Saved by Silence

Chapter 4

                                                                                         Jackson

    Sitting on the couch in the fire station living room, I look around to see everyone with long faces. It has been a while since we have dealt with a dead body at a fire. Never mind, the fact the fire isn’t even what killed them. It’s not confirmed yet, but the woman we pulled out looked like she had been dead before the fire had started. 

    Getting the fire out was pretty easy, it hadn’t spread past the living room thanks to the neighbor who called it in. However, walking in there and seeing needles and white powder on the table was not expected. As we continued our inspection, it turned out there had to have been a child living there. Thankfully, the police learned that the child was at school when all this happened. 

    This is not the worst fire we have faced, but most of us were really concerned for the little girl. Some of the guys were talking about maybe buying her some toys and stuff she needs. Just from our walk through it was clear the little girl had very little and that was just from what we could see. The cops would have done a much more in depth search.  

    Well since we still have 12 more hours left on our 24 hour shift, we all would have plenty of time to decompress and talk more about it. I stood from the couch and decided to head to my bunk and try and get some sleep. You never know when the alarm will sound and how much sleep you will actually be able to get in this place. 

    Sitting on my bunk, I make a quick call to my sister. “Hey Care, how is my big baby?” I ask, referring to Oscar and knowing he likes to be cuddled as if he is still a puppy. 

    “He’s good we are snuggled in my bed and I will drop him back off at your place on my way to work in the morning”.

    “Thanks, Care I really appreciate it. Love ya little sis!”

    “You know I love having my snuggle buddy. Try and get some sleep, you sound stressed. Night big bro, love you too!” she says and hangs up the phone. 

    I plug my phone into the charger next to me and decide to take her advice and sleep.

                                                                                        Michael Sansoni

    Today was a s**t show. A woman died due to a possible overdose and her boyfriend is the possible drug dealer we have been looking for. That drug dealer is the only reason I was called to the scene. We have been trying to nail him down for the past two years with no success. Now we have a dead body, who we believe had her boyfriend drug dealer living with her. To make things worse, she had a young child living in the same house as that monster.  

    This guy is mainly known for dealing drugs, but there have been rumors of much worse. Raking my hand through my short and greying hair, I wonder what could this woman possibly have been thinking. I look around at my men and crime scene techs taking pictures of the place and bagging the drug paraphernalia. I decide to walk down the hallway to where it looks like the little girl slept. Her room was bare, bar a ratty stuffed bear, a mattress on the ground, and a dresser with very little clothes in it. 

    “Ahh”, I say under my breath in frustration, this is a disaster. 

    “Chief you should see this”, one of the fellow cops says from the little girl's door. “Evidence shows that someone has been in the back of this closet a lot, but we can’t seem to find anything”, he continues as I follow him into what must be the bathroom closet. 

    “Get forensics to take photos and comb over it better” I say as I bend down trying to get a better look without touching anything. There are clear scratch marks on the floor in the back and it looks like a small blanket is there. This scene just keeps looking worse. 

    I stand up and make my way outside, needing to get some air. “Hey, Erikson I am heading back to the station. I want this place covered thoroughly, we need to try and figure out what happened here and we need to find this drug dealer.”

    “No problem, chief” I hear as I walk toward my car down the road. 

    What a mess, I need to go back to the office, file some paperwork and make sure social services are aware of who the boyfriend was before they place the little girl. I pull down the road and use my Bluetooth to call my secretary and let her know to get a hold of the social services employee in charge of Arabella’s Stones case. 

    Six hours later I still had not left the station, and I just wanted to be able to go home for dinner. A social services representative and I have been sitting in my office trying to figure out a placement for the little girl. On top of the fact that we need to try and talk to her about what was going on in her home. From what the rep found out, the little girl doesn’t speak and is incredibly too thin. Beyond that they didn’t know much more yet. She was currently at the social services headquarters and with the delicate situation we were stuck on what to do. 

    “We cannot put her in a group home and from what you said she can’t go to a home with other kids right now. It sounds like she needs one on one care from a family” I say, as I pace the length of my office. 

    “From her reaction toward people and what you told me, she needs something specialized and we don’t have a foster family right now that fits her requirements”, the social services rep states as he continues going through his files on her. “There has never been a welfare check on this child, so we have no background beside what you have found and from her appearances. Until she starts talking we have no knowing what she really needs”.

    Slamming my hand on my desk in frustration, I can’t believe this is happening. Forensics is combing through all the evidence we have. A major drug dealer is still on the loose and we have a traumatized child. Trying to figure out the best option, my phone rings and I see my wife's name on the phone. I was supposed to be home two hours ago. Grabbing my phone I tell the rep I need to take this and answer my phone.

    “Hey, baby, I am so sorry. I am stuck at the office still. This case is extremely sensitive and difficult” I tell her before she can even get a word out. 

    “It’s no problem, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I have Everly here and she just wanted to see her Papi” my wife says.

    “I will try and be home soon, and why do we have Everly? I thought she wasn’t supposed to come over till Wednesday?” I say confused. This isn’t like Kaley, she tries to stick to her schedule with Everly.

    “I don’t know the details, but something came up at school. Sam dropped Everly here and last I heard from Kaley she was gonna go hike the reservoir to distress before she came to get Everly” Stella says and I can hear water running in the background. As she finished talking, it dawned on me that Kaley must be Arabella’s teacher. The files said she was in third grade at Reed Road Elementary.

     “D**n it”, I whispered. 

    “What was that?”, I hear my wife reply.

    “Nothing babe. I need to just finish something and I will be right home. Love you”, I say quickly. She says her goodbyes and I hang up. 

    I look at the social services rep and know what we need to do, but also know this is totally unorthodox. “I have an idea, but you have to be open to this. I would not be suggesting this if I didn’t think it was Arabella’s best and safest option”, I finish as the representative stares at me in confusion.