Across State Lines

by C. J. Johnson

  Mia nodded.

  Chapter 58

  The screeching of the alarm roused Frankie from a restless sleep. She had been dreaming about finding a young girl being held captive only instead of Emma or Julia, the face was that of her daughter, Danielle. The image left Frankie shaken.

  Before she could get out of bed, Frankie’s phone began to vibrate. A smile filled her face at the incoming text messages.

  “Hey girl with a boy’s name! Sorry I had to cut out on you. Did you get what you needed?”

  “Mornin’ Jim! Got what we needed on Kristof. Got time for a run?”

  “Macken Park in 15?”

  “See you there.”

  Frankie opened the second message.

  “Hey babe. Missed you last night. Enjoy your day off. XO D”

  “Was another late one. Will call you tonight. XO”

  Frankie let Isabelle into the backyard while she changed into her running clothes. Five minutes later, she was climbing into her Jeep with a bottle of water. The drive to Macken Park was brief, giving her time to stretch while she waited on Craven.

  “Hey girl, don’t you ever get tired?”

  Frankie laughed. “I wouldn’t know what it was like to not be tired. The bags under my eyes have bags.”

  Craven made an exaggerated effort to look for bags under Frankie’s eyes. Seeing none, he said, “You look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to me.”

  Frankie began to blush. Before he could say anything else, Frankie asked, “Ready?”

  “Let’s do it. Take it easy on me though. I didn’t run at all while I was gone.”

  The pair started off slow, finding a steady rhythm before the first turn on the track. Craven talked about his trip to North Carolina, entertaining Frankie with stories about his grandfather and the coast. Frankie updated Craven on what the girls told her and her plans to talk to them after their run.

  As they started the final mile-long lap, Craven asked, “When do you have your next VISION meeting?”

  Frankie smiled at the mention of the mentoring club she had started while on patrol. Craven had gone with her to a meeting the night they were talking about career goals.

  “Thursday. Want to join us? We are going to talk about our next volunteer project.”

  “What’s your project?”

  “We actually have two scheduled this year. We always cook a few meals at the Ronald McDonald House, but this year I want to do something more. I have three ideas, and I’m going to let them vote for their favorite.”

  “Don’t leave me hanging. What are your ideas?”

  Frankie slowed to a walk, “Make blankets for the elderly. Gathering toiletries and distributing them to individuals trapped in the sex trade. Collecting socks and gloves for the homeless.”

  “Those are great ideas. Where would you get the stuff from?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. We could probably get toiletries from the hotels if we write something up and go around to the various high-end hotels in town. We might be able to get a small grant or collect donations to buy fleece to make blankets or to buy gloves and socks.”

  “Which one do you think they will choose?”

  Frankie laughed, “I have absolutely no idea.”

  “Fair enough,” Craven said. They had stopped at the gate by where their cars were parked, “What’s the rest of your day look like?”

  “I’m going to go talk to those girls from last night, then usual mom stuff. I told Ty I’d pick him up from school so, for a few minutes at least, I’ll be getting updates on everything I missed over the weekend. You?”

  “I think Fitz and I are going to see what kind of intel we can get on those homicides.”

  “Let me know if you find anything good!”

  Chapter 59

  Frankie sent Sergeant Baker a text to tell him she was going to meet with Emma at the shelter. Frankie had promised Tyler she would pick him up from school. That was a promise she did not intend to break. She figured she had three hours to conduct the interview and make it to the school on time.

  Frankie patted Isabelle on the head and said, “I’ll be back before you know it, Izzie.”

  Frankie checked her bag to ensure she had her digital recorder, notebook, and a pen. Confident she had everything she needed Frankie signed in and was escorted to a small conference room. At the last minute she threw in some snacks for the girls.

  Emma walked into the room wearing a pair of blue jeans and an over-sized hooded sweatshirt. Julia stood in the doorway with a questioning look in her eyes. Frankie normally did not want other people in the interview room other than a victim advocate, but something about the girls’ bond made her ask, “Emma, do you want Julia to sit with you?”

  Emma gave a barely perceptible nod.

  “Julia, you can sit with Emma, but it’s really important that only she answers the questions, okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Emma, you told me last night you will run away again if you have to go back to your aunt and uncle’s home. Can you tell me more about that?”

  Emma kept her head down and did not immediately answer. Frankie didn’t push. She was comfortable in the silence but knew Emma would not be. After a few minutes, Emma raised her head.

  “My mom died when I was in first grade. I was with her did you know that?”

  Frankie shook her head.

  “We were driving kinda fast, and the roads were wet. That’s what my aunt told me. She says she doesn’t know why we were even on the road, but I know.” Emma took a drink of the Coke Frankie had brought her. As she sat the bottle on the table, she added, “We were running away from home. Momma was trying to protect me. From my dad.”

  The weight of the words felt heavy in the air as Frankie waited for Emma to continue. Julia reached over and held Emma’s hand.

  “Dad used to get mad at mom, and sometimes when they fought, he would hit her. But that night…that night was different. They were fighting and I got really scared. I wet my pants and started to cry. I don’t usually wet my pants and I knew I was going to be in trouble. My dad turned around and….”

