The night guard and the runaway.
Chapter 7: Is it safe to come home?
According to the information they had gathered, both Mr and Mrs Porter had a pretty busy work schedule. Eric Porter worked in accounting whilst Sarah Porter worked in graphic design, though according to her degrees she was much more compatible for business and marketing. That might have something to do with her family background. She was born as Sarah Annabelle Hendrix and her Father, Edward Hendrix, was in charge of rather successful business company - one that dealt with ceramics. Mrs Porter doesn't have any contact with biological family and, prior to marrying Mr Porter, Sarah went missing and the parents refused to disclose any information of her whereabouts.
They had stated numerous times that the whole ordeal wasn't suspicious as some people believed it was. Though, according to rumours, there had been some sort of disagreement between Sarah and her parents. Nobody knew what the entire situation had been about as the security footage had been erased and the disagreement had actually happened at Mr Hendrix's company rather then at home. Apparently, something went missing at the company but nobody had any concrete evidence.
The best time to interrogate them was before they went to work.
This wasn't the first time the police were visiting the Porters either. They had been several complaints made about the family, all of which happened during the evening. The neighbours have reported several shouting matches between Sarah and Eric, with one incident leading to Mrs Porter getting attacked by her husband. Or, at least, that's what the neighbours saw. There was no proof of bruise marks on Sarah's face or body. There was, however, clear scenes of a fight happening though Mr and Mrs Porter had stated in the past that there have been break-ins and that's why the room was in a mess.
Eric Porter had also been arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour three times. The first two times had been minor cases which lead to the man spending the night in a jail ceil in order to sober up. The third incident had lead to Mr Porter being banned from the bar after getting into a fight with another man. The man in questioned end up having several bruises, a bloody nose and a black eye.
Though, what was more strange was that each time the police had visited the house nobody had actually seen the daughter in question. She seemed to be missing every time her parents were arguing with each other. Maybe she was just hiding somewhere so that she wouldn't hear her parents arguing with each other, no child should hear there parents arguing with each other after all. But, according the information there operator gave them, Emily hadn't been reported missing by her parents and her last known whereabouts were at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria before the night guard took her home with him.
Again, strange, but the circumstances were unavoidable.
Officer Gabriel Simmons was the one in charge on the case. The man was in his late twenties with neat blonde hair and black eyes. Whilst the man was a good officer he was known to act before observing the situation. Seeing as it was a case of a runaway child and possible child abuse the chief of police had instructed Gabriel to be delicately a possible. Cases like these weren't common for Mr Simmons - really now, they should go to someone level headed rather then someone like Gabriel (But, said person was unavailable at the moment as she was working on going murder case because her partner was incompetent and no longer amongst the living. If he was working on that case it would've been solved by now.) But, nevertheless Gabriel accepted the case anyway.
Accompanying Mr Simmons was Penelope Coleman. She had wavy ginger hair and black eyes. She was wearing a blue suit and black flat shoes and on her face was a pair of glasses. When she was informed about what happened Penelope immanently took the case. Whilst she didn't have any children of her own, not yet at least, she did have two nieces and she had already seen her far share of child abuse cases.
Gabriel pulled up to the Porter's house. The house look nice and somebody was doing a good job maintaining the garden. There was a car parked in front of the garage so at least one of the Porter's was still in the house. Gabriel and Penelope exited out of the car and walked up to the front door. Penelope knock on the door. A minute later the door opened, revealing Sarah Porter already dressed for work. She was wearing a black skirt suit with white collar shirt and black heals.
"Mrs Porter?"
"Yes?"
"I am Penelope Coleman. I'm from child protection serves. I'm making enquires about your daughter." Penelope greeted. She gestured to the blond behind her. "This is Officer Gabriel Simmons from the local police department. He's helping me with my enquires today."
"Oh, I see." Sarah said. "I wasn't expecting any visitors this morning and I have to go to work soon."
