Posted on 6:44 PM | By Biki Honko | In
Bob walked into the waiting room followed by the officers, Cooper and Lyle, and child protection agent Kim. Morgan was the first to see Dr. Pressler walking toward them. He leaped from his seat, and ran to Bob. "How is she doing? Is she going to be ok? When can I, umm, we see her?" It was then that he noticed the two uniformed policemen behind the doctor.
"Dr. Pressler how is Soah doing? May we see her soon?" George was pleased to see that the police had finally arrived. Now maybe something will be done about getting her parents arrested.
"George, let's wait until we are in the conference room, ok?" Bob led the way to the same room they had been in before. "I need to make this quick, I am going to be observing Dr. Noel. She is the dermatologist who will be abrading Soah's burns, and cleaning her lacerations. As to how Soah is doing, her condition is unchanged from earlier. The big change will be after her surgery." George was interrupted by a knock on the door. George called out, "Come in!", and Sam walked in. "Oh, good, I am glad you could get here before I leave. Everyone this is Sam Jenkins, he is one of the EMTs that brought Soah to the hospital, and she asked that he stay with her in emergency. Let me quickly introduce everyone. This is Sgt. Milner, and Sgt. Coats, Kim Daine from the child protection agency. This is George and Kevin Gardner, Kevin Li, and Morgan Davidson, Cami Winston and Tom Briggs. I will talk to everyone when the procedure is finished." And with that Bob was gone.
After a quick look at each other, Lyle pulled his pad out of his pocket, set up the tape recorder and Cooper started asking questions. "So, how does everyone know Soah Helms?"
"How about we sit down, and the boys will start telling what they know, and the rest of us will fill in with our portions as we go along. Does that sound about right?" George was used to taking charge of meetings, and it showed in the handling of this interview. The boys starting talking, telling the story of how they met Soah and why they were worried about her.
"Do we know where this diary, err, book is?" Cooper asked the group. He was impressed with the boys, well young men and how badly they wanted to help her.
"Yes, sir, I have it. The Book is in her bag here. I feel funny about letting someone else read her words though. She didn't write them for others to read, and I have felt guilty about reading her Book. Can you arrest her parents without her Book?" Dave was torn between protecting Soah's privacy and helping her any way he could.
"Lyle, do you agree with me, that we have enough to arrest her parents without reading her book?"
"Yes, we do, however, with her words, we should be able to make sure that her parents are held without bail until their trial. Don't you think that if her parents were locked up in jail, that Soah would feel safer? That she wouldn't have to worry that they could pop into her room and hurt her? I understand about feeling guilty about letting us read her personal diary, but if she would have collapsed alone, we would have been given her bag to look thru to see who she is, would have found her diary and we would have read it."
Dave opened up Soah's bag, and withdrew her Book. "Will she be getting it back soon? I think it will be something she will be looking for after she starts to feel better."
"After we log her diary in as evidence, we will send it to the data techs to have it copied. I promise we will have them rush it, and have it back to Soah in a few days. Does that make you feel better Dave?" Cooper took the diary from Dave and said, "Could we please have her bag also? We need to catalog the contents also. It will come back the same time as her diary. Unless someone has something else to say, we need to be going."
"I thought you were going to stay and take photos of the injuries of her front?" Sam wanted to make sure that the abuse was well documented.
"The hospital will take care of that for us. They have taken photos before that were entered into evidence. There are two jail cells that need filling, and we need to get started on that, asap." Cooper removed cards from his wallet, and handed them around. "If any one remembers something that you feel is important to this case, please do not hesitate to call." Lyle picked up the tape recorder, and camera bag, nodded a good-bye to everyone, and out the door they went.
"Mr. Gardner, I believe you want to file for emergency custody of Soah Helms? Mr. Jenkins also wants to have custody of her."
George glanced quickly at Kim, and then said, "Sam could we talk in private about this first?"
"No, my wife and daughter should be here any minute. I would like for all of us to sit down with Ms. Daine and talk about what she feels would be best for Soah. Will your wife be here soon?" Sam at first thought that Cami and George were married, but they just didn't act like a married couple.
"My wife passed away several years ago. Cami and are dating, but we are not yet ready to tie the knot. Why don't you want to speak to me privately? I thought we could see what we both thought of what would be the best for her."
"Without everyone's input, I do not see how just the two of us could figure out what would be best for Soah. I think in the long run, it is going to take all of us, not just some of us. Soah is going to have to be carefully put together. Soah is going to have to learn how to live in a world that includes kindness, love, and caring. Learning how to live without fear, pain and humiliation. And I know for a fact, that job will take all of us, and more. She is going to be a work in progress for a really long time. I think together we have a chance to accomplish that. Separately, not a hope."
