who forwarded it to Aguilar and Bea.
In mid-March, Cavanaugh wrote that Roberta Leavitt would like a copy of her report. Leavitt, of course, had no right to the report, nor did the Center or the DA, to whom Roberta would forward it. Bea was confident Goldblatt would not send Leavitt and the DA a copy, but certainly Denise would.
The lengthy report was divided into sections describing the interviews Cavanaugh had conducted. Significantly, there were no interviews with Denise or Bill alone: Cavanaugh wrote, instead, that she didn’t have time to meet with them. Her report also contained some surprises.
“Those aren’t surprises, that’s new and wacko stuff,” Bea’s new intern, Peter T. Cuomo, said when he arrived on board and learned what Bea was reading. “For crying out loud, Bea, Denise told Cavanaugh that Chloe told her Bill tied her up, threatened her with a knife, and said he would cut her stomach and kill her if she told Denise about their relationship.”
Bea had a chuckle watching Peter wave his arms and work himself into a frenzy. He’d expected an oversized reaction from Bea. “Holy shit, Bea,” he persisted. “Then he said he’d put her into bed and cover her stomach with a blanket, and kill her mother when she came into the room.” When Bea didn’t get worked up, he sighed. “Do you really think a kid would make that up?”
“Which was it? He was going to slice her if she told or he was going to slice her when Mom walked into the room?” Bea couldn’t help laughing. “Peter, Peter. Why did it take years for this threat to surface?”
“She was scared.”
“No, the DA needed a reason why Chloe waited so long to disclose. So Fogarty spoke to Denise and then Denise made Fogarty’s wish come true by telling Cavanaugh. A threat of murder is a common defense to a victim’s silence or delayed complaint.”
He whimpered, “But Denise claimed he stalked her, parking outside the house and following her to work.”
“If that had happened, Aguilar would have set a new record sprinting to court for a protection order.”
“Geez, Bea, you’ve got an answer for everything.” He grabbed his Hornbook, a law student’s Bible for an area of law, and his pad of paper and squished down into the beanbag, without saying another word.
The section on Bill was unremarkable.
Chloe was eight and a half when the interview with Cavanaugh took place. Denise was present and “Chloe was friendly but guarded.” Later in the session, Chloe told her mother she could go.
Cavanaugh concluded Chloe was nervous about meeting her father again and backed it up not with her own observation of Chloe, but with something she heard from Leavitt. A plague on both their houses!
Bea read aloud to Peter, “At Bill’s arrival, he hugged and kissed Chloe, with her permission, and seemed very pleased to see her. She appeared somewhat shy at first and removed pillows on the couch, where Bill sat in order to create more space for herself.” Implying a negative?
“Then they played with pick-up sticks and colored strings of plastic beads. Bill suggested ‘Let’s play hang clothes on the clothesline’ using the colored strings. He apparently threw a string and remarked, ‘These are my red underwear.’”
Peter said, “That’s a bit weird.”
“How about this?” Bea asked. “They played some games. After losing the last game to Bill, Chloe became ‘too tired’ to play anymore. So they cleaned up the toys and Bill kissed and hugged her and said he loved her. Chloe didn’t respond. Later she told her mother that pick-up sticks was her favorite game, but ‘winning was the best.’”
“Sore loser?”
“Would a child who enjoys winning and acts like a poor loser stay silent about sex abuse for years?”
“Dunno.”
Bea thought she remembered seeing similar “poor loser” stuff in Leavitt’s notes and wrote herself a reminder to check.
Boiled-down, according to Cavanaugh, Larry Kupersmith said Bill had “never done anything to indicate a risk of acting out.”
Cavanaugh’s summary of her interview with DeSegonzac is what surprised Bea:
“On the MMPI, which measures personality traits, Bill showed ‘irritability’, a tendency to ‘transfer blame to others’, and ‘argumentative, manipulative, dependent’ characteristics although these were all within normal limits.”Toffett, the memory expert, was true to form: he questioned the influence of Denise on Chloe and wondered whether Chloe feared Bill because of what she had been exposed to at child-victim meetings. He also “wondered about the professionalism of the disclosure situation and whether APSAC guidelines had been followed.”
Ruth Stanton celebrated Denise’s ability as a mother. Inasmuch as Stanton had never seen Denise with Chloe, Bea discounted the whole thing, thinking Denise was tooting her own horn.
