Chapter Consolidation ~ nosex
"9-1-1 emergency response, what is the nature of your emergency?"
"It's Carol Beauman. I heard some screaming from across the hall and I saw some men carrying that girl out of there."
The 911 operator closed her eyes a moment... all of them at dispatch knew Mrs. Beauman, the old lady who called 911 at least twice a day, usually because she was lonely. She'd been warned by the city to stop calling for non-emergencies, but it was determined she was just old and a little confused so no one was pressing charges. "You heard screaming, dear?"
"Yes I was watching the shopping program and was buying the crotchet kitten oven mittens, and I heard screaming. I got up and looked out the peep hole and saw the men carrying that girl out of there."
This actually sounds more serious than usual. "You mean you saw men carrying a girl? From another apartment?"
"Yes, across the hall."
"Did you recognize the girl?"
"Well I saw the blonde hair, the young girl there has blonde hair."
The operator just stared at her computer screen... she might be calling for a legitimate reason, this time.... "Maam, I am going to dispatch an officer to you. If you can, please wait up and tell him what you saw."
"Oh I will, they are selling mother-of-pearl drink coasters in an hour, and they always run out of those."
The operator spent a minute making notes, and called for whichever officer was in the area.
++++
This was their beat so the uniformed officers who responded happened to be the ones who, a few days before, had accompanied the detective to the apartment to collect Erin and her mother the day the child molester was arrested. They had a bad feeling as the elevator took them to the same floor, down the same hallway, and the apartment with the person who called 911 had a door directly across the hall. They talked to Mrs. Beauman, and they shared a look that said, Oh shit, something happened.
They knocked on the door to the condominium owned by Betty Banks, and then they knocked again, harder... just in case someone was sleeping. They knocked for 5 minutes. One of the policemen said to the other, "We both know what went down in there the other day.... does that old lady's story feel like probable cause to force an entrance?"
His partner nodded and drew his gun, "She said there were 'men.'"
The first one nodded back, spoke into the radio on his shoulder, "Car 98 responding to possible domestic violence, we are affecting an entry, request backup." He immediately received an acknowledgement. He shouted at the door, "Mrs. Banks, I have reason to believe you are in danger. I am now going to enter the apartment. Please stand back from the door." He was a big man who had played college football, and knocked the door out of its frame with two solid, low hits with his shoulder.
The two officers entered the room guns drawn, checking corners, and saw no one.... except a tired, small looking woman on the couch, a syringe hanging from her arm. The first officer checked her for a pulse... and then called into his radio, "Dispatch, Car 98. Send ambulance to my location, immediately. Possible OD. Tell them to step on it." He received the acknowledgement.
++++
Erin was aware of motion, of her body slowly rocking with some force... and she may have been strapped down. She felt a tightness over her chest and legs. She couldn't open her eyes, or speak, but she was now aware... in her mind the little girl was awake, the same one who had screamed into her own head for months during her coma. The little girl sat there, legs crossed, in a formless darkness... and she seemed to be watching what Erin was sensing on the tiny screen of a tablet computer, the ErinApp was open. Erin saw there were monitor bars... ones for fear, pain, happiness.... all emotions were accounted for.
She wondered about this situation. She seemed to be completely paralyzed, but now was awake, but completely removed from her emotions. She thought about how she'd gotten here... it didn't take her long to realize her mother had something to do with the men who had taken her. Before she passed out from whatever they'd injected her with she'd seen her mother in the living room doing nothing. Fine, Mom wants me gone. Fine. It was nearly an emotion, but there was no fire to it, no fear, no anger, no nothing. Erin had spent a lot of time in her head over the last year. During her coma she became a lucid dreamer, even if she hadn't realized that was so, or that it was rather uncommon. She now had the ability to analyze her dreams as she had them, and to an extent control them. Whatever the men had injected her with tonight... she didn't know it was a paralytic to keep her still, and a sedative to render her unconscious... it couldn't fully cope with Erin's unusual brain. She was awake, and aware, even if she still had no control over her body. The fact that her emotional brain actually was asleep was a bonus, in her view.
And that was fine.
She was glad to have time to think.
So Mom wants me gone... she thinks she can't cope with me, or something. And they took me in the middle of the night. I've seen those teenager boot camp shows on Oprah, that's probably what this is. I'm on my way to some school where they will scream at me all day to "straighten me out." She almost felt afraid of that.... but the emotion was like a force behind a pane of glass that couldn't touch her. She could see it, and was aware of its existence, but couldn't feel it. She only felt the smoothness of whatever drug they had given her... still in effect... around this protected sphere of consciousness.
They are moving me... I feel it.... and there's that weird high pitched whine, and my ears hurt a little. She contemplated that, but she'd never ridden in an airplane and had no idea she was feeling turbulence, hearing the whine of jet engines at altitude, and her ears were popping under the change in cabin pressure.
And now, with her emotions suppressed, she realized.... Steven is gone, they arrested him. They are going to put him in jail and there's nothing I can say that will stop it. They will never listen to me, no matter what I tell them... they will see him as a child molester, and I am just a victim who doesn't know what she is saying, because they are all so stupid. But I still have his baby in me... I wonder if Mom told them, or if they will just be surprised at this new school. I wonder what this will do to everyone's plans.
