by Rick Mofina
“Yes.”
“All we’re looking for is for you to tell the truth about what you know and to be sure you understand that no matter what we ask you, it’s a crime to lie to us, okay?”
“Yes.”
“We need your help with our questions so we can find out what happened to your sister. You want to help us find Maddie, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Okay, let’s go back through what you first told Officers Greer and Porter earlier.”
Tyler related in detail events of the night, starting with his parents leaving them with Crystal and on to when they ordered a pizza, watched a movie and went to bed.
“Where did you get the pizza from?”
“Zia Lorella’s. We always get it there with Mom and Dad too. The delivery guy is Bennie and he’s funny, always joking.”
“Was Bennie alone when he came?”
“Yes.”
“Did he come inside the house or anything like that?”
“Well, just inside at the front where Crystal paid him at the door. Maddie and I said, ‘Hi, Bennie.’ He smiled and winked at Maddie and said, ‘Hey, beautiful,’ that’s what he always says to her, then we took the pizza and drinks to the kitchen table.”
“Then after you ate, you watched the movie?”
“Yeah, Jurassic Park.”
“Which one?”
“The very first one. We hadn’t seen it, and my friends said it was good.”
“What time did you start watching it?”
“I don’t know. After we ate the pizza.”
“Did you watch all of it?”
“Yes, and I ate some Doritos because I was still a bit hungry.”
“After the movie, what did you do?”
“Maddie and I went to bed and I think, because I remember looking at my clock then, and it was maybe ten thirty.”
“Did anyone visit your house during the evening, while you were eating, watching the movie, or after you’d gone to bed?”
“No.”
“Do you know who Zachary Keppler is?”
“I think he’s Crystal’s boyfriend.”
“Did he visit?”
“No.”
“Did anyone visit?”
“No.”
“Was Crystal talking to her boyfriend on her phone during the evening?”
“I don’t know, but she was on her phone a lot, texting and stuff. I mean, she’s always on her phone.”
“You told the officers that you got up in the night and heard voices. Tell us about that.”
“I was thirsty from the pizza and Doritos, and got up to get a drink of water from the bathroom.”
“Did you know what time it was?”
“No, but it felt real late because the house was so quiet until I passed Maddie’s bedroom door and I heard these voices talking softly.”
“What were they saying?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you recognize the voices?”
“I think one was Maddie’s.”
“What was the tone like, threatening, friendly, laughing or serious?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you hear any screams, cries? Any sounds to suggest a struggle?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Did you see anything out of place or different?”
“No.”
“What do you think was going on in your sister’s room?”
“I don’t know. I figured she might’ve been talking with Mom or someone on her phone, or playing a video.”
“How would you say your mom and dad have been getting along lately?”
Tyler thought for a moment.
“Well, lately, like in the last few months, I overheard them arguing more and more about money and stuff.”
“Like what?”
“About Dad’s work having money problems. They never knew I could hear them talking about it. Whenever I came in the room, they talked about something else, but I could tell it was serious.”
Tyler saw both detectives make a little note before Zubik resumed.
“Does your dad ever get mad?”
“Sure, sometimes.”
“Has he ever hit you or your sister?”
“No.”
“Have you ever seen him strike your mom?”
“No.”
“What does your dad do when he gets mad?”
“He might swear, or get real quiet.”
“And has he been getting mad lately?”
“No, I’d say he’s about the same.”
“How does your dad get along with Maddie?”
“Good, I guess. He calls her his little angel.”
“What about your mom and Maddie? How do they get along?”
“Well, some days they get along fine but other days they fight.”
“What do they fight about?”
“Maddie wants to date boys, but Mom says she’s too young.”
“Does Maddie have a boyfriend, maybe a secret one at school or online that Mom and Dad don’t know about?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you know what sexting is?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever done it?”
“No.”
“Do you think Maddie has done it?”
“I don’t think so, no.”
“Do you think Maddie could keep that a secret from you and your parents?”
“I don’t know, I guess so, maybe.”
“Would her girlfriends at school know her secrets?”
“Maybe. They’re her friends.”
“Can you tell us the names of her best friends?”
“I would say they’re Brooke Carson, Lily Wong and Gabriela Rios. They all go to our school.”
“Do you know if Maddie was ever bullied at school?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Did she ever bully someone at school or online?”
“No, she’s not like that.”
“She ever take drugs, or drink alcohol?”
“No.”
“Have you?”
Tyler swallowed, casting his mind back to the warning about telling the truth.
“I tried pot and drank beer at a couple of parties I was at, but that’s all.”
“What else do you do that your parents might not know about?”
