Stolen(20)

“I don’t understand it,” Hatcher said. “Why would she think such a thing? I know that even today the bloggers have some crazy-ass theories about what really happened, but Laura’s parents would have shielded her from gossip at the time. Where would the child get that idea?”

Caitlin twisted in her chair to face Hatcher. “Children are prone to magical thinking. They feel responsible for everything from their parents’ divorces to deaths in the family. Maybe a child tells his mother I wish you were dead, then a month later she’s diagnosed with cancer. He thinks that somehow his wish brought on the disease.”

Hatcher scratched his head.

“Step on a crack, break your mother’s back,” Spense said.

“Oh!” Hatcher nodded. “I still jump over the cracks.”

Caitlin turned to Grady. “I can see how a combination of magical thinking and survivor’s guilt could have caused a young Laura to believe she’d murdered Angelina. But as she grew older, and with your counseling and proper medication, when confronted with the facts, she should’ve understood, at least on an intellectual level, that belief was false—unless she’s suffering from a thought disorder—a full-blown psychosis.”

“She’s not. Though she has teetered in that direction from time to time.”

“So you’re saying she might be dangerous or maybe it’s the other way around—she might be in danger instead. And she’s not crazy—but she is a little. It’s a wonder, with you as her guide, she’s not a bastion of clear thinking.” Caitlin jumped to her feet, took a deep breath and forced herself to sit back down. It made her nuts to think someone charged with helping Laura might’ve confused her more instead.

“I guess as she got older, those bloggers with their wild speculations didn’t help the poor kid any.” Hatcher drum-rolled his knuckles on the table, randomly. “But tell me this, Dr. Webber, what does Laura say about all the evidence pointing to Angelina being in on the kidnap scheme?”

“Laura adamantly refuses to believe any of it. According to her, Angelina loved her, and she loved Angelina, even though she sometimes acted the part of an ungrateful brat. According to her, Angelina would’ve never harmed her. Not for money. Not for a boyfriend. Not for all the salt in the sea.”

“All the salt in the sea. She said that?” Hatcher tilted his head to the side.

“My interpretation. Figure of speech.” Grady didn’t hide the disdain in his voice.

“Never heard that one.” Hatcher shrugged.

“Like all the tea in China,” Grady explained.

“But tea is worth good money. Salt, not so much . . . and you can’t drink it.”

“It’s less cliché.”

“Me, I like a good cliché. At least I know what the hell it means.”

“Concrete thinking. Always a plus in any conversation.” Grady assumed his go-to expression—the superior smirk.

Spense tossed his cube in the air and sent Caitlin an oh-brother look.

She smiled back at Spense, glad the inane exchange seemed to have finally run its course. She hadn’t been paying much attention anyway. She’d been thinking about Angelina and Laura. Laura might be confused about what happened that night, but that didn’t mean everything she said should be dismissed out-of-hand. It hadn’t been proven, at least not by any overwhelming evidence, that Angelina was an accomplice. “It’s possible the nanny was kidnapped, too, like the police originally suspected. Maybe she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Laura and Angelina were asleep in separate bedrooms in the family home.” Hatcher turned all business on a dime. Caitlin smiled at the thought. Good cliché. Everyone knows what it means.

“You can’t be sure of that,” Spense said. “It’s possible Laura cried out, and the nanny went in to check on her, thus interrupting the kidnapper. Or maybe the kidnapper didn’t know how to take care of a child, so he dragged the nanny along to keep Laura calm. Since Angelina wasn’t ransomable, he didn’t mind killing her when it suited him.”

“Don’t think so,” Hatcher said. “Not a good enough reason to risk abducting an adult, who’d be a lot harder to manage. Besides, the kidnapper didn’t have to worry about keeping Laura quiet. He drugged her with GHB—the date rape drug.”

“Everyone here knows what GHB is,” Grady said.

“What about Angelina? Did they find GHB in her system, too?” Caitlin asked.

“We didn’t test for it.” Hatcher got busy shuffling papers.