Authors Note: Thanks to jessicaflack and lily moonlight for the reviews. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 21
Tina was one of their success stories, she'd come to the house two years ago with a black eye, bruising around her neck and several more hidden bruises. She'd had two small children clinging to the bottom of her dress, one of them a boy no older than five who looked as though he was trying to be brave but was obviously terrified. The other was a girl, two years old, wearing a little pink dress, clutching a teddy bear and with a bruise on the side of her face.
Tina's husband had been beating her for years, starting just before their son was born and getting worse over the years. Tina had stayed with him through it all; she'd endured every beating and believed that it was her fault her husband acted that way. It could never have been little Amy's fault though and when she had been on the receiving end of her husband's temper Tina couldn't stay with him, couldn't keep her children around him.
She'd come to the home and spent a rocky six months trying to escape from her husband who had pursued her and the children relentlessly for a while but she had finally won her freedom. She had a job as a secretary now, an apartment of her own for her and the children; it was one of their cases with a happy ending.
She had come back to the home with the children to thank Amelia and to see if there was anything she could do to help. She had agreed to stay at the house for the day, be available to talk to the women, to inspire them, to show them that it got better, that there was always a way out. The women had been reluctant to talk to her at first but they had eventually come to the living room and were talking with Tina while their children played with Joseph and Amy.
Beth had stood in the doorway for a while; she had looked as though she wanted to join in but had left the room instead. Stella excused herself, she hadn't known Tina when she was here but she seemed an amazingly strong woman now, eager to help people the way that she was helped, and her children both seemed happy and healthy.
She found Beth in the garden, it wasn't a cold day but it was by no means warm either and Beth was sitting on the bench without a jacket on. Stella grabbed a blanket from the cupboard and went out to join her, handing Beth the blanket and allowing her to wrap it around herself as she sat down.
"Thank you," Beth said quietly, not looking away from the spot on the grass she had fixed her gaze on.
"You're welcome," Stella replied and then sat in silence. She could tell Beth had something to say so she waited until she was ready to talk.
"Tina seems like a nice woman," Beth stated. "Her children are beautiful; you'd never know what they went through."
"Children are resilient," Stella said. "It's a shame we lose some of that as we get older."
"I could certainly do with some of it," Beth said with a sigh. "It's really exhausting being afraid all the time."
"I know," Stella said, "But you're away from him now and you're safe here."
"You don't understand what he's like, he's terrible, he's in a gang and it's like it's the most important thing in his life. He does horrible things and he doesn't ever seem to think he's doing anything wrong," Beth told her, it was the most anyone had gotten out of her about her boyfriend and Stella felt somewhat pleased that it was her Beth had chosen to speak to about it.
"I know more than you think," Stella replied. "Frankie was in a gang too, he was their leader actually and I'd hear him talking about the things he'd done sometimes, I still have nightmares about it," Stella told her and she saw something cross Beth's face, a connection maybe, recognising someone who had been through what she had, someone who could understand. "The worst part was knowing the things he'd done, the things he planned to do and I just allowed him to do it, to get away with it, for a long time."
Beth stared at her for a moment, her expression thoughtful and sad, "but you got away from him."
"I did," Stella smiled thinking of Mac. "I got dragged into the police station by a cop one day, they wanted to know what I knew about something Frankie had done. I didn't know anything about what they wanted but I told them I knew other things that could help them. I sensed my chance to try and make up for all those times I let Frankie get away with what he was doing and I took it."
"Then they arrested him?" Beth questioned. Stella wondered for a moment if she should be talking so much about herself, she was supposed to be helping Beth not telling her how she ended up here herself. Beth was looking at her though, waiting for an answer and she realised that telling Beth her own story was helping her, showing her something, maybe that she could stand up for herself, maybe something else, she wasn't sure but it was helping her.
"Not right away, I was an informant for a while, reporting directly to the man who had recruited me, no one but he and I knew I was working for him," Stella told her and Beth's eyes widened.
