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chapter nine

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so give her information to help her fill the holes
give an ounce of power so he does not feel controlled
help her to acknowledge the pain that you are in
give to him a glimpse of that beneath your skin
-Sia, "Sweet Potato"

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Sam exited the elevator and strode purposefully down the hallway. As she approached the children's interview room, she slowed to a halt where Jack was conversing with two women.

"Hey Sam," he said, with a quick glance at the mirror in front of them. Focusing his attention back forward, he introduced her to Angela Miller, a pleasant-looking woman with dark skin, dark hair and a warm smile. Angela was one of the two caseworkers from Child Protective Services who handled the Watkins sisters' case. Sam shook hands with Angela and turned to acknowledge the other, whom she recognized as one of the child psychologists they worked with on occasion. Dawn Newell was a very tall, thin woman with auburn hair and green eyes. She always walked with a small limp leftover from a career-ending knee injury during her days as a college basketball star.

The four of them turned and peered in through the two-way mirror, watching Katelyn play quietly in the interview room. Their child interview room was set up much like you would expect any child therapist's office: the walls were painted a bright yellow and the entire floor was lined with toys, from dolls to blocks to a big easel that stood in the corner. Katelyn sat on the floor and rocked quietly back and forth as she meticulously began to build a tower out of the blocks.

Sam heard the soft click of the door as it opened and closed, and Dawn and Angela entered the room. Angela walked right up to Katelyn, touching her back gently just as Jack flipped the intercom on.

"Hey Katelyn, I want to introduce you to someone." Angela began brightly. Katelyn looked up, her eyes darting from Angela to Dawn and back again. The small girl pursed her lips, and Angela rubbed her back gently. "This is my friend Dawn, and these are all of her toys in here."

Dawn took a seat on the sofa so that the back of her head was to where Sam and Jack stood. "That's a nice tower you're building there," Dawn said in an encouraging tone. "Do you like to build with blocks?"

Katelyn nodded silently.

"Okay good," Dawn replied. "Angela and I are going to sit in here with you while we ask you some questions, but you can keep building if you like. Does that sound okay?"

"Mm-kay," Katelyn sighed quietly in agreement, her syllables slow and deliberate. She walked over to the bin and picked up a few more blocks.

They watched for a few moments as Katelyn placed the blocks down beside the base of her tower structure before Dawn began to ask her first question. "Who do you live with?" she started gently.

Katelyn did not even look up. "Richard and Maryann."

On the other side of the room, Angela fidgeted uncomfortable and sat down in a wooden chair that was clearly far too small for an adult. Dawn leaned forward and prompted, "That's right. And does anyone else live there with you?"

This time, Katelyn tilted her head to the side and looked up for a split second. "Rachel," she answered softly, turning her attention back to the colorful wooden blocks. There was a sadness in the little girl's voice and Sam could have sworn that she heard Katelyn hold back a sniffle over the intercom.

"What do you think, Jack?" she asked.

He turned the volume on the intercom down and said, "I don't know yet. She seems withdrawn, but how much of that is from her mother or from being separated from her sister? It's hard to tell."

Sam nodded and turned the volume back up, and they both stood deep in their own thoughts when a sudden loud crash came from inside the room. Sam snapped to attention just as the colored wooden blocks came tumbling down on top of the tiny child. Katelyn cried out and both Angela and Dawn immediately rushed to their feet.

Angela took Katelyn in her arms, but the little girl simply whimpered and pulled away. Angela would not be deterred, however, and walked over and sat down beside Katelyn in the corner of the room. "Show me where it hurts," she urged, her voice soft and soothing.

Katelyn shook her head but continued to whimper softly.

The door opened and closed with a click and Dawn walked out. She shook her head and crossed her arms and said, "I think we need to take a break. She's spooked, and I'm not going to get anything out of her until she calms down and feels a little more comfortable."

Jack turned his focus back to Dawn and nodded slowly. "Okay. We can leave them in here but I'll need you to call me as soon as you think you can start again. If she can tell us anything, I don't think it can wait much longer."

"I saw the press conference earlier. Has that helped you any?"

Sam tilted her head back towards Dawn and Jack for a moment, but her main focus was still in where Angela and Katelyn were sitting quietly together. Katelyn's back was to them, but she could see Angela talking to her and trying to calm her down.

"I've got most of my team answering the phones, but it's not helping as much as we'd hoped," Jack answered, his jaw tight and stress evident across his face.

"I'll let you know as soon as I think she's ready to start again," Dawn said with a long sigh. "But I can tell you one thing, by all the reports I was given to read she wasn't like this before she went to live with the Dees. Something happened there, I just need to find out what."

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Sam shivered as she leaned against the balcony railing, suddenly wishing she remembered to grab her coat before she came outside. The sun shone brightly on the plaza below, and she blinked to shield her eyes. The breeze was blowing in, and she tried to collect her thoughts and composure. But even that was hard to do because every time she closed her eyes, Melanie's face would appear.

There was a rapping noise on the glass door, and she craned her neck just as the door opened and Vivian walked out. "You look cold," Viv said, holding her coat out to her.

"Thanks," Sam breathed, taking the coat and slipping it on.

Viv leaned with one side against the railing and said, "Someone from CPS called from the hospital. Rachel Dees is out of surgery and in the Pediatric ICU. It's pretty touch and go, but the warrant went through and we're getting all of her medical records faxed over here."