She examine the tablet head-Erin was using, and found it too limiting. She thought of a control panel with knobs and switches.... and monitors to show her current levels, but then levers and stuff to actually control them. In her mind, in her glass case, they came into being. All emotion bars were red and displaying "Offline." That was fine. What she hadn't expected was another control panel appearing next to hers. It was smaller, and was only monitoring a few things... "Hunger," "Sleepiness," "Contentedness." Everything was in the green and there was a little light flashing so fast, and she heard a small noise from a small speaker in the face of the control panel... and suddenly knew this was for her baby. She was hearing its heart beat with the flashing light and speaker... and it was so fast, but its levels were all good, and so Erin was content.... as much as she could be, half asleep with the sedative.
Erin spent the rest of the flight contemplating these things, the little 8 year old girl now sitting before the control panel... Erin's age when she first loved John, how she would always see herself. She thought about how she was tired of being scared all the time. She remembered a time when she was more in control of herself. She remembered taking down The Circle, breaking the conditioning of her friends right under the noses of their captors. With her messy emotions now out of the way she had time to wonder about that... and think of her actions of the last six months, sucking random cocks at Janeane's, the collar, the married man.... and wonder how she'd gone from so strong and clever and confident to so weak and scared. It was puzzling to her.
She suddenly heard voices, it was two men, but she wasn't sure if it was the same men who'd taken her.
"It's time to give her a refresher, it's been 4 hours. They don't want her awake until she's been processed."
Processed?
"I'll get it from the cooler."
Time passed, Erin wasn't sure how long. Her sense of time also felt a bit wonky.
"You want to do it?" another voice asked.
"Go ahead, I got her last time."
There was a pause, and then she felt something cool on her shoulder, and then a pinprick.
Whatever it was worked fast... the lights in her inner control room seemed to be fading to blackness. As the fresh dose of sedative overwhelmed her, she felt a squeeze on her breast, and a voice "This one's going to be popular, she's a little hottie...."
The voice followed her down into the void.
++++
She regained awareness again in her glass case, and saw the control panels still there. Her baby's status was still all in the green, and that gave her a sense of calm.
She felt herself being moved again.... but this time it was smoother. Before she'd slept through the takeoff, this time she'd slept through the landing and the transportation van to the school. She was now on a gurney with wheels, going down a smooth hallway.... but she couldn't really tell.
She felt they had gone into a room that was a few degrees cooler.... she suddenly felt a chill. She heard voices and she was lifted and put onto a softer bed.
Then she felt hands on her.... and she was being undressed, her nightshirt and panties she had put on before bed were removed, and she knew she was now naked with at least two men and one woman in the room. She looked at her emotions monitor... "Embarrassment" was still "Offline," and she was happy about that. She did, however, feel that her nipples were erect in the cold room. Thankfully she heard a woman say, "Hey, your job is done. Put the phone away and get out of here." She heard grumblings, but sensed that they had left.
She felt herself being examined, she felt a blood pressure cuff on her arm, and she felt something cold pressed all over her torso and around her breasts... she imagined it was one of those things doctors use to listen to your heart, and she was right. Her head was turned and she felt something in her ear, then turned again and felt something in her other ear. She felt her mouth opened and tasted a wooden stick on her tongue, then her control room was deluged in light as her eyelids were opened and a flashlight shined into her almost completely dilated pupils. She was glad that hadn't lasted long, it hurt.
Finally she was left alone for a while, and had time to wonder why they were giving her a physical.... when she heard the same woman say, "About time you got here. I've given her most of the physical, I was about to begin her gynecological exam."
"Well get on with it," a man said, he sounded old.
Suddenly Erin felt one of her feet lifted, her knee bent, and her heel put into a stirrup... she had been recently rape kitted against her will, so she knew well what was going on. The other leg was lifted, and also placed in a stirrup. She looked down at the control panel... "Anxiety: Offline," but she still felt like the little status bar was jiggling, just a little. Her body took a deep breath which caused both of the doctors in the room to look up at her, but then their eyes returned back down to where they were working.
Erin felt herself penetrated, and the speculum was cold. She heard them discussing her anatomy, "Clearly sexually experienced, but no signs of physical abuse or trauma." There was a pause. "This says she is 13, she started young." Another pause. The woman, "Doctor, look...." and a pause... the man said, "She's pregnant."
Erin was sure the "Anxiety" bar was now moving, in spite of the offline status.
The pause seemed to last forever.
"I know what you're thinking. I'm going to have to get authorization," the woman said.
"You know this isn't going to fly," the old man answered.
"Even so, we have time. Just wait."
Authorization for what? What is torch light? Erin looked at her console.... yes, her emotions were now coming online, the drug must be wearing off. "Anxiety" and "Fear" were creeping up past nominal. She reached for the lever for Fear, reduced it by 90%. She did the same for Anxiety. She felt better. She looked at her baby's console, everything was fine.
After what seemed like a very long time, a clicking of heels and a new voice appeared. "Yes, what is it?" It was a woman.
"Did they tell you she was pregnant?" the woman doctor said, and Erin thought there was a note of accusation in it.
There was a long pause.
"No they didn't," the new woman's voice answered.
There must have been something unspoken going on, Erin was straining to listen, but hearing nothing. Finally the woman doctor said, "I'll need you to authorize this. In writing."
"Her mother signed all waivers and gave us powers en loco parentis, so we can do with her what we want. Tell me where to sign," the new woman's voice said.
