It was shocking to see this other side of Barbara come out so suddenly, a woman on a mission, not willing to let anything go by.
“Even after some of these women are beaten, they’ll only tell you about how wonderful their partner is,” Barbara went on. “They’ll give you all the reasons they deserved the beating, say their partner was only doing it for their own good.”
Cindy shuddered.
“The sooner they see the truth about their abusers, the safer they’re going to be. It’s our job here to keep them safe! Not only safe in the Shelter, but after they get out of here and make a new life!”
“That’s wonderful,” said Cindy and meant it. She could understand why Barbara felt as she did, but what got her started on the tirade? Did it have to do with something Cindy’s said? She didn’t want to side step the issue.
“Did you think I was making excuses for someone?” Cindy asked Barbara directly.
“There was a strong whiff of it,” Barbara replied. “You said everyone’s doing all they can to find Shelly’s killer. That’s an excuse. They’re not!”
“How do you know they’re not?” Cindy was stung.
“It’s a common excuse, we hear it all the time - from the cops, the courts. I even just heard that Shelly’s husband, Mattheus, is a detective who’s come down to help with the case. No one’s even heard a word about him all these years. Where has he been all along? You think he’s doing all he can, too?”
Cindy flinched. Barbara had no idea that Mattheus was Cindy’s partner. She might not even know that Shelly had gone missing six years ago, either. Cindy couldn’t fill her in on that yet. There were lots of missing pieces here.
“What kind of a jerk that Mattheus must be!” Barbara got more agitated as she went on. “It’s unbelievable that even after she was found dead, he hasn’t even come here once! So, it’s not true they’re doing all they can.” Her face flushed with exasperation.
Cindy picked up Barbara’s agitation and tried to calm down. She thought of the years of his life Mattheus had spent searching for Shelly’s killer, doing all he possibly could. It was such a danger to generalize about others without knowing all the facts.
“How do you know what other leads Mattheus is following?” Cindy asked crisply.
Barbara smirked. “Defending him now, too?”
Cindy wouldn’t even go there. “How do you know the cops aren’t checking out other leads?”
“Because they’ve pounced on the first suspect they got, Shelly’s boyfriend, Anthony. We heard he’s in custody, locked up.”
“He is” said Cindy.
“Convenient,” Barbara went on, “But Shelly and Anthony did well, they were pretty happy most of the time.”
Cindy’s eyebrows arched. “That’s not what I heard.”
“Sure, they fought,” Barbara went on emphatically. “Shelly used to talk to me about it a lot. They weren’t terrible fights though, just the usual kind. And, whatever happened, Anthony never once put her down. That impressed me a lot. I used to point it out to Shelly. If anything, she was the one who was rough on him.”
Cindy thought she’d better calm down and really listen. It was too easy getting caught up in what she believed and not let new information in.
“What kind of things did Shelly and Anthony fight about?” Cindy asked.
Barbara was glad, at last, to be getting her chance to be heard.
“Well,” if you really want to know the truth, it was Shelly who was the jealous one. She couldn’t stand all the attention Anthony got from his fans. He had a big fan club and another one forming. Shelly punished him for it,
yelled about it, threatened to leave if he didn’t stop answering all those women’s emails and calls. She wanted him to stop playing so many concerts, too. Of course he refused.”
Cindy faced Barbara squarely. “I could see how that would be hard for any woman,” she said.
“Sure,” said Barbara,” but that was his job, music was his life.”
“Some guys lead women on,” said Cindy, “they know how to flirt under the radar, invite all the attention they get.”
“Anthony wasn’t like that,” Barbara assured her.
“You knew him personally?” Cindy didn’t like the sound of it.
“We all knew him here,” Barbara said. “He would come all the time to pick up Shelly from work. If she was late, he’d just sit and wait for her patiently. We all thought he was a really special guy.”
Cindy was amazed to see Barbara siding with Anthony now. “Sounds like he sure had a way with the women,” she said. Did Barbara consider Shelly the abusive one? Cindy wondered. This was a lot to digest. Did Shelly ultimately do something that caused her own death?
“So, Shelly was the jealous one?” Cindy probed gently.
“Very,” whispered Barbara, “it was a sore spot of hers.”
“Did she abuse Anthony?” Cindy asked more strongly.