"This won't take too long, Mrs Porter." Penelope assured her. "We're well aware of yours and your husband's busy work schedules. That's why we decided to visit you now instead of later."
"I see. Well then you best come in." Sarah said.
She allowed Penelope and Gabriel to enter her house. She told them to go into the living room - the first door on the left - before making her way to the kitchen to make tea. Penelope entered first. Gabriel lingered for just a moment, he was keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. There weren't any family photos on the wall or on the console table - there were three photos on the table but there was more nature photos rather then family photos. Judging by the way that the photos were set up, Gabriel could tell that there was something missing on the table that should've been there.
He looked down for just a moment and saw something sharp under the table. He bent down and picked it. It looked like a fragment of some kind. The piece was small and blue. A piece of a vase, by chance? Whatever it was Gabriel placed it in his pocket and entered the living room. Penelope was already sitting down. She was reading through the notes she made whilst they were driving to the Porter's house. Taking a seat next to Penelope, Gabriel took out his own notes on the case.
It was more of a condense verse of the report made by the officer who came to the Porter's house before. According to the report the living room was in a mess. Various objects had been thrown around the room and, when they were asked about what happened, Sarah and Eric had insisted that someone had broken into the house and was trying to rob them. The neighbours had, once again, complained about the noise. There was no music playing but they did hear yelling coming from inside the house. They could also hear something smashing from the garden. When the officer checked all windows one of them had been destroyed by a photo frame which was found in the garden. Mr and Mrs Porter told him that the robber used it in order to escape.
"I don't like this one bit, Mrs Coleman. Mrs Porter is far to calm for my liking. She doesn't seem concerned by the fact that her daughter is missing." Gabriel muttered.
Penelope nodded in agreement. It was a little suspicious that Mrs Porter wasn't more concerned for her daughter's safety. Perhaps she didn't know that her daughter was missing at the moment. But, surely, one of them would've notice Emily's disappearance. Emily was only six years old, unless she was being home schooled somehow, they would still have to take her to school.
Mrs Porter entered the room five minutes later, a tea tray was in her hands. Sarah placed the tea tray down onto the table and took a seat on the couch opposite Gabriel and Penelope.
"So, what can I help you with?" Sarah asked.
"Well, before we get to the reason as to why we are here, perhaps you could tell us more about Emily?" Penelope suggested.
"Emily is a sweet girl, even if she can be a little... childish at times. I know its an absurd word to give to a child but she can be so curious and hyperactive at times, I can't help but wonder where she gets that energy from. She doing surprising well at school. She's going good in her lessons, she enjoys reading the most whenever she's at home or at school." Sarah told her.
"And, What about friends, Mrs Porter?" Penelope inquired.
"Friends? Well, as far as me and Eric know Emily doesn't have any friends. I know its important for a kid her age to have a few friends of her own but... I believe Emily has trouble making friends. I asked her teacher about it and she told me that Emily's fine interacting with other kids but she mainly keeps to herself during playtime." Sarah explained.
"I'm sure you don't need to be told this, Mrs Porter, but it is very important for a child to have friends. Not only will it help your daughters social skills and boost her happiness and confidence, it will give her a better shot at working with people when she gets older. It will make her feel that she belongs with people. "Penelope reminded her. "Perhaps you or your husband can help her? You already said she's fine interacting with other children so maybe she just needs a confidence boost? Or, perhaps you could arrange a play date with one of the Mothers?"
"We've tried that but I don't see how..."
"Mrs Porter, are you aware of the fact that your child has runaway from home?" Gabriel questioned, interrupting the women's train of thought. He didn't miss the look Penelope gave him but he pressed on anyway. "We received a concerning phone call from the manager of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria." Gabriel tried not to sneer as he told Mrs Porter the name of the Pizzeria. "Your daughter was seen at the Pizzeria at 10pm on Monday night. That was a little over twenty-four hours ago. According to the Manager it has something to do with you and your husband."
