Free Mommy's Little Girl by Diane Fanning

she didn’t?”
    â€œBecause she had gone there before. I seen her there.”
    â€œShe went to the old folks’ home?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBut you never dropped your kid off to her at an old folks’ home. You never went into the old folks’ home . . . Yet across the street from this old folks’ home, right there on Glenwood, is where Ricardo lives.”
    â€œUh huh.”
    â€œWith Amy and J.P.”
    â€œUh huh.”
    â€œAll of whom are at our station talking to our detectives right now. So, obviously, you know, we’re not stupid. Okay? And what you’re doing right now is treating us like we’re stupid, which—I take that, you know, to be a personal insult . . . And unless we start getting the truth, we’re going to announce two possibilities with Caylee. Either you gave Caylee to someone that you don’t want anyone to find out because you think you’re a bad mom. Or something happened to Caylee, and Caylee’s buried somewhere, or in a trash can somewhere, and you had something to do with it. Either way, right now, it’s not a very pretty picture to be painting . . . Everything you told us is a lie . . . Every single thing.”
    â€œNo, it isn’t,” Casey stubbornly insisted.
    â€œ. . . This needs to end,” Melich demanded.
    â€œThe truthful thing . . .” Casey began.
    â€œThis needs to end.”
    Casey continued, “. . . is, I have not seen my daughter. The last time that I saw her was on the ninth of June.”
    â€œAnd what happened to Caylee?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œ. . . Listen, something happened to Caylee. We’re not gonna discuss where the last time you saw her. I’m guessing something bad happened to her some time ago and you haven’t seen her. So, that part is true if you say youhaven’t seen her, because she’s somewhere else right now.”
    â€œShe’s with someone else,” Casey said again.
    â€œ. . . No. She’s either in a Dumpster right now or she’s buried somewhere. She’s out there somewhere and her rotting body is starting to decompose, because what you’re telling us . . .” Melich said, stunned that those words did not provoke an emotional reaction from Casey. “And here’s the problem, the longer this goes on, the worse it’s gonna be for everyone . . . Right now, it’s gonna be one of two things. Either we find Caylee alive, which is gonna help you out extremely by telling us the truth. Or we find Caylee not alive, which, if you start telling us the truth, might still paint you in a better picture. But here is where it needs to end. Here’s where the truth needs to come out. No more lies. No more bull coming out of your mouth. We’ve been very respectful. We’re taking our time and talking to you. But we’re tired of all the lies. No more lies. What happened to Caylee?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œYou don’t know?”
    â€œI don’t know . . .”
    â€œWhat happened to Caylee?”
    â€œ. . . where she is. That’s the God’s honest truth.”
    â€œOkay, where was she the last time that you put her somewhere? Where was she?”
    â€œThe last time I saw her was on those steps at that apartment that I took you to this morning . . .”
    â€œBut you didn’t give her to anyone while you were there.”
    â€œI did.”
    â€œ. . . Listen to me,” Melich pleaded. “We even pulled a surveillance video from an apartment complex . . . and we’re not seeing you over there . . . all that day. You think that we’re stupid, and we’re not gonna . . .”
    â€œI know you’re not stupid.”
    â€œRemember we had those two people that we were talking about: the