Shelter
by: Mariel
Chapter 3
23 HOURS MISSING
By 7:30 a.m. the next morning, Jack had already reviewed the previous day's findings with everyone. Vivian and Pete in particular listened attentively. They were winding down the Stervel case, and would begin helping with Emma Matthews' case later that day. Jack gave them instructions to phone him as soon as they had finished, and suggested that when they had, they should prepare themselves to investigate the mother's friends and acquaintances, to see if any of them might be worthy of suspicion.
That said, Vivian and Pete rose to leave. Leaning back in his chair, Danny watched them go, then turned to Jack. Looking frustrated, he said, "It doesn't make sense that no one saw her after she went into that park. The swing set is in plain sight of anyone walking by. Someone had to have noticed her. That street's always got people walking around."
"You're right," Jack agreed, "which is why you'll be down there questioning everyone from the homeless guy sleeping on the vent outside the corner store to the people at the bus stop down the street. We know she was outside early - there must be regular transit users waiting at that bus stop who saw something. They'd have been long gone by the time the police were contacted, though, so no one's questioned them. You get to do that this morning." Picking up his pen, he continued, "Before you go, though, I want you to go over what you found out about the father again."
Danny leaned forward, placing his forearms firmly on the table in front of him. Not needing to consult his notes, he began his review quickly. "Like I said, Frank Roberts is still living at the address Stephanie Matthews gave you. He wasn't home, but I spoke to a woman who said she was his wife. It sounds like his life is a little more stable now than it was when he was with Stephanie Matthews. He's been working for the same trucking firm for over a year, has bought a house, has an infant son, and, according to aforementioned wife, he's hauling computer components to Florida at the moment. She's not expecting him back for another couple of days. I asked about his relationship with his daughter, but she didn't seem to know much, just that Emma existed, and that he rarely saw her. She admitted that he sometimes talked about visiting her, but since they have a child of their own, I don't think the wife was very interested in encouraging that."
Nodding thoughtfully, Jack mentally tracked the father's route south and decided Frank Roberts could have detoured to New York and picked up his daughter. Making a note on the pad in front of him, he asked, "Did you get the name of the company he's working for?"
"McGrath's International Trucking. There was no answer there last night, but I'm going to call them on my way over to Cuthrow. I figure there's always a chance he could have made a detour here on his way south."
Jack smiled inwardly at their similar thoughts. "Sounds like a plan," he said in an approving tone. Picking up the paper he'd been writing on, he moved his chair back slightly. "Samantha and I are heading over to Children's Services to meet with Emma's case worker," he said. "After that, we're interviewing a couple of the foster parents. I'm not sure when we'll be back, so keep in touch." He rose, then remembered one more thing. "And just so that you know, the police spent the night looking up sex offenders in the area. Nothing turned up of interest. Everyone local was where they should be."
He'd received the information with relief, though totally aware that it didn't mean as much as he would have liked it to. There was every chance that Emma had been taken, molested, and was dead by now.
Turning to Samantha, he said, "Get your coat. I'd like to get down there as early as possible."
Danny looked at Jack curiously. There was something subtly different in his boss' manner today. Pausing a moment to consider what it might be, he shrugged when nothing came to mind. Gathering up his paper and pen, he turned his thoughts towards the day's agenda and the questions he would ask.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The car felt cold, and Samantha folded her arms in front of her. When she glanced at Jack, however, her thoughts were less on her dropping body temperature and more on the man beside her. He hadn't said much since they'd started driving, and she wondered at the quiet. "It's bothering you, too," she said in a soft voice.
Jack recognised his own words echoing back to him from the previous night. He continued driving for a while without speaking. He wasn't used to having someone read him so easily, and certainly wasn't accustomed to the way she not only pinpointed his feelings, but dared to verbalize them, as well. She had done that almost from the beginning, and there was an intimacy to it that attracted him, made him want to relax and be with her just for the sake of the honesty. It felt good, in a strange way he couldn't yet define, but it also elicited thoughts and feelings that were new to him... and which he recognised as dangerous.
Finally, he nodded, then admitted, "Yeah."
"Because of Hannah and Kate?" she guessed quietly.
