by C. L. Stone
“I’ve other interests. And one doctor is enough for our team, unless one of you wanted to become one, too.” Mr. Blackbourne took his glasses off his face, pinching at the bridge of his nose for a brief moment. “The hours should lighten up for everyone once they get some more people out of med school and into the internship. We’re considering trying to recruit direct from the local university med program into the Academy. It’ll save us some time.” He replaced the glasses on his face and refocused on them. “Mr. Morgan, I assume you’re here about the letters?”
Victor placed the stack of envelopes on the desk, in a corner away from everything else. “I can handle responding, but I just wanted to double check with you. They want us to recruit someone they’ve found?” He opened one envelope and showed it to Mr. Blackbourne. “That’s what this means, right?”
Mr. Blackbourne pulled his gaze away from what he was doing to take the paper from Victor. He studied the words, reading carefully. “New crops generally mean bringing in new people, yes. They must have their eye on someone. And the person or persons must be of similar age if they want you and the others to go and check them out, perhaps even get to know them.”
“Put them on our team?” Gabriel asked. “We’ve already got nine.”
“Maybe not so much putting them on our team, but checking if they’ll be a good fit in general.” Mr. Blackbourne passed it back to Victor. “We’re incredibly short on people. We need more. There’s a team dedicated now to finding new recruits and organizing who might be the best choice to bring them in. They don’t make the decision lightly.”
“Kota was just thinking we’ll be too busy to be able to commit to it.”
“That’s the point,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Everyone is busy. If we don’t make the time to get more people involved, we’ll have to stop several of our programs, pull people back into day to day affairs instead. No one wants to do that. We’re in the middle of several neighborhood reconstruction projects, a new homeless shelter and the food bank on the south side of John’s Island. It’s too important to quit halfway through.”
With the way he listed off the projects, not to mention the everyday things they did for Academy families, it sounded overwhelming. “We do what we can do, don’t we?” Gabriel asked. “We can’t take on everything. Isn’t that the point?”
Mr. Blackbourne nodded. “Which is why we need more people. I almost regret taking on the school job. We should have sent a forensics team.”
“They need us,” Victor said. “We can get to the bottom of it.”
“But it takes us out of most other projects for the school year. Dr. Green is barely hanging on to these final years of working under Dr. Roberts.” He put the iPad away and turned fully to them, folding his hands over each other on the desk. “I don’t wish to push us into anything we can’t handle, but we’ll be getting a lighter load of work simply having to attend the school. I’m sure whoever they are looking at, the person is probably within a reasonable vicinity. Give it considerable consideration before rejecting. This person could make a huge difference in lightening the load for everyone.”
Victor tentatively picked up the envelopes again. “Maybe we can give it a day or two to think about.”
“I can swing by this afternoon to talk to the others about this,” Mr. Blackbourne said.
There was the slightest hint of a wince from Victor but it was gone in a second. “No, actually it’s probably better if you get some sleep. The hospital probably appreciates you helping out and needs you more here. I’m sure we can figure it out.”
“This isn’t to push us into things we can’t handle. But give it more thought before passing on it for someone else to do.”
Gabriel and Victor left the office and didn’t talk again until they were in the elevator.
“What was that?” Gabriel said. “What’s going on that made Kota say this was too much to handle? I mean, it’s just checking someone out?”
Victor started to shrug, but then lowered his shoulders. “It’s complicated. I didn’t actually want to get into it with Mr. Blackbourne. Not yet.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t say anything, but there’s this...situation that popped up. A girl on Kota’s street.”
“Just a girl?”
“Something’s going on with her. At home, I think. We’re monitoring, but we can’t really see anything wrong.”
It didn’t make sense for them to be nosy about someone else without some valid evidence. He was trying to figure out which girl they were talking about. “So maybe you’re wrong,” Gabriel said.
Victor shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Something’s not right. And we’re too new and she’s too afraid to talk to us about it. We just need time.”
“Shouldn’t we send in a girl team?”
“Kota said it was hard enough to get her to just come out and talk to him. He doesn’t want to risk other people just yet when she seems to be talking now.” Victor raised a single finger to his lips in a silence motion but spoke around his finger. “Just don’t say anything yet. You know how the Academy is. And like Mr. Blackbourne said, we’re short on people. I think we can handle it.”
Gabriel wasn’t so sure. Not if they were willing to let go of a direct request in order to tend to whatever this was. And it could be nothing. Maybe the girl just acts weird? “Should we go help with that, then?”
“We’ve a few more errands,” Victor said. “Let’s get them out of the way. I want to get out to Summerville as soon as we can.”
Gabriel bit at his inner cheek, troubled that they’d be keeping something from Mr. Blackbourne. Where was the trust? It wasn’t like he’d just do something to get her in any more trouble, if there even was any.
Who was this girl that even Kota wouldn’t tell Mr. Blackbourne about?
3
It took about another hour or so to run an Academy errand, taking a box from the hospital and dropping off the supplies at a location for a team restoring some homes in a rundown neighborhood. They were clear to go after that. The road to Summerville was fairly clear just around noon.
The two-story house didn’t appear to have any activity for the moment. The Lee’s driveway had Kota’s dusty klunker car parked out of the garage. Kota’s mom used to complain about it and asked a lot why he didn’t use the garage, but it was necessary. At least out here, he could roll out the drive and not make too much noise if he had to go out for the evening.
Victor touched the car horn just for a second. “I’m pretty sure they’re here, right?”
