Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing my story. I'm doing my best to give you updates, between my days off. Here's my new chapter again abuse is mentioned. please let me know what you think?

Pressure Chapter 10

It was around three o'clock in the morning as everyone anxiously sat around the hospital waiting room, waiting to hear anything on Henry. Fenton Hardy had just gotten off the phone with Sam; his partner had stayed at the crime scene to give the police any assistance he could with the search for Hayden.

Hayden's whereabouts were still unknown. Having questioned several of the neighbors, the police had learned that the sound of crying and yelling, as well as objects being thrown around had been loud enough for the neighbors to hear it. The episodes normally lasted anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.

One of the neighbors had reported seeing a man who fit Hayden's description come running out of the house last night. The man had hopped into a dark colored Toyota and taken off. That was the good news; the bad news was that the neighbor hadn't been able to get the license plate number. Additionally, the car had been found abandoned by the side of the road a mile out of town. But on the plus side, finding the car meant they had the plate number.

Chief Collig had his officers scouring the city for Hayden. Sam had decided to help out and had promised Fenton he'd keep him updated on their progress.

Laura had made a trip down to the hospital cafeteria, bringing back coffee and sandwiches; however nobody ate, too concerned about Henry to eat.

Con was standing nearby, leaning against a wall, keeping an eye on Joe as the Chief had ordered him to do. He'd gotten to know Henry Jacobs quite well through Joe. Joe had explained Henry's situation to him; Henry was a slow learner and as a result was always getting picked on by his classmates. Con was most impressed by how Joe had taken it upon himself to watch out for his friend and help him out with his assignments so Henry wouldn't get behind in his classes.

Joe had felt guilty when he hadn't been able to help his friend out because of football practice. Henry had had no choice but to go to his teacher for help but rather than getting the help he'd needed he'd been verbally attacked.

The following Monday Henry had been both verbally and physically attacked by this teacher. Joe had originally gone to confront his teacher in defense of his friend, but ended up being a victim of the abuse himself. In dealing with the case; there was a possibility that Hayden was Henry's father. There was more going on between Henry and his teacher; Con was certain enough of it to want to bet money on it.

The officer still couldn't believe that Joe was the one facing possible jail time; all because of Hayden and his so-called witnesses.

"Joe, would you please sit down?" Frank piped in breaking into Con's thoughts. Joe was driving him crazy with his endless pacing.

Two hours had passed since Joe and his brother had found Henry lying on the kitchen floor. No matter how much he tried, Joe just couldn't get the image of Henry's bruised face with an eye swollen shut out of his head; he could still hear him wheezing.

"We've been waiting here forever." Joe finally plopped into a chair next to Frank. "I wish someone would come and tell us something, anything!"

"I'm sure we'll know something soon." Frank said, rubbing Joe's back, trying to comfort him the best way he knew how.

Just then a middle-aged doctor with wispy white hair and about average height, walked into the room wearing green scrubs. "Is there any family here for a Henry Jacobs?"

"I'm Henry's mother!"

Everyone looked up as a slender woman came running into the waiting room, clutching the strap of a tattered brown purse at her side. She was wearing a light blue waitress uniform and her disheveled red hair was pulled back into a bun.

She looked cautiously at Con before approaching the doctor. "What's going on? Where is he, doctor? Where's Henry?"

"I'm Dr. Bryce; I've been treating your son from the moment he was brought in. As of right now Henry is in stable condition. However he's in pretty bad shape."

"Is he awake?" Joe asked anxiously.

"Yes, he's awake. However, he hasn't spoken. We tried to get him to talk by asking various questions but it's useless; he won't answer us".

"Take me to him. I want to see my son." The woman persisted.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that just yet." The doctor answered just as Fenton and Con Riley reached the group. "I'll let Henry know you're here; if he wants to see you it'll have to be a supervised visit".

"Supervised!" the woman's cheeks became red as her eyes flooded with anger. "You take me to see my son, now!"

"As a physician, I am required by law to report abuse."

"Abuse, I don't know what…?"

