***
The small interrogation room felt claustrophobic as Renner and Lucas sat opposite Tyaisha Mays and her mother. Renner had read the Miranda warning for a second time that day, although this time she was dealing with a juvenile; she had to question with care. Latreece Mays was visibly shaking as her daughter sat eerily calm facing both detectives.
Renner flipped open her notepad.
“So Tyaisha – Seems like it was you we should have been talking to all along. What can you tell me about this man?” She slid the image of Solieau across the table.
Tyaisha made no attempt to pick up the photograph. She stared at it as if reliving the past. She pursed her lips with an air of arrogance before she looked up and replied, matter of fact.
“Yeah, I know him – That’s the animal that raped me.”
The second the words left her daughter’s mouth, Latreece Mays burst into tears and let out a long howl. The burden of the keeping the secret had finally been lifted.
“She was only thirteen years old,” she added, quietly.
A chill ran through Renner. In an instant her mind flooded with thoughts of the rape in Houston – Guiterrez was right; Wells and Solieau had offended before. They preyed on young girls, that was their M.O.”
“Wasn’t just him though.”
Renner picked up and leafed through the case file until she found the image of Raymond Wells. She passed it across the table. Before she could ask, Tyaisha nodded. “That’s him – I swear I’d never forget that face.”
Latreece looked across at her daughter. “Baby, please no. That’s enough.”
“It’s ok, Mama. I’m not ashamed of what I done. Someone gotta protect this family now Daddy’s gone. He would have done the same thing.”
Renner took a deep breath and looked over at Lucas who was deep in focus. He sat up straight. “Tyaisha, take us through it. What happened?”
“What difference that gonna make?”
“T.C. This is a big deal, you understand. People are gonna say things, lots of things about you, about what you did. I need to understand your side of the story. I need to understand what happened.”
“Baby, don’t say anything else. We need to get a lawyer.”
“I don’t want no lawyer. Like I said before, I ain’t ashamed. I take accountability of what I done. I can’t say that for them though. I got God to watch over me. I know I’m good in his eyes and that’s all that matters far as I’m concerned.”
Renner nodded. “Ok.”
“We were in that dump,” Tyaisha said.
“The Superdome?”
“Yeah. There were so many people and so much rubbish you couldn’t move.
“O’kay,” Renner said.
“It was, like, the second day – late, you know. We were supposed to be safe in there, but can you believe the fucking roof blows off and the power goes out. I’m thinking to myself, can this get any worse. We were alone and so fucking scared! Families, you know - good people were all huddled together with the men, forming circles around them to protect them in the dark. Everyone was going crazy, cussin and all, racial shit.”
“You’re doing great, T.C.” Renner encouraged.
“So I had to use the bathroom. It was pitch dark and mama said she would come with me.”
“I wanted to protect her. I had to protect her.”
“Of course,” Renner replied as she shook her head. They had all lived through the storm, but the first hand experiences never failed to get under her skin.
She looked across at Latreece and then back at Tyaisha.
“It was so disgusting; you got no idea,” Tyiasha said as she gestured with her hands. “We tied plastic bags round our feet just so we could walk across the bathroom floor.”
“The smell - it was so strong it made me sick. No one went anywhere alone. People were doin’ drugs, sellin’ drugs, having sex. There were guns everywhere. It was like bein’ in Hell.”
“You saw this?”
Latreece through her head back. “Everyone saw it.”
“Go on. What happened?”
“We waited for a while and when we finally got inside they grabbed me and pushed me against the wall.”
“They both had knifes.”
“Who did?” Renner asked.
“Those two,” Tayisha replied, stabbing her finger at the file in front of Renner, her demeanour, rapidly changing.
“They started out playing with us, scarin’ us, an’ all,” Latreece said.
Renner nodded.
“It wasn’t long before they started to pull at my clothes,” Tayisha said as her voice quivered. “That’s when she pushed past me. She tried to take my place.”
She took a long breath.
“I know this is hard,” Lucas said.
Tyaisha closed her eyes, before Latreece interjected.
“They wouldn’t have it. They punched her, they punched my baby. They kicked her over and over. Then they crushed her face into the floor – into God knows what. It was an inch deep. He held me and I had to fucking watch!” she screamed, now clearly angry. Latreece openly wept as she continued.
“I screamed and screamed and screamed. Fourteen fucking thousand people and not a single one - a single one, came to help us. What the fuck is wrong with them?” her voice trailed off.
She suddenly sat forward, her behavior now unpredictable. “You know what they did?” she said, pointing at Renner. “They just laughed at us.”
As she spoke, Renner scribbled notes in her book.
“Why didn’t you report it?” Lucas asked.
“They took our shit. They had our address. Besides, what’s the point? No one gives a fuck. I want to forget it ever happened.” Latreece grunted in disgust.
“Worst part is, when they finished, this one,” Tyaisha said as she pointed to the picture of Wells, “held the knife to my throat and made me watch. The other one cut my name into his arm - like a prize.” She sat silent, before she spoke. “He said he owned me. He grabbed my hair and whispered into my ear with his disgusting breath that he would always own me. Truth is in some ways he was right. Well that is until I took my life back.”
Renner shook her head as the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place – the letters on Solo’s arm.
The room fell silent for a moment.
“Then I see him again that night. Mama didn’t know I followed her there. I just wanted to see the band an’ all.”
Latreece reached across and held her daughter’s hand.
“You’re doing well, Tyaisha,” Renner said.
“I was right behind. He didn’t even know. I wanted to make sure it was him.”
Where did you get the knife?” Renner interrupted.
“What does it matter?” Tyaisha replied. “I came back and cut him.”
Latreece Mays sat still; they were well past the point of no return.
She sat up. “Far as I’m concerned he killed himself the moment he attacked me and my mama. Way I see it, you get it how you live.”
Once more, the room fell silent. Renner finally spoke.
“Okay, Latreece, you two stay here.” She stacked her paperwork and stood. “We need a moment.”
Both detectives got up and left the room, this time locking the door.
Renner stared at Lucas as she held her hands behind her head. “We need to contact the DA. See what he has to say about this mess. You know, they’ll try and put her away for life.”
“All we can do is lay out the case. She’s a juvenile. We have to let the cards fall.”
“Mother knew something all along, I knew it.”
She moved away, “Give me a few minutes. I’ll call him and bring him up to speed. We wrap this up and get out of here.”
“There’s no other way,” Lucas replied.
“I know; I know.”
She took a few steps and without warning spun on the spot. She slammed both palms against the wall. The noise reverberated down the narro
w passage.
Deadpan, she looked back at Lucas.
“Gabe, every day I come to work and deal with cases like this. I think to myself that today will be a better day and that I have faced the worst of what people and what the city can possibly throw at me; and most days I’m right. I love this city – For God’s sake, I’m New Orleans born and bred. You ask me honestly - today is not one of those days.”
He nodded.
“This city, it just takes and takes. I swear to God, sometimes,” she said through gritted teeth, it goes too far!”
He stared back as she ran her hands through her hair.
“Hey I get it,” she said, “everyone makes choices, everyone sets their own destiny and all that shit, but her life,” she said pointing to the room, ”is now fucked because some lowlife plays king for a day – well I call bullshit on that.”
She turned and pushed through the door, letting it slowly close behind her.
Lucas looked through the open door to the neighboring room and caught a glimpse of Mays and her daughter huddled close around the table. No matter what the outcome in the days ahead, the scars from Katrina were now indelibly etched in their lives forever.
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