"Sam, you are right, and I am very sorry for looking at this the wrong way. We will need all of us to help her strive to become whole." George was extremely impressed with how Sam looked at Soah's future. He also realized that Sam, knew much better than he did, just how broken Soah's spirit truly was. George reached his hand out for Sam to shake. George was not one to follow formalities, but he felt he needed to show Sam, how much he respected him.
Sam looked down at George's hand, and shook his head no, "We are going to be brothers in all but blood, before we are done helping this baby girl. And brothers do not shake hands, they hug." As he was saying this, he pulled George into a strong, tight hug, and clapped him on the back a few times. "There! That is how you greet your brother! Is it just you and Kevin, living in your home, or does Dave live there also? And before you get your back all up, no it does not bother me, them being a couple. I saw how they felt about each other at the park, you would have to be blind not to see how much those two love each other. There is not enough love in the world if you ask me, and to place boundaries on it, is just plain silly." A light knock was heard, and Sam got up to answer it. "Cecilia, honey come on in. Where is Talia?" Sam leaned in and gave his wife a light kiss on her cheek. Every single time he looked at Cecilia, he could not believe his good fortune that she chose him, out of all the boys chasing her. She looked like a queen to him, flawless brown skin, shiny brown eyes, long limbs, swan neck, and balanced on that perfect neck, was the most beautiful face he had ever seen. But, what made her even more beautiful to him, was her heart. Cecilia had the biggest heart he had ever known. When she loved someone, it was with her whole heart, she never held anything back.
" I thought it best to leave her home. After things get sorted out, we will bring her up to speed then." Cecilia placed her hand on Sam's arm, and smiled at him. "No since getting her all excited that she might have a sister, and then have the whole thing fall thru."
George called out to Cecilia and Sam, "Hey you two love birds, come sit down with us and start discussing what we think would be best for Soah." Both of the Jenkins, chuckled at the term love birds, and they sat down at the table. "Kim, do you know, was it both of her parents who abused her, or was it primarily one parent?"
"From what little Soah said, before she broke down, and had to be sedated, it seems that her mother begins the abuse cycle, and her father joins in, and then they seem to feed off of each other."
"George, um I mean dad, what little that I read of her book, she says that her mother always starts the abuse, and her dad, umm, well, ah.....gets off from it." Dave turned bright red, and quickly looked down at the table. A shocked silence filled the room.
"Dave? Are you sure that you read that right? You only had a moment or two in the restaurant to skim a few pages." Kevin could not imagine a world in where that was even possible. Leaning over Kevin pulled Dave's hand from his lap, and tugged it into his own, and squeezed gently.
"Well, you see, when everyone was busy earlier, I, I kinda read more of her book. I had to see if the book would be any help at all to the police. If I didn't think it would help, there was no way I was gonna turn her book over. I figured that if we became friends after this, that I would have to confess to her why I read her personal words. But, after reading a little more of it, I knew it would help the police. I had to ask, just to make sure that it would make a big difference in Soah's life." Dave gripped Kevin's hand harder, and looked around the table, hoping that everyone would understand why he read her diary, not just once, but twice. He was worried that angry or disappointed faces would be meeting his eyes, there was only understanding faces looking back at him. Whew!
"Grrrrrgurgle!" Morgan turned beet red. "Aw, man! I am so sorry, but I am honestly starving here. It is like 3 in the afternoon, and I haven't eaten since 8 this morning. I seriously need to eat something." Morgan just wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole! And not in a leisurely manner, he wanted it nano second fast.
"Morgan, you are right, I think we could all do with something to eat. I know that I have been hungry for several hours myself. Food will help us think better, or at least that is the excuse I am sticking with." George looked around the table, at everyone, trying to see how they felt about food. They all looked hungry to him.
"George, you have the right end of the stick! But, I hate to leave the hospital, until we know how Soah's surgery went." Sam hadn't realized just how hungry he was, until Morgan's stomach decided to speak for it's self.
"Hey! I have the perfect solution. We always hire summer interns at the office, and I never can figure out what in the heck I am supposed to do with mine. This one just sits in my outer office playing his game boy, and messing around with his phone. How about I call him up and send him to pick us up some lunch? We can just wait here for him. Sound good?" George was happy that he finally could put that slacker to work. All around the table were agreements to his suggestion. "Wonderful, how about Food Circus? They are on the way, I can not imagine that we don't all know their menu by heart. How does that sound?" With a loud mummer of happy voices, George pulled a small note book from his pocket, clicked open his pen, and began to take orders. After a quick call to Slacker boy, he realized he didn't even know this kids name, lunch was on it's way. "If everything goes this smoothly working together for Soah, it is going to be clear sailing!"