Sam nodded silently, running her hands against the cool iron bars of the railing. "Has Theresa Watkins come in yet?"

"Not yet," Viv answered, shaking her head and turning her body to face out against the plaza below.

It had been hours since they held their press conference and it had not been as successful as they hoped. However they did get one call from one of Theresa Watkins' neighbors that they saw her fighting with a girl who looked like Melanie the previous afternoon, so they were bringing Theresa in for formal questioning. Sam shifted her weight onto one leg and smoothed a crease in her pant leg. "If Melanie really was over there yesterday, Martin and I must have just missed her."

"Samantha." Viv tilted her head, giving Sam one of her patented motherly looks. "This case... it's really getting to you, isn't it?"

Sam closed her eyes and inhaled softly, nodding her head as the sunlight pummeled her through closed lids. She opened her eyes and looked down at the pavement below, watching the endless crowds as they moved about their everyday business. "It's more than that," she thought aloud.

She was spared from more of Viv's subtle probing questions when there was a knock from the window. Both women turned around to see Elena waving and motioning for them to come back inside. Sam fell in step behind coworker as they returned to the bullpen and knew she had dodged a bullet; there was no hiding the truth from Vivian Johnson.

Back inside, Elena explained that Theresa Watkins had been brought in and they were setting her up in one of the interview rooms. Five minutes later, Sam and Elena opened the door and saw Theresa sitting sullenly in one of the chairs. If Theresa Watkins had looked unkempt and disheveled the day before, now she looked ten times worse.

Elena sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the table, but Sam walked deliberately to the chair right next to Theresa, sat down and laid her hands down emphatically on the table. "We have a witness who tells us that they saw you outside your apartment building yesterday afternoon with a girl who looked remarkably like your daughter Melanie." Sam narrowed her eyes as she looked at Theresa, practically daring the woman to defy her.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about," Theresa stuttered in response.

Theresa was someone who made her entire life out of lying to other people but was never used to getting caught. There was a split second where she wore a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face, and that was all the tell that Sam needed to know to press this further. "You lied to me," Sam shot back, willing herself not to lose her temper.

"According to our witness," Elena stepped in, giving Sam a minute to recollect herself, "they saw you fighting with the little girl in the alley by your apartment building at about 2:00 yesterday afternoon. That's a good two hours before Agents Fitzgerald and Spade stopped by."

Sam shot Elena a grateful look and then glanced back to glare harshly at Theresa. She could sense that Theresa was close to breaking down and decided to push her just a little harder. "Look, you've already lied to two federal officers and if anything happens to Melanie, we'll go after you for obstructing a federal investigation, so I suggest you cut the act and tell us the truth." Sam paused for emphasis, making sure Theresa was listening closely. She raised an eyebrow, daring Theresa to challenge her, and said in her best no-nonsense tone, "If you lie to me again, I will personally make sure you never see either one of your daughters ever again."

There was an absolute silence, and Sam knew that she had won. "Okay..." Theresa said with a long heavy sigh, and she began to explain...

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Theresa squinted as she walked out of the building, the sunlight stinging her eyes and adding to the constant throbbing she felt in her head. She walked carefully along the back alleyway on her way to the liquor store on the next corner when she heard a soft voice calling out to her.

"... Mom?"

I must be hearing things, she thought to herself, and she kept on walking. But she heard it again -- louder this time -- and she found herself turning around.

"Who's there?"

"Mom, it's me." Melanie walked down the alleyway, holding her arms close to her chest.

She was wearing a pink t shirt and khaki pants with flowers embroidered on the pockets, and her hair was cut shorter, shaped around her face. These clothes were new, not the thrift shop hand-me-downs she'd always worn in the past. Why on earth had she ever come back here?

When Theresa asked her daughter this much, Melanie scoffed in reply.

"You're drunk, Mom," she scowled. "I thought you were getting better. I thought you wanted Katie and I to come home again."

"Of course I do, Mel," Theresa pleaded. "I'm giving up the booze, I swear. I just need one more."

Melanie placed her arms emphatically on her hips, raising her voice. "It's always one more with you, Mom. I don't even know why I came back here."

"I always want you to come back here."

"No. No, you don't." Melanie rocked back and forth in place as she spoke. Looking at her daughter, Theresa was suddenly reminded that Mel would do the same thing when she was angry as a toddler. "Kate's new family... she's not safe there. I came back here because I thought you could help me. But you haven't missed us at all, you hardly even realized we were gone!"

"Melly!" Theresa protested.

"Stop. Just... stop," Melanie dropped her hands down by her sides, her voice softened and cracked. She didn't look angry anymore; she just looked sad. "I hope you're happy..." Melanie paused, and there was a brief second when their eyes met before she looked away again. "I should have known better than to think you had changed."

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"... And then she just turned and walked away," Theresa explained, sniffling as she held back tears. "That's it, I swear."

Sam cast a sideways glance at Elena, a sinking feeling settling at the pit of her stomach. "You better hope that's all there was to it," her stern tone a sharp contrast to Theresa's emotional whimpering. "For Melanie's sake, and for yours."

"You'd better believe her," Elena warned, catching Sam's eye and winking. She rose from her seat and emphatically pushed her chair back underneath the table. "I've watched her take down men twice her size; you wouldn't stand a chance."

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