He shrugged. "Probably." There was another moment of silence, then he said, "It makes you wonder: here's a kid without any of what you'd consider the advantages of life - dirt-poor, a troubled, neglectful mother, no father to speak of, shoved from one foster home to another when her mother isn't in the mood to care for her - and yet anyone you talk to about her remarks on how well-adjusted she is for her age. What a joy she is. How strong she is. Are they wrong? Or is she really the way they describe her? And if she is, what the hell's she made of?!" Samantha pondered his question a moment. "Certainly more than just sugar and spice," was the only response she offered.
Jack nodded.
"Maybe we just haven't found the one steadying influence in her life that's helped keep her on an even keel," Samantha suggested. "Or perhaps she's just too young to be adversely affected."
Jack pulled to a stop at a red light and turned to raise a sceptical eyebrow at her.
Samantha saw it and nodded. She knew how unlikely Emma remaining unaffected by her life was; there was, after all, no minimum age for psychological harm. She'd seen enough damaged kids to know that. "Okay, so maybe she's simply tougher than most." She paused, picturing the situation in her head. "Even if she's tough, there's someone that had to have taught her how to see things, someone who helped her figure things out. She'd need someone to explain things, make it all simpler for her, less frightening. Someone," she continued, "who gives her protection, makes her feel safe."
Jack, who had been watching her closely as she spoke, nodded in agreement. "A neighbour? Her caseworker, maybe. Or her foster parents. Maybe there was one particular family she went to more than another."
A honk from behind reminded him he was supposed to be paying attention to traffic. Eying the light that now shone green, he eased the car forward, thinking of the look in Samantha's eye as she'd spoken. He wondered if, when she had spoken of adult influence, she had spoken from experience. She'd never said much about her childhood, but he had the impression it hadn't been a particularly easy one. As a child, had she had someone to steady her, to reassure her when life seemed crazy? Opening his mouth to ask, he second guessed himself and closed it firmly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
24 HOURS MISSING
Emma's caseworker's name was Nancy Shelby. Rising when she saw the two agents arrive at her open office door, she stepped around her desk to greet them. After introductions were made, she indicated two chairs for them to sit in and smoothly returned to her own chair. Leaning forward and resting her forearms on the desk, she clasped her hands in front of her. "You're here about Emma Matthews," she said, her eyes moving from one agent to the other.
Samantha nodded. "She disappeared yesterday morning from the park outside her building." Glancing at Jack, she continued, "We're wondering if you could tell us anything that might help us find her."
Nancy frowned and shook her head. Obviously a person who thought before she spoke, she paused a moment.
In the few seconds she took to consider her response, the two agents regarded her with interest. Sitting in her cramped and cluttered office, the woman looked exactly what she was: a caring, dedicated woman who had endured 'the system' for more than two decades. A halo of brown, curly hair framed a round face softly lined at eyes and mouth. An aura of calm seemed to radiate from her, and she had a worn, tired look about her that might have been mistaken for resignation - until she began to talk about the children under her care. When she spoke about Emma Matthews, her motions became animated, and her hazel eyes sparked with determination, caring, and concern.
She could not, however, give them helpful information. "No, I'm sorry," she finally responded with regret. "I can't think of anything that might help. She's been a regular with us almost since she was born, but I can't think of anything in her history to indicate she'd run away. She's only six, going on seven. Where would she go?"
"We don't necessarily think she ran away," Samantha said quickly. "Perhaps there are people in her life who might be involved?"
Nancy paused, then said, "The people her mother associates with aren't the best influences a child could have, but I don't know names, or anything like that, and the mother hasn't had a regular boyfriend in quite some time, as far as I know." She looked at them, a worried frown making little creases between her brows. "You don't think she's just wandered off, then? You think someone has taken her?"
"We don't know what's happened. She was seen heading towards a swing set outside her building at about 8:30 yesterday morning, and there the trail ends. No one's seen her since," Samantha said.
"We'd like to know about the foster parents she's been with," Jack interjected.
Nancy looked at him in surprise. "The foster parents? I don't think you need suspect any of them. They're very carefully screened."
"We're just looking at all the angles," Jack said. "People often don't know how they'll feel about something until they actually face that something. What if a foster parent decided that they could give her a better life? What if they felt that the only way they could do that was by taking her?"
