A Strange, Familiar Place
“Good day Miss Robertson, I am Detective George today I’ll be interviewing you about-”
“She tell you I take the boy?”
Danielle Robertson sat in her the chair with her arms crossed. She stared at the detective more like she was the one about to cross examine him. Detective George did not want this case. It was early in the morning, he had not had enough coffee. Last night he had comforted the mother, as she screamed at him, demanding that the child be found and that yes, the nanny be held responsible. He thought he had done enough of his part last night. His partner had been helping with the search last night and was yet to show up. He, the poor maligned Detective George, was left to interview the irate nanny.
“This is just normal procedure Miss Robertson, we need to interview anyone who would have contact with Eli before he disappeared.”
She sucked her teeth, “After allyuh spend half of last night questioning me? And if is not you people, is my boss only screaming at me dat I take she child. Well she don’t want to listen is her fault.”
“She doesn’t want to listen to what?” Danielle only crossed her arms and sucked her teeth again.
“All right let’s start from the beginning. Tell me what happened that evening. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“I made dinner as normal, and I went to call the children in. They mother too busy fussing over them to notice when anything wrong. Eli was acting strange. I call him one, two, three times and it like he not hearing. I had to go outside and bring him myself. His sister run in for dinner as soon as I call, like he would normally. And all through the meal he not eating, he only picking at his food, and staring at the table like it not really there.”
“No. They mother take them to bed after. In the middle of the night I feel I hear something. I wake up with a start and something in me say go check on the boy. Well I go check on him and the only thing in his bed was moonlight. I run and I wake up he parents and I tell them they boy gone and then I run outside”
“Why didn’t you check the rest of the house first?”
“I know in my bones he not there”
“Ma’am, anything you say would help.”
“Have you been having problems with your employer? She seems like a difficult lady to work for, someone who’s very particular about what goes on in her house.”
“I know what you getting at, I not stupid. Yes madam have a lot of rules but I don’t give she trouble. In front of she and she children I talk proper, though you Americans can’t talk at all.” Suddenly, Danielle stood up and leaned across the table. Detective George realised that she was a lot taller than she looked sitting down.
She looked him in the eye and spoke carefully. “Look Detective George, I getting tired of this. I will tell you what I think and what I know and then I will let you decide.” She sat back down.
“I am from Trinidad and Tobago. It is an island in the Caribbean. No it is not the same as Jamaica, the answer to the ignorant question people have asked me since I came to this country. I did not grow up in a city. I grew up in a village. Yes I went to school and so had my parents. Our village was small, it was the place where everyone knew everyone else. These were educated people. And still my parents placed certain restrictions over me, restrictions you would find superstitious. They would not call me by name outside after dark. There was a small bag of salt in the pocket of my dress. I had a crucifix on at all times. It is there I learnt about things you people would call folklore. Things that take advantage of that ignorance.”
“I would like a glass of water.”
“Excuse me?” Detective George was startled. It was as if her words and his exhaustion had sent him into a trance, and her abrupt change had rudely taken him out of it.
“You have kept me talking for some time, I would like a glass of water. After I will finish what I have to say.”
When he returned Danielle Robertson was in the same position as when he had first entered the room. Now he felt like she was a lot more in control than he was.
“Thank you.” She took a long sip of water.
“Now Detective George, when I ran out of that house last night, it was for two reasons. As you must have seen, the woods behind my employers’ house is very large, and dark. If anyone was to take a child, those woods would be the best place to hide. The other reason, will sound strange but I will explain. When I was call in the children that evening, when I went for Eli I heard giggling.”
“Yes. As I ran into that forest I knew what took that boy and I was praying hard that I catch them before it was too late. I was running I saw them, the little devils. Naked as anything, except for their Chinese hats. They was calling him ‘Come, come!’ Not holding on to him, just running ahead of him, encouraging him to follow. But they was fast. It was fear that gave me the strength to follow. I kept calling him, careful not to say his name. A couple of times he turn back at me but always they would entice him to chase after them. Still, I was catching up, a little more time and I would of catch him.”
“Madam follow me. I don’t know what she see but she fool mouth call out ‘Eli!’ Well that was that. They have his name so they have him.”
“The creatures are called douens. They are the souls of unbaptised children. I saw police by the house this morning, looking at the footprints. They thought that they came up to the house and took Eli, but he ran away and they followed him. They wrong. Douens feet are backwards you see. They call him by his window and then they run for him to follow.I hear they find a hat too, one of their little Chinese hats. They never going to find those little bastards”
Danielle and Detective George sat in silence for a few minutes. The detective was at a loss. Obviously this woman was mad, her story had to either be superstitious ramblings or a cover up. For some reason, he could not think of what to do next.
“Do you have any more questions Detective George?”
“Then I will be leaving. Thank you for trying to find the boy.”
He watched as she got up and left.
