"So... you have someone in custody for the forging of Margaret Smith's Social Security checks?" Frances asked softly, after escorting the detectives far enough down the hallway that Yvette Smith wouldn't overhear them.
"Yes, we caught him this morning," Denny nodded, "we believe him to actually be Yvette's father... but she said he's an uncle... I was thinking to request some blood tests, but if he is a biological relative... wouldn't he still have DNA that would be similar to hers?"
"If your prisoner is an uncle, his DNA would be similar to hers, but it wouldn't be as close as a biological parent," Frances answered, "unfortunately I can't give you anything more descriptive than that."
"We'll see what we can do for a lab request tomorrow," Jensen promised.
Frances nodded.
"Though all we've found is that the Smith family is messed up," Denny said with a sigh.
"No family is perfect," Frances reminded them, "there are stories from every were-beast group with morality tales about misguided members."
Both detectives nodded and let Frances go by. She had arrived for her first session with Yvette Smith to hopefully evaluate her mental health. She did have some hormone deficiencies and excesses, but based on what was in the lab doctor's note, they weren't sufficient enough in her mind to have made Yvette Smith single out and obsess over William Anderson. Maybe more sexually forward than other were-beasts and feeling a greater need for it as a result, but nothing that would actually make her target William Anderson. Frances figured some of them might have explained how at times Yvette had seemed to go dumb when near to William Anderson as well as the decision to scratch Jenny Harper, but it still wouldn't explain the decision to choose William Anderson as her target.
That decision, could have only been the result of whatever was going on in Yvette's mind, and that was why Frances had arrived. She nodded to the two uniformed officers who were standing guard outside the door to Yvette's room. They both nodded to her, and let her pass. She found Yvette laying comfortably on her back and under the blankets. The room still carried a heavily sexual scent, but for the moment, the werevixen was still in her human form and didn't look to be too disruptive.
"I seem to be popular today," Yvette commented while Frances set her purse down on a chair near the door and collected a pen from inside it. With that, Frances moved to sit another chair nearby and set a notepad in her lap.
"It is time to begin your psychological evaluation, which will be important to determining your fate," Frances answered, "I trust you will cooperate?"
"Sure... what do you want to know?" Yvette asked as she looked to the werecat.
"Mostly... to see what went on in your mind that made you fixate on William Anderson, and I will ask some direct questions on that later," Frances asked, "but I think it might be best to start with your childhood."
"My childhood?" Yvette asked.
"Yes, where our lives begin and where a great deal of our psyches build their foundations," Frances answered, "Could you tell me about your childhood?"
"Can't say much," Yvette answered, "Never knew my dad and uncle Bart came by only only on a rare occasion."
"Did you miss having a father figure?" Frances asked.
"Thinking on it now... maybe that could have been better, but at the time I couldn't really think about it," Yvette shrugged, "I was stuck trying to do well when mom wasn't home. She seemed more depressed by dad not being there than I was, and she took it out on me. Always saying to get an education and look for something productive, so when I got in trouble for some mischief she got mad and said I'd never amount to anything if I didn't shape up."
Frances wrote down the shorthand of Yvette's answers, which seemed to hint at what Frances had overheard between Yvette and the detectives. From what Frances knew about Margret Smith, which wasn't much, was that she was born between 1890 and 1910 and that Yvette was born to her late in the period of time that she could have children, even for a were. The burlesque theaters weren't necessarily sites of prostitution, but they did include striptease elements that the theaters played to and worked hard to keep them ahead of government censors, and there was the potential that prostitution followed them. Moon Lake had kept them a little bit longer than the rest of the country did, due to were-beasts having higher libidos than normal humans and much less intent on shaming people for their sexuality than normal humans did, and Frances knew that the lone burlesque theater that survived in Moon Lake had become something of a bar and strip club.
But something in Yvette's answer gave Frances the thought that Margret Smith had wanted more than that for her daughter. As while Moon Lake's were-beasts weren't as quick to shame people for their sexuality, there was still some commitment to family and more "honest" work that was considered respectable. Some of that had also limited the "success" the bar/strip club that Moon Lake had, and it was probably those feelings that had driven Margret Smith's actions. She didn't want her daughter to get caught in that sort of lifestyle, but Frances couldn't argue that without talking to Margret, which was impossible.
"And you didn't?" Frances asked.
"She really didn't stick around to be a mom and all that," Yvette answered sourly, "She had me... and she didn't care, except when I did something wrong. Maybe if she paid more attention to me instead of looking or waiting for a non-existent father... or sending me to a friend's house when Uncle Bart came to visit... or not saying what was "good" behavior... things would have been different."
"I see," Frances said slowly as she took her shorthand notes, surprised that it seemed more that Yvette's life seemed to be more affected by the absence of her mother rather than her father. It struck her as an example of poor parenting on Margret's part, even IF she didn't want that sort of life for her daughter.
"And so I grew up... learned who I was... learned WHAT I was and learned that people were attracted to that sort of thing," Yvette continued, "So... I figured I could make a little easy money to pay for food, clothing, and even school... since mom couldn't fully seem to be bothered... and the sugar daddies were more than willing to have someone keep them company, though I generally made sure they didn't get anything."
Frances sighed, "Did your mother know of this?"
"She did eventually," Yvette admitted, "all she did was get mad and kick me out with some speech about letting her down, which made no sense when she was never there. So... I did my best moving about between friends and doing stuff to show I could make something of myself."
"And you stayed in school?" Frances asked, "if you were still going on as an escort... that wouldn't necessarily lead to an education being important..."
"Well...I didn't disagree with the idea of being smart, and I figured it was a way to meet someone and settle down eventually," Yvette answered, "I could then have kits and be there for them, which my dad was never there at all... and my mom couldn't care to do. I'd show her."
"So, much of this was just to show up your mother?" Frances asked.
"Wouldn't you do the same if your mother made so many demands of you and then wasn't there to actually love you?" Yvette asked, "and then kicked you out when you couldn't meet the goals she set for you?"
Frances didn't fully answer, as to some extent, a fair number of her own decisions had been a bit of a rebellion against her own parents. She loved Samantha and had willingly become a werecat, and while her parents and her brother, and especially her brother, had accepted her being a werecat, there was still the issues that related to Frances providing them with grandchildren. But that was really tiny in comparison to what Yvette was talking about. Her parents had always been there for her as a child and they didn't completely ostracize her after she became a werecat.
"My purpose in this isn't to judge you Ms. Smith," Frances answered, "Merely to put together an accurate examination of your mind so that it may do the best for you."
"What might it do?" Yvette asked.
"Given that your attorney has already plead guilty, this will only affect what your sentence will be," Frances asked back.
She wanted begin to as a few more things when a nurse opened the door and came in with a tray of food. Yvette turned her head to food the instant the nurse entered the room. In this, Frances saw that she had lost Yvette's attention.
"Lunchtime," Yvette said slowly, "They do serve good food here... You want some?"
"No... I believe I'll leave you to it for today," Frances answered, "We'll talk more tomorrow."
"When do you have to be done with the evaluation?" Yvette asked.
"I have a few days to get through things and it will be best to be thorough," Frances answered, "and there is plenty we will be talking about in these sessions."
She collected her purse and then followed the nurse out of the room, leaving Yvette to eat her lunch in peace.