"Runaway?" Mrs Porter repeated before scowling. "That girl..." Sarah trailed off for just a moment before composing herself and shaking her head. "My apologise. We've been having a bit of an issue with our daughter at the moment. She keeps disobeying us. I wouldn't be surprise if she was doing this just to get our attention."
"What do you mean?" Penelope asked.
"Emily has been... rather difficult lately. Me and my husband have tried to raise our daughter to the best of our ability and, whilst things were okay to begin with, Emily just keeps being naughty." Sarah explained. "She was looking for one of her teddy bears about... two, maybe three weeks ago. Anyway, both me and Eric told her that we hadn't seen the teddy bear, I even told that she might of misplaced it in her bedroom, but she simply didn't listen to us and started making a mess in the living room. We tried to stop her but it didn't work."
"Why didn't you help her?" Penelope questioned.
"We're both busy that day. I was making dinner in the kitchen and Eric was finishing up some of his work from the office." The brunette replied. "If she had just waited then we might of been able to help her. But, she decided to act instead of waiting."
It took every ounce of strength Gabriel had to not not let out a groan. This conversation wasn't going anyway. If anything they just learnt that Emily was just another naughty child that needed to be punished - Perhaps Sarah and her husband could be stricter with their daughter, that way she would stop disobeying them. (But, that was just Gabriel's opinion). Sarah needs to realise that having a runaway child out there meant that said child was in danger. Mr Cawthon might trust his employee but that doesn't mean that Emily was safe from danger. Who knows what might happen whilst Emily was in someone else's care.
Then there was a possibly of Emily being found by her Father. If Mr Cawthon and his employee were concerned with the way Mr Porter was treating his daughter, which was reasonable as no parent should degrade their child, then perhaps it was time he took control of the conversation. And, considering the fact that Mr Porter was arrested in the past and thus capable of physical violence, then he needed to make that point clear as well.
Gabriel decided to go a different route.
"Mrs Porter, has your husband ever been violent to you?" Gabriel inquired.
"Violent?" Sarah said before chuckling. "Oh, please. The man likes to drink after a long day of work but he has never been violent towards me. No, the only thing he has ever done to me was said some rather colourful words. They don't affect me, however. I have rather thick skin."
"Well, you might be able to take those words, Mrs Porter, but what about your daughter?" Gabriel responded. "What happens if your husband is drunk and he ends up lashing out at your daughter? Must I remind you your husband has been arrested for GBH with intent, Mrs Porter."
"Then I would remove my daughter from the room before he could attack her." Sarah replied. "I know I'm bit shorter then my husband, Officer, but I know how to deal with him when he's drunk. Besides, Eric mainly stays in the living room or the kitchen when he's had to much to drunk so Emily could easily stay out of his way."
"Even if that's the case, Mrs Porter, there is always long term effects that a child could go through. Seeing a parent under the affects of alcohol could impact their future. It could mean that Emily could become an alcoholic in the future. Another possible scenario is that Eric ends up doing something that he might regret and ends up harming Emily." Penelope added.
Sarah looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "So, what your saying is my daughter is in danger if I allow her to be near her drunken Father?"
"That is what we are suggesting, Mrs Porter. Your husband's history with alcohol and violence is one of several outcomes." Penelope replied.
Sarah was in deep thought. She couldn't stop Eric from drinking, that was his choice and he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. But, she would never forgive him for turning their daughter into something like him. Emily was... already in enough trouble as it is and she still had a lot of work to do before... things could be back to normal again. She just had a few little... quirks that needed to be sorted out. But, she would never allow Emily to become like her Father. It would ruin everything.
Speaking of which, where was Emily now?
"Where is my daughter now?" Sarah inquired.
"I'm afraid we're not allowed to disclose that information." Penelope told her. "But, she is perfectly safe, Mrs Porter."
"But, why can't you tell me where she is?" Sarah questioned.
"Because we haven't finished our inquires yet and we have yet to determine if its safe for Emily to come home." Penelope replied.
