There were three people sitting in the station’s lobby. Two parents flanking a young girl. “Son of a bitch,” he whispered. He turned down the hall toward Erinnyes’s office, coming around the corner and snapping a quick salute, “New case?”
Erinnyes folded his beefy hands on the desk and said, “Unless your plate is too full.”
“I’m like you, Staff Sergeant. My plate is never too full.”
Erinnyes looked at Frank’s earnest expression for a moment, unable to unravel the meaning behind it. “I figure that as long as we are devoting so many resources to the detective division, we might as well get some use out of you for once.”
“Anything you say, sir. Do you know anything about the case?”
Erinnyes’s eyes narrowed, “I’m sorry. Do I suddenly work for you now? Do you want me to write the fucking report too?”
Frank held up his hand and said, “Sorry, sir. My mistake. I’ll keep you posted on how we make out.”
“See that you do.”
Frank turned the corner and headed for the stairs. He grabbed the handrail and eased himself down, feeling the pinch in his knee. By the time he reached the hallway, he could already hear snoring coming from the back office. He switched the cup of coffee into his other hand and gently opened the office door, walking around the bags of evidence littered on the floor. Vic’s head was buried in a crumpled up coat on his desk. Frank crept around his desk and sat down.
“What time is it?” Vic moaned.
“Nine AM.”
Vic cursed and sat up. “I don’t think I really got any sleep anyway.” He rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat. He saw Frank holding up the large cup coffee in the dim light coming through the open office door. “You are my hero,” Vic said.
“Any word on Paris?”
“Dez texted me at three in the morning to tell me the house was still empty. We’ll probably hear more about it a week after they arrest the guy and give a press conference.”
“Do we need to do anything else with it at this point?”
Vic kicked his feet up on the desk and leaned back. “Nope. If the Feebs want to sit in a car all day and night staring at an empty house, let them.” He closed his eyes and settled down in his chair, “Listen, give me another hour. Do you mind?”
“I’d love to. Unfortunately, we’ve got another child sexual assault.”
Vic’s head snapped forward, “Bullshit.”
“They’re sitting upstairs right now. Looks like a mom and dad and a ten year old little girl.”
Vic put his head in his hands and leaned forward on the desk. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. Frank waved his hand at him and said, “Listen. I’ve got this. When you wake up, I’ll fill you in, and you can give me a hand.”
“I’d love that, really, Frank. But you’ll just fuck it up too.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Vic stood up, hunchbacked, trying to straighten out the kinks in his back from sleeping in the chair. “You’re learning, though. Pretty soon, I’ll be asking you for advice.”
***
The little girl fingered through the stack of pamphlets in the lobby, reading about DUI prevention and Elderly Abuse. The mother sat by her side, stroking the child’s hair. The father was seated one seat down, arms folded, staring straight ahead.
Vic opened the office door and said, “Good morning, folks. I’m Detective Ajax and this is my partner. How are you doing, kiddo?”
The little girl looked up at him and smiled. “I’m fine. How are you?”
“Good. What’s your name?”
“We’re here to report something regarding our daughter,” the father said.
Vic turned to him without speaking. He looked back at the little girl. “What’s your name, hon?”
“Beth Lamia.”
“I’m Vic,” he said. He looked at the two parents, “I need to bring Beth back with me, but I’d like one of you to come with her.”
“Can’t we both come?” the mother said.
“No.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you can’t.”
The parents looked at one another, and finally the mother said, “I guess I should go.” The father still had his arms folded.
Vic held the door open and asked them to come inside. He led them to an interview room and held out the chairs for them. “What brings us in here today?”
Mrs. Lamia spoke first, “My daughter told me this morning that someone has been touching her.” Her jaw stared to quiver and she jammed her fist against her mouth. The little girl reached over and squeezed her mother’s leg and told her it would be all right.
Vic bent low on the table, nearly putting his chin on the wooden surface, bringing himself to Beth’s eye level. “Has somebody been doing that, Beth?”
“Yes,” she said. “Uncle Petey.”
“On your mom’s side or your dad’s?”
“He’s her Great Uncle on my husband’s side. This man raised my husband after his father died,” Mrs. Lamia said. Tears were starting to stream down her face and she dug in her purse for tissues. “I didn’t tell him who it was.”
“Where does he touch you?” Vic said.
“On my…what do you want me to call it?” she asked her mother.
“Call it what you normally do,” Vic said. “There’s no bad words in here, okay? Say whatever is easiest.”
“He touches my privates when I sleep over there and he comes in to tuck me in at night. He tells my Aunt he’s reading me a story, but then he comes in and touches me.”
“Outside of your underwear or inside?”
Beth looked at her mother, who had her eyes squeezed shut. “I’m sorry.”
“No, honey,” the mother said, “You have nothing to be sorry for.” She grabbed her daughter’s hand and held it firm. “This is going to kill my husband, Detectives, but nobody is allowed to hurt my little girl.”