Leavitt described Chloe as having an “uncanny ability to understand nuances of behavior.” And since Leavitt, like Stanton, had never—except sitting silently at the divorce trial—seen Bill alone or with anyone else, Bea discounted Leavitt’s conclusion, too, that he was subtly and covertly manipulative.
She was concerned, though, that Leavitt’s conclusion was similar to DeSegonzac’s.
Carol Tracy admitted not being aware of APSAC guidelines when she interviewed Chloe, but said Chloe was a highly credible reporter.
Cavanaugh took all the negatives about Bill from Heather Bruce’s report and found almost everything Bill did to be “inappropriate”: playing horsie, giving piggyback rides, picking her up, letting Chloe sit on his lap, encouraging Chloe to hug him, patting her hair, kissing her cheek or vice versa, touching shoulders at “almost every passing except during crafts.” Cavanaugh concluded Bill’s inappropriate behavior led to Chloe exhibiting regressive, childlike behavior.
Cavanaugh supported Denise 150 percent, and held Bill’s refusal to sign the Center’s agreement against him. He strongly impressed Bea as a person who’d try to meet his own emotional needs, even at the expense of exacerbating Chloe’s fears.
That statement was scarier to Bea than the stomach slicing. It was something Goldblatt could buy into.
“Damn,” she muttered.
Peter lifted his head again out of his Hornbook. “She’s making him out to be the nut,” Peter said.
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
Cavanaugh’s recommendations were important because Goldblatt could conceivably follow them. She recommended supervised visitation at a center or office once every other week for two months, to permit a gradual transition for Chloe. Physical contact, she wrote, should be restricted to a kiss and/or hug at the beginning and/or end of the visit, with Chloe’s permission.
Surprise appearances such as that at Chloe’s First Communion were to be avoided. They frightened Chloe. Before any unscheduled visit took place, Denise must be consulted, so she could talk with Chloe first.
After one year, if the visitations went smoothly, the visits—still supervised—could possibly be moved to a more natural setting (playground, park, McDonald’s, etc.).
If those outdoor visits were successful for six months, an unsupervised arrangement could possibly be implemented. Those visits should include checking in and out with a supervisor. Nonsupervised visits should not take place in a home; they should take place either at a center or in a natural setting.
A guardian ad litem should also be appointed to “closely” monitor the visitation. Before each change of visitation type, the GAL should assess the previous period and determine with the supervisor and Chloe’s therapist whether less restrictions were advisable.
Lastly she recommended therapy for both Chloe and Bill. For Chloe, at least another six months, and preferably a year. For Bill, as long as necessary to develop an awareness of the difference between appropriate and inappropriate physical contact with Chloe.
After two years, when Chloe is approximately 11 years old, both her ability to trust her father and his understanding of Chloe’s needs should be reassessed.
“It seems balanced and thoughtful, Bea,” her intern said.
“I’m not so sure.” That was an understatement. The report created more problems than it resolved.
Have You Hugged Your Kid Today?
On March 17, 1993, Bea wrote Goldblatt about the virulent report. She lambasted Cavanaugh for not speaking to people who had observed Bill with the child over time. She criticized her for listening to Carol Tracy, who had seen Chloe for but a few minutes, had never met Bill, and had made a farce out of the rape-counselor statute. Goldblatt didn’t yet know Tracy was untrained and unlicensed when she interviewed Chloe.
While she wrote, Bea scowled at Cavanaugh’s presuming the threats to commit multiple murders were true. No such incident or even a hint of it appeared in the ream of process notes produced by the caseworkers. Had such a revelation been made, Aguilar would have been obliged to go to the authorities with the information.
Her tongue wagged as fast she typed. “Peter, the incident is so bizarre and so untimely, I expect Goldblatt to see right through it, but I dare not take the chance I’m wrong. I’ve got to write this.”
“Recent fabrication, Bea... recent fabrication.”
“Yes, Peter. They needed a reason for the delayed disclosure.” So she typed,
Cavanaugh knew her mandate was to make recommendations for the ‘development of a progressive system under which unsupervised reasonable periods of visitation can be granted Mr. Abernathy.’ She should have realized the so-called incident had to be a very recent fabrication.
