Chapter 29: Bec and Mahler, Part 2

Editor’s Note:
The next pages continue the notes taken by Dr Koehler during the meeting between Bec Freeman and Detective Mahler on Monday December 6th.

Notes of meeting, Mahler & Bec Freeman, Monday, 12/6; 3:40pm

Present: Detective Mahler, Rebecca Freeman, Peter Freeman, Lorna Small (legal representative for the Freeman family), Dr Koehler Snr (psychiatrist)

Bec: I bent down to pick Tara up off the ground but just then the bigger man came out of the house. He saw me by the truck and stopped and smiled an evil smile.

Bec: I stood up straight and stepped over Tara so I was between her and the man. I was scared but I was determined. I had to protect Tara so I put myself between her and the man.

Bec: The man stood there and crossed his arms like he knew he’d caught me. He knew I wasn’t going to run because of Tara. I think he decided that he would take his time and enjoy watching me squirm.

Bec: I was still thinking that I had to delay, delay, delay. Since he was standing there, I figured I would try to talk my way out.

Bec: So I said, “Hello Grandfather.”

Comment: There was an instant reaction. Peter F. bolted up to his feet and yelled “What?” Mahler bounced forward in his chair, instantly on the alert and said, “Huh.” I must admit I was surprised as well.

Comment: Bec stood and looked up into her father’s face. She looked concerned for him. She glanced at the detective.

Bec: I’d like to take a short break. Would you leave us alone for 5 minutes please?

Mahler: (sputtering) But...

Small: Detective, a 5 minute break is not too much to ask for. It’s perfectly reasonable under the circumstances.

Mahler: (annoyed) Yes, well, very well. Interview suspended at 4:07pm.

Comment: He stopped the camera and walked out of the room. Once he was gone, Bec immediately stepped forward and hugged her father.

Bec: I’m sorry Dad. I wanted to warn you that was coming but I couldn’t. I don’t think I could have coped with having to say all of this twice.

Peter: Are you sure it was him? Are you absolutely sure?

Bec: Totally, Dad. His accent was right and he looked like you and everything. And he admitted it later. You’ll hear.

Peter: I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’m so very sorry.

Comment: They clung onto each other for a moment and then Bec stepped back and looked up at her father.

Bec: I need you to be strong, Dad. I need you to be like a rock in the ocean that I can hold onto. The next part will be hard for me to say and it will be hard for you to hear. But I need you to hold it together and be the rock. Can you do that for me?

Peter: I’ll try, sweetheart.

Bec: There is no try. There is only do. Be the rock.

Peter: (took a deep breath and let it out). You watch far too many films. Okay, I am the rock.

Comment: Bec took her father’s hand in hers and held onto it tightly. Then she looked at me.

Dr K: You’ve been doing well.

Bec: That was the easy part. The next part is harder.

Small: Are you ready to start again?

Comment: Bec and her father looked at each other and then they both nodded. Small ducked out of the room and returned a moment later with Mahler. Everyone resumed their seats. Mahler pressed record on the camera.

Mahler: Interview resumed at 4:13pm.

Mahler: Rebecca, what can you tell me about this grandfather of yours?

Bec: Well, I’d never met him, or even seen pictures of him...

Mahler: Then how did you know it was him?

Bec: Because he had an accent from the south of England where I know he comes from. And because of this...

Comment: Bec flipped over the next drawing in her pile and pushed it over the table to Mahler. I picked up copy 6 from my pile and put it where we could look at it.

Picture 6: The picture is a highly detailed drawing of two men standing side by side. The bigger man is a thinner, older and slightly shriveled version of Peter Freeman. There is a strong family resemblance with the shorter man as well.

Comment: Mahler held up the drawing and looked back and forth between it and Peter. He grunted then opened his file and drew out a photo of the first drawing that Bec had done on her wall above her bed. He compared the two pictures and grunted at the similarities and scowled at the differences.

Dr K: (clearing throat) Detective Mahler, I did warn you that Bec’s initial drawing wasn’t to be taken as an accurate drawing of her assailant.

Mahler: Yes, yes, I can see that. So what else can you tell me about this grandfather of yours?

Bec: He’s my father’s father. He spent time in prison in England for child sex and pornography. He was released about 6 or 7 years ago.

Mahler: In that case, he should have been on the UK sex offenders list. He should never have been allowed into the United States.

Bec: Well, no. He probably used a fake passport.

