Page 104 of Jackass

Chapter Twenty-Five

Samantha

“This isn’t going to be easy. Not for you or for me.”

“Just tell me, Jack.”

“It’s about Carrie. We listened to the conversation Jingles recorded. We also had Billy break into your old house and grab a few items we could fingerprint.”

“What? Why?” I didn’t understand why they needed fingerprints.

“Baby, Carrie isn’t who she says she is.”

I looked at Jack. I heard his words, but I didn’t understand them. I have known Carrie for years.

“At the party, the sheriff saw Carrie.”

“He asked me about her. He seemed interested,” I recalled.

“He was, but not for the reason you thought. He recognized Carrie, but he couldn’t remember where from. He knew her name wasn’t Carrie, though.”

“Jack, that doesn’t make sense.”

“Let’s sit down. I have a blanket in my saddlebag. This is going to take a while.” Jack took a deep breath before walking to his bike and digging through the bag attached to the side.

He walked back over and spread the blanket down in front of a large rock. He sat down, leaning his back against the rock, and held his hand out to me. Taking it, I sat down with him. He guided me to sit between his legs, with my back against his chest.

“What do you know about Carrie’s past? Before you met her?” he asked.

“Not a lot,” I admitted. “She told me she was from up north. Her parents passed away after she graduated from high school,and she had been on her own since then.”

I sat forward and turned to Jack.

“Oh God, what did you find?”

Jack told me everything they had found on Carrie. Or rather, Marsha Wade. I sat there, unable to form a sentence. I had left my daughter with a woman who had tried to kill her own child.

“Oh God, Jack. She was with Charlie every day. What if she was hurting her? I have to be the world’s worst mother.”

“I think we know for a fact that isn’t true, Sammy.” He deadpanned. “We can talk to Charlie if we need to, but first, how often did Charlie need to see the doctor?”

I thought back over the past four years. Trying to remember anything that seemed suspicious.

“Her first two years she went every few months, but I think that’s normal. It was the doctor’s office that made those appointments. By the time she turned two, they had slowed down, and she had a checkup once a year.”

“What about illnesses, injuries?” he asked carefully.

“She hasn’t been sick enough to require any extra visits, nothing more than a cold or a stomach bug.”

“That’s good,” he said, “What about injuries?”

“She has had bumps and bruises, but I think that’s normal, too. Most of them were when she started walking. Cuts and scrapes from playing outside.”

Jack released a deep sigh. “Thank God.” He wrapped his arms around me tight. I felt his breath on my neck as he breathed deeply.

“I don’t think she has done anything to Charlie. Her motivation would be attention.”

“She never wanted attention. Carrie hates being in public more than me. She never wanted Charlie around others.”