  Frankie thought Emma was going to cry but instead, she began to take deep breaths, fighting back the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

  “I don’t really remember what happened. He grabbed me, and my mom kept screaming at him to stop. The next thing I remember is being in the car. Mom was crying and telling me how sorry she was. She said she wouldn’t let him hurt me again. I heard her saying something about the hospital right before the car started spinning. When it stopped, my mom was no longer in the driver’s seat. She was…she was…”

  Emma’s voice cracked, and she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. She apologized for the emotion as she swept the water from her face.

  Clearing her voice, she said, “She was lying through the windshield and the driver’s side seat was pushed up against me in the passenger seat. An ambulance came and took me to the hospital but I’m not sure they took her. They told me when my dad came that my momma was dead, but I already knew it. The doctors all thought my bruises and the blood on my body were from the accident, so no one asked me about them. They sent me home with my dad not realizing he’s the one that beat me. But…he’s dead now too.”

  Frankie let the gravity of what Emma said sink in before asking, “What happened to him?”

  Emma half-laughed, half-coughed.

  “Well, he liked to use drugs.”

  When Emma did not expound any further, Frankie asked, “Did he overdose?”

  “Right after he beat me for the last time.”

  Chapter 60

  Emma took a deep breath then released a sigh so heavy Frankie could almost feel it. Julia clenched Emma’s hand tighter in support.

  “The beatings only got worse after my mom died. He blamed me for her death, even though it was his fault. If he hadn’t beat me…one night he was on a binge, yelling at me for something stupid and then said he was going to kill him
self. He took a few pills and then drank some alcohol. He closed his eyes and I really thought he was dying so I called 9-1-1. By the time the ambulance got there, he was awake and mad that I had called. He didn’t like outsiders at the house. When they left…” Emma’s voice caught in her throat. Tears threatened to fall but she fought them back. “When they left, he beat me. Bad. He beat me so bad that I started throwing up. When he finally finished, he picked up his pipe and took another hit, all the while telling me how much he hated me and how much he wished I had died instead of my mom. I told him I was going into the bathroom to clean up but instead, I climbed out the window. I ran to my neighbor’s house and asked them to call the police. The cops got there and took me back to my dad. I begged them not to take me back, but they said they had to. They told me they were going to talk to my dad and get his side of things. He didn’t know I was gone and so when they started asking him questions, he got really worked up. He fell down and white stuff started coming out of his mouth. The officer tried to help him, but he was dead by the time the ambulance got there.”

  Frankie sat in stunned silence. She couldn’t believe what this girl had experienced in her young life; what she had to witness.

  “Some social workers came to my house and they took me to my aunt’s. That’s when the real nightmare began.” Emma stopped. Frankie could tell she wasn’t sure if she should continue. “Can I take a break? I need to use the bathroom.”

  “Of course. Take your time.”

  Julia waited until Emma left the room before she said, “Does she have to go back to her Aunt’s house?”

  “It depends on what she says, Julia. She cannot go back, neither of you can go back, with Luka. You are minors and what he is doing to you…”

  “What he is doing is giving us a safe place to stay. A place where no one comes into our rooms at night and…”

  The door opened, leaving Julia’s words to hang in the air.

  “Emma, do you feel like you can finish telling me about your Aunt and Uncle?”

  Emma nodded and took a drink of her soda.

  “It started the day I got sent home from school. I had to change schools after my dad, uh…anyway, I didn’t fit in very well in the new school. Everyone there knew each other their whole lives, and I didn’t exactly have nice clothes or anything, so the kids started teasing me. I got sent home after one of the kids started making fun of me and said my mom was lucky she didn’t have to see what a loser I was. I got mad and punched her in the face. My uncle picked me up and when we got to the house, he made me stay in the living room with him. I figured he was going to beat me or ground me, but he didn’t. He got ice for my hand and then sat next to me on the couch. He talked to me and told me how pretty I was. He said we should just keep this between us. I was suspended from school for a day, but he said he’d tell my aunt he was taking me to school and then just hang out with me. I thought he was cool and was going to take care of me. Be a dad, you know?”

  Frankie thought she knew where the story was going. It was a story she had heard before way too many times.

  “The next day my aunt left for work, and we went out and got some breakfast. He talked to me and for the first time since my mom died it seemed like someone was interested in what I had to say about things. When we got back to the house, I laid down on the floor to watch TV with him. Jared, that’s her husband, laid on the floor beside me and threw his arm across my back. At first, it was nice. No one had done that in a long time.”

  Frankie watched as Julia began to fidget in her chair, and Emma began to tap her fingers rhythmically on the table.

  “Before I realized what was happening, he had me on my back and had put his hand down the front of my pants.” Emma described the sexual abuse that followed with a flat voice. She described the frequency of abuse and her fear of him trying to put “it” inside her. “I ran away before that could happen.”

  Chapter 61

  Frankie got to Tyler’s school just before the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. As she predicted, he immediately began describing all she had missed over the weekend. Frankie smiled when Tyler’s non-stop chatter continued after they got home.

