Leona Karr - Innocent Witness

Her smooth, take-charge manner amused Steve, and he liked the way her eyes sparkled and her cheeks flushed pink with excitement. Deanna Drake had been attractive before, but now her face glowed.

He had to admit, her suggestion certainly had its merits, but there was only one thing wrong with it—he couldn’t treat children in a vacuum. The play therapy room and everything in it was carefully selected and engineered to allow the child free expression of inner feelings. Without the proper setting, Penny wouldn’t release her habitual responses, but would keep on repeating the old ones instead of forming new ones.

He tried to explain this to Deanna. “In order to make meaningful use of toys, or play therapy, the therapist must control all the variables that can possibly be controlled. Any extraneous factors can confuse what the child is revealing, or be so distracting that nothing is accomplished in the sessions. It’s important to have a consistent environment and one that provides everything for the child and therapist to interact.”

Deanna looked around the room, “I don’t see anything in here that isn’t replaceable. If you make me a list, I’ll have a playroom ready that will meet your needs.”

“The expense—” he began.

“Won’t be close to what I’m willing to spend on Penny,” she countered swiftly. “I can easily provide a nice private room in the hotel for your exclusive use. As often as it’s convenient for you to have a session with Penny, the room will be ready and furnished as well as this one. That way, we could begin Penny’s sessions while you and Travis enjoy an extended vacation in the mountains.”

The decision was not an easy one to make. He could have insisted that the idea wasn’t workable. A warning was there that he might become too emotionally involved.

There were other considerations, too. The killer of Deanna Drake’s husband was still at large. As far as he knew, the case was still open, and from what he could learn, there were no real suspects and no definite motive. Since Penny’s trauma was tied to the night her father was killed, Steve knew that the child’s withdrawal was a way of protecting herself. If he successfully helped Penny retrieve a memory that would be a threat to whoever shot her father, what would be the consequences?

What would be the consequences if he didn’t?

Later he wondered exactly what it was that made him put aside his reservations and agree. He seemed to have no choice as he looked into Deanna’s hopeful face, but to smile and say, “All right. It’s a deal.”

Deanna couldn’t have been more anxious if the governor had been expected the day that Steve Sherman and Travis were due to check into the Drake Resort Hotel. Her heartbeat quickened with anticipation as she took the back stairs up to the third floor. Ever since final arrangements had been made for him and his son to spend the month of June at the hotel, her time had been filled with preparations for their visit.

Deanna had chosen a large airy room to be used as the play therapy room. Everything on the list that Dr. Sherman had given her was ready and waiting: sandbox, dollhouse, small plastic animals, cars, trucks, rubber gun and knife, easel, paints, paper, clay, play telephone, chalk, crayons, books and puzzles. In addition to the play materials, she had provided a low round table, floor cushions and a soft easy chair as faded and lumpy as the one in Dr. Sherman’s therapy room. The only thing that was missing was an electric train, and he had decided that would be too tempting for Travis to leave alone.

Steve had warned Deanna not to let Penny play in the room, or even see it before her first session. “I don’t want her to have any preconceived feelings about the playroom or the toys.” He impressed upon Deanna the need to keep the room separate from the rest of the child’s normal life. “The time spent in that room will be an experience apart from her normal activities.”

“I understand,” she had readily agreed.

He also had warned her that what happened during play therapy was between him and her daughter.

She frowned. “But how will I know how she’s doing?”

He smiled. “It’s my job to know how she’s doing, not yours. I’ll share with you anything that will help me do my job. All right?”

As she gave the room one last look, she breathed a prayer that somehow, within these walls, the dark psyche that lived within her daughter would be released, and she would have her normal little daughter back again. She was just locking the playroom door when she heard footsteps on the stairs, and swung around to face Bob Henderson, her trusted hotel manager.

“Oh, Bob, it’s you,” she said, letting out her breath when she saw the thirty-year old, sandy-haired man. “I thought…I thought maybe they’d come already.”

“Nope, not yet. Hey, girl, you’re as jumpy as a cat dancing on a live wire.” His round face creased in a frown. “What gives? Don’t you think that city doctor’s going to approve of your efforts? God knows you’ve been knocking yourself out making sure that room is exactly like he wants it. He better not give you a bad time or I’ll deal with him in short order.” He fell in step with Deanna as she walked back down to the reception area.

Deanna laughed at his fierce expression and the way he straightened his thick shoulders as if ready to do battle. A childhood friend of hers, Bob had been her protective knight ever since high school. He had been a star football player, and still maintained a hard, muscular physique. He was already working in the hotel for her husband before the tragedy. Now he practically ran the place, and she didn’t know how she’d manage without him.

“Down, boy, down,” Deanna teased in a laughing fashion. “No need to show your teeth. I’m sure Dr. Sherman is going to be pleased.”

“Well, he better be. Sounds to me like all the guy does is play with kid stuff and charge big bucks for it.” Bob shook his head. “Are you sure he’s not taking you for a ride? Giving him a free room, while dishing out good money for him to play with Penny? Sounds like a real scam to me.”

“It’ll be worth every cent if he can make some progress with her. Besides, I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t know what else to try. Nothing has worked.”

Bob touched her arm. “Honey, you can’t keep tearing yourself up like this. Ben wouldn’t want it. You’ve got to get on with your life.”

She knew what Bob meant by getting on with her life. He wanted to marry her. Heaven knows, he’d asked her often enough in the last four months, but the answer was always the same. She didn’t want to marry Bob Henderson, or anybody else. Marriage hadn’t been that terrific the first time around. The only good thing that had come out of it was Penny. Deanna wasn’t about to lose her freedom again, even to someone as nice and loyal as Bob Henderson.

Bob disappeared into the office while Deanna lingered a moment in the lobby, looking around, trying to get a detached perspective on the furnishings. She wondered what the California doctor would think about the decor: unpretentious western-style furniture, colorful Indian rugs scattered on the polished oak floor, and walls of rough logs that matched an open-beam ceiling.

The hotel had been completely renovated and modernized in the last few years without losing its original Old West charm. So far, it had survived the encroaching Colorado ski country development, a sprawl of condominiums and lodges. She didn’t know how much longer it would turn a profit. Thank goodness, there were loyal guests who returned every year to Eagle Ridge, and more and more small conferences and seminars were choosing the hotel for their meetings. The hotel’s thirty-five rooms were filled every night from May to October.