What are they talking about, Erin thought... what are they talking about.... Erin looked at her console, her Panic bar was rising, Erin took the lever down to 10%.
"Just take care of it," the new woman said, and then Erin thought she heard the click of heels walking away.
"I'll set it up, but if you don't mind I prefer for you do it," the woman said.
"That's fine," the man answered.
Set what up? What are they doing? Erin set her Fear setting down another 5%.
After a time, Erin felt something between her legs, and then she felt something inside her. She felt a pinch, deep inside. She felt pressure. Then she heard a sound that was part buzzing, part humming. She felt like she was being punched, down there, inside. And she felt a tug, and then another, and then another.
Whatever it was that had been inserted was now pulled out.
She heard him say, "It's done, and evacuated."
Erin just stood there in her glass case, and she turned to her baby's control panel. The light was now dark, and there was no sound. The small control panel faded away to nothing like it had never been there.
Erin had to stop paying attention, she turned inward.
She set the levers for Fear, Anxiety, Panic, and Sorrow completely off, down to zero. The lever for Fear broke off in her hand.
On the table, naked with her legs up in stirrups, a single tear rolled down the side of her face from the corner of her eye.
+++++
Erin hadn't fully gone back to sleep after that, there hadn't been any fresh administration of drugs. She felt numb as a gown was pulled over her body, she felt panties slide over her legs and there was a cushion on them, like she was wearing a pad. She remembered when she lost her first baby, there had been bleeding. She was wheeled down more hallways and and put into yet another bed, and left alone. In her darkness and paralysis she felt... without feeling... what had just been done to her. In her control room she set the throttle for Anger up, just a little. The room felt cold, being angry warmed her. She looked over at the console that was no longer there.
She realized she was regaining control of her body when she sneezed, and her hand moved to her face. In her lucidity she decided to return to consciousness and see what was going on in the world outside of her glass case.... she looked once more to the missing console, and decided to wake up.
It was more difficult than usual, some of the drug was still in her system, but she pulled her eyelids open and saw she was in a small room, with a small light on a small nightstand next to a small bed. She would have been surprised to find her own mother had once woken up in this exact room nearly 30 years ago. She swung her feet over the side of the bed and felt a wave of dizziness, and paused, letting it pass. She felt a little sore between her legs. She looked down and opened the panties they had put on her, and the pad that was stuck inside the crotch... there was only a little spotting. I bled a lot more last time. They must be really good at this, here. How nice.
On the nightstand there was a note, and a button. The note said, "Press me," and Erin reached over, and did. A voice filled the room, and the ambient light came up, a little... she wasn't quite sure where the light was coming from. "Please wait," and pleasant female voice came from somewhere. "Someone will come for you soon. Please wait."
I guess I'll wait.
My baby is gone.
Before she could expand on that, there was a tap on the door, and then it opened. A youngish man in a white lab coat peeked his head in, and told her in a completely polite, surreal voice, "Good morning, welcome to the compound. I'm Doctor Carl. Why don't you put on your robe and let's meet Mother."
Erin just looked at him, his pretending like she hadn't been kidnapped, taken, drugged, and aborted. Acting like everything was fine. But Erin had turned off her fear, she was fully calculating. He's trying to throw me off guard. Fine, whatever, let's see where this goes. I'll escape here soon enough. She put on the robe she finally noticed at the foot of the bed, took to her still shaky feet, and followed him out the door. Maybe I'll even figure out how to make them pay.
Erin followed him down a hall, she realized she was barefoot and the floor was a little cold. The lights on the ceiling were soft and muted, not harsh. She suddenly realized she could almost make out a sound.... was it waves breaking on a beach? A babbling brook? She wasn't sure. She supposed it was meant to be calming, she didn't realize there was a subliminal message in it. "Obey. Be agreeable. Don't resist, make it easy on yourself." She found it was so soft she had to strain to hear it. Erin found it both calming and was slightly alarmed by it, for some reason.
They turned a corner at a T-intersection in the hallway, and Erin saw a dark wooden door... when they approached it, she saw the word, "Mother" engraved on it. Doctor Carl opened it and invited her to step inside, and Erin did.
Standing where her own mother once stood and later had her mind broken, Erin stepped before a large desk and looked at the woman sitting behind it, who was also considering her. Erin made eye contact and waited patiently, she wasn't going to talk first. To hell with these people. The woman, what Erin could see sticking up behind the desk, seemed to be dressed as a nun... her hair was completely covered, and she seemed to have the gown on. Her face was ageless, Erin wasn't sure if she was 22 or 52. No wrinkles on her face, but there was something old about her eyes.
They stared at each other, and Erin wasn't sure what she saw in the woman's eyes.... it seemed to be a mixture of amusement, and annoyance at Erin's refusal to be intimidated.
Finally The Woman spoke. "Do you know what a penitent is?"
+++++++++++++
Chief Hawkins was back at work on Tuesday, and in a great mood. Linda says she loves him, Mary is happy, his butt and back are still a little sore from all that horseback riding, and nothing can ruin this day... not even the pile of case reports in his inbox from his long weekend absence from work. He pulled the first one off the top and got to it.
Somewhere in the middle he got to the one about the well-to-do, middle-aged woman ODing and nearly dying, that was a little out of the ordinary, and even her name rung a bell. It was sorted out, she was hospitalized and as of the time the report was written she had not yet regained consciousness, but he put that one aside... he would look at it again later with fresh eyes.
