Catherine and Dakota sat in the sunshine, eating ice cream. Dakota seemed apprehensive at first, like ice cream was a real novelty, but really got into it as time went on. Catherine observed this and took note of it.
"So," Catherine said, turning to face the little girl, "I need you to tell me the truth about something, Dakota." She said. Dakota looked at Catherine, truly enjoying her ice cream. Catherine continued; "I have a machine that can tell me the truth about some things, and my job is to put the pieces of truth it tells me into a whole big story of what happened," she explained, making sure she understood. Catherine detected a hint of nervousness, that told her she was accomplishing what she'd set out to do.
"And Dakota, that machine told me the truth about the blood on your clothes. I need you to tell me whose it is," Catherine said, testing the water as it were, hoping Dakota would somehow answer her. The little girl turned, and ate another scoop of ice cream, and grinned.
"I lied before," Dakota said, taking another scoop. Catherine was glad she finally decided to tell her about the mystery brother.
"I'm six. I'm six years old, not ten." She said. Confused, Catherine stood, stripped for a second, not knowing what to make of that. "My mom said I had to pretend like I was older, and that it would help us," she added. Catherine finally absorbed this, and made the connection of her previous notation that Dakota still had all her baby teeth.
"How would it help you?" Catherine asked, trying to meld her questions around what the girl was telling her. Dakota shrugged. "Remember," Catherine started, "remember when we first met in the hospital, and you asked me if I'd hurt my daughter?" Catherine asked,
"You'd never hurt Lindsey, you're a good mom, Catherine!" Dakota chirpped. "Does she like ice cream?" She asked. Catherine smiled and nodded yes, getting impatient that Dakota was doing such a good job of leading her off track.
"Dakota, what happened to your brother?" Catherine asked, sick of taking paths around the killer question. Dakota looked momentarily confused.
"I don't really have a brother." Dakota said, lowering her voice. She was thinking. "Catherine? If someone dies, and their souls get out, are they still people?"
Catherine was really shocked at that question. "If someone dies, they don't disappear, Dakota. When someone dies, they still had an existence, but just not in the present." she said, trying to put it simply. "Was there an accident?" she asked. Dakota finished her ice cream.
"We should get back now." Dakota said.