Nancy shook her head. "No. I can't imagine that. She's been in and out of dozens of places." She looked first at Jack, then at Samantha. "It's not that she's hard to place," she said, as though to reassure them of Emma's good behaviour, "The foster homes we put her in always give glowing reports - but with foster parents being in such short supply, we have to put kids where there's an opening available at that particular time. The chances of her being back to the same place with any frequency isn't great. I can't imagine her building a relationship with any particular set of foster parents."
Samantha looked down at a few notes she held in her hand. Deciding to change tracks for a moment, she commented, "From what we've been told, Emma was placed in her first foster home when she was eight months old, and she's been in and out of them ever since. Why hasn't she been taken from her mother permanently?"
The social worker stiffened. "Our mandate is to keep families intact. Our goal isn't to take children away, it's to put in place a structure that will allow them to live safely with their family." She said the words woodenly, as though knowing that although noble in intent, the mandate did not always place the needs of the child first.
"That doesn't seem to be working too well in Emma's case," Samantha said. Sensing more than seeing Jack's warning glance, she inhaled deeply and tried again. Working harder to keep the criticism out of her voice, she looked down at her notes and commented, "The reasons Emma's been taken from the home have been pretty consistent: drugs, neglect, failure to provide, her mother using their apartment for prostitution...."
Nancy nodded. "The prostitution charges were the most recent thing. It allowed us to remove Emma again, but only until the mother stopped bringing the men home, straightened herself out a bit, and asked to have Emma back."
The two agents nodded, recognizing the story as a common one. The mother always wanted the child back, no matter how badly she treated said child when she had it.
Nancy's eyes clouded. "Some mothers try really hard to get their lives on track and provide for their kids. Others just aren't in that space. They talk good, and make wonderful promises, but..." she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, you're not here to listen to this." Spreading her hands, she said, "I'm sorry, I just-" She stiffened, and her eyes widened. Looking at the two agents, she said, "Wait. About a year and a half ago, Emma's mother disappeared for a while, and Emma ended up in a foster home for longer than usual - I think it was about six months. Emma seemed to really love it there, and the foster parents asked if adoption was a possibility. It would have been wonderful for Emma, but..." She looked down at her hands, her voice trailing off. Looking back up at them again, she said firmly, "But I don't think for a moment they would actually take Emma. They've been foster parents with us for years. They're good people."
"We'll need their names and address," Samantha said, her heart beginning to beat more quickly.
Nancy sat back in her chair, obviously regretting she'd said anything.
"We need to speak with them. It's important. You know we can get a subpoena for the information if we need to," Jack told her. "Perhaps they saw something, or perhaps Emma said something that seemed unimportant at the time, but which, given her disappearance, might seem more important now," he said.
Or perhaps, he thought to himself, they had decided that since she wasn't up for adoption, they'd take matters into their own hands.
Nancy relaxed slightly, understanding. Her wooden chair squeaking as she wheeled it away from her desk, she rose and went over to the row of filing cabinets lining one wall of the small office. She opened one of their drawers, fingered through the files a moment, then pulled a particularly thick one out.
Returning, she placed it on her desk and sat down. She opened it up, rifled through it for a moment, then looked up at them with surprise on her face. "Emma was with them again a few months ago. With the Ramseys, I mean. The ones who made the enquiries about adoption," she added for clarification. "I'm just back from an extended leave, so I'm a little behind on who went where... Brenda Hood took my caseload while I was gone. I guess that's why it slipped my mind." She leafed through some notes in the file, then added, "It was only for a short time..." She continued to go through the documents, found what she wanted and after reading it with a slight frown on her face, finished, "She was there for just a week."
Jack and Samantha looked at each other. "We'll need the Ramsey's full names and their address, as well as the names and addresses of the other, most recent foster parents," Samantha said, hope beginning to stir within her.
Nancy began writing information down for the two agents. When she was finished, she held it out. "I've given you the names, addresses and phone numbers of parents she's been with in the past two years. If you need to go back farther, just ask. I've written the length of Emma's stay with each foster family, too, if that helps."
Samantha took the paper and nodded her thanks. "Yes, it does."
Knowing exactly who they would visit first, they thanked the social worker and left feeling that perhaps their search would soon be over.