“There you go,” Vic said. He looked back at Beth , “I’m going to ask you some questions that might seem a little yucky, okay, but I need to know so I know what to do. All right?”
Beth nodded.
“Does he touch you inside your privates or outside?”
“Inside.”
“Okay,” Vic said. He glanced at Frank, who was staring straight at the ground without blinking. “Does he do anything else besides that?”
Beth did not respond.
Vic folded his hands on the table and laid his chin down on top of them, putting himself even lower than Beth was. “I promise it’s okay if you tell me. I just want to make sure nobody can hurt you anymore.”
“He pulls down his pants and makes me kiss it.”
Vic felt Frank’s leg shaking next to his. He stepped on Frank’s foot gently. “Here comes another one of those yucky things, okay? By it do you mean his penis?”
Beth nodded and her mother’s head collapsed into her folded arms.
***
Vic brought Mr. Lamia back and asked him to sit down. His wife had collected her thoughts and Beth remained motionless, watching her father’s every movement. “Now will someone please tell me what’s going on?”
“Your daughter is reporting that Uncle Petey has been molesting her over a period of two years.”
“What?” he looked back and forth between his wife and Beth . “But that’s…when? What happened?”
“When she sleeps over at their house, he’s been doing things to her and making her do things to him,” Vic said.
Mr. Lamia’s mouth opened and closed several times like a fish lying on the bottom of a boat; nothing came out of him except small bursts of air. “Oh my God,” he moaned. “Oh my GOD!” He covered his face with his hands and sobbed.
Beth’s lip quivered and she reached out for her father’s hand, “I’m sorry, daddy,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, honey,” he said. He pulled his hand away and wiped his eyes with his shirt. “I’m just worried about Uncle Petey. That�
��s all.”
***
“I’m gonna take that motherfucker and throw him headfirst down the fucking stairs!”
Vic held up his hands and said, “Lower your voice, or they’ll hear you.”
“Fuck that piece of shit! He’s worried about Pedophile Petey?”
“Listen to me!” Vic said. “I know it’s ridiculous, but we need to stay focused here. Do you want to yell at the dad, or lock up the scumbag that hurt the kid?”
Frank put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “All right. What do we need to do?”
Vic peered around the corner to look into the room. The family was sitting quietly, not talking. “I need to get the kid consentualized for a wire so we can call Uncle Petey. If we get him on tape, he’ll be in jail by tonight.”
“Let’s do it.”
Frank started for the room but Vic stopped him. “I can’t have dad involved with the wire. I don’t trust him.”
“So what’s to stop him from just calling this guy and tipping him off while we’re setting it up?”
“Somebody has to keep him talking,” Vic said. “Somebody who can set their personal feelings aside and put the job first.”
Frank sighed. “Working with you really sucks.”
“Don’t I know it.”
***
They went back into the room and Vic said, “Mrs. Lamia? I need you and Beth to come with me so we can make arrangements to get her immediate treatment.”
Mr. Lamia stood up and said, “Wait a second. I think I’d like to call an attorney first.”
“An attorney? For what?”
“To see what my legal rights are.”
Vic took a step closer to him, “Your legal rights aren’t coming into question here, sir. Your daughter is the victim of a terrible crime and it’s our responsibility to protect her.”
“I just think things are moving a little fast and I’d like to speak to my wife in private before we do anything.”
Vic looked back and forth from the little girl to her father, trying to think on the fly. “Don’t you want your daughter to be looked at by a doctor just in case something did happen?”
“Of course, but—”
“Then let me go set that up while Officer O’Ryan asks you for some information about your Uncle. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I want us to all stay together,” Mr. Lamia said. “Things are moving way too fast here.”
“I hear what you’re saying,” Vic said in a soothing voice. He put his arm around Mr. Lamia’s shoulder and whispered, “There’s some questions my partner has to ask you that I don’t think you want your wife and little girl to hear about, okay? I’m trying to be a little discreet here.”
Mr. Lamia’s eyes widened, “Questions about what?”
“Private things.” He pointed at Mrs. Lamia and waved her toward the door, “You two come with me.” Mr. Lamia started to protest but Frank moved in front of him to block his way while Vic hustled Beth and her mother into the hallway and closed the door behind him.
Mrs. Lamia grabbed Beth’s hand and hurried down the hallway after him. “What hospital are we going to?”
Vic turned toward her at the top of the stairs and said, “We’re not. I lied. Time to decide, Mrs. Lamia. Good wife or good mom.”
Beth looked up at her mother and Mrs. Lamia said, “Easy choice. Let’s go.”
***
Vic held his desk phone’s receiver up so that Mrs. Lamia and Beth could both hear the Assistant District Attorney say, “And no one has promised you anything or threatened you in any way to cooperate with this investigation?”
“No,” they both said.
“Vic? You guys are good to go.”
Vic hung up the phone and pushed a yellow notepad across the desk toward Beth . “I wrote down some things I want you to say. The most important part is to let him talk. I’ll be listening to the conversation, so if I write anything down or signal you, it’s probably important.”
“Okay,” she said.
