25
As Sally Schnell sat on the couch in the living room of her niece Amy’s house in Aurora, Colorado, she felt unsettled and worried. She was holding little Madison, rocking the pudgy newborn and humming to soothe her, but her mind was on her own child. Maybe she had made a terrible mistake that would make Chelsea furious at her. Maybe she had done exactly the right thing, and saved Chelsea from danger. The uncertainty was terrible.
The two federal agents had come to her here in Aurora. They had arrived with no warning at all. When they rang the bell at the front door, Amy’s husband, Sam, had been the one to go to the door. He had looked through the peephole first and seen two men in suits. They were both athletic looking, one of them blond and the other darker. As soon as Sam opened the door, the two held up little black wallets with their pictures on cards like licenses on one side, and gold badges on the other. When she had looked at the wallets closely a minute later, she had seen a big spread eagle on the top and DEA in the middle.
Sally had been across the room from the door and seen them and heard the blond one say, “Sir, I’m Special Agent McNally, and this is Special Agent Herrera, Drug Enforcement Administration. We’re here to speak with Chelsea Schnell. Can you get her for us, please?”
Sam was so shocked that at first he was speechless. Then he had said, “What? Chelsea?”
“Yes, sir. We need to speak with her.”
Sam was stunned. He had turned to look at Sally on the couch, opening the door wider so the two men were able to see into the living room. “Chelsea’s mother is here, but Chelsea isn’t.”
Special Agent McNally said, “May we come in, please?”
There was that oh-so-careful politeness that police officers had, no matter what they were called, but this one spoke in an especially cold, no-nonsense way. The fact that they were federal instead of local seemed to make them even more cold and steely. Of course Sam let them in. Who knew what would happen if he didn’t?
The two men stepped into the living room and held up their identification wallets so Sally could see them and repeated their names. Sally had been trembling so hard by then that she was afraid she’d drop the baby. She realized after a few seconds that she had been breathing through her mouth. She held little Madison up so Sam would take her.
Special Agent McNally said, “Your name, please?”
“Me?” she said. “Sally Schnell.”
“And you’re Chelsea Schnell’s mother?”
“Yes. What’s happening?”
“We’re looking for Miss Schnell in connection with an investigation,” said Special Agent Herrera. “Is she here?”
“No,” she said. “She’s not. She had planned to come, and we’d even bought tickets for both of us, but she decided she just couldn’t come right now.”
“So you can assure us that she’s not in the house right now.”
“Yes,” said Sally. “She didn’t come to Colorado with me. I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but only a few weeks ago her boyfriend was shot to death in front of her eyes.”
“We were made aware of that, Mrs. Schnell,” Special Agent McNally said. “We’re very sorry for your daughter’s loss.”
“Yes,” Special Agent Herrera said. “What we’ve come to talk with her about was her most recent misfortune. As I’m sure you understand, one aspect of the case falls within our area of responsibility.”
“What most recent misfortune?”
Herrera looked at her, incredulous. “She hasn’t told you?”
“No. What misfortune? What’s happened to her?” Sally was terribly agitated now, and her hands were trembling so much that they felt useless, limp and fluttering. “Is she hurt?”
Herrera looked solemnly at McNally, who took a breath and said, “She was allegedly given a drug known for short as GHB. It’s a common date-rape drug. While she was unconscious, she was allegedly sexually assaulted.”
“Oh, no!” She put her hand over her mouth and a second later the two agents blurred and she knew she was crying. “Oh no no no no. Not Chelsea.”
“I’m afraid so, ma’am,” said Herrera. “Our agency was contacted because GHB is an illegal substance. In this case it entered the country from Mexico.”
“But the man. Who?”
“A suspect has been arrested. His name is Daniel Crane, and he had been dating your daughter recently.”
“That can’t be. She just saw her boyfriend killed. She’s been in a state of mourning. She wasn’t ready to date anybody yet.”
McNally spoke. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We understand your surprise, and the precise nature of the relationship will be a matter for the court, no doubt. Our specific task concerns the possession and use of illegal substances. In this case, the drug was GHB, which has a very strong but transitory effect on the victim. By the time she was tested at the hospital, the GHB had been metabolized and the tests weren’t conclusive. That’s why we need her cooperation.”
Herrera said, “In cases that aren’t mostly about narcotics offenses, we’re usually a secondary resource, a source of expert consulting. But because of the kind of drug it was, the local police don’t have much to charge the suspect with. So for the moment, we’re the lead agency in the case. Of course we’ve taken steps to stop the people who sold the drug, and Mr. Crane will be charged with possession of the drug. For the more serious offenses, they’ll need the help of the victim.”
