Bleeding Out

Chapter Eight

The next morning, after a long night of sitting in the hospital before finally going home to get only a few hours of sleep, Evelyn and Jeremiah sat in his car parked outside of a tall office building in downtown Detroit for several minutes before Evelyn finally decided that it was time for her to go in. It wasn't that she was afraid that she was making the wrong decision, but because she knew that she and her boys were going to be in for a difficult fight where the life of a young man they didn't know was at stake and if they failed, then he would surely end up dead.

As she reached out to take the handle to open the door, her middle son quickly spoke up as he asked, "Are you sure that you don't want me to come in with you, Mom?"

Evelyn reached out and placed her other hand on his as she responded quietly, "No, I appreciate that, sweetheart, but this is something I need to do on my own. I am only going in to meet with the woman who calls herself a social worker. This is what I do. I would like it if you could head back to the hospital to relieve your brothers for a little while so that they can go home and get some sleep as well. Please call me should Jack wake up at all."

"Of course, but do you really think Bobby's going to just go home to sleep now?" Jerry asked in frustration. "You know better than I do that once he gets into this frame of mind, it's impossible to get him calm down until the situation is dealt with and settled. And he's really angry right now, Mom."

"By every right," she replied sadly. "And yes, I do know that he'll probably refuse to leave, so I want you to just let him do whatever he feels is necessary. Truthfully, I would certainly feel better if Bobby did remain there so long as that boy's guardian still has a chance to lay his hands on him."

Jeremiah nodded in agreement, then answered, "Don't worry, we'll let you know if anything happens. Good luck with getting Mrs. Davis to hand over this kid's guardianship to you. I certainly wish I could be there to see the look on that woman's face when you turn against her."

Evelyn smiled and opened the door, then got out as she looked back at him and responded, "I look forward to it. I will see you later."

Thirty-five minutes later…

"Mrs. Mercer, Miss. Davis will see you now," a young man stated as he moved around from the receptionist desk and stood before the old woman sitting down on one of the chairs in the lobby while waiting to be seen. "We apologize for the long wait."

"I'm sure," Evelyn grumbled as she walked past the young man and stepped into the office where a middle aged woman with long, curly brown hair with glasses was sitting behind her own desk. "You'll forgive me for being candor, Miss. Davis, but keeping me waiting for almost forty minutes even though we had a scheduled appointment is bad manners."

Rachel looked up and glared at the woman before her as she stood, then motioned for her to have a seat on the chair set up in front of her desk and replied, "I'm sorry, but I have a very busy schedule today. Now, you explained to the receptionist out front that you wish to speak to me about one of my cases, Jack I believe, is that right?"

Evelyn's eyes grew cold upon hearing the casualness in this woman's tone and remained standing as she answered angrily, "How can you be so cold in regards to a young man in your care whom you have clearly neglected for however long you've been in charge of his wellbeing? I don't know if you know this, or if you even care, but Jack is currently in the hospital after he tried to take his own life."

"No, I… I didn't know this," the younger woman responded nervously as she sat down at her desk, then continued to look at Evelyn, her tone haven suddenly changed. "If something happens to one of these children, I am supposed to be informed."

"By who, Miss. Davis, by the foster parents you place them with?" she asked again as she too finally took a seat. "From the scars, the bruises, the multiple lacerations, and the sheer terror me and my boys have seen on that poor child, it's obvious that the man you handed Jack off to is a sick monster, whom I am going to do everything in my power to make sure he gets put away for the rest of his life and if I find that you knew anything of the kind of man Frank Shepard is, then I will see to it that you go away for a long time too."

Rachel quickly replied, "Please Mrs. Mercer, I swear to you that I didn't know. I placed Jack in his and his wife's care under the belief that they would finally be the ones to take good care of him. I had heard a few months later that Frank's wife had died suddenly of cancer, but he assured me that he would continue to care for Jack. He gave me no reason to doubt him."

Evelyn answered harshly, "And it is your job to go to the home to make sure that that is indeed the truth, that the children in your care are indeed being taken care of and you failed to do so this time. Because of you, this man has been able to beat and molest this boy for some time and because no one has cared about his welfare, Jack cut open his wrists last night as a last resort, believing he was all alone."

"Oh my God," Rachel spoke again worryingly. "Look, Jack has been a very difficult case ever since he came into my case load back when he was only three years old. I tried my best to find good homes for him, but every time there was always a reason why the foster parents couldn't continue to care for him. A few told me that it was because of his poor health, others…"

"What do you mean, poor health?" the older woman interrupted before she could go on.

Miss. Davis responded, "Jack's birth mother was an addict, a drug addict, a drinker, smoker… she was a mess while she was pregnant with him. Truthfully, it's amazing he survived his birth, let alone became healthy after who knows how long, but as a baby, he was very sick and no one wanted to adopt a child, or take in a child, who might grow up with more difficult health issues."

The more experienced social worker shook her head sadly and then asked, "And who was his birth mother? What is Jack's last name?"

"I am finished speaking, Mrs. Mercer," Rachel replied in frustration as she attempted to stand to show her visitor out. "I have already said too much and you have no rights…"

"I have every right here as I have every intention of taking over Jack's care from here on out," Evelyn answered angry as she slammed down the proper paperwork on the desk which the young woman needed to sign in order to turn the boy over to her. "If you refuse to sign him over to me, I will go to whomever I have to, to see that you are suspended and then brought up on charges for the neglect of your charges. Am I making myself clear, Miss. Davis?"

Rachel was angry and wanted to have this woman thrown out of her office, but she saw in her eyes that this woman meant business and so she sat down again and continued coldly, "No one knows who Jack's mother was, nor his father. I was told that on the night she gave birth to him, she came into the emergency room of some hospital up in Lansing high as a kite and about to have her baby any moment. They both survived, but the kid was frail and sickly. No one held out much hope for him. Because the woman needed surgery right away, all the paperwork was forgotten and two nights later, when a nurse did enter the room to have the mother fill it out, she was gone. His mother up and left in the middle of the night, abandoning her sick baby to be cared for by the hospital until he was well enough to be taken into welfare system, having been shuffled around ever since. A nurse claimed that the woman had mentioned to her that she liked the name Jack, which is how Jack came to be his name, but he has no last name."

Evelyn closed her eyes sadly, then looked at Rachel again as she asked, "So, how did you come to neglect this child so shamefully?"

"As I was trying to tell you, no one wanted the poor boy as he kept getting sent back to the center where he lived with several other boys that went in and out," Rachel responded worryingly. "Most of the foster parents claimed that the older Jack became, the more unruly and trouble he became. I knew he had been abused by a few of them and one couple even had him kept locked in a basement with very little food to keep him out of their hair while they continued collecting money for his care from the state, but I pulled him from each of those homes as soon as I learned about it all. Eventually, Jack simply became too much for me to handle, as I have far too many other cases to care for, far more than what should be allowed. I messed up, I know that now, but…"

"But nothing," Mrs. Mercer replied curtly as she stood and glared down at the younger woman before her as she pointed to the papers on her desk once again and waited patiently for her to sign them. "I am caring for Jack now. Be grateful that I will not have you reported like I know I should. And God help the rest of the children in your care. I certainly hope that you care about their wellbeing, better than you did Jack's. Good day, Miss. Davis."

With that said, Evelyn turned and walked away as she stepped out in the lobby and called for a cab to pick her up. When the driver asked the woman where she would like to be taken, she smiled at the man as she answered that she would like to be taken to the hospital where her boys were no doubt still waiting for permission from the hospital staff to be let in to see the young man, whom she suddenly got the sense would eventually become the next member of their family.