Interviews
When they got the call, Nicole went to the station, and Jess went to the library to pick up Joe. The teacher was anxious to get all the kids out of her room because she had a child at the station that she had to pick up as well. She had no idea what was going on. Since the police didn't know Chloe Pierson's mother was right next door, Mrs. Pierson was not informed about the ceasing of the children in the Preschool Room.
Zachary happily ran into his mother's arms when Nicole arrived at the station. Bert greeted her.
"Did something happen at the daycare?"
"We're conducting an investigation and until it's completed the children in Mr. and Mrs. Hall's class will be cared for by volunteer librarians," Bert was purposely vague.
"What type of investigation. I mean if you had to bring all the children down here-"
"It's just standard procedure. As soon as we know more we will contact you." He said as he escorted Nicole and the three children out.
xxxxx
That evening Nicole, Antonio, and Jess tried to figure out what was going on.
"The kids told me that everything was normal when the police came." Nicole said.
"We all know it's the law that any and all complaints have to be looked in to. Some kid may have said one of the teachers hit him or something. It will all be straightened out soon enough. I'm not worried," Jess lied. The phone rang and she picked it up. "Nicole, it's for you."
"This is Nicole Scott?"
"Hello, Ma'am, this is Monica Caufield from the San Francisco Child Services Department. We looking into a possible abuse case at your son's daycare. Would you be able to bring him to our office tomorrow morning so we can speak to him?"
"What kind of abuse?"
"It's best that I not disclose information before speaking to each child. It prevents the investigation from being tainted."
"What time?"
"Nine o'clock." Monica gave Nicole directions to the CSD conducting the investigation.
Monica was going down a list of children enrolled in the program. The list was in alphabetical order by the children's last names. It wasn't long before the phone rang again and Jess was asked to bring Madison and Toby.
xxxxx
The next morning, one by one children would be called. The families would then be escorted down the hall. To the right was a quiet room where parents were told to wait. To the left, was where Monica brought the child, the interview room. It was small to create a sense of security, about the size of a bedroom. The walls were lined with shelves of books and toys. A child sized table with little chairs on one side and two adult chairs on the other sat in the middle of the room. There was a hidden camera that recorded all statements made by the children. Sometimes the prosecutors would watch from the media room, but that was almost always on second and third interviews after CSD reported allegations that they believed were accurate. After the interview was over, children were left to play and the social worker would go across the hall to speak to the parents, then the families left through another exit, so they didn't come into contact with the families and children who had not been questioned, a technique to prevent the contamination of any allegations.
When their son was taken in the interview room, Nicole and Antonio made themselves comfortable in the waiting room across the hall.
"Magazines," Antonio observed. "I guess this is going to take a while." He sat on the couch with Nicole.
"Who could read at a time like this?"
xxxxx
Monica sat at the table and put her "box of tricks" on the seat next to her. She invited Zachary to bring the toy he was playing with over to the table. He did.
"How old are you, Zachary?" She knew, but it was a good starting point.
"Three."
"Three? Wow, you're a big boy now aren't you?"
He nodded.
She found him to be a beautiful child with his Mediterranean-like complexion and brown eyes. "Do you know why I wanted to talk to you today?"
"No."
"Well, I wanted to talk to you about your daycare. I wanted to know if you like it there?"
"No."
"How come?"
He called to remembrance the lie he heard his sister tell about the Preschool Room. "It's boring."
"How is it boring?"...
xxxxx
Madison and Toby played amongst the other children while Jess watched them. Nathan, who had to be forced to come, sat beside her.
"I don't know why I'm here," he said quietly, so the other parents and children wouldn't hear him. "Why is it that you have to jump to the worst possibility?"
"For crying out loud, Nathan. Social services asked to speak to our children. Don't even try to make me believe you aren't worried."
He looked at the kids in the room and then at his watch. "This is going to take forever. If we're not out of here by the time Joe gets out of school, I'm going to pick him up, and I am not coming back."
"Speaking of Joe. He's been much happier since he started school, hasn't he?" She said grimly at the realization.
"What's your point...No, wait, let me guess. Since he's out of the Preschool Room. Jess, this is a bunch of bull shit. Nobody hurt our kids."
xxxxx
Monica talked to Zachary long enough to assume she wasn't going to get a statement from him, so she wrapped up the interview. She told him to play, and she went across the hall to Nicole and Antonio.
"Is everything all right?" Nicole asked anxiously.
"So far everything is fine, but the investigation is still open and we will probably need to see him again."
She might as well have not even said those last fifteen words because all the couple needed to breathe a sigh of relief was hearing her say everything was fine.