  Interrupting his monologue, Frankie asked, “Are you hungry, Ty?”

  “I’m starving. I didn’t have any lunch money, so the lunch lady would only give me a peanut butter sandwich today.”

  Frankie was engulfed by a wave of guilt. The kids did not usually take their lunch when her mom dropped them off at school, and she was supposed to pay Tyler and Danielle’s lunch accounts online but had forgotten. Frankie squeezed Tyler’s shoulders and said, “I’m so sorry bud. I forgot to put money on your account.”

  “It’s no big deal mom. I know you get busy.”

  “I still shouldn’t have forgotten to put money on your account. What do you want for dinner? You get to pick tonight.”

  Danielle walked through the back door and asked, “What does he get to pick?”

  “I get to pick dinner! How about Panda Express? Can we do that mom? Puhleeease?” Tyler drew out the word, the sound just short of a whine.

  “What do you think, Dani? Do you want Panda?”

  Stomping down the hallway, Danielle answered, “Whatever.”

  “What’s wrong with her?” Tyler asked.

  “She’s probably just tired, Ty. How about we have an apple while you do your homework, then we can go get dinner.”

  “Ok.”

  Frankie cut up an apple and placed it on the table while Tyler worked on his math. Once he was settled, she said, “I’m going to go check on Dani. I’ll be right back, okay?”

  “Mmhm.”

  Frankie knocked on her teenage daughter’s door, “Dani?”

  “What?”

  Frankie opened the door, scanning the room. Posters of pop singers hung on the walls, and piles of clothes sat stacked on the end of her bed and atop her dresser. Dani lay across the comforter, headphones in her ears with a textbook open in front of her. Frankie sat on the edge of the bed.

  “How was the weekend at your dad’s?”

  “Fine.”

  Frankie sighed at the one-word answer.

  “What did you all do?”

  “Not much. Watched TV and played games. I went to church with the girls yesterday. They want me to join the Bible quiz team, but I told them I didn’t think I could.”

  The girls. Dani had three stepsisters, which made it a slumber party every time she went to visit her dad. Frankie knew she couldn’t compete with that, especially with her erratic work schedule.

  “That sounds like fun Angel-girl. Where does the Bible Quiz team meet?”

  “At their church down there.”

  “Well, that would be really hard for us to do. Maybe we can find a quiz team a little closer to us.”

  “Never mind, it wouldn’t be the same without my sisters.” Danielle turned back to the textbook lying in front of her.

  Frankie felt the comment like a punch in her gut. She was glad Dani was close to her stepsisters, but it didn’t take away the twinge of jealousy she felt or her fear of being replaced.

  Chapter 62

  “Then Austin told the teacher his dog ate his homework. She didn’t believe him, but when he got his paper out of his backpack, you could see the slobber and teeth marks on the paper. The teacher gave him an extra day to turn in his assignment.”

  Tyler laughed at Dani’s stories from middle school. In his eyes, she was grown up and worldly. Frankie laughed despite the questions going through her mind. How did the dog get the paper? And why was it still wet when Austin got it to school?

  “What was the funniest thing that happened at your school today Ty?”

  “Brittany kissed me at recess.”

  The Diet Coke Frankie was drinking came out her nose as she choked in surprise.

  “She did what?”

  “Ugh,” Tyler grunted. “She kissed me. It was so gross. We were playing tag, and when I caught her, she turned around and p
lanted one on me.”

  “Did you kiss her back?” Dani asked.

  Tyler’s face turned a bright shade of pink. Tears of anger and embarrassment filled his eyes. Turning to look at his sister, he shouted, “NO!”

  Dani laughed at the discomfort she had caused.

  Softly Frankie asked, “What did you do, Ty? Did you say anything to her?”

  “I wiped my face and then the bell rang so I went inside.”

  “If she tries to do it again, and you don’t want her to, don’t be afraid to tell her no. Make sure she understands you don’t want her to kiss you. You can do it without being mean too.”

  “Okay, mom.”

  “Why don’t you go take a shower while Dani and I clean up in here.”

  Tyler took his plate to the sink. He was barely out of earshot before Dani asked, “Why do I have to help you clean up, but Ty doesn’t have to do anything around here?”

  Frankie sighed. It was going to be one of those nights. Lately, it felt like she was always battling with Danielle about something.

  “Tyler does do stuff around here, but tonight you and I are on kitchen duty. I thought it might be nice for us to spend some time together.”

  “Whatever. All he does is take the trash out and occasionally cleans out the litter box. Usually, you make me do it. I have to do everything while you baby him.”

  “Danielle, you know that is not true. He also has to unload the dishwasher and feed the cat. You have to remember he is seven years younger than you, so he isn’t going to have as many responsibilities. He also isn’t going to have as many privileges. You get to stay up later and watch movies he can’t watch. You get to hang out with your friends at the park, but he always has to have an adult with him.”

  “Whatever,” Dani said, throwing the dishtowel on the counter. “I’m going to go do my homework.”

  Frankie picked up the towel, slung it across the oven handle, and leaned against the counter. All she wanted was a few minutes with her daughter without an argument. Isabelle sat at Frankie’s feet and looked up.