Mahler: So what is his name?

Bec: Um. I never actually found out his name. Dad?

Peter: Ah, his name is Winston Cartwright. And that (pointing at the shorter man in the drawing) is his brother Ernest Cartwright.

Mahler: He told you? Do you mean you talked?

Bec: Yes. That’s the next thing I have to tell you. Do you want me to start or do you have more questions?

Mahler: You may as well continue.

Bec: Okay. So, I said, “Hello Grandfather.” He stopped and looked me up and down. Then he said, “Which one are you?” So I said, “My name is Rebecca.”

Bec: Then I looked around at the nearby houses and I said, “Aren’t you worried that I might scream?” And he said, “Not really. They’ll all cower in their houses like good little sheep. The most they will do is call the police. By the time the local coppers get off their fat arses and get here we will be long gone.”

Comment: Bec looked at the detective and shrugged.

Bec: Sorry, but that is what he said.

Bec: Then he said, “And where I’m taking you, you can scream as much as you want because nobody will hear you.”

Bec: I could see in his eyes that he was looking forward to that. He wanted to hear me scream with me knowing that nobody would hear it. He wanted me to learn the meaning of futility.

Mahler: That’s speculation.

Bec: No, it isn’t. It’s body language. I’m very good at reading people. Now stop interrupting and let me tell the story.

Bec: So I said, “What do you want? Why are you doing this?” and he said, “I want you and your sister. I have to build up my business again and how better to start than with family. You owe me. I was going to start with that bitch daughter of mine but she’s gotten old and worthless. But you two girls are just perfect. And the little one – she’s going to make me a lot of money. And don’t even think about escaping. I’ve learned my lesson after my bitch children ran away. I’ve got cages to keep you three in. That way I can keep you forever.” Then he laughed.

Bec: Then he said, “Do you know about the internet? They taught me about it when I was inside. They gave me lessons on how to use it, how to set up web pages, everything. Did you know that you can set up a web page and sell pictures and videos and the fuckers pay money electronically? You never even have to see them face to face.” He laughed again. “And you never have to turn up at the bank to get your money.”

Bec: He said some more stuff about what he wanted to do to me and my sisters but I’m not going to repeat it. It was all pretty disgusting. Like I told Dr K the other day, he said that when he got sick of us, he was going to breed us and do it all again with our children.

Comment: Bec stopped talking and looked down at the table in front of her. Then she shook her head and looked over at Mahler.

Bec: He was insane, detective. I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. He was cunning but he was insane. He tracked us down and made sure we were on our own before he made his move. But then he stood there and told me all of this without worrying about how much time was ticking away.

Bec: I asked him how he found us and he said, “They arrested me and tore apart my studio but they never found my distribution list. So many names and addresses and you wouldn’t believe how many of them were important people, or became important while I was inside, or now have family who are important. You wouldn’t believe what they will do to keep their secrets safe. I found a copper who used to buy kiddie porn from me. He was desperate to keep his job. He was desperate enough to look in your files. That led me to Preston. From there I found out you’d all migrated to Australia.”

Bec: (looked at Mahler and shrugged) We told all our friends in Preston that we were moving to Australia.

Bec: Then he said, “I went to Australia to find you. I spent two years in that stinking place. Nothing but heat and flies. But eventually I found the family who came out on your tickets but they weren’t the right people. So I contacted my friendly copper again. He dug deeper into the files and found out you’d changed your names to Freeman and that you came here.”

Mahler: You changed your names?

Comment: Bec looked at her father and raised an eyebrow.

Peter: We thought he might come looking for us. We got help from the witness protection people in England. They’re a part of the police force over there, not a separate organization like it is here. They helped us change our names to Freeman and gave us new passports and so on. It was all done legally but the judge sealed the records. Apparently they weren’t sealed enough.

Bec: Then the uncle came out of the house and he saw me. He said, “We better go. Someone will have called the coppers. Grab this one and get her tied up.”

Bec: My grandfather took a step forward so I said, “No.”

Bec: He kind of stopped and looked puzzled.

Bec: Then I said, “In all of your plans, you made one big mistake.”

Bec: Grandfather sneered at me and he said, “And what was that?”

Bec: So I said, “You forgot that this is America” And he said, “So?”

Bec: Then I said, “In America, they let everybody have guns.”

Bec: Then I pulled out the gun and pointed it at him.

Comment: There was silence for a moment, then Mahler leaned forward.