The doctor spoke candidly. "Ma'am, your son looks as if he went a few rounds with a prizefighter and lost. He has two broken ribs, his face is swollen and bruised, he's got a busted lip and two of his front teeth have been knocked out. Not to mention that his left eye is completely swollen shut. There's a countless number of bruises all over his body as well as deep lacerations all over his back and torso; these wounds are on top of old scars".

Hearing a gasp from Laura he paused a moment to let that sink in before continuing his report. "My guess is that those injuries, new and old alike are from a belt or a leather strap. I have him on antibiotics to fight off any infection."

"Quite frankly, it is a miracle that the boy is still alive ..." Dr. Bryce shook his head. He was trying his best to be professional but he was finding it hard to keep his anger out of his voice. "Being a doctor I have no clue as to how anyone could do that to another human being". He glanced at Fenton and Con. "I hope you catch the animal responsible for hurting that kid." With that he left the room to go check on his patient.

"You can't keep my son from me! Do you hear me doctor?!" Henry's mother demanded.

Joe was shocked by the woman's reaction; this wasn't the reaction he'd expected. She didn't seem at all bothered by her son's horrid condition. Glancing at his mom he could see the tears running down her face; that was a mother's normal reaction. His mother had more concern for Henry than did Henry's own mother.

He knew his mother would be in pieces if it were him and Frank that were hurt. Joe noted the look of murder in his brother and father's eyes. Con's determined look told him that Hayden was going to pay dearly for what he'd done to Henry. There was not one tear in Mrs. Jacobs's eyes; and the impassive look on her face told Joe that she didn't give a damn about her son.

Taking a deep breath, Fenton spoke in as calm and steady a voice as possible. "Mrs. Jacobs, I'm Detective Fenton Hardy and this is Officer Riley of the Bayport Police".

"I don't care who you are. You're not taking my son from me." The woman hissed, glaring at them.

"We can and will if we suspect abuse". Officer Riley said in a stern voice. "We need to ask you a few questions."

"You are Cindy Hayden, correct?"

"Yes, I am."

"Is Jack Hayden your husband?"

"Yes."

"Where we can find him?"

"I don't know." Cindy said abruptly before sitting down and starting to cry.

"Mrs. Jacobs, we're here to help both you and your son." Laura said, a soothing tone to her voice as she came over to help comfort the woman. "We don't want him hurting you."

"I don't know where Jack is." She cried, she took a tissue out of her purse and began wiping tears from her eyes.

"Is Jack Hayden Henry's father?" Fenton asked, needing the confirmation although his gut told him it was true. The woman chooses now to shed a tear.

"Yes, he is." Cindy nodded. She said heatedly. "I know what you're all thinking. You think he's some kind of monster. Well he's not now. He wasn't always like this."

"Jack was so excited the day Henry was born. He had a strong, healthy son." Tears started to stream down her face. "Things began to change when Henry started middle school. He wasn't picking up the things he was being taught like the other kids were. He was always being teased. When I'd meet with his teachers they told me that Henry may have some form of dyslexia".

"Dyslexia is a specific learning disability in reading." Laura informed her. "Children with dyslexia have trouble reading accurately and fluently. They may also have difficulty with reading comprehension, spelling and writing. There are ways to help your son with that. He'd have to be evaluated first in order for us to know the best way to help him".

"Yes, I'm aware of all that". Cindy stifled another sob. She wiped her face with a tissue. "It was a big let down for Jack when he found out Henry had this learning problem. He was embarrassed by it and that made him angry. He started to hit and blame me for having such a stupid kid. He said he was going to be the one to tutor Henry and fix the problem himself."

"You see Jack was a very popular teacher at the Southport High School where he taught. He was very well liked with his students and as well as the other teachers."

"Every night he would work with Henry on his homework. It usually ended with Jack yelling and Henry crying". She paused for a moment to wipe away more tears.

"By the time Henry entered his junior year, things were getting worse. He'd come home with a busted lip or a black eye; it always seemed to make Jack even angrier. He'd tell Henry to toughen up and start acting like a man or he'd be sorry".

Joe listened in disgust, he hated the thought of his friend being treated like that. Henry didn't have a chance at school or at home. He was getting hit from both sides.

"Did you ever leave him?" Laura asked, she felt sorry for the woman sitting beside her.

