As expected, I wasn't having so much fun with the parent's meeting. A guy especially, some kind of tall blonde probably fed with hormones and cheeseburgers, just didn't want to understand. Denise was at the end of her rope, and quite ready to burst. I could see that vein on her forearm pulse while she flexed her fingers.
So far, we had covered the main points; that the case had been handled poorly, that parents shouldn't even have been made aware, and that their children showed no signs of abuse. But that stupid pig like father didn't want to back down. Like a hound on a bone, he just refused to believe us.
- "You take this very lightly," he spat.
Denise stood, on the verge of jumping out to wrestle with him. And given the pedopsychiatrist's rounded shape, I didn't know who would be the victor.
- "I have been following abused children for the past ten years, sir. There is nothing light about this."
- "But Lucas is still out there!"
This time, I intervened. This wasn't about the children anymore.
- "As he should be. That man is innocent until proven guilty, and I am dissecting his life as we speak. Do you really want to add harassment to what he is going through?"
At the back of the room, Theo looked like he was about to be sick as he considered the impact of his little girl's possible lie. He couldn't have foreseen how the spreading of rumours had tarnished Lucas's reputation, but the hostility was difficult to miss.
- "He should go through much worse!"
At last, Theo couldn't take it anymore and intervened.
- "Johan !"
- "What if he is innocent?" a woman said from the back of the room. "I never thought Lucas capable of … this."
They couldn't even name it. As if fear was clutching their hearts and constricting their throats. Child abuse was one of the biggest taboos of this society.
- "What if he is guilty?" Johan counteracted.
And I really wanted to bash his thick skull into the ground, there was such a need for revenge in his guts that I wondered if Lucas wasn't just a convenient culprit. So, instead of ripping his head off, I tried to soothe the man and make him see reason.
- "In any case, the accused is away from your children. The case will be closed shortly. Keep your wits and call Denise if anything comes out. Destroying the life of man on suspicion is not what you seek to do, right?"
Several parents seemed to mull over my words, and I caught a few nods. Good. Half of them had decided to use a half brain. I knew I was being harsh; if anyone ever touched my girl, he wouldn't get to the trial. But I was fed up with people trying to stick a crime on an innocent. Lucas was a villager's child, for God's sake ! Couldn't they see how gentle, how harmless he was? How dedicated to his community, to their own children?
I needed, at least, to try to show them the truth. So I quelled the few voices at the back of the room, and went on.
- "You need to think with your brain and not with your fears."
- "Easy for you to say…", someone started.
I cut them at once.
- "No. I am a parent, I know what it's like. Think of your children."
A scoff caused me to glare at a redhead; she glared back, challenging me. Undeterred, I went on:
- "If you replace fear with sense, we will never find out the truth. Do not stress your children or you will be creating symptoms yourself. And do consider the consequences for the child that made those wobbly accusations in the first place."
My eyes landed on Theo and his wife; they looked totally lost now. I needed to tell them, at once, what I had found on their son's tablet.
- "Why would she lie?" the same redhead asked me.
I sighed; that same freaking question, over and over again. So simplistic. So I sat down, gesturing for Denise to take over.
- "The mind of a child doesn't have the same connexions as we have. She might have associated things, she might be in a terrible position, now, to realise the consequences of what she said. This village is in an uproar, the children have been deprived of a support they took for granted, and now, they are told that he is a bad man. All their foundations are shaken. If you keep insisting, you will make victims out of them. It is little wonder they have nightmares."
Psychology 101 for dummies. Phew. Denise had paved the way for my harsh conclusion, and I nailed my point sternly.
- "Stop this disease. Give us room to do our jobs. Once the results are known, actions will be taken. You will be informed."
And I left, gesturing to Grethe, the kindergarden director, and both Klara's parents to join me in her office. Theo and his wife hurried behind me, eager to know if I had some news for them. I didn't give them time to steam off.
- "So. I found something on your son's tablet that might explain Klara's words."
Theo's wife blanched.
- "What is it?"
For good measure, I fished the tablet out of my bag, and replayed the video that Klara might have spotted. Shock registered on their features, and I almost sniggered. It wasn't so usual for a fourteen years old to watch pornographic videos, and not very worrying. In my youth, magazines would do the trick. The only issue, there, was that Klara might have been tangled in that mess because of their parent's lack of supervision.
- "He … he really watched this?"
I nodded, finding more understanding on Theo's features that upon his wife.
- "It is not a crime, and he's a teenager. Now, I think that Klara may have heard, or seen some images, which is more worrisome."
