Red Herring ✔️

65. The Moon Howls

It was in the wee hours of the morning that Mary Anne confessed.

It started with the murder of her mother's short-term boyfriend, Anthony Davis, whom Meredith met from one of her many public events in Hollywood. He was a drab accountant with an affinity for cocaine. Anthony hooked up with Meredith in February, moved in temporarily when he was kicked out his apartment for backed up rent, and stayed until mid-June. For the duration of his stay at McCormick home, Anthony repeatedly made passes at Mary Anne, often cornering her and touching her in ways she never approved of.

When Mary Anne informed her mother of her assault, Meredith didn't listen and still kept an on-again off-again fling with Anthony. Likewise, the assault continued in Mary Anne's own home. So she killed him - stabbed him in the neck with a kitchen knife. Mary Anne admitted, while she premeditated killing him, that it was accidental when it finally came down to it. She buried him in the woods and never told her mother. He wasn't the first of her mother's boyfriends to assault Mary Anne.

Mazie learned of this information some time past two in the morning after the police finished questioning her over and over again to get the facts straight. Rob found her on the front steps outside the station, getting some fresh air. "So it really was Meredith's boyfriend?"

"One of many, it seems. In addition to Anthony Davis and Lonny Harrison, she was also sleeping with the mayor, though that isn't confirmed yet," Rob informed her with a little smile. Uncharacteristically of himself, Rob sat beside her on the steps, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and hugged her to his chest. "What you did was dangerous, but also incredibly respectable. I don't know if the police would have solved this one without you. I'm proud of you, Mazie."

She cried on the steps in her uncle's arms. The relief that followed from the emotional release was overwhelming. The calm that washed over her diminished the turmoil that ransacked her life for the past month.

The police had a working theory that Meredith McCormick was occasionally abusive towards her only daughter. Mary Anne's withdrawn reserve, lack of meaningful relationships including any love interests, and scarce emotional development indicated a physically abusive relationship with a close family member. The single piece of evidence with which the police drew their conclusions was a medical incident when Mary Anne was just seven years old. Her mother took her to the hospital, claiming someone hit her daughter with a car. The doctor's remarked that Mary Anne's injuries weren't conclusive with a hit and run but rather a fall down a flight of stairs. With no prior visits to the hospital or first hand accounts of Mary Anne's abuse, the doctors didn't alert the authorities. Mary Anne never ended up in the hospital ever again.

The warning from Mary Anne's cousin who lived with her grandmother rang in her head when she heard about her abuse. Mazie knew enough to understand that abusers aren't born as abusers. Meredith was made into one somehow, someway. It made Mazie question the moral objectiveness of the McCormick family even further.

The elite elders of the McCormick family arrived in droves to the police station just before midnight. Mazie heard them screaming and demanding things in the hallway. The halls swam with police officers working overtime to put together all the puzzle pieces to the McCormick disappearance and murder. The bodies weren't excavated entirely from their graves until near morning time. The coroner arrived just as Mazie and Rob were leaving.

At her family's behest, Mary Anne confessed to the murder of her mother. The entire McCormick family acted as if they already knew.

Detective Harding was questioning her about breaking into the school which Mazie wasn't willing to concede to, though she told the detective how she and Christian retrieved the information about Mary Anne's current address. He put two and two together. Besides, they both received full immunity. It didn't matter if she told the entire truth. Her interrogation was paused when the McCormick family barged into every room searching for the detective himself and nearly attacked Mazie, claiming she was full of lies. She laughed. It was laughable.