Tyler thought for a long time without speaking.
“Ever look at porn on your computer, Tyler?”
“No, my parents put controls on it and stuff.”
“What about on a friend’s computer?”
Tyler swallowed.
“Yes, I looked at it on some of my friends’ computers a few times.”
“Can you tell us the names of your friends?”
Tyler hesitated.
“I don’t want to get anybody in trouble.”
“Tyler, we need your help.”
“Tate Sommer, Hunter Kent and Tristan Bryant.”
“Okay, now, has Maddie ever run away from home?”
“Well, she sorta did.”
“What do you mean?”
“A little while ago, a couple weeks I think. She and Mom got in a big fight, and Maddie was real mad. There was a lot of shouting and door slamming and stuff, and Maddie ran out of the house. I remember it was raining real hard, and Mom got Dad to drive down the street in his truck. He found her and brought her home. Maddie was crying and slammed the door to her room. It was pretty bad.”
“Do you know what that fight was about?”
“Boys, I think. Maddie was telling Mom she was old enough to have a boyfriend because some of the girls her age at school have boyfriends.”
<
br /> “Were Maddie and your mom fighting yesterday?”
“A little, I think, but nothing big.”
“Do you think Maddie ran away last night?”
“No.”
“If she did run away, where do you think she would go?”
“I don’t know, her friends’, or maybe Uncle Cole’s place, I don’t know.”
“What do you think happened last night?”
“I think someone took her.”
“What makes you say that, given that she sort of ran away before?”
“This is different. I think someone got Dad’s ladder, got into Maddie’s room and took her.”
“Do you think any of your friends may have taken her?”
“No.”
“Anyone from school?”
“No.”
“Anyone from the neighborhood?”
“No.”
“Do you and Maddie ever fight?”
“Yes, once we had a fight and I hit her.”
“You hit her?”
“With my pillow. I made some money cutting the grass for Mr. Sheridan, this old neighbor down the street. Maddie borrowed twenty-five dollars from me and didn’t pay me back, and I got mad at her and hit her with my pillow.”
“What did she want the money for?”
“I think to get some makeup and stuff, I’m not sure.”
“Did she ever pay you back?”
“No. She cried and got sad, saying how she wished we were rich like Uncle Cole, Aunt Jill and Dalton. They give us nice presents. They gave Maddie a nice watch, once.”
“And Dalton gave you those hunting knives in your room?”
“Yes, I like collecting knives.”
“Those are real nice ones you have.”
“Thanks.”
“Ever use them to kill anything, Tyler?”
“No, but I wish I—” Tyler looked away.
“What do you wish?”
“That I could’ve used one of my knives to get whoever was in my sister’s room. I would’ve fought them.”
“You would’ve stabbed them?”
“Yes, to save Maddie.”
Zubik looked at Tyler for a long time before he leaned forward.
“Suppose I told you that I didn’t believe you?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Tyler, did you kill your sister?”
“No!”
“Maybe you got mad at her for something, got the ladder to make it look like someone else, then took her into the woods and killed her?”
“No!”
“Because we found something in the woods, you know.”
“What?” Tyler’s eyes widened, then went from Zubik to Asher and back in a futile search for an answer and his chin crumpled. “What did you find? Is Maddie dead?”
“I didn’t say that. But you have to tell us the truth. Did you hurt Maddie?”
“I didn’t hurt her! I didn’t do anything to my sister!”
“What about your friends? Maybe they hurt Maddie?”
“No! I don’t know who took her!” He began wiping his tears.
Zubik and Asher looked at him for a long silent time.
“It’s all right, Tyler. We’re finished for now,” Zubik said.
14
Zubik and Asher would not reveal to Karen what they had found in the woods.
Something’s wrong, she thought.
Just like it was that day Karen was thirteen and returned home from school to an empty house. It was odd, she thought as she called for her mother, who was always home. Then, glancing outside, Karen was happy to see her in the backyard working in her garden—until she looked again.
Why’s Mom sleeping on the lawn?
Karen went into the yard. Something wasn’t right. She tried to wake her but couldn’t. Her mother was not breathing. Something was wrong. Alarmed, Karen called 911 then tried giving her the CPR she’d learned in school, all while begging her to wake up.
But Karen knew.
Her mom was dead.
Yet kneeling over her on the grass under a clear blue sky, Karen couldn’t believe it was true. She sobbed against her mother’s cheek, drank in her fresh soapy scent and cradled her in that faded print cotton top she wore and those torn, paint-stained jeans, smelling the soil, the flowers, kissing her forehead and screaming.
Come back! Mom, please come back!
