The interview setting, a book-lined study, lent credibility. The couple was the picture of respectability. Friendly but grieving, articulate but practiced. It was difficult to believe that these were the same people who had coached the little girl on how to prance and pose with feathers and sequins and encouraged her to smile seductively. She would entertain at the drop of a hat.
Little girls dress up and play dress up.
I listened closely as the Ramseys answered the tough questions without hesitation and with smooth competence. No, they didn't kill their daughter. Yes, they loved their daughter. No, they didn't avoid police interrogation. Yes, they would now take polygraph tests.