Chapter 4 - HAWAII ENDS EARLY
Dennis and Trisha returned under police coordination.
Not voluntarily in the moral sense.
Their attorneys arranged flights.
Local authorities met them at Portland International.
Dennis was arrested on suspicion of child abandonment, criminal mistreatment, unlawful confinement, and related offenses pending charging review.
Trisha too.
No dramatic airport chase.
No paparazzi.
Two tired adults stepping into consequences they had expected to postpone.
Their stories diverged immediately.
Dennis:
“Sophie had behavioral issues.”
Trisha:
“I was told we’d be gone forty-eight hours.”
Flight reservation:
Six nights.
Dennis:
“A neighbor was supposed to check on her.”
No neighbor identified.
Trisha:
“I thought Dennis arranged childcare.”
Exterior footage showed no visitor.
Then:
“I didn’t know she was Kara’s child.”
That part I believed.
Her scream through the phone had been too immediate.
Could still be acting.
Evidence would decide.
Trisha admitted knowing Sophie was Dennis’s biological daughter.
She claimed he told her:
“A woman named Melissa in Spokane had a child and couldn’t care for her.”
When?
Two years earlier.
Why had Trisha never met Sophie before May 31?
Dennis told her Sophie lived with a foster guardian in Idaho.
Why bring her now?
The guardian was hospitalized.
Why hide her in the attic?
Trisha cried.
“Because I didn’t want anyone knowing.”
There.
Not innocent.
“Knowing what?” Detective Ortiz asked.
“That Dennis had another child.”
“Why?”
“I was humiliated.”
“Did humiliation justify locking her away?”
“No.”
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“Did you know she had only crackers and water?”
Trisha stopped speaking.
