Jim walked urgently up to Sara. "We have a kid, no id, in the interrogation room. Won't say anything but 'I was avoiding the system' when we ask about the kid she carried into the ICU. I could really use your help in there."
Sara looked away from the paperwork and up at him. "O…k…." Her voice betrayed her surprise before being led to the interrogation room, leaving Jim instructions to get her case file from so long ago. Stepping into the room, she took stock of the "kid": probably late teens, long light brown hair, a dark tan, blue eyes, bad acne, a pair of jeans that looked unwashed for at least the last month, ripped and dirty BDU blouse with rolled up sleeves, and a wife-beater that was splattered with all manners of fluids.
"Sara." Catherine greeted from across the table of the "kid."
"Catherine."
"Meet Tiffany, no last name. Likely late teens. That's all the info we've been given."
Sara sized up the young woman who stared guiltily at the one way window. "Tough night on the streets, Tiffany?" she asked, referring to a couple fresh bruises on Tiffany's wrists.
"Always is, chica, but you got to survive somehow." Tiffany scoffed, bemused. Sara looked to Catherine, silently asking what this girl was doing in the interrogation room.
"Why did you bring that kid to the ER?" Catherine asked, getting the reply Jim had mentioned. "How do you know him?" Sara sighed, putting a hand in front of Catherine, who looked affronted by this sudden order of silence.
"We won't get anything that way, Cath. The better question is, how did your brother get so beat up that you had to go to the hospital?" Sara was blunt, staring into the younger woman's eyes, who shifted nervously.
"You weren't kidding when you said that you guys get paid to figure shit out, blondie. Shit…." Sara indicated that wanted an answer rather than the avoidance. "She found us. She does every once in awhile… usually I'm there to take it, not him. But tonight…. I was getting us a roof for the night and it didn't work out. Go into the alley where he's waiting and there he was, bloody and dying, and she was running off."
"And she is…?" Catherine asked, irritated at the girl's lack of complete cooperation.
"…He called her Deanna, called her bitch, whore…." Tiffany's eyes got the glazed, guilty look again. Sara let a sad smile onto her visage as Jim dropped a large file in front of her, seeing her own name on top.
"This file is why they asked me to come in here… read and you might understand." Sara requested with an obvious effort not to mumble. The girl just chuckled grimly.
"That file won't do you no good, chica." Tiffany answered humorously, leaning the chair back a little and crossing her arms on her chest. Catherine was losing patience, slamming her hands on the table loudly, causing Sara to flinch.
"You say you were trying to protect this kid, but you won't give us names or cooperate?" Cath bellowed, standing. Sara motioned for silence.
"Cath, look at the facts: small vocabulary, refusing to go over the file, and cocky attitude." Sara reasoned. Catherine calmed slightly.
"…You can't read." She responded, sitting down and rubbing her temple with two fingers. Tiffany only nodded, apparently not fazed by the outburst. "Of course… it's why you didn't sign the paper Jim put in front of you, or the ER documents."
Sara watched the teen for a moment. "Besides, she did give us the perp. Almost. What's your last name, Tiffany?"
"Hell if I know." Was the suddenly less arrogant, more weary and vulnerable voice. "The kid knows, has to put it on all kinds of shit for school. I was kinda hopin' you guys would just arrest me while he was away. Food, roof, clothes… it's a step up from what I had. The docs'll take care of the kid, so…." She ran her fingers through her greasy hair, sighing softly.
Catherine looked between Tiffany and Sara for a moment, confused, before calmly calling through the intercom. "Brass, what was the vic's name?"
"Eduardo Valdez Alejandro Gonzales."
Tiffany looked confused. "His name was Ed. I coulda told you that. His birthday is March ninth… wants to be a doctor. Wants to help people. Does real well in school, goes to the library to check out colleges." She smiled, proud. "I could tell you what you need to know…." She iterated, locking eyes with Catherine for the briefest of moments before looking down.
Tiffany was taken to a holding cell as Catherine and Jim went to find Deanna Gonzales and Sara left for the AV room with a tape from the case file. For an hour, all that was heard outside the room was "He called her Laura, called her baby, whore, slut, and bitch… I called her mom."