Sadie(52)
[MUDDLED SOUND OF TWO WOMEN’S VOICES]
WEST McCRAY [STUDIO]: It’s almost impossible to wrap my head around Claire being back. I want to talk to her, see what she has to say. I’ve only heard one side of her story and it wasn’t related to me by her biggest fan. But Claire— [SOUND OF DOOR OPENING, SLAMMING BACK INTO PLACE]
MAY BETH FOSTER:
She doesn’t want to talk to you and she hasn’t changed a bit.
WEST McCRAY:
What does that mean?
MAY BETH FOSTER:
Selfish as ever.
WEST McCRAY:
I’d really like to speak with her, May Beth. This might be our chance at getting a lead on Darren.
MAY BETH FOSTER:
I’ll go back in shortly. She’s having a smoke right now.
WEST McCRAY [STUDIO]: May Beth tells me she was getting ready to go to bed when she looked out her window and saw a light in Mattie’s room. Her first thought was Sadie. It wasn’t Sadie. It was Claire, curled up on Mattie’s bed. She’d broken the locks to get in. When May Beth goes back in for attempt number two, I only hear the occasional furious rise in volume between them. It’s a chilly night. The stars above Sparkling River Estates are spectacular. I don’t see them much in New York and I wonder if residents of Cold Creek are so used to the view, they don’t really see them either. I end up waiting nearly two hours before Claire finally comes out.
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
So you’re the reporter May Beth’s been telling me about.
[THE GIRLS THEME]
WEST McCRAY [STUDIO]: Claire Southern is not what I’m expecting.
She’s clean, for starters, and that’s one of the first things she tells me. At a glance, it could be true. She’s different from the pictures I’ve seen. She’s put on weight, quite a bit of it, actually. Her complexion is a healthy pink and her eyes are alert. Her hair is long, past her shoulders, shiny. She chain smokes—the one vice she can’t give up. She refuses to go back inside May Beth’s to sit at the table and talk. She wants to stand in the dark, where she’ll consider my questions and, if I’m lucky, answer them. May Beth hovers at the screen door, shifting in and out of view, listening to us both, though I don’t think she knows we know that.
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
The only reason I’m talking to you is because I figured it out; May Beth doesn’t want me to. And if the only person you’ve heard about me from is her—well, I can just imagine the bullshit she’s been feeding you.
WEST McCRAY: The last May Beth knew, you were using and then you were gone.
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
When I heard Mattie … when I heard Mattie died last October, I tried to kill myself. I tried to OD. I just wanted to be with my little girl. It didn’t work, though. I figured it was a sign. A friend helped me find a rehab—a spin dry. It wasn’t the best place, but it worked. So far, it’s stuck.
WEST McCRAY:
May Beth said she found you in Mattie’s room.
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
I got a right.
WEST McCRAY:
How did you find out Mattie died?
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
Heard it on the news. A … a friend told me to turn on the TV.
WEST McCRAY:
Did you know Sadie was missing?
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
Not until tonight.
WEST McCRAY:
Why are you back now, if you knew Mattie was dead and you knew Sadie was by herself?
WEST McCRAY [STUDIO]: Claire surprises me, then. She starts to cry, and it seems to take every last ounce of her willpower to stay where she is. She looks like she wants to run. She doesn’t. But it’s a long time before she’s able to speak.
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
Why do you think I got clean? You said it yourself—Mattie was dead. I knew Sadie was here alone. I wanted to be with her.
WEST McCRAY:
Do you love your daughter?
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
[PAUSE] Sadie deserves to hear the answer to that question more than you do and you got no right to ask me it.
WEST McCRAY:
Her car—
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
She got herself a car?
WEST McCRAY: Just before Sadie left Cold Creek, she did. That was in June. A month later, it was discovered abandoned in Farfield with all her belongings in it. Sadie hasn’t been found.
Does Farfield mean anything to you?
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
No.
WEST McCRAY:
We’re trying to figure out its significance. May Beth reached out to me for help. I’ve been trying to find your daughter.
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
Why?
WEST McCRAY:
Why what?
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
Why are you looking for her?
[DOOR OPENING]
MAY BETH FOSTER:
Good Lord, Claire.
CLAIRE SOUTHERN:
I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep yourself out of this. [TO WEST] What I mean is, why are you looking for her?
WEST MC McCRAY CRAY [STUDIO]: Before I can answer, May Beth puts herself in front of Claire. She’s waving the postcard Claire sent from L.A. in her hand.