In Her Tracks (Tracy Crosswhite #8)(51)

“You mean because of the divorce?”

“Yes.”

“We have many children of divorced parents. Depending on the divorce, it can impact the children to varying degrees.”

“What about Elle?”

Bettencourt said, “Give me a minute,” and she pulled out a sheet of paper, reading it.

“What are you referring to?” Tracy asked.

“It’s a report I did for the psychologist who put together the parenting plan.”

“What does it say?”

“I noticed changes in Elle’s behavior during the school year. Bear in mind that a child acting out during a divorce is not unusual, especially one as young as Elle, who doesn’t have the emotional maturity to understand what is happening. They become frustrated and stressed.”

“How did Elle change?”

“There were instances of anger—fighting with other children, sadness, depression. She missed her father.”

“She told you that?”

“She did. She also expressed it in some of her drawings.” Bettencourt handed Tracy a crude drawing of a young child holding someone’s hand. Tracy immediately thought of the witness who said he saw Elle holding the hand of a woman as she walked away from the corn maze.

“Did she say anything about her mother?”

“Not directly.”

“Indirectly?”

“Elle would say things like her daddy was always late; that her mommy didn’t love her daddy anymore; that her mommy had a boyfriend and he was going to be her new daddy—things that, more often than not, come from one parent speaking negatively about the other parent.”

“You don’t think the mother was handling the situation with Elle’s best interest in mind.”

“Are you asking for my judgment?”

“Based on everything you knew about the family and Elle.”

“It’s not really my place. I didn’t live in the home . . .”

“I understand.”

“I don’t think either parent handled the divorce with Elle’s best interest in mind,” Bettencourt said. “That’s my judgment. The husband moved out and there were allegations of domestic violence that limited his time with Elle. Then the boyfriend moved into the home soon after the husband moved out.”

“How do you know that?”

“The sister told me one afternoon when she came to pick up Elle. I asked to speak to her because Elle was having difficulty understanding the situation—why her daddy wasn’t home and why the boyfriend was living in their house.”

“Did Elle say anything about the boyfriend? Or was there anything in her acting out that made you think she was being abused?”

Bettencourt paused. Then she opened the file and handed Tracy another crude drawing, a stick figure of a little girl. Blue teardrops flowed from the little girl’s face all the way to the floor. She’d also drawn the stick figure of a man. He had an angry face. Tracy looked up at Bettencourt.

“I told the sister when she came that Elle said the little girl was sad because the man slapped her.”

“I assume you submitted this in the civil proceeding.”

“Elle drew it after the psychologist had prepared and presented the parenting plan, but I did submit it, and I notified Child Protective Services.”

“What came of it?”

“Nothing. The mother said Elle was mistaken. She said Elle had told her the stick figure was her father, and she drew it after the father got angry and hit her mommy.”

“Did you ask Elle again?”

“No. She disappeared.”

Tracy asked Bettencourt additional questions, then made arrangements to get the school file copied. She stood to leave.

“Detective?”

Tracy stopped. Bettencourt looked troubled. “Something else?”

“Earlier, you asked for my judgment.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think either living situation was a healthy environment for that little girl.”

“I understand,” Tracy said.

Bettencourt still looked troubled, as if Tracy didn’t comprehend what she was trying to say. “Let me put it this way. I see a lot of kids in difficult home situations, and usually one of the parents is more to blame—they’re lashing out and blaming their spouse for what has happened. The other spouse becomes the child’s protector, the person who swallows their own pain or pride and puts the child first.”

“But not here.”

She shook her head. “Unfortunately, not.”





CHAPTER 23

Tracy met Kins in the A Team’s bull pen. Faz and Del had left to conduct further interviews of witnesses to the shooting in Pioneer Square, and Fernandez continued to sit with the prosecutor in a King County Superior Court murder trial.

“Pinkney called,” Kins said, referring to the CSI sergeant. “The precipitin test on the blood sample came back as human. I put a call in to Cole’s mother and asked Stephanie’s blood type. That wasn’t much fun. She’s type A positive, the same as the blood sample CSI located. We have hair samples from a brush in Cole’s bathroom, but I called the lab and told them to concentrate on the cigarette butts. At least for now, I think we can assume from the earbud and the blood type that it belongs to Cole.” Kins handed Tracy several pages. “Andrei Vilkotski from TESU sends his undying adoration for ruining his weekend.”