Conception: Callie Douglas - Book Six

Chapter Five

I turned to Gabe. "Whew!" I said. "Leslie, do you want to stay while I give Gabe the findings from the interview? I'd be interested in hearing your take on it as well."

"Okay." She headed back into my office and started cleaning up the dolls, putting them back into their bag.

"In short, Gabe, I didn't get all the information that I wanted but I did get some information. It is an extended family living at her house. Mom lives there, but so do Grandma and Grandpa. Mom's boyfriend comes over frequently. It was a little confusing, because she calls Grandpa 'Poppa', as in 'p-o-p-p-a', and I thought she meant 'Papa', as in 'p-a-p-a', which is what she calls her mother's boyfriend. However, her grandfather is quite active in her care. He's the person who tucks her into bed at night, and he's the person who comforts her when she has bad dreams."

"What does she have bad dreams about?"

"She said she dreams of snakes biting her. I asked her why that was bad, and she said that snake bites hurt. I asked her what happens when a snake bites her, and she said she gets pregnant. As you can imagine, I don't think she was really talking about snakes. I tried to get more information about her dreams, but she started to get agitated and said she didn't want to play any longer. I backed off and that's why she's coming back for another go-around. I'm hoping to find out more information about her nightmares and her grandfather's method of comforting her when she comes back next time. Do you have anything to add?" I asked Leslie.

"No, I don't. I thought you did a good job with Daisy. You were very thoughtful of her feelings and very gentle. I don't think she realized that she gave as much information to you as she did."

"Thank you. That's the way I like it. I don't want to upset the kids, but I still need to get information from them."

"No, you definitely did a good job. It was one of the better interviews that I have ever sat in on."

"Are you available to come again next Monday?"

"I'll make sure that I'm available. I want to hear more about the nightmares. I think that will be very useful information for us to have."

"I agree. Do you have any questions, either of you?"

"No, I don't", said Leslie. "I'm going now. Have a good weekend!" With that, she left the room, giving her goodbyes to Addison on the way out.

I turned to Gabe. "I didn't find out as much as I hoped, but it does sound like the grandfather is the culprit."

"I'm quite pleased with how much you found out today. That's far more than we've had so far. I look forward to hearing what you find out on Monday as well."

"Good. Are you almost ready to go home for the day?"

"I am. I just have to finish preparing the desks for our two new hires. They start on Monday. Tara and I will be glad to have the new detectives added to the team. It has been crazy-busy over the last two months."

"I'll be glad when the new detectives start as well. I'll see you more. You've been logging so much overtime that I feel like I've hardly seen you since I moved in with you."

"True. It will be good to get away with you next weekend. Are we still on for visiting Ethan?" Ethan and his family were friends of mine when I was doing my residency in Boston a year ago. Ethan was my supervisor and we hit it off. Both he and his wife became good friends during my tenure. I'm even the godmother to his youngest, and an honorary aunt to his two oldest. They are the one and only thing I miss from my Boston days.