Page 46 of Pretty Broken Dolls
“Did you have any idea that something was wrong? Had Jeanine confided in you that maybe someone was bothering her?”
“No. She wasn’t happy at work, but she had said that she was looking for another job—a small medical facility, she said. That’s just it. She didn’t tell me anything—nothing that indicated someone would want to harm her. I can’t…” She stopped. “I’m sorry, but it’s taken me a while to sleep through the night after finding her…”
“Please take your time,” he said. “We just wanted to clarify a few things. I promise I won’t make you go through every horrible detail.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“If you can please think back to that night. When you arrived, what did you see?”
“Um, when I got there it was about eleven, maybe eleven thirty. I pulled into the driveway and it was dark. Very dark.”
Katie knew the police report had said it was closer to 12:30a.m. She watched Mandy’s mannerisms when she answered McGaven’s questions.
“Dark outside or inside?”
“Both.”
“What about next door?”
“I don’t…”
“When you drove up, did you look next door? And was it light or all dark?”
“It was dark. I’m pretty sure. The neighborhood was dark, but Jeanine’s house didn’t have her usual motion lights or flower-bed lighting, and there wasn’t any light from the inside that I could see.”
“What did you do?”
“I walked up to the porch and…”
“And what?” he gently pushed.
“It’s funny, I didn’t remember it at my initial interview with the police, but something crunched under my shoes. I remember thinking that I didn’t want to cut my feet because I was wearing sandals.”
“What do you think was crunching under your feet?”
“I don’t know, something like glass, I guess.”
“Could it have been a light bulb?”
She looked confused.
“For example, from the outside light?”
“I guess.”
“Okay, what else did you see?”
Mandy looked at a couple walking by as if she knew them but she then quickly looked away. “The door was slightly open and her screen looked broken. She was very particular about her house and her things, so I guess I thought it was strange.”
“Why didn’t you call the police right then?”
“I didn’t think there was anything wrong. I know now, of course, I should have gone back to my car and called 911, but…”
“I know these questions are tough even after a year, but any small thing you might remember that you didn’t think at the time was important could be very helpful to us.”
“Of course. It’s okay.” Her voice was shaky.
“Did anything seem strange or disarrayed once you were inside?”