Vic looked at Mrs. Lamia, “And no matter what is said, you need to keep completely quiet. Can you do that?”
Mrs. Lamia put her hand over her mouth and nodded several times.
Vic stuck the micro-recorder onto the cellphone’s earpiece and plugged his headphones into the trapping device. He gave her the thumbs up and said, “Placing the call.”
The phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Aunt Eris?”
“Who’s this? Beth?”
“Hi. Is Uncle Petey there?”
“Let me check. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just need to talk to him for a second.”
“What’s wrong?”
Vic held up his hand and shook his finger at her.
“Nothing. I just wanted to ask him something.”
Vic gave her the thumbs-up.
“Hang on and I’ll get him. Pete?”
There was static on the phone and dim voices in Vic’s headphones. A man picked up the phone, “Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Beth.”
“Hey sweetie. Is everything okay?”
“Ask her what’s wrong?”
“I will! Just give me a second.”
Beth leaned forward to read the first thing Vic had written. “I….have a problem and don’t know what to do.”
“What is it, hon?”
“I’ve got a sore in my mouth and I think it’s from the last time I slept over.”
A pause.
Vic held his breath.
The voice returned, but quieter, “What do you mean?”
“From the game we play at bedtime where I kiss you there. The stuff that came out of it left a sore in my gums.”
Mrs. Lamia’s eyes were wide and red, and her hand was shaking against her mouth.
Another pause.
“That’s impossible, sweetheart.”
Vic snapped his fingers and held up his finger to keep Beth from talking.
“There’s no way that could happen.”
“But it did! It hurts really bad and my mom saw it and asked me what happened. What am I supposed to tell her?”
“Tell her you did it brushing your teeth.”
“She won’t believe me. I don’t want to tell her about us, but I need to tell her something. I think she’s taking me to the doctor tomorrow.”
“Oh my God…Okay…listen. There is no way you could have a sore on your gums from me. It doesn’t work like that. It must have been something you ate.”
There was nothing else written on the notepad. Beth looked up at Vic and he frowned for a moment, then he leaned forward and scribbled something on the paper. Beth stared at it, then back up at him in confusion.
Vic tapped the paper and gave her the thumbs up.
Beth read the line on the page and said, “Do you think I might be pregnant?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Can I get pregnant from that? Suzie Berkman said that’s how girls get pregnant.”
“No, silly goose. It has to go in somewhere else for you to get pregnant. You’re fine.”
Vic gave Beth two thumbs up and nodded, signaling for her to end the phone call.
“Okay, Uncle Petey.”
“Hey. I want to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me. Are you alone right now?”
Beth looked up at Vic. He shrugged.
“Honey? Is someone else listening to this?”
“Yeah.”
A pause. “Who?”
“The police are, you dirty piece of crap! I’m sending you to jail!”
Vic hit the terminate button on his recorder and ended the phone call. He started chuckling to himself as he made notes about the call. “How did I do?”
“Amazing,” Vic said.
“I’m sorry I said a bad word.”
Vic smiled at her. “Sometimes I say them too.”
***
Frank lo
oked up as Vic returned with Beth and her mother. “Where were you two?” Paul said.
Mrs. Lamia put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and set her jaw, taking a deep breath before she said, “We called Pete. Beth talked to him and I heard every word. It’s all true, Paul. He did this to her.”
“No,” Paul said, shaking his head. “No, there’s a misunderstanding that these bastards are twisting around to make it sound like something it isn’t. Why did you do that?” he whined. “I wanted to talk to the two of you first so that we could sit down as a family and figure out what to do.” There was betrayal in his eyes, lashing his wife like whips.
Vic turned to Mrs. Lamia and said, “We’re all done for now. How about you take Beth outside and wait, so I can talk to your husband for a minute, okay?” Vic put his hand on Beth’s head and said, “I’ll see you soon kiddo.”
He waited for them to leave, then shut the door. Paul Lamia was sitting on the table with his arms folded. Petulant. Injured. “You people are sick,” he hissed. “You forced a little girl to set up an old man who probably won’t live another two years.”
Vic ran his hands through his hair, feeling the sweat gathering on his brow. “I’ve seen some amazing things on this job, Mr. Lamia, but you take the cake.”
“I want to know what you’re going to do now.”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
“I demand you give me an answer!”
Vic smiled malevolently and said, “Too bad.”
Paul got up and headed for the door when Vic shot his hand out in front of him and said, “There’s a surveillance unit at Uncle Petey’s house, and we’re tapping his phones. If you try to alert him in any way to this investigation, I will arrest you for obstruction. Do you understand me?”
Paul Lamia grunted and pushed his way past, following after his wife and daughter at a near-run. “Think he bought it?” Frank said.
Vic shrugged and said, “Don’t know. Don’t care. We’re arresting Uncle Petey tonight either way.” He looked at his watch and said, “I have to go take care of something for a little while. Can you get started on the criminal complaint and when I get back, we’ll get the warrant?”
Superbia (Book One of the Superbia Series) Page 10