He didn't need fresh eyes near the end of the day when he got to the "Steven Crawford" file, on the very bottom. Arrested for sexual contact with a minor under the age of 14, currently in holding, expected to be arraigned tomorrow. It seemed to be sorted out, apparently they even had video evidence, and he was closing the folder when his eyes glanced over the name of the victim. He opened the folder back up, and stared at it.
He read it again from the beginning, slowly.
He went to the evidence room. Forty-five minutes later he realized he had been wrong about nothing being able to ruin his day, and called his girlfriend. "Are you still at work?" he asked her.
"Hi honey. Yes I am, what do you want for dinner tonight?"
"Linda... something has...." he paused, collecting his thoughts. "Erin Banks was in The Circle. I just watched her.... confession, I guess you could call it.
It took Linda Marcus a moment to switch gears.... The Circle... Mary and Lucy and Nora.... "Erin Banks was actually in The Circle? Like, a full participant?"
Chief Hawkins, on the computer in the evidence room, leaned back in the chair and rubbed his eyes. "Yes... there is video of her telling a man her life story, it's all here. She was in it for years, and her controller was indeed her neighbor, John Branch, formerly of our police department, who disappeared the day the evidence turned up."
"Oh my god," Linda said softly, leaning back in her chair, collecting her own thoughts. "They lied to us. Why would Lucy and Nora protect... him? Is that what they were doing? This makes zero sense."
"I know. I am reopening his case, putting out a warrant for the arrest of John Branch, and we've got to talk to Erin. I called you first because I think maybe you should be present, as a mental health professional. I don't want to officially haul her in until we get her story."
"You're talking about arresting the girl?"
"No, no, not at all. But she's been lying to us, and if she continues lying to us I may need to lean a little... which is why I'd like to have you there. I wouldn't want to accidentally lean to much."
"Ok, honey. Tonight? Should I stay here?"
"Could you, at least for now? I'm going to see her immediately... and I don't know..." he thought about it, there weren't many great options. "Better yet, can you meet me at her residence? She would probably more comfortable talking there. They are near the city center, can you be there in about 30 minutes?"
"Text me the address, I am on my way."
"See you there." He turned off his phone, looked back to the screen where he had paused it, right after she confessed, and right before they had sex for the second time. He turned it off and removed the thumb drive, returned it to the evidence room clerk, who logged its return. He didn't need to see that part after the confession, again. It felt too invasive and voyeuristic.
++++
He arrived at Erin's apartment building and waited with the doorman, Linda arrived right behind him. They headed up together.
"Why would they lie... especially Lucy? She hated those men," Linda asked in the elevator, trying not to be hurt that Lucy lied to her when she privately considered the young woman to be a friend.
"I don't know. What you said made me think, though.... they maybe weren't protecting John Branch, maybe they were protecting Erin. Maybe Erin didn't want him to be caught, so maybe she asked for their silence and they respected her wishes. But I know I'm just guessing, here."
Linda thought about it. "Teenage girls can make a lot of bad decisions based on their hormones."
He said flatly, "She was 8 when their sexual relationship started."
Linda was then silent, and just stared at the closed doors of the elevator for the rest of the ride up.
They arrived to the floor, looked left and right, found the apartment letters going in the appropriate direction.... and found police tape on what looked like a recently repaired door. Chief Hawkins pulled out his phone and called his assistant, "Why is there police tape at 1 Oleander Avenue, apartment 32H?"
"One moment please, Chief," his assistant said, and he could hear the clicking of keys over the phone. After a moment, "There was a heroin overdose at that apartment over the weekend, female, 56 years old, currently at St. Luke's hospital. She had a minor daughter at that address but she has not yet been located."
Suddenly, it hit him... Betty Banks. The file that had caught his attention. "Thanks, hold on" and held the phone down to his side. He said to Linda without turning to her, "Erin's mother overdosed this weekend. Erin hasn't been seen since." He tried the doorknob, locked. He picked up the phone again, "Call the supervisor for this building. Tell him or her that the Chief of Police is here at this apartment, and to come immediately with a master key. Tell them to hurry. I am hanging up, call me back if you get any flak and I will deal with them personally."
"Yes sir," the assistant said, and he hung up.
Linda looked up at him. "I know this isn't the time or place," she said, "but it's kind of hot seeing you in uniform and being all official and in charge like that," and she reached out and hooked his pinky in hers.
He looked at her, grimly. "Have I told you yet today that I love you?"
She gave him a soft, understanding smile. "Yes, but I still like hearing it. We'll sort this out."
He took her hand in his properly, and they squeezed.
The building super arrived within five minutes, a middle aged Hispanic man with a large ring of keys. "Sorry it took so long, I was on the other side of the basement from my key ring and had to get it first."
"It's fine, thank you for coming so quickly," the Chief told him. "Can you open this door, please?"
"Sure thing officer, they already showed me a warrant from before."
"Thank you," he said, letting the mistake of his title slide. "I'll not be needing you for anything else."
"Ok, please lock up when you leave."
The chief nodded at him, and he watched the man go.
He and Linda walked in together, taking in the scene. Everything was tidy, no signs of any struggle, but just in case, "Erin, are you here? It's Chief Hawkins, we met once before. I'd like to ask a few questions." He was answered by silence, and he could tell no one was here, everything was too still.