End Chapter 3 Shelter
23 HOURS MISSING
By 7:30 a.m. the next morning, Jack had already reviewed the previous day's findings with everyone. Vivian and Pete in particular listened attentively. They were winding down the Stervel case, and would begin helping with Emma Matthews' case later that day. Jack gave them instructions to phone him as soon as they had finished, and suggested that when they had, they should prepare themselves to investigate the mother's friends and acquaintances, to see if any of them might be worthy of suspicion.
That said, Vivian and Pete rose to leave. Leaning back in his chair, Danny watched them go, then turned to Jack. Looking frustrated, he said, "It doesn't make sense that no one saw her after she went into that park. The swing set is in plain sight of anyone walking by. Someone had to have noticed her. That street's always got people walking around."
"You're right," Jack agreed, "which is why you'll be down there questioning everyone from the homeless guy sleeping on the vent outside the corner store to the people at the bus stop down the street. We know she was outside early - there must be regular transit users waiting at that bus stop who saw something. They'd have been long gone by the time the police were contacted, though, so no one's questioned them. You get to do that this morning." Picking up his pen, he continued, "Before you go, though, I want you to go over what you found out about the father again."
Danny leaned forward, placing his forearms firmly on the table in front of him. Not needing to consult his notes, he began his review quickly. "Like I said, Frank Roberts is still living at the address Stephanie Matthews gave you. He wasn't home, but I spoke to a woman who said she was his wife. It sounds like his life is a little more stable now than it was when he was with Stephanie Matthews. He's been working for the same trucking firm for over a year, has bought a house, has an infant son, and, according to aforementioned wife, he's hauling computer components to Florida at the moment. She's not expecting him back for another couple of days. I asked about his relationship with his daughter, but she didn't seem to know much, just that Emma existed, and that he rarely saw her. She admitted that he sometimes talked about visiting her, but since they have a child of their own, I don't think the wife was very interested in encouraging that."
Nodding thoughtfully, Jack mentally tracked the father's route south and decided Frank Roberts could have detoured to New York and picked up his daughter. Making a note on the pad in front of him, he asked, "Did you get the name of the company he's working for?"
"McGrath's International Trucking. There was no answer there last night, but I'm going to call them on my way over to Cuthrow. I figure there's always a chance he could have made a detour here on his way south."
Jack smiled inwardly at their similar thoughts. "Sounds like a plan," he said in an approving tone. Picking up the paper he'd been writing on, he moved his chair back slightly. "Samantha and I are heading over to Children's Services to meet with Emma's case worker," he said. "After that, we're interviewing a couple of the foster parents. I'm not sure when we'll be back, so keep in touch." He rose, then remembered one more thing. "And just so that you know, the police spent the night looking up sex offenders in the area. Nothing turned up of interest. Everyone local was where they should be."
He'd received the information with relief, though totally aware that it didn't mean as much as he would have liked it to. There was every chance that Emma had been taken, molested, and was dead by now.
Turning to Samantha, he said, "Get your coat. I'd like to get down there as early as possible."
Danny looked at Jack curiously. There was something subtly different in his boss' manner today. Pausing a moment to consider what it might be, he shrugged when nothing came to mind. Gathering up his paper and pen, he turned his thoughts towards the day's agenda and the questions he would ask.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The car felt cold, and Samantha folded her arms in front of her. When she glanced at Jack, however, her thoughts were less on her dropping body temperature and more on the man beside her. He hadn't said much since they'd started driving, and she wondered at the quiet. "It's bothering you, too," she said in a soft voice.
Jack recognised his own words echoing back to him from the previous night. He continued driving for a while without speaking. He wasn't used to having someone read him so easily, and certainly wasn't accustomed to the way she not only pinpointed his feelings, but dared to verbalize them, as well. She had done that almost from the beginning, and there was an intimacy to it that attracted him, made him want to relax and be with her just for the sake of the honesty. It felt good, in a strange way he couldn't yet define, but it also elicited thoughts and feelings that were new to him... and which he recognised as dangerous.
Finally, he nodded, then admitted, "Yeah."
"Because of Hannah and Kate?" she guessed quietly.
