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Chapter Twenty-One

Transcript from police interview with Eleanor Williams

“ H ow do you know Liam Cass, Ms. Williams?”

“I was his second-grade teacher.”

“You were his teacher for the entire year?”

“That’s right.”

“And what did you think of Liam?”

“Well, at the beginning of the year, he was one of my favorite students. Maybe my favorite . Second graders… they don’t have a great attention span. They get easily distracted or silly and I have to redirect them. But Liam wasn’t like that. He was always well-behaved, even when the other kids were messing around. And he always finished his assignments first. He understood everything . His homework was immaculate. And on top of that, he was very polite. He was also just a really cute kid. Like the kind you’d see in a commercial. ”

“How did the other children interact with him?”

“For the most part, they all liked him a lot. He was only seven years old, but he was very charming. Almost too charming, if you know what I mean. Like he was putting on an act. That’s unusual for a seven-year-old. Usually with kids that age, what you see is what you get.”

“So what happened during the year to change your opinion of him?”

“Well, like I said, Liam was an exceptionally well-behaved child. But sometimes he would say the most disturbing things. He had this sweet face, and when he said something like that…”

“Like what?”

“Um, well, it’s hard to remember so long ago, but there was one thing he said that stood out to me. And that’s why I called you.”

“What’s that?”

“We were doing a unit about families and marriage and all that. And Liam raised his hand and said that he couldn’t wait to get married.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“He said he couldn’t wait to get married, so he could stuff his wife deep in a hole and never let her out.”

“…”

“Exactly.”

“Did you do anything about all those statements he was making?”

“I contacted his parents, of course. I didn’t take it to the level of the principal, because it didn’t seem frequent enough and he wasn’t disrupting the class in any way.”

“So you spoke to his parents?”

“Just his mother. His father was away on business and couldn’t make it for the meeting.”

“And what did Mrs. Cass say when you talked to her?”

“She was horrified, of course. I told her I thought Liam would benefit from some sort of psychological therapy, and she agreed. She said she was going to find a child therapist as quickly as she could. But the weird thing was…”

“Yes?”

“She was horrified, but she didn’t seem surprised . Not really. Not the way you’d think she should’ve been.”

“And why do you think that is?”

“I think she already knew Liam was having these thoughts. I mean, he must have said things to her over the years.”

“Do you know if she ever got him into therapy?”

“She told me she did.”

“And did his behavior improve?”

“If you’re asking if he kept making those disturbing statements, the answer is no. He didn’t. He never said anything like that again. But I always got the feeling…”

“What?”

“Well, like I said, Liam was a smart kid. I got the sense that the only reason he stopped saying those things was because he realized he shouldn’t say it out loud anymore. I don’t think he stopped having those thoughts though. But of course, it’s impossible to know.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“I hope I did the right thing calling you. I wasn’t sure if I should, but after I read what happened to that Mercer girl and remembered Liam was in the same grade… well, I just thought I should say something.”

“No, it’s good you did.”

“I really hope you find her.”

“We do too.”