Linda walked over to the small mess near the couch. "These are syringe wrappers, bandage tape, and IV paraphernalia. Someone was given medical treatment right over here."
Larry looked over, "That must be where they found Betty Banks. I'm told she is in the hospital, and no one has seen Erin since then."
They both looked around, silently. Chief walked down the hall doing his best to not touch nothing, opening doors with the backs of his knuckles, looking here, and there. Erin's room was obvious, clearly that of a tween girl, including the requisite stuffed pony on the shelf. And she was in The Circle... raped for years.... and she didn't talk. What does it mean. Unless..... he turned and went back to Linda. "We have to talk to Lucy and Nora, immediately. John may be back."
++++
From the living room Linda called Lucy and Nora and asked each of them individually if they could come out to the hospital tonight, something had come up and she had a few questions for them. Both Lucy and Nora thought it was an odd request, this time of day on a school night, but neither were in the middle of anything pressing so Linda said she would have a cab dispatched. While she was doing that Chief Hawkins called St. Luke's hospital, Betty Banks was still in a coma and there was no prognosis for when she might wake up. He thanked the nurse and hung up. "We're not going to get anything from her mother, she's still in a coma."
"We have to leave now if we're going to beat the girls to the hospital," so they left, locking the door on the way out.
While he drove Larry talked through his thoughts. "If John was back... maybe he OD'd the mother? That doesn't really feel right. So Erin left with John, and the mother OD'd? Maybe, but still...."
Linda just watched him in the evening light, as he drove.
"What if John isn't back," he muttered. He turned to Linda, "This all came to light on Thursday night, a man was caught cheating by his wife, and the investigative service recorded a standard husband-caught-cheating video, but this one had Erin in it and she just happened to be telling him her real age and life story that day. Bad timing for him, or good, depending on how you look at it. So Thursday he gets caught and arrested, and Erin and her mother get hauled in for confessions, and there was a rape kit performed on Erin. Plenty of evidence recovered in addition to the video of them having sex." He paused, collecting his thoughts. "So what happens at home that night between Erin and her mother? Probably a blow-out, right? 'Oh Erin, what were you thinking?' And that family... if we plug in this new Circle information.... now it looks like Crazy Ed was deliberately after her... and.... her father got in the way." He took a deep breath.
Linda continued to watch him put together the pieces.
"So there's this history, so much poison is now brought back to the surface.... yeah, I'm guessing a blowout."
He looked at her. "So where's Erin? Right now my guesses are she left with John, or she just plain ran away."
Linda looked at him, lost in thought. "Or the mother knows, maybe did something. Something triggered her to cause her to OD. Have her checked for past drug abuse... she has had a rough year and she may have turned to it as a crutch."
Larry looked at her, "Yes... I'd say that is a definite possibility." He looked back at the road, they were almost at the hospital. "I'm just going round and round, there are too many unknowns. Let's talk to Lucy and Nora, see if we can get them to fess up. After that.... I think you can go home, honey. I'm going to go to St. Luke's and see the mother personally, and then I'm going back to work to read over the files again. Dinner for one tonight, I think. Sorry."
She took his hand, squeezed. "I understand. Call me when you think you might be coming over, even if it's late."
He squeezed her hand back.
++++
Nora arrived first in her taxi, and Lucy a few minutes after in hers. They were all sitting in the common area in Mary's favorite corner. Both girls had been surprised to find Chief Hawkins also there, in uniform.
They all sat, Chief doing his best to be cordial, but his mind was racing, tonight.
"Ladies," he began, "Something has happened, and it has brought new information to light. Before I go on I want to state on the record..."
Linda cut in, "We're recording this," pointing around them to imply microphones. The girls looked around nervously.
Chief continued, "On the record, I am stating that you are not in trouble. We are recording this because what we're going to talk about is very important, and I may need to go back and refer to things that we discuss. You do not need to stay for this conversation, you are free to leave at any time. In fact, I almost suggest you do so if you have any legal doubts whatsoever. As far as I am concerned, for this conversation, we are just some friendly acquaintances passing the time. I care for both of you, both professionally and personally. I will not lie to you in this." He paused, looking at both of them looking back at him with wide eyes. "Will you stay?"
Lucy asked simply, "What is it you want to talk about?"
All eyes on him, "I know Erin Banks was in The Circle, and I know she was with her neighbor, John Branch."
He let that sink in, saw them looking at each other, and then back at him.
"How did you find out?" Lucy asked softly.
"Erin confessed it. She didn't know she was confessing it, but we have her on video. Were you aware she was in a relationship with an older man, a Steven Crawford?"
Nora answered, blushing. "Yes."
Chief nodded at her softly. "Well, his wife caught him cheating, and hired a private investigator, and they caught Crawford and Erin on camera as Erin told him her life story."
Lucy and Nora looked at each other again, what do we do? passing between them. They'd kept Erin's secret so faithfully and for so long it didn't feel right to divulge... but.... Nora nodded at Lucy. Tell them. Lucy nodded back.
"We're sorry we didn't tell you," Lucy started, looking to the floor. She felt Nora take her hand, and hold it. "Erin is...." and she looked to Nora for support, who gave her a small smile. "Erin is the best of us. She saved us, and everything we have today is because of her. All of it."
