Queens, New York City, Private Residence, Friday afternoon
Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Stabler lay prone across her grandmother's bed, her head turned to one side. She was not seeing, even though her eyes took in the closet door. She was not thinking or even feeling. She was just…there.
At one point she unhurriedly rose to her feet and gradually made her way towards the door. As she passed the large wall mirror overlooking the long dresser, she glanced towards her reflection and then froze. There was a discolored lump on her forehead. Both eyes were red, and there were assorted bruises on her body.
Suddenly, the recent events impacted her like a tsunami. With a surge of horrified energy, she raced downstairs and flew through the kitchen, reaching the utility room near the back door. There she hastily grabbed a house coat from a clothes basket and pulled it on. Then she escaped out of the back door.
I need help I need help I need help I need help I need help I need help I need help---
Suddenly, she was standing in the middle of the road, oblivious to the cold pavement under her bare feet. Looking around frantically, she spied a police patrol car turning onto the block. She ran straight at it.
By the time Elizabeth reached the car, it had stopped and its uniformed occupants, one male and one female, were standing on either side. Although the woman started moving cautiously towards her, Elizabeth veered to her partner. Grabbing his biceps, she looked beseechingly into his eyes as she spoke:
"Please get me to a hospital! But don't tell my dad, he's a cop---he'll be so angry I've been raped that he'll go crazy, and don't tell my mom, she's with the baby and, I don't know what she'll do with him being sick---don't tell my parents right now!"
"OK, OK," replied the male officer calmly, "it's all right now, honey, you're safe. And we don't have to call your parents right this minute. That can happen later."
"Thank you---thank you!" Elizabeth was nodding quickly.
"Why don't we get you out of the cold now? My partner can get you a blanket."
Minutes later, after necessary questions had been answered, Elizabeth sat in the back of the patrol car with the partner as backup arrived. She didn't notice because she kept her face turned into the woman's shoulder. She didn't want anyone to recognize her and somehow contact her parents. She also didn't want anyone to see her, Elizabeth Stabler, after she had been---
A sobbing cry flew from her mouth, muffled against the officer's uniform.
"It's all right, honey," soothed the woman, "we're going to be getting you help real soon."
As if on cue, her partner opened the driver's door and slid behind the wheel.
"They have their orders," he said as the other car passed them to come to a stop a few doors down the street. "Including the 'gag' order."
"So they're not going to call my father?" Elizabeth asked anxiously.
"That's right, hon," assured the man, holding the radio microphone, "nobody's gonna call your father."
Not for a while, at least.
After dispatch had been duly informed---with the addendum "Remember to be discrete"---the black and white took the traumatized girl to the nearest hospital.