"Safe?" There was a look of horror on Sarah's face. However, Penelope couldn't determine if it was for her daughter's wellbeing or... something else. "O-Of course its safe for her to come home. I know my husband is a major problem at the moment and we can easily work on that. But, what about me? Do you honest think I'm a threat to my daughter's safety?"
Penelope sighed. "There is that possibility, Mrs Porter. Whilst I'm not suggesting that threat is a physical one, we have heard some rather... concerning things about how you look after your daughter. You shower your daughter with gifts dresses and dolls to be precise. Its not a bad thing, Mrs Porter, but it could be seen as you trying to force your daughter to like certain things. There's also the concern that you are keeping your daughter in all day and not allowing her to go outside which, again, could effect your daughter's development."
"That..." Sarah hesitated. "Well, you know how dangerous the world can be. I'm just trying to protect my daughter."
"And, there's nothing wrong with that, Mrs Porter. But, children need to experience the outside world or they will end up living their life in constant fear." Penelope said.
"I... Perhaps you are right, Mrs Coleman." Sarah relented.
Penelope was caught of guard by that. She seemed so... defeated by the realisation. Coming to terms with the realisation that you might have effected your child future can be devastating. Penelope could tell that the women meant well and she was trying to protect her daughter - even then she really should do something about her husband. Maybe Mrs Porter wasn't the problem after all and just made bad decisions with regards to raising her daughter...
And yet...
Sarah's left eye twitched.
Penelope blinked. Suddenly, she just got the feeling that she had been lied to. Maybe she had been deceive by the brunette's words. Something just didn't sit right with her and she couldn't help but wonder if Sarah was hiding something from her. Now that she thought about it Sarah seemed hesitant to talk about something. And, earlier when she was talking about her husband, she didn't seem to speak out about him. Instead, she seem to be either defending or deflecting his actions.
What was really alarming was the way Sarah had been talking about her daughter. She had spoke highly of her daughter to begin with but, once she started talking about her daughter's misbehaviour - was that true or not? - it sounded like she was degrading her daughter. Perhaps the incident in the living room hadn't been entirely true after all. Didn't the report Gabriel had mention something about a 'smashing' sound? What if the scene wasn't cause by Emily but by her parents instead.
What about the incident at the party? Emily had been left entirety alone whilst her parents were at work. Emily didn't even leave until one of them had finished work. Anything could of happened to her and, considering the place was Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria, she could've been kidnapped or... Penelope had to stop herself from even thinking about it, what happened at Freddy's in the past was a tragedy and should never of happened in the first place.
"Mrs Porter, if you don't mind, we would like to search Emily's bedroom." Penelope requested.
Sarah had been startled by the request, even Gabriel was frowning at her. Poor fool, Penelope thought. He probably hoped that this was just another house visit. But, there were clear warning signs that couldn't be ignored.
"Is that really necessary?" Sarah questioned.
"It is just routine protocol, Mrs Porter." Penelope responded. "Is it just me or does she really want us out of here?"
"Well, I suppose you still need to finish your inquires. As soon as you get upstairs her room is second on left." Sarah said. "I'll been in the kitchen if you need me. I need to make a phone call."
Sarah left without waiting for Penelope's response. Odd, she would've thought Sarah would of put up more of fight then give into her request so easily. Maybe she thought they wouldn't find anything in Emily's room. What Penelope needed to do was to find something out of place. A single drawing or a diary entry could help as well. With that in mind Penelope made her way upstairs and enter Emily's bedroom. Gabriel followed soon after though, as soon as he entered the room, he suddenly wished he hadn't. Penelope couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
Emily room was... Well, there was a lot of pink. It was a beautiful bedroom but, in both Penelope's and Gabriel's personal opinion, it was probably enough to overwhelm a child. There was a canopy bed with white fluffy pillows and a pink duvet. There was a small rectangular table and two chairs in pastels - they could of been used for a tea party, Penelope thought. There was bookcase, a wardrobe, a toy chest. There was sofa by the window with a pink blanket over it. Next to the wardrobe was a pink and white table with hand held box drawers, there was a small light stand on top of the table and a few papers and coloured pencils. Sadly, there was nothing on the papers.