Chief just looked at her, and Linda leaned forward. "Why didn't she come forward? Why was she protecting John? That's it, isn't it?"
Lucy and Nora both nodded. Lucy reverted, slightly... "Officer was.... at least for The Circle.... he was the best one. I mean, yes, he had sex with us, and we had to do it... but of all of them, he was like...." and she was struggling for words. She looked to Nora.
Nora continued, "He was always very understanding and loving with us, every time, even when the others would sometimes mock him for it. I know it doesn't excuse what he did, but we didn't have a hard time understanding why Erin was in love with him, or why he was in love with her."
Lucy continued, "So when Erin fixed us, and came up with the plan for us to escape, she asked us to not mention her or John as part of it.... so he wouldn't get in trouble and then they could be together."
"What do you mean Erin 'fixed' you?" Linda interjected.
The girls again looked at each other. "You remember about the collars, right?" Lucy said.
"Yes, you were conditioned with the collars through fear and negative reinforcement to never talk about what was happening to you. It was how The Circle controlled you."
"Right," Nora answered. "Well, we were using those collars for years, and it worked. I hated myself so much... they would put my collar on me, and I was a different person. They taught me from a little girl to be a slut, with the collar. And I really was. I would fuck anyone..." she glanced at the Chief, "Sorry. I would be with anyone, at any time, if they put me in that collar. I would love every second of it. Until the collar came off. Then I hated myself."
"With me it was different," Lucy continued. "With me, I...." and Nora squeezed her hand. "It made it easier for me. When I wore my collar it meant that it didn't hurt, and I didn't care, and I didn't want to die. It made me not feel it. It made it easier."
"And Erin changed this?" Linda asked.
"She... saved us." Lucy said. "There isn't a better word. She secretly made friends with us even though we weren't supposed to talk to each other. None of the men knew it, not even John at first. She talked to us and told us it was ok, it wasn't out fault. She helped us... wake up...."
"She opened our eyes," Nora inserted.
Lucy nodded at her. "She opened our eyes, made us see there was something we could do. So when Erin brought up the idea of coming forward, when Crazy Ed hurt her..."
The Chief interjected, "No, Erin was in a coma for months after that."
"No," Nora answered, "When he hurt her the first time. She went to the hospital and had a huge black eye. After that Erin had the idea for ending it."
Chief sat back again, nodding. I'm glad we're recording this, this is a lot. "So what was Erin's plan?"
Nora looked at Lucy, "It was going to happen on a Friday, right?"
Lucy responded, "Right."
Nora continued, "We were supposed to come forward on that Friday.... I was going to go to the office at school and tell them my uncle and others had been raping me. Lucy was going to escape her grandfather's house and go to a convenience story and tell them she'd been raped, and call the cops. And we were both going to tell them about Crazy Ed and Mary, because we could never talk to her to tell her the plan. Crazy Ed was too mean to let Erin get close to her, to save her, too. But Erin...." and she looked at Lucy again.
"Erin asked to be left out of it," Lucy finished the thought. "She wanted to be with John, and was going to explain to him on Friday what we had done, and he was safe, and they wouldn't have to be in The Circle any more. They could just be together." She looked to Nora, "I mean, it seems less.... smart... now. We've had time to get over some things. But at the time Erin asked us to do it, we'd have done anything for her. We still would."
"We owe her everything," Nora said, and the girls nodded.
Chief was absorbing this the best he could, and something occurred to him. "This all came to light on a Thursday, and it wasn't you coming forward, it was when we received a ton of evidence in the mail." And he finished that thought.... and John and Erin weren't in it. Yes, it had to have been John that sent it. "He pulled the plug on it a day early, didn't he."
"As far as we can tell," Lucy answered. "We talked about that a lot, we're not sure why it happened like that. But we were rescued, and we stuck to our plan... no Erin. And no Laura.
Chief considered. Then he asked, "And how does Crazy Ed Donners fit into all this? Why did he attack Erin that same day?"
Again Lucy and Nora looked at each other.
They give comfort and strength to each other without hesitation, these amazing girls, Linda observed.
"Honestly, we don't know." Nora answered. "We think he really hated her... I mean, if we could have ever talked to Mary, we'd know for sure. The men never told us anything, but we would talk to each other secretly so we knew what the big picture was, I guess you could say. But Crazy Ed was mean and he made it hurt and for him it was more about pain than sex. We were all afraid of days we had to be with him." She and Lucy nodded at each other.
"He usually left bruises," Lucy finished.
Larry and Linda looked at each other. Chief then turned back to the girls, considering. There was a long moment of silence.
"I am ashamed that I lied to both of you about Erin, when you asked me back then," Lucy told both of them. "I hope you can forgive me. But I owed it to her to do what she asked of me. I know Nora feels the same."
Chief felt Linda take his hand, and she squeezed it, and she let go. That was her message, forgive them, and he knew it.
Chief leaned forward, and held out a hand to each of them. To Lucy, who he had taken charge of and helped her recover and live while her mother healed, and to Nora who was so strong and angry and brave, doing her best to move on. They each took his hand. "Lucy, Nora," he looked at each of them. "There is nothing to be ashamed about. The bond you all have with each other is nearly sacred, and I know I could never understand it, and of course you do what you feel is right for each other. It's what makes you amazing people. Don't feel guilt for loving her. We won't hold it against you."
