“Like I’m the only one who uses that tactic,” he snapped back.
They had no problem fighting in public, and I’d told her how uncomfortable it made me, but she never listened. Christopher rushed up to our table right before they stepped into a full-fledged argument. I breathed a sigh of relief—both to see his face and because I wasn’t going to have to listen to Allison and Greg fight.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” He bent to kiss me, and I turned my head so it landed on my cheek instead of my lips, my worry instantly replaced with annoyance.
“It’s totally fine,” Greg said. He pointed to the full drink in front of Christopher’s place setting. “I took care of you.”
Christopher laughed and slid into his chair. “Thanks.”
“So where were you?” I asked, not willing to let him slide that easily.
“I fell asleep after Janie’s surgery,” he said.
“You fell asleep after her surgery?”
“I know, right? Pretty unbelievable. I don’t even know how it happened. One minute I was sitting next to her bed watching her sleep, and the next second I was out.” He reached underneath the table and squeezed my knee. “Don’t be mad.”
Allison reached across and slapped my hand. “She’s not going to be mad. We don’t get to see you guys enough for her to get mad and ruin our night.”
“Fine, but only because she’s got a point. For the record—I’m still mad at you.” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“How’d her surgery go?” Allison asked.
Even though we couldn’t see each other as much as we wanted, Allison and I texted constantly so that we stayed current with whatever was going on in the other’s life. I’d been filling her in all week with the details of Janie’s case as they came forth. Initially, police investigators had thought she was a neglected toddler, but the wounds on her body told a more painful story. The marks on her neck and wrists were consistent with being tied up, which elevated her case to another level of severity, as if it weren’t already bad enough.
Allison was obsessed with finding the person responsible. She scoured missing-children databases and even had Google alerts set up on her phone notifying her when a new missing-child case occurred. It reminded me of what she’d been like in law school. Sometimes I thought she missed it, though she’d never admit it, since she swore staying at home with her boys was the best job she’d ever had.
“Everything went smoothly. Perfect, really.” Christopher beamed. “I’d gone over her x-rays so many times it was like taking my boards.”
“How’d the fusions go?” I asked. They were the part he’d been most worried about. He’d pored over those scans for hours.
“Better than I could’ve expected. Some of it was impossible to cut through because her bones are so small. It was like working on a model. I’m glad that part is over with. Now we just hope she heals okay.” He took another drink. “You’re never going to guess what we found out.” He looked around the table, making brief eye contact with each of us. “Janie isn’t a toddler—she’s actually six years old.”
“What?” Allison said. “Seriously?”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“No one has ever been sure about her age. Dan thought it’d be a perfect opportunity to measure all the gaps between her growth plates while she was under, so we did. Every single one. Turns out she’s six years old.”
“Wow. How does that change things for her care?” I asked.
“It’s going to be interesting. The progression of a—”
Allison interrupted him. “Okay, this is where I’m stopping the conversation because I know you’re about one step away from getting all medical on us. No more work talk tonight. Seriously. Just fun from now on.”
I laughed and grabbed my glass, raising it to hers. If anyone needed a night out, it was Allison. We’d been raised like twins, but Allison had actual twins. Caleb and Dylan were my nine-year-old nephews and kept her busier than any full-time job I’d ever had.
“I’m so glad Janie’s surgery went well,” I said to Christopher later that evening as we turned down our comforter and climbed into bed. “Now maybe you’ll be able to relax a little.”
He’d been so tense all week. He’d spent all of his free time studying her case. He’d fallen asleep with his notes on his nightstand, the last thing he’d looked at before bed.
“I don’t know, but it’s weird. I’m actually more committed to her than I was before.” He pulled me close, and I snuggled against his chest. I loved when we got to go to sleep with each other at night. It was the best part of the weekend. “Like I’m kind of bummed that I don’t get to do more for her.”
I’d felt the same way with my first child abuse case. You never forgot your first. Mine was a ten-year-old boy brought in by his mother with a bloodied and broken nose. His mother had kept trying to convince us that he’d fallen, but something about his demeanor had sparked everyone’s suspicions. We’d kept him in the hospital until the social worker could talk to him, and he’d finally confessed that his stepfather had punched him in the face after the boy had accidently spilled his beer. For weeks, I’d thought of excuses to call him so I could check on him until my supervisor made me stop. I didn’t have any choice but to let it go. It would probably take Christopher even longer to let go of Janie.
“It’s not like she’ll be going anywhere anytime soon, and you’ll still have to follow up with her postoperative care,” I said, rubbing his arm.
“I just wish there were more for me to do, but so much of her care is centered on her eating issues. There’s nothing I can do there.” He shook his head in frustration. “Nothing.”
“How’s the oven timer working?” I asked.
One of her nurses had brought in an old-fashioned oven timer so Janie would have an idea when she could eat again. The idea was to use the clock as a cue for her in hopes that it would calm her.
“She watches it constantly, but I’m not sure it helps much. They put her meal times on the whiteboard too,” he said. He was quiet. For a minute I thought he’d fallen asleep, but then he said, “I think I’m going to stop at Target tomorrow before work and pick up some markers so people can sign her cast and she can color on it if she wants to.”
“Oh, that’s so cute.” I scooted up and gave him a big kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You’re going to be a great dad. The best. I just know it. Things have been busy lately, but now that they’re settling down a little, we can start looking at profiles again.”
CASE #5243
INTERVIEW:
PIPER GOLDSTEIN
“We hadn’t considered Janie a reliable source of information when we thought she was three, but all that changed when we learned she was six. She broke open the case.” My supervisor had finally called me back. She’d spoken with our lawyers and told me I should help the officers in any way I could, that I didn’t have to hold back. Despite the lawyer’s permission, I still wanted to be careful about what I said. “We started asking her real questions, probing into what happened before she got to the hospital. We pushed her further than we’d pushed her before.”