Randy Dunne had acted quickly following the baby's death. Police procedure required an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy including a lengthy interview of the mother. Shelter Island's only other detective had been assigned to the case, but Randy had talked him into letting him, Randy, do the interview and then briefing him for his report. The detective, often a partner but never a close friend reluctantly agreed.
Detective Timothy Slavin met with Randy the day after the funeral. He detailed what he had learned from the Medical Examiner's report on the baby just hours after its death and his investigation of Rita's home.
"It was definitely suffocation. He found cat hairs in the kid's mouth and throat. When I checked the playpen I found a bottle in the corner on top of a little bit of dried milk the kid apparently threw up. The hospital said there were milk curd stains on the baby's shirt. Looks to me that if it had been in the middle of the playpen when it threw up the cat would have had room to get to it without climbing on top of him. So the cat smells the milk, laps it up while lying on the kid's face and then starts licking the nipple of the bottle. I gotta think the kid was sound asleep as all this is going on and just never woke up."
"Thanks, Timmy, I'll talk to the mother. Listen, how long can I put it off? Do we have any time at all?"
"Yeah, I can stall a couple of days but don't wait more than that. If it becomes any kind of issue with the chief and he starts to look at it too closely.... well, you know."
"Hey, man, I appreciate this a lot. I'll get it done as quickly as I can - two days max."
Sherry's decision to bury the baby the day after its death
Turned out to be crucial. The turnout at the wake, where seemingly every person to ever come in contact with Rita, Eddie and the grandparents showed up, was too much for Rita to bear. With every, "I'm so sorry" translating to "your baby's dead," after less than a half-hour Rita was near collapse. Dennis and Eddie finally set
Themselves up as guards, letting only a few close friends speak to her at all. She spent most of her time there, at the church service and at the cemetery staring into space, nodding her head at the few comments made directly to her. Had Sherry set up the typical two day wake with the funeral on the third day, Rita would never have been able to deal with the strain. And the rest of the people around her, Big Bob, Dennis, Maryann, Margaret, Randy and, of course, Eddie, were also grateful and told Sherry so. Over and over again.
Eddie took up his dad's offer for him and Rita to move in with the Brown's for at least a few days, with Big Bob staying at his old house. No one had a real plan; everything they did, every decision they made was based around Rita. She hadn't begun to eat without the food practically forced down her throat; she rarely initiated a conversation. She only wanted to sit and lie down, by the people around her with the only result being the decision to let her do only what she wanted to do.
On the third day after the funeral, with Rita's demeanor basically unchanged, Randy made the decision to piece together the story from Margaret's recounting of what Rita had told her and what she had seen and heard. He just couldn't bring himself to ask Rita anything and so his briefing of Detective Slavin was third hand. And when he spoke to Slavin he could tell the detective understood what was going on but let it go.
By that night Maryann decided that she would be the person to get Rita up and out, to at least begin to go on with her life. She'd witnessed Eddie and Big Bob individually and together try to get Rita to speak more than a few words. She'd spoken to Sherry and Margaret about what they'd been doing, the one way discussions with Rita, the cups of coffee they'd pour and she'd let stand, even trying to confront the situation head on with attempts at reliving the nightmare. Nothing was working and everyone was getting frightened. Dennis had been the first to suggest bringing in "someone to talk to her", clergy, a psychologist, someone who might be better equipped to help her deal with the aftermath of the trauma. He had in fact set up an appointment with a counselor, a female psychologist, for the following day. But that afternoon at work Maryann came up with a very simple plan. She drove her high school graduation gift directly to the Brown's and went inside. She found Rita in the den, watching TV. Eddie was sitting with his arm around her, looking nearly as haggard as his wife. When he saw Maryann his eyes brightened and he started to get up but thought better of it.
"Hey, Maryann, good to see ya. Come in, sit down." Eddie needed a break only another person could give him. Both his parents were working and Big Bob, there with the two of them all day, had fallen asleep on the floor.
"No thanks, me and Rita are going for a ride. Come on kiddo, let's go."
"No, I'm tired." It was one of Rita's longer sentences of the day but Maryann wasn't buying.
"So am I. Tired of feeling like shit, tired of watching my best friend punish herself, tired of crying myself to sleep not knowing how to help. Come on, I need you to be with me. Come on." She took Rita's arm and, with some force, pulled her off the coach.
"We're going for a ride Eddie, maybe get a bite to eat. See ya later." Rita's walk was not much more than a shuffle but it was still the fastest she'd moved in days. Eddie watched the scene develop and was half way between a smile and tears by the time the two buddies walked out the door.
As they drove toward the south ferry, Maryann spoke many of the same words Rita had heard again and again these last few days; about going on with life, about being only eighteen with so much ahead, about the people around them that were so concerned. But she turned it toward herself. She asked her friend to help her, that she was becoming more like her every day.
"You've got to get yourself together, a little at a time, but you've got to start. I need you. You've got Eddie and Mrs. Brown and your dad. I've just got my father and he doesn't really understand. We've got to get through this together."
"I can't.... it was my fault you know. I can't....." Maryann interrupted her.
"That's bull shit. You were a great mother. You didn't do anything wrong. You took a shower. A goddamn ten minute shower."
"I didn't have to be in there that long. I was daydreaming."
"Big deal, you were daydreaming. You're a human being, you daydream. Let me ask you something. Do you sleep at night? Did you sleep at night when... you and Eddie and the baby all slept at the same time, right?"
"Yes."
"Where was the cat?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did the cat wander around the house at night?"
"I guess so."
"Did you ever wake up, check on the baby and find he'd thrown up?"
"Yes."
"The cat could have jumped in with him, couldn't it?"
"I kept the rails up, Maryann."
"Didn't the baby sleep in a cradle for a few months?"
"Yes."
"Would you have blamed yourself if Missy jumped in the cradle?"
Rita hesitated. Maryann hadn't been the first person to take this line of logic with her but it was the first time she'd really heard and understood the words.
"What happened to Missy."
"Your dad brought it back to the shelter."
"He didn't tell them what happened did he?"
"No. We did the right thing, didn't we?"
Rita nodded her head and looked out her window. They were on
the ferry heading to Sag Harbor. In a few moments they would be
walking down a busy street, walking past Rosco's, walking with
the living.
Questions? Comments? Please send e-mail to jbearden@ieee.org
Material Copyright © 1998-2003 by Jim Bearden