Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [19]
If Casey was surprised by his words, her face didn’t show it. Collected as ever, she allowed the detective to continue.
“Now, my question to you is this: We need to find Caylee. I understand that right now Caylee may not be in very good shape, you understand what I’m saying? She may not be the way you and your family last saw her. We need to understand right now, from you, where Caylee is. This has gone so far downhill and become such a mess that we need to end it. It’s very simple. We just need to end it.”
“I agree with you, but I have no clue where she is,” Casey replied.
“Sure you do.”
“If I knew in any sense where she was, this wouldn’t have happened at all. It wouldn’t have happened whatsoever.”
The fact that she was still sticking to the same story, even after being caught in a lie, was frustrating. Changing course, Melich decided to show his hand a bit. Maybe if he showed her that more of her stories were lies, the dominoes would all fall.
“Listen, this stuff about Zanny the caretaker, the nanny, is not the truth, because I went to the apartment complex and no person that’s ever lived there went by that name. The apartment’s been vacant since March, that same apartment. Now, the apartment you pointed out to me, the two-story apartment, that’s an old folks’ home. It’s right across the street from your ex-boyfriend’s house, who you never mentioned. And you said you wrote the address down because it was across the street, that’s a lie, because I’ve already talked to him, and we’ve already been by the house, and, you know, we’ve looked at everything we could look at over there.”
“Um-hmm.”
“Everything you’ve told us is a lie.”
And yet, when she was confronted with these facts, they seemed to do little to sway her. Shifting directions once again, Melich tried to give her an out and allow her to admit to something, something that would help her save face and paint herself in a sympathetic light. He was essentially inviting her to tell him that if Caylee was dead, it was an accident.
“I’ve never met you before, and I could look at you as a person who’s scared, who’s concerned, and who’s kind of afraid of what’s going to happen because of something bad that’s happened before. Or we can look at you as cold, callous, and a monster who doesn’t care, who’s just trying to get away with something bad that’s happened and is trying to cover it up.”
Casey sat closemouthed as she listened to the detective before saying, “I’m scared that . . . I don’t know where my daughter is. I would not have put my entire family—”
Sergeant Allen interrupted. “Whoa, whoa . . . I want to ask you something.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Like he said,” Allen continued, “you seem like a pretty bright person. You’re willing, right. You’re here to try to help, right?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
“Your whole reason of talking to us is to try to help. Right?”
“Um-hmm.”
“No one’s forcing you to talk to us, right?”
“No.”
“You want us, you’re here because you called, and you want us to help find your daughter, right?” Sergeant Allen asked.
“Um-hmm.”
“Now, let me ask you something. I want you to put yourself in my shoes for a minute, okay.”
“Um-hmm.”
“Since you’ve talked to him this morning,” Allen said, motioning to Detective Melich, “in an attempt to try to find your daughter, you’ve given him bad addresses, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You drove me all the way out here, we walk from the gate back here, all the way to your office, right?”
“Mmm.”
“Okay, to an office that you don’t have. We got all the way into the building, into the hallway out here, before you finally say, ‘Well, I don’t really have an office here.’ Prior to that, we were walking to your office, right?”
Casey nodded in the affirmative.
“Okay, does any of this make any sense to you?”
“I understand how all that sounds. I—”
Sergeant Allen grew stern. “No, no, no. Here’s the problem with that, here’s the problem