He shrugged. "Probably." There was another moment of silence, then he said, "It makes you wonder: here's a kid without any of what you'd consider the advantages of life - dirt-poor, a troubled, neglectful mother, no father to speak of, shoved from one foster home to another when her mother isn't in the mood to care for her - and yet anyone you talk to about her remarks on how well-adjusted she is for her age. What a joy she is. How strong she is. Are they wrong? Or is she really the way they describe her? And if she is, what the hell's she made of?!" Samantha pondered his question a moment. "Certainly more than just sugar and spice," was the only response she offered.
Jack nodded.
"Maybe we just haven't found the one steadying influence in her life that's helped keep her on an even keel," Samantha suggested. "Or perhaps she's just too young to be adversely affected."
Jack pulled to a stop at a red light and turned to raise a sceptical eyebrow at her.
Samantha saw it and nodded. She knew how unlikely Emma remaining unaffected by her life was; there was, after all, no minimum age for psychological harm. She'd seen enough damaged kids to know that. "Okay, so maybe she's simply tougher than most." She paused, picturing the situation in her head. "Even if she's tough, there's someone that had to have taught her how to see things, someone who helped her figure things out. She'd need someone to explain things, make it all simpler for her, less frightening. Someone," she continued, "who gives her protection, makes her feel safe."
Jack, who had been watching her closely as she spoke, nodded in agreement. "A neighbour? Her caseworker, maybe. Or her foster parents. Maybe there was one particular family she went to more than another."
A honk from behind reminded him he was supposed to be paying attention to traffic. Eying the light that now shone green, he eased the car forward, thinking of the look in Samantha's eye as she'd spoken. He wondered if, when she had spoken of adult influence, she had spoken from experience. She'd never said much about her childhood, but he had the impression it hadn't been a particularly easy one. As a child, had she had someone to steady her, to reassure her when life seemed crazy? Opening his mouth to ask, he second guessed himself and closed it firmly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
24 HOURS MISSING
Emma's caseworker's name was Nancy Shelby. Rising when she saw the two agents arrive at her open office door, she stepped around her desk to greet them. After introductions were made, she indicated two chairs for them to sit in and smoothly returned to her own chair. Leaning forward and resting her forearms on the desk, she clasped her hands in front of her. "You're here about Emma Matthews," she said, her eyes moving from one agent to the other.
Samantha nodded. "She disappeared yesterday morning from the park outside her building." Glancing at Jack, she continued, "We're wondering if you could tell us anything that might help us find her."
Nancy frowned and shook her head. Obviously a person who thought before she spoke, she paused a moment.
In the few seconds she took to consider her response, the two agents regarded her with interest. Sitting in her cramped and cluttered office, the woman looked exactly what she was: a caring, dedicated woman who had endured 'the system' for more than two decades. A halo of brown, curly hair framed a round face softly lined at eyes and mouth. An aura of calm seemed to radiate from her, and she had a worn, tired look about her that might have been mistaken for resignation - until she began to talk about the children under her care. When she spoke about Emma Matthews, her motions became animated, and her hazel eyes sparked with determination, caring, and concern.
She could not, however, give them helpful information. "No, I'm sorry," she finally responded with regret. "I can't think of anything that might help. She's been a regular with us almost since she was born, but I can't think of anything in her history to indicate she'd run away. She's only six, going on seven. Where would she go?"
"We don't necessarily think she ran away," Samantha said quickly. "Perhaps there are people in her life who might be involved?"
Nancy paused, then said, "The people her mother associates with aren't the best influences a child could have, but I don't know names, or anything like that, and the mother hasn't had a regular boyfriend in quite some time, as far as I know." She looked at them, a worried frown making little creases between her brows. "You don't think she's just wandered off, then? You think someone has taken her?"
"We don't know what's happened. She was seen heading towards a swing set outside her building at about 8:30 yesterday morning, and there the trail ends. No one's seen her since," Samantha said.
"We'd like to know about the foster parents she's been with," Jack interjected.
Nancy looked at him in surprise. "The foster parents? I don't think you need suspect any of them. They're very carefully screened."
"We're just looking at all the angles," Jack said. "People often don't know how they'll feel about something until they actually face that something. What if a foster parent decided that they could give her a better life? What if they felt that the only way they could do that was by taking her?"