"Yes, several times although it never did any good as Jack would always find us." Cindy Jacobs answered. "Promising things would be better, which they did for a while."

"Then about a year ago I came home to our apartment right after work and heard a commotion coming from Henry's bedroom." The mother's voice quivered out, "I found my son lying shirtless on his bed, hands griping his bedpost; he was just staring at the wall, trying hard to stop the tears that ran down his face".

"Jack was standing over him, using a belt to whip him repeatedly, yelling, "Don't you cry! Take it like a man! No son of mine is going to be weak and stupid!"

"I screamed and begged Jack to stop." She gulped, attempting to stifle more sobs. "Then he started on me. I must've passed out at some point because the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital. A few weeks later I took Henry with me and snuck out of the house. I changed our name to Jacobs, my mother's maiden name and moved here to Bayport".

"But it didn't work. Like I said Jack always finds us."

"Why didn't you press charges on him, then?" Fenton asked. His eyes blazed in anger after hearing about the hell Henry'd endured at his father's hands. Every fiber of his being wanted to tear Hayden apart; he still hadn't forgotten all the pain he'd been putting Joe in and still was.

After a moment's thought Frank realized that all of what they were hearing was in the police report Sam had given them; he was absolutely disgusted, he couldn't believe a parent could treat their child that way. He vowed again to make the man pay for hurting Joe and Henry.

The woman gave no answer.

"Mrs. Jacobs, did Henry tell you about what was happening at school?" Con pressed on, he needed all the information he could get. He wanted to get Hayden so badly; he couldn't wait to slap a pair of handcuffs on him.

"Actually, Officer, I'd prefer it if you called me Mrs. Hayden." The mother spoke in all seriousness. "And yes Henry did tell me about a boy named Joe. He said Joe was really nice to him. He never made fun of him like the other kids."

Joe stood up and went over to her. "I'm Joe Hardy..."

The woman's eyes widened suddenly as she went on the defensive. "You're the boy who attacked Jack!" She pulled away from Laura, glaring hatefully at Joe. "Why aren't you in jail?"

Frank and his father were at Joe's side immediately. Laura was also on her feet. "Mrs. Hayden, my son did not attack your husband. Yes, Joe is in trouble but only for defending your son against that monster". She said defending her son. "He hurt my child as well."

"Do you know anything about Hayden's verbal abuse of Henry during a tutoring session last Friday?" Fenton inquired.

"We suspect something else happened during that tutoring session." Frank folded his arms across his chest, doing his best to appear menacing. "But Henry won't tell us. Perhaps you can shed some light on that".

"Henry told me Jack called him stupid like he always does. That's all I know."

"You knew…and you've done nothing!" Joe shouted, feeling his temper starting to rise. "Why do you keep protecting your jerk of a husband?"

"Jack needs help...and... I love him." Mrs. Hayden sniffed back tears. She again wiped the tears away with the tissue.

Like everyone else in the room Joe just stood dumbfounded by the woman's claim.

At that moment, Dr. Bryce came back into the waiting room. Before he had time to say anything, Mrs. Hayden demanded, "I want to see my son!"

"Henry doesn't want to see you." The doctor shook his head ignoring her angry demeanor. "The only person he'd like to see is Joe Hardy".

A few minutes later, Frank and Joe stood in Henry's room. There were monitors and an IV sticking out of him. A white bandage around his left eye and his face was all swollen and bruised. Joe could see tape supporting his broken ribs.

Henry's right eye opened as he looked straight at Joe, a tear running down his cheek.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here." Joe smiled gently, noting the fear on Henry's face. "Frank's here too. I promise you Henry, Hayden's never going to hurt you again. He's got a lot to answer for"."

"That's right Henry. You're safe now." Frank said gently. Rage coursed through his body as he looked down at his battered friend.

"Go away." Henry shifted his gaze to Frank and spoke in a voice that could barely be described a whisper. "Keep Joe away from me."

The brothers exchanged a confused look before Frank turned back to Henry. "What did you say?" Frank asked, wanting to make sure he'd heard Henry correctly.

"You have to...Frank please...you have to...keep Joe away from me." Henry replied, his voice raspy but a little clearer.

"Why is that?" Joe asked straight out.

"He'll kill you."