“You’re telling me Chelsea has to be grilled and forced to relive a rape in front of a court?”
“It’s more complicated than that I’m afraid,” McNally said. “Stopping all illegal drugs from entering the country is impossible, but we stop some of them. This is about a victim, your daughter. She deserves some justice.”
“I don’t know,” Sally said. All of this was confusing. But Chelsea certainly had decided what to do—go away for a while, and stay out of sight. “What if she’s not up to this?”
“She might be subpoenaed to testify in a trial. No judge would be able to tell her what to say. But she would be reminded that if she doesn’t cooperate, the man who raped her will pay a fine and walk away. Someone has to stand up and say, ‘I did not consent to sex with this man, but the tests show he had sex with me.’ Otherwise, he’ll do this to other women. There will be other pointless investigations and trials until a victim has the courage to stand up.”
Sally Schnell could think of nothing to say. She knew that they were right. Letting him go on doing this was terrible, a sin.
Herrera said, “She’s not at her home in Avon, New York. Can you tell us why that is?”
“I can’t really tell you. She didn’t even tell me what had happened to her. She went away. Now I guess I know why she wanted to get away.”
“Mrs. Schnell, can you tell us where she is at present?”
“She wants time to get over this, to get her head straight. That’s what she said. It’s what she needs, and she made me promise not to tell anyone anything for any reason. Let her come home when she’s ready to face this.”
Herrera and McNally looked at each other, and their expressions turned grim. McNally said, “We appreciate your position. But I’m going to ask you again. There are two very good reasons to answer. The first and most important is that we happen to know Mr. Crane has been trying hard to find Chelsea. Probably she doesn’t want to hear him pleading with her not to testify. But we believe it’s more serious than that. He knows that he’s about to be charged with a crime that could result in a very long prison sentence.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Think about it. If she testifies he could spend the rest of his life in prison. If she doesn’t, he’ll pay a small fine and the case will be closed.”
“Oh,” said Sally. “I’ve got to call her.”
“We have to ask you not to do that,” said McNally.
“Why not?”
“Chelsea has a choice about whether to cooperate with the investigation—not legally, of course, but in practical terms. She has no choice about whether or not to submit to an interview. We—or our colleagues—must speak with her. And these interviews have to be conducted in person, not over the phone. Please give us her current address, and we can be on our way.”
Sally hesitated. “All right. Do you carry a pad or something? I’ll write it down for you.”
McNally produced a small spiral notebook and a pen. She wrote and handed it back. He read aloud, “Thirteen sixty-four North Chambers Street, Hanover, New Hampshire. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
McNally looked down again at his small spiral notebook, then put it into his pocket. “Thank you, ma’am. We may be in touch later. If you get any other information, call us. Here’s my card.” They headed to the door.
She looked at the card and said, “What was the other reason?”
“Ma’am?”
“The other reason why I should give you her address.”
Herrera said, “We’re federal officers. Lying to us or not answering our questions is a crime. Both you and she could have been charged with obstruction of justice. It would be a terrible thing if the rapist went free and the rape victim and her mother went to a federal prison.”
Then they were out the door. She was relieved that they had not told her the second reason until after she had decided. She would always have had to wonder if she’d done it to save her child or to save herself. This way she knew.
As the two men walked away from the house, the tall blond one turned toward his companion. “You drive. I’ll make the call.”
They got into their rental car and the shorter, darker man drove away from the house. The blond one dialed and waited, and then said, “Hello. This is Al Galbano, calling for Mr. Salamone.”
He waited for a few seconds, watching his companion maneuver into the traffic heading for Denver.
“This is Salamone.”
“Mr. Salamone, I’m calling you from Denver. Ron Pozzo and I found the cousin’s house, but Chelsea never came to Denver. We talked to her mother, and got another address for her.”
“You think this is the right one?”
“Yes, I do. Pozzo and I do this routine where we’re special agents in the DEA. We use it to confiscate drugs and money. We usually let the drug dealer go, and charge him a fee for protection. We’ve got ID and badges, and we’ve convinced everybody so far.”
Salamone laughed. “You pulled that on the girl’s mother?”
“Yes. We said we were involved in her case because of the drugs. We said the guy who raped her daughter would walk away with a small fine for possession of the drug if she didn’t get the girl to cooperate with us and prove he used it on her.”
“Brilliant. Absolute genius. Can you give me the address?”
McNally took out the small notebook, read the address to Salamone, and then tore the sheet out of the notebook, crumpled it, and let it fly out the window. There was no sense in leaving an address like that in his notebook. Pretty soon it would be a dangerous thing to have.