Well, some of it is blurry, Chloe admitted. You know how past memories are sort of fogged over with rose-colored glasses?
Indeed. SoI want to try something with you. Because this is the first time weve met, Im not going to try hypnosis. I am going to try a proven form of therapy, though. Its what some refer to as timeline therapy. For today, I hope it might help to dig further details from that daydetails that are right there in your mind but have sort of been tucked away because youre afraid to see them. If you continue to see me, this sort of therapy will eventually help us to pluck the fear and anxiety that arise in you whenever youre faced with that day. Does that sound like something youd be willing to undergo today?
Yes, she said without hesitation.
Okay. Good. Solets begin with where you were sitting. I want you to close your eyes and relax. Take a moment or two to clear your head and get comfortable. Give me a tiny nod when you are ready.
Chloe did as she was asked. She allowed herself to sink back into the chair. It was a very comfortable faux leather armchair. She felt that she was still tensing her shoulders, uncomfortable with being so vulnerable in front of someone she had never met. She sighed deeply and felt her shoulders go limp. She nestled into the chair and listened for the hum of the air conditioner. She found it, listened to its droning, and then gave a nod. She was ready.
Okay, Skinner said. Out on that stoop with your sister. Now, even if you cant remember the sort of shoes you were wearing that day, I want you to imagine that you are looking at your feet. Look down at your shoes. I want you to focus on them and nothing elsejust the shoes you were wearing that day when you were ten years old. You and your sister out on the stoop. But keep your eyes only on those shoes. Describe them to me.
Chuck Taylors, Chloe said. Red. Scuffed up. Big floppy laces.
Perfect. Now study the laces. Really zone in on them. Then I want your ten-year-old self to stand up without looking away from those laces. I want you to stand up and walk back to where you were before discovering the blood on the carpet at the bottom of the stairs. I need you to go back a few hours. But dont look away from those laces. Can you do that?
Chloe knew she was not hypnotized but the instructions seemed so simple. So basic and easy. She stood up inside her mind and walked back into the apartment. When she did, she saw the blood, saw her mother.
Mom is right there at the bottom of the stairs, she said. Lots of blood. Danielle is somewhere, crying. Dad is pacing.
Okay. But just look at your shoelaces, Skinner instructed. And then see if you can go back farther. Can you do that?
Yeah. Easy. Im with Betha friend of mine. We just got back from a movie. Her mom took us. She dropped me off and stayed there on the curb until I got inside. She always did that, not pulling away until she saw me go inside.
Okay. So watch those shoelaces as you get out of the car and walk up the stairs. Then take me through the rest of the afternoon.
I went inside the building and then up to the second floor, where our apartment was. When I walked to the door and pulled out the keys to unlock it, I hear Dad inside. So I just walked in. I closed the door and headed for the living room but saw Moms body. It was at the bottom of the stairs. Her right arm was pinned beneath her. Her nose looked all smashed up and there was blood everywhere. Most of her face was covered with it. It was all over the carpet, right there at the bottom of the stairs. I think Dad might have tried to move the body
Chloe trailed off here. She was finding it hard to focus on those ratty old shoelaces. She knew the scene she was relaying far too well to ignore it.
Danielle is standing right there, right over her. She has some blood on her hands and her clothes. Dad is talking really loudly into the phone, telling someone to come quickly, theres been an accident. When he gets off, he looks at me and starts crying. He threw the phone across the room and it shattered against the wall. He came over to us and hunkered down. He said he was sorryhe said there was an ambulance on the way. He then looked at Danielle and we could barely understand him through the tears. He said Danielle needed to go upstairs. She needed to change her clothes.
She did, and I followed her. I asked her what had happened but she wouldnt talk to me. She wouldnt even cry. Eventually, we started to hear sirens. We sat there with Dad, waiting for him to tell us what would happen next. But he never did. The ambulance arrived, then the police. A friendly policeman took us outside on the stoop and stayed there with us until Dad was brought out in handcuffs. Until they brought Moms body out
Suddenly, the vision of the busted up shoelaces was gone. She was back on the stoop, waiting for her grandmother to pick them up. The overweight cop was with her and although she didnt know him, he made her feel safe.
You okay? Skinner asked.
Yeah, she said with a nervous smile. The part about Dad throwing the phoneI had totally forgotten about that.
Hows the remembered sight of it make you feel?
It was a hard question to answer. Her father had always been quick to temper but seeing him do it in the wake of what had happened to her mother almost made him seem weak and vulnerable.
It makes me feel sad for him.
Have you blamed him for your mothers death ever since it happened? Skinner asked.
It honestly just depends on the day. Depends on my mood.
Skinner nodded and broke his statue-like posture. He got to his feet and looked down at her with a reassuring smile.
I think were good for today. Please call me if you experience this sort of reaction to a crime scene again. And I would like to see you again soon. Can we set up an appointment?
Chloe thought about it and nodded. We can, but I have a wedding coming up soon and we have all these meetings with florists and bakersits a nightmare. Can I call you with a date?
Of course. And until thenstick closely to Agent Greene. Hes a good man. And he was right to direct you to me. Please know that this early in your career, having to come to someone like me to deal with your issues means nothing. It is not a reflection of your talents.
Chloe nodded. She knew this but it was still nice to hear Skinner say it. She got up and thanked him for his time. As she walked out the door and into the waiting room, she saw her father throwing the phone. But then there was a comment hed madeone she had not forgotten but had become muddied until today.
He had looked at Danielle and, with something far too close to urgency in his voice, had said: Danielle, honeygo change your clothes. Theres not much time before they get here.
That comment rolled through Chloes head for most of the remainder of the afternoon, chilling her while also poking at a locked door she had managed to ignore for the last seventeen years.
Chapter Seven
Danielle woke up at eight oclock, feeling as if she had not slept well at all. Shed gotten in from work at 2:45 and collapsed into bed at 3:10. She usually had no problem sleeping until well after elevensometimes even laterbut when her eyes opened at 8:01 that morning, she could not go back to sleep. Truth be told, she really hadnt slept very well ever since shed known that Chloe was coming back into town. It had felt like her past was slowly following her and it would not stop until it swallowed her whole.