Happily, Nicole and Antonio took their child home.
xxxxx
Next Monica spoke to a beautiful four-year-old girl, Alexandra Davis. She had brown hair pulled back in a pony tail held by a pink ribbon, which matched her outfit. She smiled angelically, that was until Monica segued into the topic of daycare. Alexandra refused to make any, any allegations about Deborah, but she was less guarded when Roger's name was brought up.
"Is Roger nice to you?"
"Sometimes. He sometimes takes me in the library and lets me look at books. Sometimes he reads them to me. And once he checked out my favorite book, so I could take it back to the classroom. He let me take it home too, but I had to bring it back. My mommy says he's very nice to do that."
"Does Mommy like him?"
She nodded as she put another block on her castle.
"What about you, do you like Roger?"
"...I like him sometimes, like when he takes me to the library or when he brings us candy."
"Are there times when you don't like him?"
She nodded silently, still working on the castle.
"When do you not like him?"
A silent shrug.
"Is there a bathroom in your daycare class."
"No."
"What happens when kids need to use the bathroom?"
"It's near the class, not in it"
"Do you go by yourself?"
"No."
"Does Ms. Deborah take you?"
"No."
"She never did?"
"No."
"Then who takes you?"
"Roger. When it's time he calls all the girls and takes us then, or when we tell him we wanna go."
"What happens then?"
"We just go inside and wait in a line, use the toilet, wash our hands, and wait until everyone is done, and then we go back to the class."
"Does Roger go to the bathroom?"
"He goes by himself. Deborah does to."
Monica temporarily stopped her line of questioning for two reasons, to think of what to ask next and how. And to not give Alexandra the impression of an interrogation. So for ten minutes she just played with the child.
"When Roger takes the girls to the bathroom, does he do anything that you don't like?"
"No."
xxxxx
The sexual abuse allegations only applied to the girls, so when five-year-old Brendan Frasier was with Monica, she focused solely on Deborah Hall. Brendan was an articulate, friendly little boy. He had even been dressed up for the occasion, a blue button down shirt and black pants. His brown hair was well done too.
As pleasant as Brendan was, the forty-five minutes Monica spent with him were fruitless.
xxxxx
As soon as Olivia Garrett, age four, was in the room, Monica missed Brendan. Olivia was an erratic child, who bounced off the walls. Monica couldn't get her to sit still, so she just questioned the child as she ran around the room, never playing with anything for more than a minute. It was obvious to Monica that this child was very anxious.
Olivia's answers were incriminating, but it was hardly anything that would get passed a grand jury, and Monica had no intention of even trying to get Olivia on the stand anyway.
"Can you tell me about what happened to Jacob?"
"He went to timeout. He was a brat!" Olivia laughed and sprang over to the next toy that caught her eye.
"Did Deborah ever hurt you?"
"No..Yes..No," she laughed.
"What about Roger?" Monica was just going through the motions at this point. But Olivia didn't answer her and Monica ended the interview.
xxxxx
Although, not even two and half years old, Liliana Klass was a breath of fresh air. Finally Monica was getting some answers, all of them too. Liliana had a milky white complexion and black hair. Her lovely personality added to her beauty. Up until Liliana, Monica was getting the impression that the abuse was sparse, and not every child was victimized. Liliana stated the opposite. Her allegations were of daily physical abuse by Deborah and sexual abuse by Roger. She also gave a list of girls that Roger had abused and when asked who Deborah hurt, Liliana replied, "everybody."
xxxxx
Nathan and Jess had to wait in the waiting room with Madison while Monica spoke to Toby. Then waited with Toby when it was Madison's turn. Afterward Monica asked the children to wait in the other room, so she could talk to Nathan and Jess.
Toby's light brown eyes and blond hair made him a very handsome little boy. He never played with any of the toys, he sat patiently and looked politely at Monica while she asked him about Deborah. He made no allegations.
Madison, too, was out of character as she sat quietly and answered all the questioned presented to her. She also made no allegations.
"Thank you for talking to me." Monica smiled and patted the three-year-old's auburn head.
Jess was as happy as Nicole and Antonio when she left with her children. Nathan looked smug, but inside he was just as, if not more so, relieved.
xxxxx
"Do you know why you're here today," Monica asked Sydney Pratt, a three-year-old Haitian child, whose family had recently moved to Levi. She was an adorable little girl with her braided hair and pink and white beads that matched her outfit.
"No."
"I wanted to talk to you about your daycare center."
And with that, she clammed up. Forty-five minutes later the interview ended with no allegations.
xxxxx
CSD also found out about the three children who were in the class before they started Kindergarten. Christa Sumaya, an Asian child. Joseph Mastriani. And Kelsey Smith. After speaking to them the next day, Kelsey revealed to Monica that boys had been involved in the sexual abuse.