Karen had felt so helpless that day. Nothing made sense. Nothing was real. She never heard the siren, never felt the paramedics gently pry her mother out of her arms. And now, as Karen sat in a stark interview room with Zubik and Asher staring at her, refusing to tell her what they’d discovered in Lucifer’s Green, half-hearing their questions, she could feel disbelief and helplessness building and swirling inside her as they did that day. Only now her heart screamed for her daughter.
Come back! Maddie, please come back!
“Karen?” Zubik asked her again. “Is that correct?”
The detective had been relentless ever since he’d pointed to the camera and explained the process. Karen had answered question after question and had given them a time line covering the twenty-fours in her family’s life before Maddie vanished. But Zubik kept going over everything again and again.
“In the hours prior to your daughter’s disappearance you had an argument with her. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“What were the issues of contention?”
“As I said, I told her she was too young to start dating boys.”
“Was the argument about a specific boy?”
“No.”
“Does she have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Is it possible she has a secret boyfriend you’re not aware of?”
“I doubt it because she’d tell me.”
“You’re certain of that?”
“Yes, I believe that.”
“You don’t think girls your daughter’s age keep secrets?”
“I know my daughter.”
“Did you ever lose your temper with Maddison?”
“Yes.” Karen’s voice weakened.
“What happens when you lose your temper with her?”
“We yell at each other.”
“Did you ever strike her?”
“No.”
“Did she ever strike you?”
“No.”
“Are you being truthful to us, Karen?”
“Yes.” She wiped her tears.
Zubik paged back through his notes.
“We understand that as recently as a couple of weeks ago, Maddison ran out of your home after an argument with you about boys and that you sent your husband to find her and bring her back. Is that correct?”
Somewhere deep inside, Karen felt a new emotional detonation and the room began spinning, casting her back in time to Maddie’s face contorted in adolescent anger...
Why are you ruining my life? Other girls my age date boys! Other girls my age wear makeup and get piercings! I’m a young woman now! Why are you ruining my life? Why? Why? Why? I hate you! I hate you so much!
Maddie’s words had pierced Karen because they were the same words she’d spewed at her mother the morning of the day she died, for the same reasons: wanting to dress the way she wanted, wanting to wear makeup and go out with boys. Karen soon realized that the things she’d said were hurtful, and all day in school she’d regretted it, was ashamed. They’d already endured so much pain. She had rushed home intent on apologizing and begging her mom to forgive her.
But it was too late.
Her mother died, and the last words Karen had said to her were hateful.
At the funeral, numbed by grief and guilt, Karen had watched her mother’s casket desce
nd into her grave, taking her away forever without her knowing the truth. Karen wanted to crawl into it with her, put her arms around her and say she was sorry, sorry for everything. Her father looked broken, and mourned with a bottle in his hand for the next three years until he died.
Karen went to live with her aunt and uncle, people she barely knew, or liked. Alone at night she cursed God for all that had happened to her family. First, the death of Cassie, Karen’s younger sister, and the troubling questions that lingered over how she died. Then her mother’s death. Karen had lost faith in life, drank, took drugs, had sex with most any guy who wanted it, didn’t care what happened to her until a wise, patient school counselor saved her by making her take a good hard look at herself.
Karen stopped drinking, stopped taking drugs, stopped sleeping around and eventually took a few community college courses with a goal of being a nurse. But she dropped out when she got a full-time cashier’s job at what was then Kleigermann’s Supermart and shared an apartment with a girlfriend. Then she met Ryan and they fell in love. He was gentle, kind, hardworking and good-looking. His family became her family. Karen loved his parents and his brother, Cole, who was also easy on the eyes. Karen was thankful for her life. It was never perfect, it was never easy, but they were happy. They were ordinary working people doing the best they could.
“Karen?” Zubik said. “Did Maddison run out of your home?”
“Yes. We argued, she ran out in the rain. I sent Ryan after her. He found her walking in the neighborhood and brought her home.”
“What makes you think Maddison didn’t run away this time?”
“She didn’t. Someone was in her room. There’s the mud, the ladder!”
“Okay, but let’s just say she did run away. Where do you think she would go? Where might she have been heading when she ran off a few weeks ago?”
Karen cupped her face in her hands and shook her head.
“A friend’s house? I don’t know if she was headed anywhere then, but I know that last night she didn’t run away. She was taken!”
“All right. Now, you said Maddison wears a bra, started menstruating a few months ago, experienced mood swings and considered herself mature for her age.”
“Yes.”
“Would you say she’s flirtatious, promiscuous?”
“No, she’s twelve years old!”
