Nick groans as the sound of his alarm drags him from the sleep that had finally come to him two hours earlier. He'd had an emergency call out, one of his clients was beaten so badly by a couple of boys at the children's home, he was staying in, that he required hospitalization. Nick, as his medical guardian, was required to authorise treatment. The boy had a broken arm and mild concussion and is being kept over night for observation. Nick's first job this morning is to find Kevin, his clients name, a new place to stay and investigate the safety of any other LSP clients they have staying at Draker Place. Either the culprits have to leave or the clients will. With the full day's calendar he already had, Nick knows that the day, that stretches before him, will be long and hard. He wastes no time and is soon showered, shaved, dressed and out the door with a bagel in his hand. He punches a number on his car phone.
"Hi Emily, we have a problem. One of my clients at Draper Place was attacked last night. He's in the hospital with a broken arm and suspected concussion."
Emily's shock is evident in her voice.
"Who is it?"
"Kevin Lambert"
"How is he? What happened?"
"His attackers were a couple of older boys. I don't have many details. We need to check who else we have in there and decide what is best for them, which
will probably depend on what has happened to the attackers. I also need to find a new home for Kevin. I can think of four. My day was already crazy, how is yours?"
"I have Sammy Davenport and Terence Watts."
"I had Sammy."
"I'm in court all morning but my afternoon is in the office with appointments."
"Of course it's the Cardwell case this morning. Good luck. Don't worry about things, you need to concentrate on the case. I'll manage. Call me with the decision."
"Nick I'm not in court until ten?..#
"No, you need to be with your client, she needs a lot of hand holding. I'll call on you in the afternoon. Good luck."
"Okay Nick, thanks."
Nick hangs up the phone. Five minutes later he's parking his car, grabbing his briefcase, and riding the elevator up to the floor where LSP has its offices.
As expected he's the first to arrive. He switches on the coffee machine and enters his office, removing his jacket and hanging it on the back of his chair. He makes his way back in to the reception area, rolling up his sleeves as he walks. He pours himself a cup of coffee and looks around making sure that everything is correct. He spies a folder sitting on top of the filing cupboard. He walks over to have a look. It's of a case a couple of years old. Anyone could have pulled it out, while looking for something else and forgot about it. It would be impossible to find the person responsible as everyone does it. He will have to make a general reminder of the need to be careful with files that are confidential. While there he finds the files of the five boys he knows are in Draper's place and then notices another boy he's sure is in there as well. He puts them under his arm and grabs his cup off the reception desk and goes back into his office. He makes some phone calls to check on any empty beds in the other shelters, and then, starts looking through the files, making notes. He jumps at a knock on his door. He looks up and smiles pushing his chair back from the desk.
"Good morning Laurie."
"Morning Nick, I hope you don't mind me stopping by so early? you look like you've been here a while."
"Sit down Laurie, I'm glad for the interruption. Have you heard what happened at Draper Place?"
"Yes. I'm going to see Kevin later this morning."
"I've talked to the director and they are investigating the incident. I'm currently finding places for the boys we have in there. I'm going over there to talk to them, but first I have a meeting at the bank, that I've just finished preparations for."
"That's not like you Nick, usually you're all prepared beforehand."
Nick stretches and rubs his hands down his face.
"I was Laurie, but yesterday, as I was leaving, the bank manager called me, full of apologies, but he needed additional information. And that means five copies of everything. I had plans last night. If I'd known what was going to happen at Draper Place I would have cancelled. Any way you must be here for a reason, what can I do for you?"
"Someone's moved back into the state, and although she's in a good situation, that's working very well, I have to go introduce myself and let them know I'm there should they need anything. I called to set up a home visit with the parents and apparently the girl as been asking after you."
Nick points to himself in surprise.
"Me?"
"Yes, you mean a lot to her and it's my guess she means a lot to you, since you still have her drawing pinned on your board."
Nick looks over at the board and the stick figure that looking a little yellow now and he keeps meaning to take down.
"Violet?"
"I'm going to her home tomorrow at 3 pm when she'll be out of school. Are you free to come with me?"
Nick leans forward and looks in his diary.
"I'm in court in the afternoon, it would be more 3:30 that I would be free."
"I'll call and change it. It was only a preliminary time, until I talked to you."
"She's doing good?"
"Yes that's what the report that came across my desk says."
"I'm glad."
Laurie stands up, picking up her bag and putting it on her shoulder.
"I'll leave you to it Nick. Let me know if you need any help with the Draper situation."
"Thanks Laurie, but I think I have it under control. Let me see you out."
Nick stands up, grabs his coffee mug and walks Laurie to the elevator. After she's gone he turns and announces,
"Meeting in ten minutes in the conference room."
Nick fills up his mug and collects files from his office and then settles in the conference room waiting for the others to join him.