"Dr. Pressler how is Soah doing? May we see her soon?" George was pleased to see that the police had finally arrived. Now maybe something will be done about getting her parents arrested.
"George, let's wait until we are in the conference room, ok?" Bob led the way to the same room they had been in before. "I need to make this quick, I am going to be observing Dr. Noel. She is the dermatologist who will be abrading Soah's burns, and cleaning her lacerations. As to how Soah is doing, her condition is unchanged from earlier. The big change will be after her surgery." George was interrupted by a knock on the door. George called out, "Come in!", and Sam walked in. "Oh, good, I am glad you could get here before I leave. Everyone this is Sam Jenkins, he is one of the EMTs that brought Soah to the hospital, and she asked that he stay with her in emergency. Let me quickly introduce everyone. This is Sgt. Milner, and Sgt. Coats, Kim Daine from the child protection agency. This is George and Kevin Gardner, Kevin Li, and Morgan Davidson, Cami Winston and Tom Briggs. I will talk to everyone when the procedure is finished." And with that Bob was gone.
After a quick look at each other, Lyle pulled his pad out of his pocket, set up the tape recorder and Cooper started asking questions. "So, how does everyone know Soah Helms?"
"How about we sit down, and the boys will start telling what they know, and the rest of us will fill in with our portions as we go along. Does that sound about right?" George was used to taking charge of meetings, and it showed in the handling of this interview. The boys starting talking, telling the story of how they met Soah and why they were worried about her.
"Do we know where this diary, err, book is?" Cooper asked the group. He was impressed with the boys, well young men and how badly they wanted to help her.
"Yes, sir, I have it. The Book is in her bag here. I feel funny about letting someone else read her words though. She didn't write them for others to read, and I have felt guilty about reading her Book. Can you arrest her parents without her Book?" Dave was torn between protecting Soah's privacy and helping her any way he could.
"Lyle, do you agree with me, that we have enough to arrest her parents without reading her book?"
"Yes, we do, however, with her words, we should be able to make sure that her parents are held without bail until their trial. Don't you think that if her parents were locked up in jail, that Soah would feel safer? That she wouldn't have to worry that they could pop into her room and hurt her? I understand about feeling guilty about letting us read her personal diary, but if she would have collapsed alone, we would have been given her bag to look thru to see who she is, would have found her diary and we would have read it."
Dave opened up Soah's bag, and withdrew her Book. "Will she be getting it back soon? I think it will be something she will be looking for after she starts to feel better."
"After we log her diary in as evidence, we will send it to the data techs to have it copied. I promise we will have them rush it, and have it back to Soah in a few days. Does that make you feel better Dave?" Cooper took the diary from Dave and said, "Could we please have her bag also? We need to catalog the contents also. It will come back the same time as her diary. Unless someone has something else to say, we need to be going."
"I thought you were going to stay and take photos of the injuries of her front?" Sam wanted to make sure that the abuse was well documented.
"The hospital will take care of that for us. They have taken photos before that were entered into evidence. There are two jail cells that need filling, and we need to get started on that, asap." Cooper removed cards from his wallet, and handed them around. "If any one remembers something that you feel is important to this case, please do not hesitate to call." Lyle picked up the tape recorder, and camera bag, nodded a good-bye to everyone, and out the door they went.
"Mr. Gardner, I believe you want to file for emergency custody of Soah Helms? Mr. Jenkins also wants to have custody of her."
George glanced quickly at Kim, and then said, "Sam could we talk in private about this first?"
"No, my wife and daughter should be here any minute. I would like for all of us to sit down with Ms. Daine and talk about what she feels would be best for Soah. Will your wife be here soon?" Sam at first thought that Cami and George were married, but they just didn't act like a married couple.
"My wife passed away several years ago. Cami and are dating, but we are not yet ready to tie the knot. Why don't you want to speak to me privately? I thought we could see what we both thought of what would be the best for her."
"Without everyone's input, I do not see how just the two of us could figure out what would be best for Soah. I think in the long run, it is going to take all of us, not just some of us. Soah is going to have to be carefully put together. Soah is going to have to learn how to live in a world that includes kindness, love, and caring. Learning how to live without fear, pain and humiliation. And I know for a fact, that job will take all of us, and more. She is going to be a work in progress for a really long time. I think together we have a chance to accomplish that. Separately, not a hope."