Important to note, Your Honor, is that the story emanated from Denise not Chloe, which might signal it is time to order that Denise be committed for observation. To escalate this already difficult matter into “Threats to Murder” at this juncture is indicative of the extent of Denise’s illness, desperation, obsessiveness, and perhaps paranoia. Ms. Cavanaugh remarkably neglects to factor Denise’s illness into her summary of Denise’s personality and then presumptively factors it into her analysis of Bill.
She waited while the operator paged Bill. It wasn’t long before he got to a line.
“Hi, Bill. I hope I didn’t catch you in the middle of your rounds.”
“That’s okay. What’s up?”
“I’ve got Cavanaugh’s report in front of me. She, like Heather, said you showed an unusual capacity to lose yourself in the play.”
He laughed. “I thought that was what playing with a child was all about.”
“Let me ask, Do you role play with your patients?”
“Oh, sure. I play along with these guys. I play up to a little bit of their craziness. Yes, I do.”
“Do you use humor?”
“Yes. Humor is part of their therapy. You know, if you can make somebody laugh, you’re way ahead of the game. It defuses some of their anxiety and—of course, it depends on the circumstances—it usually takes their minds off either a delusion or some confusion.
“Humor lets you connect with them also. Even psychiatric patients realize they, as well as you, are human. And they realize when you’re not treating them just as psychiatric patients but as human beings. They appreciate that. They know you. You’re not just a cold professional.”
When she got off the phone, Bea continued her rant to Goldblatt.
Without Denise being properly diagnosed and without the pressures of the criminal matter being resolved, the value of a guardian ad litem would be naught. The same issues would be raised: Is she nuts? Is he guilty?
And a new GAL would be just one more person to play mind games with Chloe as well as with everyone else.
In sum, I find Ms. Cavanaugh’s conclusions to be baseless and consequently of no value, and her recommendations unsatisfactory as a whole. Her report is devoid of professional insight and control.
It is specious; it is fallacious. This Court, Joseph Aguilar, and I already know more about the subjects of which this woman has written.
Bea only briefly mentioned Cavanaugh’s comments on Bill, and kept silent regarding the sections on the joint visitation, the three doctors, Leavitt, Tracy, and the Center’s director. Bea was confident Goldblatt would draw conclusions similar to her own. She steamed, however, about the rest of Cavanaugh’s report.
It’s a sad commentary that our society now frowns on playing piggyback with your child, sitting on a parent’s lap, patting your child’s hair, kissing your child on the cheek, hugging your child, touching your child’s shoulder. All these behaviors, I admit, I have done repeatedly for the past thirty-five years. What are these women going to do about those bumperstickers HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR KID TODAY? Rip off the bumpers? Throw stones at the windshields?
If playing piggyback or hugging your child or letting your child sit on your lap has metamorphosed into physical or sexual abuse, I’m going to retire and go on the talk-show circuit.
If she hadn’t known of Goldblatt’s earthy former partner, Caesar Levino, Bea would never have dared write such a comment to a judge... and trust him to take it in the spirit in which it was made: common sense.
A Roughly Cut, Unpolished Gem
In April 1993, Bea received Carol Tracy’s report from Laura Jane Cooke, the assistant DA new to the case. That report had been the missing piece. It contained Tracy’s questions and Chloe’s answers. It was a gem. What a shame I didn’t have it before Denise’s deposition or before the divorce trial!
Client #: 1628
Date: July 27, 1989
Counselor: Carol
Client disclosed in group concern about 5+ yo daughter’s talking hand. Client stated the child had mentioned: This is my talking hand. I have a secret, but I cannot tell. Daddy won’t let me tell. Then father jumped up and intervened in conversation.
Client continued, when she questioned 5+ yo about talking hand, 5+ yo said father would punch and kick her.
Client asked husband what the secret was. He also stated that he would punch and kick 5+ yo. Client told husband that was child abuse.
I asked client to bring daughter in the next morning.
Client #: 1651
Date: July 29, 1989
Counselor: Carol
Mother brought 5+ yo into office. Played w/ toys in toy box. Told me her name and how old she was.
I asked her if she knew why she was here.
Chloe: Yes.
Carol: Why are you here?
Chloe: Daddy hurts me.
Carol: How does daddy hurt you?
Chloe: Daddy punches and kicks me.
Carol: That must hurt when he does that.
Chloe: I don’t like it. It makes me cry.
I got up and went over to the anatomically correct dolls. I brought them back to where Chloe was sitting. I handed them to her.
Carol: Would you show me, using the dolls, how daddy hurt you?