"So, what are we looking for?" Gabriel asked.
"Well, if someone's abusing their child they might leave some type of warning signs in their bedroom. We're looking for proof that Emily has been hurt either physically or mentally." Penelope told him.
She started with the bookcase whilst Gabriel went through the desk. There were different types of books on shelf, ranging from picture books to child friendly fairy tales to children books. Although, there was one book out of place. Penelope reached out for her and removed it from the shelf. The cover was black with gold markings on the four corners of the cover. In the middle of the cover was a compass with a scenic background behind it. It was a book on pirates. The story was about a fictional privateer chasing after a female pirate captain. There was a replica of a treasure map, drawings, journal entries and pop-up sections.
Once she got to the back of the book there was a folded piece of paper. Penelope placed the book down, pick up the piece of paper and open it. There were several drawings. There was a drawing of a vase that had been shaded in blue, underneath that was a drawing of a smashed vase on the ground. there was a drawing of a man and a women - Emily's parents, no doubt - and a drawing of a child. The parents looked angry whilst the child was crying. Penelope frowned as she tried to read the writing. Some of the words had been scribbled out but she could make out a few of them.
"They l̶i̶e̶d̶ I didn't b̶r̶e̶a̶k̶ it." "They h̶u̶r̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶" "I̶t̶s̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶f̶a̶u̶l̶t̶"
"Penelope, you should read this."
Gabriel was standing in front of the wardrobe. The doors were open and, as Penelope walked over to the wardrobe, she could see a collection of dress all hung up on hangers as well as some other clothes. In Gabriel's hand was a diary. The blonde gave Penelope the diary and she started to read it. There were a few entries. Some of them were mundane but, there were two entries that caught Penelope's attention the most.
"I saw Mummy with another man today. She was kissing that man, like she does with Daddy but she was all over him. I managed to get away before they spotted me. I asked Mummy about it later and she warned me not to tell Daddy. She told me it must remind our little secret and that Daddy will get very angry with the both of us if I tell him. She said 'You can't tell him what happened and, if you do tell him, he will be very angry with us. It must remind our secret or Daddy will leave us. And, you don't want that do you, Emily?' I promised her that I wouldn't tell him'"
"I can't sleep right now. I'm so hungry. I want to go downstairs and grab something from the kitchen but Mummy and Daddy are still down there and if they see me they'll hurt me again. They still think I'm the one who broke the vase. That's not what really happened. Daddy pushed me into the table, it fell down after I was shoved into the table. But, they don't believe me. Why won't they believe me?"
"They made her go to bed without any dinner." Penelope muttered.
She put the piece of paper next to the diary and compared the two pieces of evidence. It was clear to her that the second entry that she read was connected to the the drawings on the piece of paper. And, if that was true - she would need Emily's statement first before any arrests were made - then that meant that Emily was being abused by her parents and she needed to be removed from them as soon as possible. Gabriel was re-reading the journal entry. He frowned once he saw the part that mentioned the vase and remembered what he found under the table.
"I found this downstairs earlier. It was hiding under the table." Gabriel said, pulling the fragment he saw earlier.
"This might be a piece of the vase that had been accidently smashed by Emily." Penelope mused. "But, what was it doing under the table?"
"Perhaps Sarah or her husband missed it when they were tidying up the remains." The blonde guessed.
Penelope didn't say anything. She just nodded her head as she read through the diary again, hoping to find more signs of child abuse or any other references to the incident with the vase. Surely, Sarah or Eric would've done a better job of tidying up the mess. So, why was there still a piece of it on the floor?
Unless... they weren't the ones who picked up the remains of the vase.