"Didn't he found out, Frankie I mean?" Beth asked.
Stella nodded, "I gave the cops information that left Frankie with no way out, he figured out it was me before the police could arrest him. He broke into my apartment but the cop that I'd been working for showed up and arrested him, he's sitting in jail awaiting trial now," Stella told her, leaving out the more unpleasant details of Frankie's attack, as much for her own sake as Beth's, she wasn't ready to relive it in detail.
"I don't know how you could do that, you must be very brave," Beth replied.
"I just did what I had to," Stella told her with a small smile. "You can do the same, you've already taken the most important step by getting away from the man who was hurting you and coming here. Now all you have to do is stick to it and build your own life, you can do anything you want with it now."
Lindsay was running a little late; she'd had a problem with one of her students and had still been dealing with her when Jess had arrived at the classroom. It had sounded like she was just finishing up so Jess had told her she'd wait for her outside, she could do with the fresh air, it had been a long day. School had finished almost half an hour ago, there weren't many people left in the building now. Teachers were almost as eager as the students to get out of there at the end of the day, some of them packed up and left as soon as their classroom was empty.
It was unusually quiet though, there was normally still a couple of groups of kids hanging around the area, meeting up with friends or just waiting to see what trouble they could cause, she couldn't see anyone today though. She placed the cardboard box that contained her papers on the floor next to the door and leaned back against the wall of the building and closed her eyes for a moment.
The sound of footsteps had her opening her eyes quickly. There was a man walking towards her, early twenties she guessed, she thought she might recognise him but before she could think about it another man arrived, coming toward her from the left. There was someone behind him, she couldn't see who, they looked like they were trying to stay out of sight, he was shorter than the man in front though, a kid at the school maybe. Jess knew a bad situation when she was in one and she seemed to be getting in them a lot these days. She was considering going to her right and running back into the school, there were still a few people inside, the principal would no doubt be in his office, maybe she'd be fine if she got inside. Someone blocked her way before she could even make a move, a glance to her right told her he was definitely a kid, she didn't know him but he couldn't be older than eighteen.
"Don't even think about running, you wouldn't get anywhere," the man in front of her said.
Jess didn't want to appear afraid, she didn't want to show them that their efforts to intimidate her were working. "Who are you?" she questioned, if she could buy some time maybe someone would come outside and they'd be spooked enough by it to leave. "What do you want?"
"We've tried to warn you, we've given you every chance to stop getting in our way," he told her and she glanced at the door, willing it to open, it didn't. Then she realised that Lindsay would be coming out there soon and she hoped her friend was still busy, if it was Lindsay that came out they'd just attack her too, she'd just get caught up in the mess Jess has somehow created for herself. The man walked up close to her, she could feel his breath on her cheek and if the wall hadn't been behind her she would have stepped back, allowed him the victory of seeing her scared.
"Consider this your final warning," he told her and before she could react his fist collided with her stomach. She clutched at her stomach, stepping to the side and then trying to back away from him but the man who had been to her left hit her in the back of the head with something and she fell forward, losing her balance and falling to the ground. She felt a foot hit her back and then her rib, there were several more impacts before it seemed to stop and the man who had been talking to her before knelt down in front of her. He grabbed her hair, pulling her head back roughly.
"You interfere with our plans again, talk to the cops, do anything to upset us and we'll be back to finish this," he told her. "Have we made ourselves clear this time?"
Jess tried to nod but the hold on her hair was too tight for her to move her head enough. "Yes," she managed to choke out and the man released her. She heard them walk away; she didn't dare to get up until after the footsteps had faded.
"Jess," she heard Lindsey's voice call out to her as she tried to push herself up from the floor. She heard the clicking of heals hurrying towards her and then Lindsey knelt down beside her. "My God, what happened, don't try to move, I'm going to get help."
