The Perfect Child(6)
I raised my eyebrows. “Do they really think someone is going to come looking for her?”
He shook his head. “I think they’re just being extra cautious. I can’t imagine that someone who dropped their kid off in a parking lot in the middle of the night would show up to claim her later, but you never know.”
CASE #5243
INTERVIEW:
PIPER GOLDSTEIN
“When did you first meet Janie?” The first officer had been joined by a former detective turned private investigator who’d introduced himself as Ron with a firm handshake. He tried to play himself off as a fellow cop, but his civilian clothes were a dead giveaway. I had no idea why he was so critical to the case.
“On her third day in the hospital.”
“Is that how long it usually takes for a social worker to meet their client? I thought social workers were required to speak with the victim at least twenty-four hours after the incident.”
I hated when they asked me questions that they already knew the answers to. “They are, but she wasn’t stable enough for me to see her.” The bad fluorescent lighting was starting to give me a headache. I rubbed my temples, trying to stave it off for as long as possible.
“She was that sick?” the officer, Luke, asked. Ron had clued me into his name. They both wore the same close-cropped haircut.
I shook my head. “Not sick—starved. Did you know you can’t just feed a starving person or you can actually kill them?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “I had no idea that could happen. She went into cardiac arrest a few hours after being admitted because they fed her too much. It took two days to stabilize her, so I didn’t get a chance to meet her until she’d been there for almost three days.”
“What did you think about her when you met?”
“She was a complete surprise,” I said.
“How so?” Luke cocked his head to the side, eyeing me quizzically.
I didn’t know how to explain Janie. It was difficult to put into words unless you’d been there at the time and seen how she looked. Thankfully, they’d seen some of the crime scene photos, so the responsibility of a perfect description didn’t fall on my shoulders.
“I’d expected to find a really frightened and traumatized girl, but Janie was talking and smiling with her nurses when I walked into the room.” Her room had been an explosion of color that day, filled with balloons and stuffed animals donated by the hospital staff. Everyone who had met her had brought something with them, and I was no different. I’d come with a small teddy bear holding a heart in its paws. She’d sat in the center of the room perched on her bed while the nurses took turns trying to coax smiles out of her. “She wasn’t incapacitated with fear like I’d expected. People had made her sound like she was some kind of feral child, but she wasn’t.”
I’d worked hard at hiding my shock over her emaciated figure. The outline of her skull had been clear underneath her pale skin, so translucent that purple veins showed through. Her cheekbones had jutted out, and her pale-blue eyes had bulged out of her sunken sockets.
Ron nodded at me, signaling me to continue, but it was hard to just talk freely without them asking me questions. I knew what was expected of me with their questions. Talking freely and open-endedly could result in me saying something I wasn’t supposed to. Nerves twisted my stomach.
“It was hard to connect with her at first, but it’s always like that. Nobody likes social workers, even the people we’re trying to help. I wanted to talk to her alone, but she looked terrified when I asked the nurses to leave, so I let them stay,” I said. “We still didn’t know the circumstances of her case—didn’t have any clue about her parents or guardian or who was responsible for her and if they’d been the ones to hurt her. The police were interviewing all of the people in the trailer park behind the store for potential leads, but they hadn’t gotten anywhere yet. As far as I knew, anyway. The police aren’t always the best at letting me know what they know.” I stopped short, realizing what I’d said. “I’m sorry. I just—”
Ron dismissed it, waving me off. “I get it. No need to apologize.” He looked at Luke pointedly. “We could all do a better job of working as a team.” He held his gaze before looking away and directing his attention back to me. “Did you have any concerns about her mother? Was anyone worried she might be in danger?”
I hung my head, embarrassed. “I know we’re always supposed to keep an open mind and not jump to any conclusions until we have all the facts about the case, but everyone assumed Janie’s parents were the ones who hurt her. Or some really sick psycho. It never crossed anyone’s mind that someone else might be in trouble. I wished it would’ve. Maybe then things would’ve ended differently.”
FOUR
CHRISTOPHER BAUER
“I meet with Janie for her surgery consult on Tuesday, and I was wondering if you’d come with me to help make her feel comfortable.” I visited with all my patients before surgery if possible. I liked us to know each other because surgery went better when we had a connection. It wasn’t the first time I’d asked Hannah to help me with a patient. Sometimes I came across too clinical when I was nervous, and she was the kind of person who put people at ease without even trying.