“Did she ever mention a town called Millgate?”Stevens asks.
“No,” Emily says.“Not that I recall.”
“Hm.Okay.”Stevens taps his pen on the pad.“The coroner’s report listed her hometown as Toronto, but you’re sure she didn’t grow up there?”
“I’m sure,” Emily says, frowning.“She said she grew up in a small town.”
Rachel’s mind is whirring.There are two large strawberry farms around Millgate, but that’s true of plenty of southwestern Ontario towns.Still, the evidence is mounting.
Stevens presses for the next question.“Do you happen to know whether her parents are still alive?Still there?Or if they were, at the time of her death?”
With a heavy sigh, Emily recounts a conversation she’d had with Annie Little about her parents’ move to Ottawa, how her father had disowned her when she became ill, but that her mother had continually tried to appeal for her release.
Rachel’s brow is furrowed.“None of that was in the grand jury investigation.Why not?”
“You read it?”
“Yes, ma’am.And your article inChatelaine.Doris Anderson sent me a copy by courier.”
Emily swallows, her eyes growing dark.“Well, I was told it was an investigation into the overall conditions and management of the Mercer, and that they weren’t focusing on individual inmates’ experiences.I tried to tell them everything I’d put in my article, about Annie, and her murder.But all the matrons except for the one who tried to save Annie corroborated with the warden and doctor,” she says, her voice louder, stronger now.“It was appalling.Eris Stone had already thrown Matron Carnegie under the bus, so the others were all happy to have her take the blame, and they went on to other jobs.You’re police officers,” she says, her mouth twisting into a wry pucker.“I’m sure you know that when push comes to shove, most people will do anything they can to save their own skins.Morals and ethics tend to go out the window in the face of threat.”
Rachel is quiet for a moment, refrains from agreement with difficulty.She can’t count the number of times she’s seen exactly that in her line of work.She has no doubt Emily Radcliffe is right.
Emily takes a long sip of coffee, staring at her lap.Rachel and Stevens exchange a glance, silently trying to decide how to proceed.
“Okay, uh…what was Annie Little’s mother’s name?”Rachel asks.They need to confirm whether Millgate was the family’s hometown.That might help explain at least why the deceased was brought to the cemetery there, if not the reason for the grave to go unmarked.
“Helen,” Emily says.“Helen Sharrock.It was on the records I saw in Stone’s office.It was unusual enough that I never forgot it.Not that I would have anyway,” she mutters.
“Did you ever try to contact Helen after you got out of the Mercer?Or for the article?”Stevens asks.
Emily wrinkles her nose, continuing to fight tears.“Uh, no.No, I didn’t.I uh, I couldn’t.”
Rachel watches the guilt settle into the creases of Emily’s face.“Why not?”
Emily is quiet for a long moment, staring down at the tissue twisted in her hands.“Because I blamed myself for Annie’s death for a long time.I couldn’t face her mother.”
“But do you have any idea where Helen Sharrock is?If she’s still alive?”Rachel presses.
“With respect, Detective, I don’t see how that’s relevant to the investigation, and I don’t want to talk about it,” Emily says firmly.She takes a deep breath.Rachel wants to challenge her on that—itisrelevant—but gives her a pass for the moment.“But I have always wondered what happened to her body,” Emily adds.“There was a lot of chaos, and it wasn’t until after I had been home for a while and wrote the article that I actually stopped to think about it, and by then, I sort of didn’t want to.”
“Do you think Helen Sharrock would have claimed her daughter’s body?”Rachel asks.
Emily nods.“Yes.Of course.She’d tried to get Annie released several times, but Eris Stone blocked it.That was what…” She lets her breath out slowly.“That was what finally galvanized Annie to let me try to use the information I had about Stone as leverage to secure her release.”
“Blackmail?”Stevens asks.
Emily raises one eyebrow, shrugs.“If you like.”
“You say Eris Stone killed Annie Little,” Rachel begins.
Emily nodded emphatically.“She did.”
“And you’re saying that was because you tried to blackmail her?”
Emily licks her lips.“Yes.But I also believe she was a eugenicist, and a psychopath.I think she used her position of power over those women as an outlet for her psychopathy.We know now that psychopaths and sociopaths do that.It’s documented.And Eris Stone deserved that blue dress far more than most of the psych inmates did.That I know for certain.”
Stevens shifts uncomfortably in the chair beside Rachel, who merely nods.“And can you tell us what happened after the article ran?”
