Chapter 2

"Ms. Walker, I am Jeff , with store security. I need you and your daughters to come with me, right this way. Sam will watch your basket and hold your purchases for you."

I noticed that young Natalie was frantically looking around as if she was about to bolt. Although young Susan had her suspicions, Natalie was the only one in the family that knew for certain why they were detained. Susan calmly looked at me and gave her sister a knowing look. Maybe she had more than suspicions. As we were about to enter the door into the security area, Natalie spoke up.

"Mr. , I need to use the bathroom, really badly, I need to go now".

Saying that, she started to back out and head for the restroom, also along the same wall.

"STOP right there! There is a restroom inside, nearer my office. You need to come back over here NOW," I said firmly.

Young Natalie, visibly shaken, stopped and moved slowly back to the security area with the others. Her face turned pasty and I almost thought she was going to faint as she looked over at me with pleading eyes. I gave her a stern look and then caught back up to her mother who had stopped at the end of the security corridor.

"Ms. Walker, I need to talk to you and each of the girls separately. I have something I want to show you that involves you and your girls. You can either cooperate, or I will have no choice but to call the police and let them handle it. It's your choice, what will it be?"

At that point almost everyone wants to speak with me rather than the police. Each person thinks that there is a small chance that I can be talked into giving them a slap on the wrist and let them be on their way. The ones who have been through things before will often opt for the cops to cut down on the time and paperwork.

Momma was confused, but still said she would rather talk to me than the police. I could see her slowly going through her shopping trip in her mind, trying to figure out what was going on. Like all people living on the edge of society, she didn't doubt that she had broken some rules; she was just trying to figure out which of them I might know about. I placed them into interview rooms two, four and five, telling each of them to take a seat before I closed the doors, which then locked.

Normally, at this point, I would wait for a bit; maybe watch them by using the camera in each room. In this case I watched only Natalie. She was so nervous she looked as if she might pee her pants. She hadn't asked to use the restroom again as I expected. It was as if she knew she was caught and had given up. I smiled and put all of the evidence data into the correct order in the computer and picked up the remote that would access the information from the interview rooms.

I started with young Susan. I wanted to hear what she knew and what she would say. As I said earlier, I didn't have microphones and I needed to know what was said when they were speaking together. I also needed to know if she suspected Natalie was stealing or if she just knew Natalie was nervous. So I went fishing.

I started by sitting down in a chair across from Susan. This put me more on her level, a ploy designed to make me less imposing and less of a threat to her. She knew she had done nothing wrong but she knew someone else had, and I was betting that she knew it was Natalie.

"Susan, how are you doing this morning? Would you like something to drink?"

She barely looked up as she shrugged her shoulders, and shook her head no.

"Do you prefer to be called Susan, or something else?"

She mumbled "Suzie."

"Suzie, my name is Jeff , and I am in charge of security here at Wally World. Do you have any idea why I have you here?"

Again she said nothing; she just shook her head no.

"I have to start by telling you that this interview is being recorded; the video camera is right over there. We are being recorded so that there will be no argument about what we agree to. Is that okay? Even though you are a minor, you can tell me if you would rather talk to the police, and I will stop this interview right now."

At the mention of the police, she started softly crying.

"Would you rather talk to the police?"

She shook her head from side to side and wiped her face on the back of her hands.

"I didn't do nothing wrong. I don't know why I'm here."

She said this with her voice almost breaking between each word and looked down as soon as she finished speaking. She had spread her legs to the sides of the plastic chair and her tight shorts were pulled snugly against her young pussy. I smiled as I realized that she had no idea of the show she was putting on for me.

"There are two things I want you to look at on the TV set in the corner. They both involve you. Maybe you can help me understand what was going on and that will help me make a decision about what I have to do. Understand?"

She briefly nodded her head yes. At that point, I clicked the remote and the first scene began running. In it Natalie was talking to her mother and went off and then Suzie talked to her mother and was slapped. I asked her what was said in the conversation.

She looked embarrassed at the end, put her hand to her face where she had been slapped and looked like she was searching her memory. Finally she said, "Natty asked momma if she could go look at some CDs. Her best friend at school, Julia, gave her an old CD player and she was hoping that she could get another CD to play in it. The ones she has are cast offs from her friends. She told me that she wants the new Red Hot Chili Pepper's CD more than anything. Momma said we need a lot of stuff worse than that CD and maybe she can get it for Christmas."

Once little Suzie started talking I didn't think she would stop. It was like she was thinking of everything she could say, to avoid saying why she was slapped.

I asked her, "Why did your mom let her go and then slap you when you asked to go? I assume that was what you asked her."

"Momma wasn't fair. She said she didn't need us both wandering off and getting into trouble. She said I needed to stay with her. I told her that she wasn't fair and that I hated her. She slapped me hard and told me if I didn't shut up she would deal with me when I got home."

Although it was outside the proper limits of questions I should have asked, my next question was, "Does your mom hit you very often?"

"That was just a little slap. If she had hit me it would have left a bruise. She won't hit me on my face, because it causes the teachers to ask too many questions."