Chapter 3 - NO ONE HELPS FOR FREE
Travis was escorted to a family waiting room while Leah interviewed Mia privately.
Not an interrogation.
No bright light. No raised voices.
Just crayons, apple juice, and questions small enough for a child to answer.
“Why was the pantry locked?” Leah asked.
Mia colored one corner of the paper blue.
“Uncle Travis said Mommy wasted money.”
“Was there food in the house?”
“Some.”
“Did you eat yesterday?”
Mia nodded. “Crackers.”
“And Caleb?”
“I made his bottle with water from the bathroom.”
Leah kept her face still.
“Did you know how much formula to use?”
Mia shook her head.
“I put in what was left.”
“How did you get to the hospital?”
“I walked.”
The hospital was almost two miles from the Bennett house.
In rain.
With a nine-month-old baby.
“Why didn’t you call 911?”
Mia stared at her crayons.
“Uncle Travis took Mommy’s phone. The house phone doesn’t work.”
“Did you ask a neighbor?”
“I knocked at two houses. Nobody opened.”
Leah swallowed.
“And the fifty cents?”
Mia touched the pocket of her damp shorts.
“My daddy gave me quarters for the tooth fairy jar before he died.”
“You thought the hospital needed money?”
“Uncle Travis says nobody helps for free.”
There it was.
Not a child’s lesson.
An adult’s poison.
Across the hall, Travis was arguing with security. His voice carried through the door.
“My sister disappears and suddenly I’m the criminal?”
Mia flinched.
Leah moved closer.
“Did your mom say where she was going?”
“The pharmacy.”
“Did she take anything with her?”
“Her red scarf. Her purse.”
Mia paused.
“And the envelope.”
“What envelope?”
“The one Uncle Travis wanted.”
Leah’s pen stopped.
“What was in it?”
Mia drew a black rectangle.
“I don’t know. But Mommy said, ‘You’re not getting Ben’s money.’”
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Then Mia added one more thing.
“She told me if she didn’t come back, I had to find Mrs. Alvarez.”
