Jesus. Whitney averted her eyes from Dahmer’s freaky childhood grin but checkedYES. Roma had thrown the family cat in the pool the week before, and (according to the former nanny, who had quit) shoved it away from the side every time it tried to get out. Roma, said the former nanny, had watched the cat drown.
2.Does your child love fire?
Pyromania is another bad sign. Like cruelty to animals, making fires is a way for a budding psychopath to express anger and defiance.
Whitney bit her lip and checkedYES. Roma had been stealing matches and setting fires outdoors for a long time, and the week before, she’d lit her twin brother’s stuffed frog on fire and tossed it into Xavier’s “big boy bed.” Luckily, the nanny who’d quit two nannies ago had smelled the fire and grabbed Xavier before the fire reached him.
3.Does your child wet the bed?
Many children who are later identified as having “callous and unemotional traits” wet the bed for longer than is considered normal. The humiliation of being a bed wetter, as well as parents’ well-meaning attempts to make the child stop, can lead to explosive anger and the inability to handle it in a healthy way.
Oh, dear. Whitney placed a neat “X” in theYEScolumn. She and Jules had doneeverythingto try to stop Roma’s bed-wetting: promising her candy, buying a mattress that set off a gentle alarm when wet, restricting liquids after a half glass of water at dinner. But nothing worked. Roma almost seemed proud every morning as she announced, “My bed wet! Bad girl!”
4.Does your child enjoy breaking rules?
Every child breaks a rule or two, of course! But a worrisome trait to notice is if your child violates rules and gets joy and adrenaline from doing so. Future psychopaths can only feel when they do something bad and get away with it. Normal life doesn’t provide them with enoughserotonin and happiness. So watch out for a child who seems happiest when they have stolen another kid’s toy, or deliberately done something you have told them specifically NOT to do!
Whitney thought of the dog gate Roma had left open, allowing their pup into the street; the bills Roma had hidden, driving her father nuts; the times she’d opened the front door and toddled out, despite the rule that she was not allowed outside by herself.
Whitney checkedYES.
5.Does your child lie without remorse?
All kids lie! They lie to get out of trouble and to avoid punishment. But when your child lies for NO REASON, this is a concern. Children with callous and unemotional traits can lie with confidence, and they lie because they get pleasure from tricking others.
Whitney penciledYES, remembering the time a neighbor called to express her sympathy for Roma’s beloved grandfather dying of cancer. (Roma’s fabrication.) Whitney once stoodright next to her daughteras Roma described a nonexistent pony named Sam. And she could never forget Xavier running to her in abject terror, believing Roma’s lie that she and Jules had adopted him and were considering “sending him back.” Whitney could still see Roma’s lopsided grin as she watched her mother try to convince her son that he was her son.
6.Does your child bully others?
Children who humiliate and harm others for thrills should be watched carefully and evaluated by a psychiatrist. Sometimes, bullies have beenmistreated themselves. Children who cried out as infants and were ignored might turn into children who bully others. They might want power or attention…or to be like their violent parents, whom they idolize.
Whitney checkedYES, though she resented the implication that she might be to blame for Roma’s penchant for bullying other kids.
7.Is your child insensitive?
Future psychopaths don’t seem as fearful as normal children. They don’t sense stress in the same way, and seem to lack compassion.
Whitney finished her coffee and put down the mug. Roma seemed completely driven by amusing herself. She had told Whitney the day before that she wanted to kill Xavier.
—
NOW, SO MANY YEARSafter taking the quiz on her daughter’s behalf, Whitney had finally outwitted Roma. For years, Whitney and Jules had hoped Roma could be cured. Whitney took her daughter to therapists and psychiatrists; she had even checked her in to a psychiatric hospital against her will, but Jules had checked her out a day later, claiming a mentally ill child would ruin them. (“No one,” said Jules, “wants to think about their realtor having a daughter with mental problems. We can handle this at home.”)
At home, Roma walked around at night, terrifying her brother. Any pets were soon “missing.” Every day when Roma went to school, Whitney waited for bad news—a hurt child, or worse. Whitney grew more and more fraught, desperate, but Jules could not be convinced to send Roma away. Heinformed his wife that he would sign his daughter out of any facility Whitney “trapped” her inside.
One night, Whitney prayed for help. In the morning, she woke with a plan. She started her research that day, watching a20/20episode about how teens buy drugs online, scanning Craigslist and learning the lingo (“No LE” for “no law enforcement”…as if a cop would read “No LE” and stay away).
On the first night of summer, Whitney advertised pills she had left over from an old Pilates injury: “Candy 80mg. $80 each. No LE.” She put Roma’s cell number as the contact, then took her daughter’s phone and changed the passwords. A stranger named Lucy Masterson had responded within minutes. Whitney had donned Roma’s clothes, left the pills in a paper bag by the dumpster at the 7-Eleven.
When she got Lucy’s Venmo payment, Whitney turned off Roma’s phone and hid it in her Kate Spade makeup case. It was a one-time event. Her plan was to report the texts to the police in the morning…and the police would take Roma. At least for a few days, maybe longer. While she was gone, Whitney could make a plan for Xavier, try to convince Jules it was finally time to get Roma help.
Before it had all gone wrong, in the revolting 7-Eleven bathroom, Whitney changed back into her own clothes. She’d scrubbed her hands with the cheap soap and shivered, overwhelmed with hope.
Whitney exited the 7-Eleven, certain that no one had seen her. Until she looked across the parking lot.
Charlie Bailey.
She didn’t know if Charlie had seen her. He’d seemed pretty wrapped up with the hoodlum he was kissing. But Whitney didn’t know.
