Officer: Are you afraid of your mother?
Laura: Yes.
Tears streamed down her face.
“I don’t remember saying this.”
“Your mind may have buried it,” Bennett said.
“What happened to my mother after that?”
The detective leaned back.
“That’s the strange part. The officers documented the incident.”
“And?”
“No charges were filed.”
I frowned.
“Why not?”
Bennett opened the final page.
“A social worker visited the home the following week.”
Laura’s breathing turned shallow.
“What did they find?”
He read the conclusion.
“Insufficient evidence of abuse.”
Anger rose in me instantly.
“They let her go?”
“Yes.”
Laura whispered, “But the corrections stopped.”
Bennett nodded.
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
The detective closed the folder slowly.
“Because someone else intervened.”
Laura wiped her eyes.
“Who?”
He looked directly at her.
“Your father.”
Laura froze.
“My dad?”
“Yes.”
“He left when I was ten.”
“That’s what you were told,” Bennett replied.
Laura stared at him, confused.
“What do you mean?”
He slid one last document across the table.
A divorce filing.
Dated two months after the police incident.
Laura read the name.
Thomas Carter.
“My father…”
Bennett nodded.
“He returned after hearing about the police report.”
Laura’s voice shook.
“He came back?”