Look Closely - Laura Caldwell [75]
I tucked my legs under me on the couch. So Dan had added to Manning’s suspicion about domestic abuse. He’d been arrested for battery before.
I flipped back to Manning’s notes and followed them down the pages, looking for the date of my own interview or that of my sister. I came first to Della’s. Della had said she was aware, of course, that the Sutters were separated, but she knew nothing about an extramarital affair on the part of Leah Sutter. On the night in question, she had left after making dinner for Leah, Caroline and Hailey Sutter. Leah had seemed happy and excited. She told Della that she had plans for the night and that Caroline was going to stay home and babysit Hailey.
I continued to read Chief Manning’s notes. He hadn’t been able to interview Caroline or Hailey Sutter right away, he said, because Caroline was under the care of a doctor, who recommended that the interview be put off. In addition, my father had requested that I be spared unless it was absolutely necessary. A brief telephone interview was held with Caroline’s physician, Dr. Randall Wainer, a family practitioner in Woodland Dunes. He confirmed that Caroline was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and was being medicated.
What had Caroline seen? What had she done?
I had a mild memory of Dr. Wainer as a kind, older gentlemen who saw the Sutter family for colds and shots and ankle sprains. I wondered if he was still in Woodland Dunes, if maybe he could be convinced into telling me something about Caroline and what she had said during those few days after my mother’s death. On a whim, I went to the computer and logged on to the Internet, then began searching for Dr. Randall Wainer on the Web site of the American Medical Association. I found one physician with that name, but he lived in Newark and had graduated from medical school just a few years ago. The Dr. Wainer I remembered would be at least eighty by now, probably older.
I ran an obituary search and found what I feared: Dr. Randall Wainer of Woodland Dunes, Michigan, had passed away in the early 1990s.
Another idea occurred to me. I wouldn’t be able to speak to Dr. Wainer, but there were other doctors who had treated Caroline—those at the Crestwood Home in Connecticut. Maybe I shouldn’t leave for Chicago so fast. I was only a short drive from Connecticut. I pulled up the Crestwood Home Web site and copied down the address and phone number. I would call them tomorrow on Sunday and leave a message.
It was almost midnight by the time I picked up the police records again, my eyes growing heavy. I decided to take them to my bedroom, and, after changing into a pair of old, worn pajamas, I plumped the pillows against my headboard and went back to reading.
Chief Manning had finally been able to interview Caroline a few days after my mother’s death. He described the interview as very difficult, due to Caroline’s insistence on one-word answers. Like Dan, Caroline was accompanied by a criminal lawyer from my father’s law firm, and even her attorney had requested on a few occasions that she be more forthcoming, but Caroline remained withdrawn and quiet. Because of this, the interview took numerous hours and two sessions until Caroline became more cooperative. Eventually, she confirmed that her mother had been preparing to go out on the night in question, and Caroline had intended to babysit her younger sister, Hailey.
According to Chief Manning, he believed Caroline’s version of the events up to this point, but when she was asked who my mother had been intending to see that night, her eyes turned downcast, and she withdrew again. She didn’t know, she said, and