Mahler: Ah yes, the gun. I was wondering when that would make an appearance. But you haven’t explained why you had it with you.

Bec: Yes, sorry I forgot. That was the bit I mucked up because you were obsessing about the truck.

Comment: She picked up the third drawing which she had set aside and pushed it over to Mahler.

Picture 3: This a drawing of a handgun sitting nestled inside an opened lockbox with a pair of magazines beside it and an opened ammunition box.

Bec: It was sitting in Dad’s closet in a lockbox disguised inside a shoebox. It was locked but I knew where the key was hidden. When I first hid inside the closet, I had time to get the lockbox open but I was worried about the noise of loading the magazine into the gun so I made do with the knife. Then the uncle left without finding me so I finished loading the gun. I checked the safety was on and stuck it through my belt behind my back so I could climb out the window. I left it there while I was carrying Angie and Tara.

Bec: I decided not to pull it out while grandfather was talking because then he would have stopped talking. Remember I was trying to delay them so the more he talked the better. But when the uncle showed up and prompted him to get moving I figured my time was up so I grabbed the gun and pointed it at my grandfather. I used my thumb to flick off the safety and got ready to shoot.

Bec: I’m probably making it sound like I was calm and in control, but I wasn’t really. Inside I was a bit panicked and a bit scared but I was pretending to be calm so that I could keep control of the situation. Also the things he said he was going to do to my sisters made me angry. I was really, really angry but I was keeping that under control too.

Comment: Bec picked up the next drawing off her pile and passed it to Mahler.

Picture 7: This drawing shows Bec holding the gun in a steady two-handed grip. The gun is pointed at the grandfather who stands with his hands on his hips and laughs while the uncle backs away.

Bec: Grandfather saw me pointing the gun at him. He laughed and he said, “It’s probably a toy.” So I said, “It isn’t a toy.”

Bec: Then he sneered and he said, “You probably don’t even know how to use it.” So I said, “I know enough.”

Mahler: Excuse me, but had you ever done any training with a gun?

Bec: No.

Mahler: Then why would you say you knew how to use it?

Bec: (shrugged) I watched a video off the internet.

Mahler: (pointing at the drawing). That’s the way they teach you to stand and hold a gun in the military.

Bec (shrugged) I watched a video. It was made by a guy from the military.

Mahler: It takes real training to use that stance and shoot in a controlled way. Your stance is textbook perfect.

Bec: I told you, I watched a video. I’m not sure how many times you want me to repeat myself.

Mahler: So what happened then?

Comment: Bec was silent for a moment. She looked Mahler in the eye and I saw her grip on her father’s hand tighten.

Bec: Grandfather said, “You’re just a little girl. You’re not going to shoot me.”

Bec: Then he lunged forward and tried to grab the gun.

Comment: Bec sat perfectly still for a moment – frozen as if she was afraid to move. Then with a visible effort, she shivered and broke free of her paralysis. She flipped over the next drawing and slid it over the table to Mahler.

Picture 8: This drawing shows the grandfather snarling and lunging forward with a hand outstretched. The hand and the face almost fill the page. The effect is quite frightening.

Bec: He was wrong both times. I’m not just a little girl and I did shoot him. When he lunged forward, I pulled the trigger three times. I aimed down a bit because I expected the gun to jump in my hand but it jumped a lot more than I thought it would.

Comment: She paused and swallowed.

Bec: The first bullet hit him in the stomach. The second hit him in the throat and the third one went somewhere over his head. Then he crashed into me and I fell backwards with him on top of me. His hand, which had been reaching for the gun, thumped into my chest and clawed at me about here.

Comment: Bec put her hand high on her chest, above her left breast.

Bec: The gun was loud, too. Having it go off so loudly kind of shocked me a bit.

Bec: I’d fallen back so I was mostly next to Tara but I was a bit on top of her. Grandfather was lying on top of both of us and squirming around. He was making a gargling noise in his throat and staring right down at me. He looked so angry and so confused.

Comment: Bec reached over and pointed at Mahler’s photo of the drawing Bec had done on the wall above her bed.

Bec: He looked a bit like that.

Bec: He was kind of thrashing around but he was also holding me down and I was frightened and I was angry. The gun was trapped between us at about the middle of my chest but I was still holding it so I pulled the trigger two more times. The gun kicked back right into my chest, right where I already had a bruise from something that happened earlier that day.