Chapter 5: Preliminary Statements
By evening the preliminary pieces were in motion.
The officers who had gone to the party obtained a guest list and initial accounts. Several adults claimed they had seen nothing. A few insisted the mark must have come from a fall or from another child. One person—the adult Sophie had pointed to—stated that any contact had been accidental and that the child was confused. That statement was recorded against the photograph of the handprint and against Sophie’s clear identification.
A detective was assigned before midnight. I provided the timeline again, the clinic documentation, and the exact words Sophie had used. The detective noted the second part of her statement with particular care: she wasn’t the only one. That single sentence changed the scope from a possible isolated incident to a potential pattern involving more than one adult at the gathering.
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Sophie slept in short intervals on the sofa at my sister’s house, the first safe location I could reach that had no connection to the party. I stayed awake reviewing the photographs of the mark and the preliminary police notes. The yellow dress was sealed in a bag for evidence. The laundry room at the party house would be examined the next morning.
Messages from relatives continued to arrive. Some demanded an explanation for “overreacting.” Others claimed the entire family was being damaged by a misunderstanding. I forwarded every message to the detective and did not reply. The only priority that night was keeping Sophie away from anyone who had been present when the handprint was left on her face.