Anger vibrated from the blonde woman, and I had to raise a shield to prevent her feelings from draining me altogether. She was … furious! Livid.
- "I'll kill him. I'll wring his sorry neck… Oh God, Lucas!"
At last, a reaction worthwhile. I gave her a sly smile.
- "Lucas had no such historic in his computers."
Theo's wife hiccupped.
- "Oh my God, I told him I would cut his balls."
I blocked my mind to stop diving into that memory; I knew it would make me angry. Focus, focus Elena.
- "If I may. I think that I know why Klara mixed up that video with Lucas."
- "What? Why?"
Theo was silent, content to leave the interaction to his wife. But he was listening raptly.
- "The day she told Grethe those things, she had tried to kiss Lucas on the mouth."
This, at last, got me an answer from Theo.
- "She's always had a crush on him," he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
He knew! That damn man knew Klara had a crush on Lucas, and not connected any dots! Ugh! Taking a deep breath, I gave them the heart-shaped form Klara had made with ironing pearls.
- "Lucas rejected her, gently, and gave her back the present she had done for him."
- "Oh!"
Grethe's exclamation said it all; she understood, now, the meanders of Klara's mind. I gave her a long look, hoping to convey how badly she had screwed up. How much damage she had done.
- "So you see. No lie here. Klara was sad and angry, she talked about Lucas, then talked about guys, then her mind wandered back to that video."
- "And I concluded that Lucas had abused her."
Theo seemed stunned, and he turned to Grethe for an explanation
- "But what about the interrogation?"
I could feel his anger rising, slowly, but surely, like a storm brewing. It was droplet first, then a snowflake, that gathered another, then a snowball that started its course downhill, getting bigger and bigger.
- "We…"
- "The man Klara has seen used leading questions, and only got a few nods as a response. And he's a caseworker, not a child psychologist."
Theo suddenly stood, sending his chair flying backwards. There it was, the avalanche that had been building slowly for the past weeks.
- "Fuck!"
He had seemed so subdued, all this time, that I was glad to see a spark in his eyes. Even if it was anger.
- "You nearly fucked Lucas' life because you had our daughter being interrogated by an educator?"
The kindergarden director seemed close to vomiting; she was starting to realise how badly she had messed up.
- "I didn't know what to do!" she cried.
- "Contact child services for God's sake!"
Theo's wife stood as well, and wound her arms around her husband's shoulders to calm him. I needed as well to scold Grethe for calling Lucas' wife, overlooking all the protocols. But I wasn't about to do it in front of Theo; the man was fuming already. Denise would handle that breech of procedure while I closed this case once and for all.
- "We need your eldest's input in this to know if our theory is correct."
Theo nodded from his six feet something, but it was his wife that responded:
- "Then come home. Then we can go to Lucas and apologise. I can't believe I told him that…"
- "I think he will be able to understand the threat. The accusation, though, will be more difficult to overlook."
And we left together to question their eldest who burst into tears the moment I set foot in the room. I didn't even have to switch the tablet on that he was confessing his moment of stupidity where he'd dragged Klara in the corridor and shown him the video. His mother reddened, and a shouting match ensued that followed the teenager all the way down his room.
Poor kid. Being a teenager sucked…
People might see him as the culprit, which in retrospect he was. He'd just been a stupid boy in a town where people were led by fear. A good kid, given the tears he had shed. Afraid and guilty, just like Klara who was emerging from her bedroom, driven out by her mother's yelling. I smiled at her, and beckoned her to come. The little angel trod carefully, and settled in her father's arms easily. Theo was still stunned.
Overjoyed, as well, to learn that his most trusted friend had not laid a finger upon his precious daughter. The damage was so great…
And in my mind, I kept replaying Johan's words at the parent's meeting.
- "You need to speak to the other parents," I said. "They will be informed by Denise, but it will have more weight if it's you. Your blond friend, especially."
- "I'll ring at every door if need be," Theo said, determined.
I winced, wondering if his eldest son would be submitted to the same treatment Lucas had received.
- "Perhaps you can keep the explanation to yourself to protect your son?"
Theo nodded, his features freezing for an instant. The shift in the mood didn't escape Klara who innocently demanded:
- "Can we go and walk Fanny, now?"
I chuckled at the child's insistence; she had suffered of Lucas's absence. This much was obvious. Theo gave her a fond gaze, and sprang to his feet with renewed vigour.
- "You know what? Let's do it now"
I left the house, this very evening, with the teenager's testimony and a smile upon my face. As my faithful friend would say, well done lady, pat in the back.
Case closed.
You know, I nearly deleted this story because I thought no one was reading it ! Should I ?