Chapter Twenty-Four

He turned away from Mac and said something to another cop behind the window. The door to the waiting area opened and a woman officer came out holding a plastic bag with her dress in it.

“I’m Detective Billie Smith. Let’s go into an office where we can take your statement in private.”

They walked down a short, darkened hallway, Mac a few paces behind, her eyes glued to the bag. “EVIDENCE” was stamped in huge red letters on the side, somehow making Mac’s actions very real, and very terrifying. She couldn’t look away. If she did she wouldn’t believe this was happening. And she might freeze.

Things she hadn’t even considered started bubbling to the top of her mind. What if Lily had to testify? How could she even go through that? What if her father went to jail and they were left with no money? What if Barb wouldn’t let her live with them because of what she’d done? Or hadn’t done? She hadn’t protected Lily. She should’ve told sooner. Of all people, she should have known.

But she couldn’t freeze. She was done looking away, ignoring the past. She’d wasted too much time already. In fact, she had to make this happen faster. Every minute Lily was with him was one minute too long. One minute he could be doing … whatever he wanted. Every minute Lily was with him was on Mac.

After going through the formalities of getting all of Mackenzie’s data, like name, address, date of birth and writing down everything as slowly as humanly possible, Detective Smith finally asked, “Okay. When did this rape occur?”

Mackenzie shook her head and blew out a burst of air. “Look, mine happened a long time ago, but my sis—”—“

“Oh. Well, there is a statute of limitations. Why don’t you tell me your story? Just start at the beginning. You can tell me everything from start to finish. Do you mind if I record it so I get everything right?”

It had already been twenty-five minutes since the cab had dropped her off. It was starting to get dark. Who cares when her birthday is? Let’s just grab up Lily before he does anything!

“Look, my sister is in danger. He’s going to do it to her, too! Please just go get her and I can tell you everything after! You’re wasting time! Please!” Mac was aware her voice was rising and she was starting to lose it but she couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Lily today. Now.

“Our main goal is to keep you and your sister safe,” the officer said. “But you still haven’t told me who you’re accusing, or what happened. I want to do this fast too, but I still need to make sure we do this right. We don’t want the accused to get away, get away with it, or disappear with your sister. So let’s start with who. Who are you accusing?”

“Stan Douglas.”

The cop started to write in the form in the little box and then stopped and looked up at Mac. “Stan Douglas? The guy who donated all the money to the beach restoration?”

“Yes.”

“And the Police Benevolent Association?”

“Yes.”

“And … who is Stan Douglas to you and your sister?”

“He’s our father.”

Mackenzie watched the officer’s professional training kick in as she tried to mask her reaction, but knew the look she saw under the surface was the one she’d be seeing as the news spread. Her father was known here and at home. She didn’t care. As long as she could get Lily away, that’s all that mattered. She saw the expression soften, and the cop said, “Hon, where is your sister now?”

“She’s at the father daughter dance with him at the club. Please, we have to get her away! Now!” Thoughts of the barbecued hot dogs, and the special dress Lily got, and her own ruined polka dot dress sitting on the desk encased in protective plastic was too much. Mackenzie stood. Pacing back and forth in the little room, she started babbling. “You don’t understand, he’ll hurt her and my step-mom isn’t home, or she’s coming back from a trip or I don’t know when she’s coming back, and I tried to call her but she’d freak if I left a message because I’m not even supposed to be back from my trip and she could be home now or maybe not now or later but Lily’s in danger and we have to go get her or—”

Officer Smith was handing her tissues with one hand while dialing her phone with the other. Mac blew her nose and wiped the tears away as she listened to her say “Yeah, that’s him. Uh-huh,” and “Thanks, bud, just keep an eye on them.” She hung up and turned to Mac.

“That was my partner. Your sister is safe and seems to be having a nice time at the dance. We need to be careful here. I don’t want to tip your dad off just yet. My partner’s there with his little girl, too, he knows your dad from the PBA, and he won’t let him out of his sight until we get there. Now that we’ve bought a little time to get our ducks in a row we can make sure you and your sister never have to go through this again, okay?”

After Mac finished giving her statement, they got hold of the woman on call at the child services department they shared with the small town next door. Because of the holiday she wouldn’t be available for a couple of hours so it was decided they’d head back to the house to see if Barb had returned yet, and bring her back to the station. They’d have Barb go to the dance and get Lily, saying she wanted to see her in her dress. While Barb took Lily to primp in the ladies room, Stan would be arrested and taken in. But first they had to see if Barb was even home.

***

Mackenzie never knew police cars had such small back seats and her knees ached from being jammed into the hard plastic that separated her from the cops up front.

“You wait here while we go see. Got it?” The two cops got out of the cruiser and slammed their doors shut.

The questions pounded but she was pretty sure she already knew the answers.

Could anything be done now?

Doubtful.

Was it already too late?

Probably.

Could she have done something to stop it?

Absolutely.

And the one she feared most: Was it all her fault?

Yes.