Each of them smiled, and the girls suddenly needed tissues. Linda held out the box, taking one for herself as Chief let go of their hands and leaned back.
"So, now, the real problem. Erin is missing. Did she say anything about John being back?"
The look of shock on their faces told him that this was news to them.
++++
They talked another half hour, Nora and Lucy insistent that Erin had never mentioned running away, and that they'd talked together on Skype the night she supposedly disappeared. And they were sure that if John were back in the picture, Erin would have mentioned it. Chief would have loved to sit and pick their brains for another couple hours.... he just never really knew Erin, from the one conversation he'd had with her when she woke up.... but it was a school night, and both girls both said they would answer any questions he had if it helped him find Erin. Linda wanted to call them a cab, Lucy insisting she could just call an Uber and she and Nora would share it. Linda and Larry both shared a surprised look as both girls kissed their cheeks goodbye for the first time, and Lucy said to him, "Find her," as she got into the car and left.
As they left the hospital Lucy called Erin's phone, but it went right to voicemail.
She looked at Nora. "This is bad."
Nora took her hand, "I know. I hope she's ok."
"Do you think she could really have run away? I mean, they arrested Steven."
"I really don't," Nora answered. "In the first place, she never said a thing to us... I can't believe she'd leave without saying something. In the second place... can you see Erin running away from anything?"
Lucy considered it. "Well.... the old Erin, no. But you know she's been different since she woke up."
Nora looked out into the growing darkness outside the window. "I always thought it seemed like she never got over John." She looked back at Lucy, "Would anything have been different if we hadn't kept the secret about her and John?"
Lucy considered. "I.... don't think so. He was still gone, she was alone. Maybe she would have talked to Linda.... but I don't see how that would have changed anything, really. I just don't know."
They both hoped Lucy was right. Nora tried Erin's phone, this time.
++++
Larry gave Linda a kiss on the front steps of the hospital. "I'm going to St. Luke's. I don't know what I'm going to get from a woman in a coma, but I'll try anyway. Then I'm going back to work to read these files again. I'm still getting my head wrapped around all this."
Linda smiled at him. "No matter what you find, I'll be waiting for you. Don't keep me waiting too long," and smiled at him from under her eyelashes. "I might take a lover."
He grinned, "You saucy minx. You be good," and he gave her butt a playful slap, and she squealed a little at it.
He makes me feel like I'm a teenager again, sometimes, she thought, watching him walk away in that uniform.
++++
Chief Hawkins arrived at St. Luke's and parked his police car on the curb well away from the emergency lanes. He asked about Betty Banks and was directed to the psyche floor.... ordinarily drug overdoses were not considered psychiatric cases, but her demographic was so unusual that it was being considered a suicide attempt. He went to the charge nurse for that floor and was buzzed through the security doors and walked to her room.
She looked small and frail, and much older than he remembered when he'd last seen her about 6 months ago. She was on a ventilator. He asked the nurse, "May I please speak to whichever doctor is on duty about her condition? And also, I'd like to speak to the ambulance crew who brought her in"
"Sure, let me find him," she said. "It will take me a few minutes to find out which crew it was, and then they may not even be on duty right now."
"That's fine, just let me know what you can, please."
She nodded, and left.
He looked around the room, decided to consider her an official suspect until he found out otherwise, and that made whatever personal affects she may have, evidence. He went through the drawers next to her bed, and found a purse. He saw some latex gloves at the medical station near the door and put on a pair. He sat on the chair next to the bed and started emptying the purse onto the rolling bed-table... she didn't seem to need it right now. One of the first things he removed was an envelope, certified, addressed to Betty Banks, from the "Oklahoma Compound for Wayward Children," whatever that was. He quickly read it, it seemed to be an acceptance for admission. He put that aside. He went through the rest of the purse, examining every receipt, every post-it note. There wasn't a lot else, just a wallet with a few dollars and some credit cards. His gaze returned back to the envelope.
A few minutes later a man in a white coat came in. "I'm Doctor Abernathy, I was here when Betty Banks was admitted, and I kept her from coding. I understand you have some questions."
Chief held out his hand, and the doctor shook it limply. Junior would not approve of that handshake, he thought to himself. "Pleased to meet you doc. What can you tell me about her?"
"Well, sir, not to be difficult, but there are HIPPA rules regarding what I can tell you about a patient's condition. Is she considered a person of interest in a criminal case?"
"As a matter of fact, she is."
The doctor seemed to consider it. "Well, ok. But I don't want this coming down on me if there's trouble."
"You've got my word that it won't, doc."
Something in his demeanor put the doctor at ease, so he decided to be forthcoming. "Very well, then." He grabbed her chart and turned it to the bottom page. "Subject was admitted in the early morning hours last Monday, after a blood chem test it was determined she had overdosed on a heroin-based substance. She was given plasmapheresis... why did we..." he trailed off and said almost to himself. "Oh, that's right," he said snapping back. "Her insurance card was found in her purse, and she had the cadillac plan."
"What's plasmapheresis?" the chief asked.
"Basically, we changed her blood. Her plasma, anyway. We put her blood cells back in. It's the most efficient way to completely flush something like heroin out of her system. We wouldn't have done that if she hadn't had dynamite insurance.... they pretty much ask no questions and trust the doctor's discretion at that point. The hospital loves people with cadillac insurance."