He'd been sitting at his desk writing reports when he'd gotten the call. An attack at Heldon High School on a member of the staff, no name, but the knot in Don's stomach told him he knew who it was. The area around the front door had been cordoned off and there was already a crowd gathering outside the tape to find out what had happened.
"Detective," one of the officers greeted. "The victim and the witness are both inside. I think they were taken to the principal's office."
"Thanks," Don said as he headed inside. There was an officer standing outside the principal's door and the principal himself was just inside the office, leaning against the open doorway as though guarding it himself. Don liked the man, unlike many of his teachers he seemed to genuinely care about the students and the staff. He nodded to the man as he entered, Miss Monroe was sitting in a chair by the desk, she only glanced at Don as he entered, her attention focused on the woman sitting on the small couch in the corner.
A paramedic was just finishing up with Miss Angell who had a graze on her forehead and an icepack held to the back of her head. At first glance she didn't seem too badly injured but the stiff way she was sitting and the winces every time she tried to shift position gave away the unseen injuries. There was something else though, she looked defeated, he'd never seen her look that way before and it made him even more determined to find the people who did this to her.
"Detective Flack," she acknowledged when she saw him. The paramedic finished what he was doing and left the room.
"Miss Angell," he replied hoping the rapidly building emotions he was battling with stayed out of his voice. "I need to ask you a few questions about what happened, if you feel up to it."
Jess looked at the principal and at Miss Monroe who seemed to sense her reluctance to talk about it in front of so many people. The principal left the room without a word and Lindsay followed after a moment, closing the door behind her. Don pulled over the chair she'd been sitting in and sat opposite Miss Angell.
"I was waiting outside for Lindsay, they walked over to me, told me to stop interfering, that they'd warned me," Jess told him, her voice was distant as though she was reliving it. "He said this was my last chance, then he hit me in the stomach, another man hit me in the back of the head and I fell. They kicked me a few times and asked me if they'd made themselves clear and then they left."
Don wanted to kill them but he quickly pushed that feeling aside to deal with later. "Can you describe what they looked like?"
Jess looked thoughtful for a moment, she bit her lip and for a second he saw fear in her eyes just before she lowered her head. "It happened quickly, I didn't get a good look at any of them really."
She was lying, he could tell and he could also tell that she didn't want to lie, that she was angry with herself for it. They'd scared her, they could have killed her and she knew it, next time she might not be so lucky. He also knew that there would be a next time, she didn't have death threats boxed up in her drawer for no reason. She was a good teacher, refused to give up on any of her students, including those who were involved in gangs, she wouldn't stop doing that and sooner or later she'd end up treading on their toes again.
"Miss Angell..." he began but she looked up at him and cut him off.
"They told me to stop talking to the cops, they said that specifically," she stated. "They told me they'd be back to finish what they started if I did it again." She dropped her head again then. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," he replied. "I know how frightening these people can be and I understand why you wouldn't want to talk to me. I also know you're not the kind of person who gives up, especially not on your students, including those that they want you to stop interfering with. I won't push you into talking to me but I hope you do."
She looked at him, a battle being fought behind her eyes and for a moment he wanted to put his arms around her, hold her tight and tell her everything would be alright, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her again. He shook himself internally, she was both a witness and a victim, it was unprofessional of him to think that way about her.
"I can't," she sighed, she dropped her head into her hands defeated. She sat up straight again a few moments later, taking a breath as though she was putting a mask into place, putting up a facade to get her through the rest of the day, until she could break down in private. "I'm sorry Detective Flack but that's all I know."
He nodded, he wasn't disappointed, just sad, it felt like the gangs had just taken another victim, and he took this one personally. "That's alright, you should probably go to the hospital."
"I'm fine, it's just scrapes and bruises," she told him. He thanked her for her time, offered to drive her home but she declined so he left, allowing Miss Monroe back into the room as he walked out. There was something going on here, why would these people openly attack a teacher? He was even more convinced now that what was going on here was connected to the drive by he was working with Mac, he just needed to figure out how.
TBC