Chapter 5
Petra stopped denying the slap.
The dining-room video made denial pointless.
Through counsel, she gave a statement.
She admitted using physical discipline on Linnea four times during the previous two months.
She described it as:
“Corrective contact.”
Detective Maddox did not let the phrase survive.
“You slapped, pinched, and grabbed a five-year-old?”
Petra looked down.
“Yes.”
“Did Gideon authorize physical discipline?”
“No.”
“Did the child’s mother?”
“She’s dead.”
“That was not my question.”
“No.”
“Did Evelyn know?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ever stop you?”
“Sometimes.”
“Did she photograph injuries?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Petra’s eyes filled.
“I thought she was protecting herself.”
“From what?”
“If Gideon noticed.”
“How would photographs protect Evelyn?”
Petra hesitated.
“She said if he accused us, she needed a record showing everything.”
“Showing what?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer did not convince anyone.
Then Detective Maddox asked about Petra’s threat at dinner.
I’ll tell everyone YOU abused her.
Petra covered her face.
“I was humiliated.”
“That explains why you said something vicious. Did you invent the idea in that moment?”
Silence.
“No.”
There.
“Had your mother discussed blaming Gideon?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A few weeks ago.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Petra looked toward her lawyer.
Then answered:
“She said Gideon’s weakness was that he thinks reputation doesn’t matter until it belongs to Linnea.”
“What did that mean?”
“She said he would sign almost anything before letting Sarah’s family hear that he was hurting their daughter.”
Gideon later listened to the recorded interview with permission through discovery.
He had to stop it twice.
The detective continued.
“Did Evelyn tell you to hurt Linnea so there would be photographs?”
“No.”
“Did she ever ask you to create bruises?”
“No.”
“Then why did she photograph marks you caused?”
Petra began crying.
“I thought she was going to use them against Gideon.”
“Why preserve dates when Gideon was away?”
“I asked her that.”
“What did she say?”
Petra looked up.
“She said originals are insurance.”
“Insurance against whom?”
Petra did not answer.
Her lawyer requested a break.
When the interview resumed, Petra said:
“My mother never trusts anyone completely.”
May you like
Including Petra.
That was the first moment investigators considered that Evelyn’s evidence might have more than one intended target.