The Chief gave him a sidelong glance, best medicine money can buy. "I bet they do." He looked back at the old woman under the respirator. "So why all the tubes?"
"We stopped her from dying, but there was still a few hours between the introduction of the drug and us getting it out of her. Her EEG showed brain activity, but it was lower than normal. Her pulse ox was low, that suggested the blood barrier in her lungs weren't functioning optimally, so we put her on a respirator. Basically, she's damaged herself. Time will tell if it is fixable or not."
The nurse he'd spoken to before stepped in, "Chief, the ambulance crew is actually almost here with another call, they said they would meet you up here in about 10 minutes."
"Thank you, nurse," and she left.
"So what you're saying, doc," Chief said. "Is that you don't know when or if she will wake up, or even when or if she will survive this, at this point."
"Pretty much," he answered. "It's really up to her."
"One last question. Pretend there was a nuclear bomb about to explode somewhere in the city, and only she knew the code to disarm it. Is there anything you could do to wake her up, even for just a few moments?"
The doctor was just staring at him with wide eyes.
"There isn't really a bomb," the chief answered.
The doctor exhaled.
"Hypothetically."
The doctor chuckled. "Uh, well. I mean, we could shock the hell out of her system, introduce something that would probably cause me to lose my medical license like a combination of methamphetamines and an electric shock to her brain. That would probably be enough to jump start her into consciousness. But it would probably also kill her immediately after."
Chief just nodded, "That's about what I thought. Thanks for your help. I'll just wait here for that ambulance crew, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, chief. Good luck with your case."
The ambulance crew came in, and were cooperative. They had to compare notes a few times, remembering how that evening had proceeded... they'd worked two 12-hour shifts since then and hadn't taken notes. They remembered having the police on the scene check the medicine cabinet for prescription drugs, that was sometimes useful during accidental ODs. But they also had a syringe in her arm, and an empty bottle next to her, which they seemed to remember the police taking into evidence. So it should be in the evidence locker, he thought to himself. Other than that it was a lot nicer than their usual OD pickups... usually those were in bad, scary neighborhoods. The chief thanked them for their time, and they left.
He was beginning to feel the day, and sat back down in the chair next to the bed, and considered the envelope. "Where's Erin, Betty? Where's your daughter?" he asked her. Her only reply was in the hiss-pump of the respirator.
++++
He sat in his office until 3am reading and rereading all the reports he could that seemed to be connected. He even went and pulled files from the original Circle clusterfuck, when his previous commander had eaten a bullet instead of being taken alive. He started mentally plugging Erin into as much of that scenario as he could. The major thing he had uncovered was when he pulled the 9-1-1 transcript, the lady across the hall said she saw Erin being taken away by two men. The call had turned into an OD case, and the "two men" part had been glossed over. Being taken by "men" ruled out the runaway theory, and suggested against John being behind it.
He looked again at the envelope he'd taken from Betty's purse, now in an evidence container, properly logged and numbered. The xerox copy of it was on his desk. He had a phone call to make tomorrow, 9 a.m. Oklahoma time.
He crawled into Linda's bed at 4 a.m., she'd given him a key and he hadn't wanted to wake her. She woke up when he snuggled against her, and held him back when he said to her, "I'm starting to think that poor girl is cursed."
++++
Erin sat in the Room of Reflection, she thought she might have been in here for a day. She focused on her anger, trying to not think about that she was getting hungry.
++++
Chief sat at his desk staring out his big window, but he wasn't wool gathering, he was still thinking.
The call to Oklahoma this morning, they said Erin Banks was not a student there. But they said it almost immediately, like they didn't need to look her up on their rolls... are they that small that the woman answering the phones knows every student attending off the top of her head?
Why else would Betty Banks have their acceptance letter for Erin in her purse?
He'd already put in for a warrant to search her phone and banking records, if she'd called them or paid them, he'd find out.
But why would the school lie, if she's really there?
He was frustrated, there simply were no other leads, only speculations. But the fact was, this lead was not thin. He was going to follow up on it.
And something else was bothering him.... Lucy and Nora had referred to "the first time Crazy Ed hurt Erin." He'd looked at her medical history back when he first spoke to the girl, there was no record of her having been seen for trauma to her face, and whatever story had been told to her mother.... well, both her parents, then.... they mentioned a hospital visit. And that made him think of the fact that Mary had no recorded medical history in spite of several broken and healed bones when she was put through the MRI at Linda's clinic. Someone attended to Mary, and there was never a record of it. How was there never a record of it? And the girls said they didn't turn in Erin because she asked them not to, and they loved her.
And on the heels of that, What if there was another girl they loved, who also asked to be kept out of getting turned in, someone whose controller had access to medical records....
The Circle consisted of a big car salesman, so there's a money source. A banker with a law degree, there's free legal advice. The chief of police, there's high-level protection from investigation. A uniformed officer, there's a low-key way for the police to cover things up without the attention of the chief himself taking an active hand.
So who was supplying their medical assistance, and covering up hospital visits?
He thought he would run this past Linda tonight, if he didn't get that warrant for Betty's records before the end of the day.
Copyright 2017: "Marissa Banks." Rights reserved. Not for reuse without express written consent of the author. All content is purely fictional; any similarities to actual persons or events is pure coincidence. Reader must be of legal age in the judicial area he/she resides. Reproductions of the fiction contained herein or linked from here may not be used in whole or in part without express permission from the author.