"Sam, you are right, and I am very sorry for looking at this the wrong way. We will need all of us to help her strive to become whole." George was extremely impressed with how Sam looked at Soah's future. He also realized that Sam, knew much better than he did, just how broken Soah's spirit truly was. George reached his hand out for Sam to shake. George was not one to follow formalities, but he felt he needed to show Sam, how much he respected him.
Sam looked down at George's hand, and shook his head no, "We are going to be brothers in all but blood, before we are done helping this baby girl. And brothers do not shake hands, they hug." As he was saying this, he pulled George into a strong, tight hug, and clapped him on the back a few times. "There! That is how you greet your brother! Is it just you and Kevin, living in your home, or does Dave live there also? And before you get your back all up, no it does not bother me, them being a couple. I saw how they felt about each other at the park, you would have to be blind not to see how much those two love each other. There is not enough love in the world if you ask me, and to place boundaries on it, is just plain silly." A light knock was heard, and Sam got up to answer it. "Cecilia, honey come on in. Where is Talia?" Sam leaned in and gave his wife a light kiss on her cheek. Every single time he looked at Cecilia, he could not believe his good fortune that she chose him, out of all the boys chasing her. She looked like a queen to him, flawless brown skin, shiny brown eyes, long limbs, swan neck, and balanced on that perfect neck, was the most beautiful face he had ever seen. But, what made her even more beautiful to him, was her heart. Cecilia had the biggest heart he had ever known. When she loved someone, it was with her whole heart, she never held anything back.
" I thought it best to leave her home. After things get sorted out, we will bring her up to speed then." Cecilia placed her hand on Sam's arm, and smiled at him. "No since getting her all excited that she might have a sister, and then have the whole thing fall thru."
George called out to Cecilia and Sam, "Hey you two love birds, come sit down with us and start discussing what we think would be best for Soah." Both of the Jenkins, chuckled at the term love birds, and they sat down at the table. "Kim, do you know, was it both of her parents who abused her, or was it primarily one parent?"
"From what little Soah said, before she broke down, and had to be sedated, it seems that her mother begins the abuse cycle, and her father joins in, and then they seem to feed off of each other."
"George, um I mean dad, what little that I read of her book, she says that her mother always starts the abuse, and her dad, umm, well, ah.....gets off from it." Dave turned bright red, and quickly looked down at the table. A shocked silence filled the room.
"Dave? Are you sure that you read that right? You only had a moment or two in the restaurant to skim a few pages." Kevin could not imagine a world in where that was even possible. Leaning over Kevin pulled Dave's hand from his lap, and tugged it into his own, and squeezed gently.
"Well, you see, when everyone was busy earlier, I, I kinda read more of her book. I had to see if the book would be any help at all to the police. If I didn't think it would help, there was no way I was gonna turn her book over. I figured that if we became friends after this, that I would have to confess to her why I read her personal words. But, after reading a little more of it, I knew it would help the police. I had to ask, just to make sure that it would make a big difference in Soah's life." Dave gripped Kevin's hand harder, and looked around the table, hoping that everyone would understand why he read her diary, not just once, but twice. He was worried that angry or disappointed faces would be meeting his eyes, there was only understanding faces looking back at him. Whew!
"Grrrrrgurgle!" Morgan turned beet red. "Aw, man! I am so sorry, but I am honestly starving here. It is like 3 in the afternoon, and I haven't eaten since 8 this morning. I seriously need to eat something." Morgan just wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole! And not in a leisurely manner, he wanted it nano second fast.
"Morgan, you are right, I think we could all do with something to eat. I know that I have been hungry for several hours myself. Food will help us think better, or at least that is the excuse I am sticking with." George looked around the table, at everyone, trying to see how they felt about food. They all looked hungry to him.
"George, you have the right end of the stick! But, I hate to leave the hospital, until we know how Soah's surgery went." Sam hadn't realized just how hungry he was, until Morgan's stomach decided to speak for it's self.
"Hey! I have the perfect solution. We always hire summer interns at the office, and I never can figure out what in the heck I am supposed to do with mine. This one just sits in my outer office playing his game boy, and messing around with his phone. How about I call him up and send him to pick us up some lunch? We can just wait here for him. Sound good?" George was happy that he finally could put that slacker to work. All around the table were agreements to his suggestion. "Wonderful, how about Food Circus? They are on the way, I can not imagine that we don't all know their menu by heart. How does that sound?" With a loud mummer of happy voices, George pulled a small note book from his pocket, clicked open his pen, and began to take orders. After a quick call to Slacker boy, he realized he didn't even know this kids name, lunch was on it's way. "If everything goes this smoothly working together for Soah, it is going to be clear sailing!"
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