Chloe picked up child female doll. She stood up. Held doll out in front of her, then kicked the face.
Then she put doll down and punched doll in the stomach repeatedly.
Carol: Chloe, your mother told me something about a talking hand. Do you know what I am talking about?
Chloe: Yes. I have a talking hand.
Carol: May I see it?
Chloe showed me her talking hand.
Carol: What does the talking hand say?
Chloe: I have a secret. Daddy won’t let me tell.
I explained to Chloe that if Daddy was hurting her in any way, it would be best to tell. I want to help Daddy stop hurting her. It is always better to tell a secret if someone is being hurt. And you already said Daddy punches and kicks you and that it hurts.
Carol: What is the secret?
Chloe: Daddy tickles me.
Carol: When does Daddy tickle you?
Chloe: He starts at my feet. Then my knee. Then he hangs me upside down.
Carol: He hangs you upside down? Does he tickle you while your upside down?
Chloe: Yeah. He puts his fingers in my underwear and he touches my bottom.
I asked Chloe to point to her bottom. She pointed to vaginal area. I asked her to point to her bum. She pointed to buttocks. (Thus differentiating between bottom + bum.)
Carol: Will you show me w/dolls how Daddy tickles you?
Chloe started tickling doll’s (female child doll) feet, moved up legs, grabbed doll, held it in one hand.
Used other hand to slip inside underwear + tickle vaginal area.
Carol: Sounds like Daddy starts out playing + tickling your legs, but then moves up to your bottom.
Chloe: Yes.
Carol: Does it always start w/the tickling?
Chloe: No, sometimes he throws me on the bed. He touches my face, my chest, and my bottom.
Carol: What part of his body does he use to touch you?
Chloe: His fingers.
Carol: Does Daddy ever use any other part of his body to touch you (besides his fingers)?
Chloe: He makes me touch his penis.
Carol: He makes you touch his penis. With what part of your body do you have to touch his penis?
Chloe: My fingers.
Carol: Is there any other part of your body that touches Daddy’s penis?
Chloe: His pee pee doesn’t taste good. I think he has a virus in his penis.
Carol: What makes you think he has a virus in his penis?
Chloe: It comes out in my mouth, and it doesn’t taste good.
Carol: Could you show me w/ the dolls the different ways daddy makes you touch him?
Carol took adult doll, pulled down the pants.
Chloe: “There’s a penis.”
Chloe took child doll, and put the hand of the doll on the adult doll’s penis.
Carol: Does he touch you anywhere else with his penis?
Chloe: Yes (put adult doll’s penis into mouth of child doll.) Like this.
Thanked Chloe for sharing this with me. I told her I was going to do whatever I could to make Daddy stop hurting her. Told that it wasn’t her fault. That she wasn’t bad. Daddy was bad.
Child played with dolls and other toys.
Talked w/ mo. Filed report to DSS.
Mo getting restraining order.
Called [stricken’s] place. Advocate will go w/ her.
The missing piece was provided in the very first question Tracy asked Chloe—“I asked her if she knew why she was here”—and the very first answer—“Yes.”
The only way Chloe could have known was if Denise had discussed the subject of sexual abuse or rape with her. The question then became, How much did Denise discuss with her? That question was one Bea had been asking for almost exactly three years.
If Bea’d had the notes at Denise’s deposition, Bea could have confronted her with them. Denise could have denied or forgotten, but seeing these notes in Tracy’s own handwriting may have been sufficiently intimidating to force the truth out of her.
Certainly Denise would not have found support from Tracy. Tracy had to defend the accuracy of her notes.
Given the inference from that question and answer, the possibility of undue influence on the child might have been more seriously considered by the court. The inescapable inference may also have been sufficient to convince some family court judge it was imperative to allow Bea to depose Tracy.
The effect the inference would have had on the DA’s office before the indictment was handed up would have been unpredictable.
Now whether Denise had influenced the child would be up to the jury. So what Bea was holding was but a roughly cut, unpolished gem. Finishing and polishing—by attacks on Denise and Tracy—could only come at the criminal trial.
“You’re crazy, Bea,” Peter said. “You’re not making sense. No other lawyer would see this and be happy. You can’t tell me you had no reaction like ‘Holy Shit, maybe he did do this!’” By this time, Peter was pacing from starboard to port and back again.
Part 27 of this Real-Life story will post on Wednesday, September 17th.
