The Perfect Child(80)

“Because of the Child in Need of Protective Services order, Janie had to be removed from her home during the preliminary investigation. Cole would’ve been removed, too, but since he was in the hospital, it was basically the same thing. It’s standard practice when there’s been more than one report made on the parents.”

“How long does it take to complete the investigation?”

“It usually only takes a few days to determine whether there’s probable cause for child abuse. They automatically remove children from their home until they can determine they’re safe from any harm.” I looked at Luke because he was the one I’d spoken to about it earlier. “I told you before that we always try to place kids with relatives first rather than in foster care, and Janie’s case wasn’t any different. It made the most sense for her to stay with Allison.”

“Did she go home from the hospital with Allison?” Ron asked.

“Yes.”

“Allison agreed to take her?”

“She did.”

“And you felt comfortable with that? You didn’t have any concerns?”

“None.”





FIFTY

CHRISTOPHER BAUER

The neurosurgeon and pediatrician walked into the room together still wearing their green scrubs from surgery. Their faces were blank, unreadable. I gripped Hannah’s hand. The neurosurgeon wasted no time getting down to business. “We were able to find the brain hemorrhage and stop the bleeding.”

Relief flooded my body. Cole had had another seizure, and they’d rushed him into surgery afterward when the MRI had shown a bleed the CT had missed.

His neurosurgeon went on, his hands in continual motion as he spoke. “His brain stem reflexes are working. His pupils are reacting to light, and he reacts appropriately to external stimuli. I expect him to experience a full recovery.”

Hannah’s hand shook in mine.

Two other nurses wheeled him in from the recovery room. Hannah and I shuffled to his side, afraid to look. His eyes were closed. His head was wrapped in bandages. He was pincushioned with needles. Hannah stuck her finger through one of the holes and stroked his leg. He opened his eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. The pain in her voice was so thick it was tangible. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and brought her close to me. Her body was stiff, unmoving, like a pile of bones next to mine.

“We’ll watch him overnight to make sure everything continues to be okay and probably for the next twenty-four hours, but if he continues to do well, we can start talking about discharge plans.”

His pediatrician spoke up. “We’ll watch him closely for the next few months, but it was only a cranial bruise, so we shouldn’t expect to see any long-term damage.”

I squeezed Hannah. “Did you hear that? He’s going to be okay.”





CASE #5243

INTERVIEW:

PIPER GOLDSTEIN

“It says here that your colleagues expressed concern that you were too close to this case. That there were important signs you could’ve missed. What do you think about that? You think there’s any truth to their claims?” he asked.

“Absolutely not. I’m good at what I do because I care about the people I work with.” I’d never apologize for it.

“But you missed the bruises on Janie’s neck, didn’t you?”

Dread crept into my throat.

He motioned to the tape recorder in front of him and asked the question again.

“Yes, I did, but only at first.”

“Was there anything else you could’ve missed at first?”

I winced. “No.”

“When did you finally notice the bruises on her neck?” he asked, emphasizing the word finally for effect.

“By law, you have to check on the child in the new home within twenty-four hours, so I stopped at Allison’s house the next day.”

Allison had looked like she’d aged overnight. No amount of makeup could hide the bags underneath her eyes. She’d offered me tea just like Hannah, and I’d said yes to her in the same way. We’d sat in the breakfast nook in her kitchen.

She had rubbed her temples. “How is Cole?”

“He’s still doing well,” I’d said. “He took a bottle this morning, and the doctors said that was a really good sign.”

“That’s great. And what about Hannah? What are they doing to help her?”

“I’m not sure what the plan is.”

“Have you seen anyone turn into a zombie like this before? Why is she still out of it?”

Janie had run into the kitchen screaming and waving a toy truck while one of the twins had chased her from behind. The boys looked so much alike that I couldn’t tell them apart.

Allison had raised her voice. “Stop running in the house.”

They’d ignored her, and their footsteps had thundered through the kitchen and into the family room.

“Greg?” Allison had called out. “Greg?”

“What?” a male voice had responded from somewhere in the house.

“Can you please take them outside? They need to run off their energy, and they’re giving me a headache.”

“On it,” he’d said. I’d heard footsteps on the wooden floor in the next room.