Eve removed the items from the bag. In Grace’s rush to get to the police station, she had grabbed dirty pajamas and a blue sweatshirt out of the laundry room hamper.
“Oh my God, these clash horribly, Mother,” said Eve, holding up the clothes with a scornful look, which Grace found utterly chilling.
Thanks to plenty of therapy and practical experience, Grace knew Eve’s antics were merely a mask, a protective shield, nothing more. Underneath that false and misplaced bravado lurked a terrified young woman trapped in an utterly foreign, incomprehensible situation. Eve had taken over for Penny as was her duty and obligation, because Penny couldn’t survive in here—and nothing Eve said could be taken personally.
Grace had done her duty as well. She’d laid eyes on her child; seen that she was okay and appeared uninjured. She could let her go and sit with her thoughts and the profound ache of helplessness that was sure to be her new constant companion.
“Just know I’m here, okay?” Grace said, hoping her words meant something. “I love you, and I’m not going to leave you alone. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“They said I killed somebody. Who did I kill?”
Grace wanted to know everything—to ask her what happened, how she’d reconnected with her birth mother, what triggered her rage. She wanted to know it all, but then thought of Navarro.
“We’ll talk later, okay?”
It took incredible restraint to muster that simple response.
“Why don’t I take her now,” the officer in the room said, perhaps sensing things were about to head south, and fast. “We’ll get her changed and cleaned up, and I’ll bring you to a room where you can wait in private for your attorney.”
“Oh, don’t look so glum, Mother,” Eve said, putting her bloodied hands together in a prayer pose. “Think about the bright side. You won’t have to worry about paying for my college now.”
The smile that overtook Eve’s face held nothing but malice.
“Go get changed. I’ll see you soon. I love you … Eve,” Grace said, catching herself before she used the wrong name again.
* * *
After meeting with Penny, Navarro entered the small room off a kitchen area where Grace was waiting. He wore a solemn expression, and his complexion appeared to have gone a bit ashen. It was disturbing to think that Eve could drain the life force from even the most seasoned defense attorney.
“Well?” Grace asked nervously.
“Well, we’ve got our hands full, that’s for sure,” said Navarro. “Thanks for that warning, by the way. She was quite upset that you called her the wrong name, but she did give me permission to talk to you about what we discussed, so I’m free to share some of what we talked about.”
“Thank goodness for that,” said Grace, feeling a mix of relief and anxiety. “What did she say?”
“She said she doesn’t remember taking the car, how she got to Rachel’s house, or even why she went there in the first place. And she told me definitively that she doesn’t remember killing Rachel Boyd.”
“Is she devastated? It’s her birth mother.”
Grace braced herself, unable to fully grasp how shattering that news would be.
“No, and I suspect we need some professional guidance in that regard. I’m surprised, though, at her lack of memory. It doesn’t strike me as a convenient memory gap.”
“It’s not that. It’s a major symptom of DID, but it’s far more severe than being forgetful.” Grace hated the sinking feeling in her bones. “When she switches alters, it’s possible, probable really, that she can’t recall specific events, people, things she’s said or done, even something like this. Sometimes those memories belong to someone else—to another alter, or to her primary self, to Penny. But it could be, if the event is truly traumatic, she might enter a dissociative fugue state, a type of amnesia that could last for minutes, hours, months … even years.”
“Wow,” Navarro said, setting a hand on his chin. “Clearly I’ve got some research to do.”
“I have a lot of information I can give you,” Grace told him. “With time, when it’s less stressful, she may have new memories to share.”
It felt good to stay proactive. Her other option was to do what, become immobilized? Useless? Catatonic? That simply wasn’t Grace’s way. The more time she spent with Navarro, the more comfortable Grace was with her decision to move on from that other attorney. She felt certain by the end of the evening they’d work out a formal agreement and she’d remind him of the rate cut he had offered. She imagined there’d be a lot of free lunches in his future.