A Map of the World - Jane Hamilton [194]
“Sustained,” Judge Peterson said.
“He never looked me in the eye.” Mrs. Sheridan wasn’t hearing either the judge or Rafferty, both of whom were trying to get her to stop. “A mother doesn’t raise ten children without knowing that that boy was afraid to look up and see that no one was there to love him.”
Mrs. Dirks made a number of objections during the testimony, and she asked that certain asides be struck from the record. Although Peterson granted her some small victories, he was clearly disposed toward the star witness, who Rafferty referred to in private as, “the mother of us all.” Mrs. Sheridan didn’t know precisely how often Robbie was left alone, but it seemed to be on a regular basis that he was at home when Mrs. Mackessy’s car was gone. As far as she could see, there was no baby-sitter watching out for the child. It was none of her business, she said, but it was hard not to notice him looking at her from his dining-room window. She’d wave, she said, but he wouldn’t wave back. She could feel him watching her so that sometimes, before she looked to see if he was there, she went and closed the curtains.
On the night in question, however, when she was out looking for Jack, she went up to the Mackessy’s door and was about to ring the bell. There was loud music coming from the back of the house and she thought it might be a party. “I was about to go,” she said, “because I knew my Jack wouldn’t have come over to the house under those circumstances, when Robbie appeared at the door. He was usually, a—well, angry-looking little guy. He seemed to want to take on the world, by himself, bless his heart. You could see all that’s tender in that child just hardening up.”
“What happened next?” Rafferty asked.
“I hadn’t ever spoken more than two words to the mother,” she said, in no relation to the question. “She probably didn’t think that someone such as myself had anything to offer.” She took a deep breath and felt her collar to make sure it was still in place. “Robbie said I should come in. He said, ‘You—you should come in.’ I said, no, no thank you, that I was looking for Jack. ‘You have to,’ he said. He insisted. He was stuttering and he was looking at me for once, with those great big eyes. I was surprised by his familiarity. It frightened me, because he looked—”
“How did he look, Mrs. Sheridan?”
“His eyes were huge, as I said. He was so pale. He was scared, Mr. Rafferty. His little body was quivering. I didn’t know what to think. I was afraid for a minute, for my Jack, afraid there’d been an accident. ‘What is it, Robbie?’ I asked him. He said, ‘Come and look.’ ‘Is it Jack?’ He said no, he hadn’t seen Jack. I didn’t want to go inside that place but I followed him.”
“Where did he take you, Mrs. Sheridan?”
“He took me to the back of the house, to the den. The door was closed most of the way.” She bent her head, apparently unable to continue.
“What did you see, Mrs. Sheridan?”
“This is not easy for me, Mr. Rafferty.”
“I appreciate that.”
She gripped both armrests with her hands and sat straight. “I looked.”
“And what did you see?”
“It was dark, and the music was loud.”
“What could you make out?”
“There was something adult going on, something a child shouldn’t have seen. The music was so loud it made your heart beat hard.”
“What was happening in that room?”
“It was dark, like I said, but I could see her, Mrs. Mackessy, on the sofa, with one of her men. They were like animals, Mr. Rafferty. That’s what it looked like. She on all fours. He biting at her neck. Robbie had to scream at me, ‘My mama’s getting hurt.’ He took my hand and pulled me away, into the kitchen. He was crying, saying something about how it would happen to us too. The music stopped then, and that child barreled into me; he said I had to get out of the house. He as much as pushed me out the back door, Mr. Rafferty.”
“Did you see anyone besides Robbie on that evening?”
“No, I did not. I was extremely upset. I wanted to take the boy, but he closed the door.