Chapter 8 - Nora remembers lights
The forensic interview with Nora occurred after medical stabilization.
She was seven but had spent five years under abnormal conditions.
The interviewer avoided leading questions.
Nora remembered Rachel.
Not everything.
“Mommy Rachel.”
She remembered an apartment.
A yellow blanket.
A stuffed rabbit.
Then park.
“Vivian said we go car.”
Did Vivian take her from playground?
Nora said:
“No playground.”
That was important.
“Where were you before the car?”
“Mommy house.”
“Who took you?”
“Vivian.”
“Was your mommy there?”
“Sleeping.”
Sleeping?
Could mean asleep.
Ill.
Medication.
Or simply memory distortion.
Then car.
Nora remembered:
“Blue bag.”
“Rain.”
“Vivian crying.”
Did she remember hidden room first night?
“Yes.”
“Why did Vivian say you had to stay?”
“Bad men find Mommy.”
Then later:
“Mommy gone.”
How did Vivian explain Rachel’s death?
“She said Mommy went heaven.”
True eventually.
But Rachel lived roughly eleven months after Nora disappeared.
During those months Vivian told Nora Rachel was “very sick.”
Nora asked to see her.
No.
Then Dean.
“Who is Dean?”
“Man with red tie.”
Did Dean enter hidden room?
“Two times.”
What happened?
“He yelled Vivian.”
About what?
“Money.”
Then:
“He said girl makes everything worse.”
That could be relevant.
No claim he hurt Nora.
Then one memory:
Nora had been present in Rachel’s apartment when Vivian and Dean argued.
She remembered Dean throwing papers.
A red folder.
Vivian said:
“You should have cleaned this before Rachel saw it.”
Dean said:
“She already copied everything.”
Nora was probably too young to understand.
But Vivian may have feared Rachel had told Nora where evidence was hidden.
At two?
Unlikely.
Then a line in Rachel’s note:
Nora saw me put backup in blue rabbit bag.
That was different.
Rachel may have hidden something inside Nora’s belongings.
May you like
If Vivian believed Nora knew where it went, keeping Nora could help locate it.
Still incomplete.