Nancy shook her head. "No. I can't imagine that. She's been in and out of dozens of places." She looked first at Jack, then at Samantha. "It's not that she's hard to place," she said, as though to reassure them of Emma's good behaviour, "The foster homes we put her in always give glowing reports - but with foster parents being in such short supply, we have to put kids where there's an opening available at that particular time. The chances of her being back to the same place with any frequency isn't great. I can't imagine her building a relationship with any particular set of foster parents."
Samantha looked down at a few notes she held in her hand. Deciding to change tracks for a moment, she commented, "From what we've been told, Emma was placed in her first foster home when she was eight months old, and she's been in and out of them ever since. Why hasn't she been taken from her mother permanently?"
The social worker stiffened. "Our mandate is to keep families intact. Our goal isn't to take children away, it's to put in place a structure that will allow them to live safely with their family." She said the words woodenly, as though knowing that although noble in intent, the mandate did not always place the needs of the child first.
"That doesn't seem to be working too well in Emma's case," Samantha said. Sensing more than seeing Jack's warning glance, she inhaled deeply and tried again. Working harder to keep the criticism out of her voice, she looked down at her notes and commented, "The reasons Emma's been taken from the home have been pretty consistent: drugs, neglect, failure to provide, her mother using their apartment for prostitution...."
Nancy nodded. "The prostitution charges were the most recent thing. It allowed us to remove Emma again, but only until the mother stopped bringing the men home, straightened herself out a bit, and asked to have Emma back."
The two agents nodded, recognizing the story as a common one. The mother always wanted the child back, no matter how badly she treated said child when she had it.
Nancy's eyes clouded. "Some mothers try really hard to get their lives on track and provide for their kids. Others just aren't in that space. They talk good, and make wonderful promises, but..." she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, you're not here to listen to this." Spreading her hands, she said, "I'm sorry, I just-" She stiffened, and her eyes widened. Looking at the two agents, she said, "Wait. About a year and a half ago, Emma's mother disappeared for a while, and Emma ended up in a foster home for longer than usual - I think it was about six months. Emma seemed to really love it there, and the foster parents asked if adoption was a possibility. It would have been wonderful for Emma, but..." She looked down at her hands, her voice trailing off. Looking back up at them again, she said firmly, "But I don't think for a moment they would actually take Emma. They've been foster parents with us for years. They're good people."
"We'll need their names and address," Samantha said, her heart beginning to beat more quickly.
Nancy sat back in her chair, obviously regretting she'd said anything.
"We need to speak with them. It's important. You know we can get a subpoena for the information if we need to," Jack told her. "Perhaps they saw something, or perhaps Emma said something that seemed unimportant at the time, but which, given her disappearance, might seem more important now," he said.
Or perhaps, he thought to himself, they had decided that since she wasn't up for adoption, they'd take matters into their own hands.
Nancy relaxed slightly, understanding. Her wooden chair squeaking as she wheeled it away from her desk, she rose and went over to the row of filing cabinets lining one wall of the small office. She opened one of their drawers, fingered through the files a moment, then pulled a particularly thick one out.
Returning, she placed it on her desk and sat down. She opened it up, rifled through it for a moment, then looked up at them with surprise on her face. "Emma was with them again a few months ago. With the Ramseys, I mean. The ones who made the enquiries about adoption," she added for clarification. "I'm just back from an extended leave, so I'm a little behind on who went where... Brenda Hood took my caseload while I was gone. I guess that's why it slipped my mind." She leafed through some notes in the file, then added, "It was only for a short time..." She continued to go through the documents, found what she wanted and after reading it with a slight frown on her face, finished, "She was there for just a week."
Jack and Samantha looked at each other. "We'll need the Ramsey's full names and their address, as well as the names and addresses of the other, most recent foster parents," Samantha said, hope beginning to stir within her.
Nancy began writing information down for the two agents. When she was finished, she held it out. "I've given you the names, addresses and phone numbers of parents she's been with in the past two years. If you need to go back farther, just ask. I've written the length of Emma's stay with each foster family, too, if that helps."
Samantha took the paper and nodded her thanks. "Yes, it does."
Knowing exactly who they would visit first, they thanked the social worker and left feeling that perhaps their search would soon be over.
End Chapter 3 Shelter