Dangerous Girls

Everything will be okay. Trust me.

I don’t know how many times he’s said that to me, not just here in prison but my whole life. When I was scared for the first day of school, or stressed about a big test; when I fell off my bike in sixth grade and split my lip. When my mom got sick. I always believed him. He’s my father, he wouldn’t lie to me; he’s a grown-up, he knows the truth. But now I see his promises for what they really are: hopeful prayers, a mantra he says as much to reassure himself as me.

He can’t fix this, not even close.

I drift back through the prison to the rec room. Without Dekker haunting my every day with his relentless questions, there’s nothing to fill the time except my own black thoughts. The other women still look at me suspiciously and turn away before they talk, but even if one of them did take pity and try to make conversation, I don’t know what I would say. They spend their days watching TV or repeating foreign-language tapes, reading from old school textbooks, mouthing along with the words.

“We return now to our main story of the night, the brutal murder of Elise Warren.”

I freeze.

They tell me not to watch any of the coverage, but I can’t help taking two steps toward the small TV set up in the corner of the room.

“An innocent spring break, ripped apart by an unspeakable crime. A jealous friend, with a history of violence and wild partying.” The anchor is blond and middle-aged, but hiding it under a layer of tanned makeup and a helmet of spray-stiff hair. It’s Clara Rose, the biggest name in salacious true crime TV. I used to channel-hop past her show—endless exposés of dead fiancées, kidnapped children, and murderous cheating husbands. Now it’s my own photo up on screen, the mug shot from the police station, the night Dekker formally arrested me.

“As Elise Warren’s family and friends still mourn her brutal stabbing, we go behind the scenes to reveal the truth about her accuser murderer, Anna Chevalier. What could have driven this straight-A schoolgirl to the edge?” Clara leans into the camera across her news desk, wide-eyed with fake dismay. “Stay tuned after the break, when we bring you psychologist reports and exclusive interviews with the friends who knew her best.”

I feel the eyes of the other women watching me. I know I should walk away, but I can’t. My feet stayed glued to their spot, my eyes fixed on the small screen.

I stay.

CLARA ROSE SHOW TRANSCRIPT

CLARA: Welcome back. Thanks for tuning in, I’m Clara Rose. Tonight, we go inside the crime that has rocked the island paradise of Aruba, the brutal murder of seventeen-year-old Elise Warren, daughter of former Massachussetts state senator Charles Warren, who recently stepped down from his post—and likely gubernatorial run—to spend time with his family during this horrible tragedy.



WARREN SPOKESPERSON: The Warren family appreciates all the support, and they ask for privacy as they deal with this matter.



CLARA: Tonight, we reveal the police investigation into Elise’s accused murderer, her former friend Anna Chevalier. Just who is the girl charged with such an unspeakable crime? We’ll talk to psychologists and friends, and discover what could have driven her to the brink. But first we go live to our correspondent in Aruba for on-the-ground updates on the investigation.

MARLEE: Yes, Clara, Hi.

CLARA: What can you tell us about the situation there, Marlee? We’re hearing here about new developments, and possible new evidence in the case.

MARLEE: That’s right, Clara. Today, inside leaks from the police department have confirmed what we’ve been hearing in other reports: that there were blood stains in the hallway of the apartment that apparently went unnoticed by Anna and her boyfriend, Tate, for hours on the day of the murder.

CLARA: We’re seeing the crime-scene photos now. . . . Yes, on-screen, you can see the bedroom where Elise breathed her final breaths. I have to apologize for the disturbing images, folks, that’s an awful lot of blood, but we can see here just how violent the attack was.

MARLEE: Violent, and frenzied—“frenzied” is what I’m hearing from police sources. Elise clearly struggled, fighting her attacker, but was stabbed a total of thirteen times, the autopsy report confirms.

CLARA: Thirteen times! And this blood, yes, we can see on-screen now, photos from the hallway of the beach house where Elise and her friends were staying. There are bloodstains on the tile, visible in several places in the hallway, leading away from the victim’s bedroom toward the front door.

MARLEE: That’s right, Clara. And it’s these bloodstains that police here closed in on as prime evidence in the murder charges against Anna Chevalier. In her interrogations, Anna has supposedly denied seeing the blood, or even that it was there at all.

CLARA: Well, I don’t know how anyone can miss those marks; as you can see, the smears are on the tile and up the wall by the door. So it will be the defense’s argument that the blood was tracked out later?

MARLEE: Yes, I’m guessing that will be a major defense. These crime-scene photos weren’t taken until several hours after the body was discovered, and by that time, of course, you would have had paramedics and police, a whole group of people going in and out of the room. . . .

CLARA: But the detectives there . . . I know that investigation is being led by a Klaus Dekker—

MARLEE: Dekker, that’s right. He’ll be arguing—and this is something I’ve heard from several sources within the police department—their case is that the blood was there in the hallway all along, that saying she didn’t see it is suspicious, a sign of guilt. And with the fingerprints—

CLARA: The fingerprints on the bloody knife, used to stab Elise. A five-inch blade, from the kitchen—we don’t have photos of the murder weapon, but I’m showing you a similar model up on-screen now.

MARLEE: Exactly. We heard just a few weeks ago about this bombshell evidence, with the knife and the fingerprints, and I don’t see how you can get around this in court. These are serious questions the defense will have to deal with if Anna is going to have any hope of pleading innocent.

CLARA: And Anna is in custody right now, in the prison, awaiting trial.

MARLEE: That’s right. You can see behind me, here, the Aruba Correctional Institute where Anna has been held for the last five months now. It’s a small prison; they house the male and female inmates in separate wings.

CLARA: And what other kinds of criminals will she be living with? Aruba isn’t known for its crime.