“Can’t be far,” Gabriel said and hopped out. It had warmed up today, and he was glad to be wearing the tank shirt. It was only going to continue getting warmer, and who knew what they’d be doing after this. He scanned the neighborhood, looking from house to house. “So this person you were talking about, she around? Which house is she at?”
“It’s the gray one.”
Gabriel looked, finding the two-story gray home. It kind of looked a little empty. No car at the moment. Trash cans tucked away into the garage. The garage appeared empty, without boxes or bikes that he could see.
“Hey,” a voice called from the garage.
Gabriel turned. Kota approached from the open garage door.
Gabriel lifted a brow, confused. Why would he need to meet them out here?
Victor had collected the letters and was holding them in his hands. “We were just coming inside. We need to talk about these.”
Kota adjusted his glasses on his nose, his expression grim. “The answer is absolutely no.”
“But we just talked to Mr. Blackbourne and...”
Kota shook his head and started waving his hands in front of his body. “We can’t.” He got close to Victor and then looked at Gabriel. “I don’t know how to explain this, but we need to free up time.”
“What happened?” Victor said. He threw the letters back into the car and slammed the door shut. “It’s her, i
sn’t it? Is she here?”
“Yes, but don’t go charging in,” Kota said.
Gabriel stuck his hands into his pockets and leaned on one foot a little. “Who the hell are we talking about?”
“Sang Sorenson,” Kota said. “One of the new neighbors. She’s upstairs. Her throat is...burned.”
Victor mouth moved but nothing came out, seeming confused.
Gabriel tried his best to catch up, to understand what was going on. “What the fuck does that mean, burned?” he asked. “Like she ate something too hot?”
“Chemical burns,” Kota said. “But don’t question her too hard, okay?”
Air seemed to leave Gabriel’s lungs all at once and time was still for a moment. Some girl, someone he didn’t know...chemical burns...plus that look on Kota’s face and from the way Victor paled, it was all shocking in itself. They all looked at each other, as if trying to picture how that could have happened.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Victor asked. “Sign of abuse, right? We’ve got what we need to...”
“We can’t take her out yet,” Kota said. “But you’re right. We’ve got to figure it out. It could be just one of the parents and the other is fine. We don’t know enough, so we have to monitor and do whatever it takes to keep her safe from any more of it.”
Gabriel’s gaze turned back up the road, looking at the gray house again. With all the other guys, what they’ve been through, what he’d been through growing up, it hadn’t been so easy to just leave abusive situations. Jump in too fast, too obvious, and the police get called on you and her parents make it very difficult to help at all. They could call Child Protective Services, but a few lies and a few weeks of an appearance of good behavior can fake out any inspection. It takes waiting, and watching, sometimes for a long time.
Or worse, she rejects the help because she’s too afraid, or too embarrassed. It makes it even harder when they aren’t willing to speak up.
Kota motioned for them to follow. “She’s upstairs. Remember to try to make her feel welcome.”
“Why wouldn’t we be nice to someone?” Gabriel said.
“Just don’t go overboard. Don’t scare her off.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Be nice but don’t be too nice? Sure.”
Inside Kota’s house, in the back hallway, the door to the stairs was open. Kota motioned to Gabriel to close it as they started climbing up.
Gabriel hurried to do so, not wanting to miss out on learning about this girl. He jumped the last few steps, landing on his feet solidly on the blue carpet of Kota’s bedroom. Some locks of hair fell into his vision, so he brushed them back. When he looked back up, his gaze was met with the green eyes of a girl sitting on the floor next to Nathan.
Hair a mess. She got it wet but hadn’t brushed it out. What the hell color was that anyway? It was hard to determine with it still damp.
Clothes...didn’t look right on her. Ill-fitting. Bad color.
Fucking beautiful, though.
He didn’t want to think it, knowing what had happened to her, but even with the crazy hair and clothes too big for her, she’d have guys crawling on glass to date her.
Her face was pale, except for those cheeks that carried a little pink, her head ducked down a little, even as she looked at him. Fearful but curious, like she was silently asking him to like her, like a meek little kitten. It struck him hard in the gut and made his insides feel upside down. Was she scared of him? Was all the punk style he carried scaring her? The mood in the room couldn’t be helping: deep, gloomy...Kota wanted to not scare her off, this wasn’t the way to do it, with everyone looking like this was a funeral.
“Oy,” he said, trying to figure out how to cheer her up. “So, you’re the troublemaker.”
Her soft blush broadened, the color shooting over her cheeks and down her neck. A little too strong an approach?
A chop landed on his head. “Don’t pick on her,” Victor said.
Gabriel darted away and scrambled to sit next to her, trying to show he was being nice. “Hey, I was only teasing. I didn’t mean anything by it.” He wanted to comment on how they were treating her like fragile glass, but he bit back the comment. She didn’t seem too distraught by it. There was a hint of something in the corner of her mouth, like she wanted to smile. He wished she would.
Her name was Sang, wasn’t it? Is that what Kota said? “Don’t listen to me, okay?” Now that he was closer, he could see the hair being a different mix of colors. Was this natural? He’d never really seen anything like it.
Kota moved to the office chair that had been sitting in the middle of the room and scooted it out of the way back at his desk. He settled on the ground across from where Nathan, Sang and Gabriel sat together on the floor.
Victor fell onto the bed on his back, hands tucked behind his head, gazing at the ceiling. Mouth moving like he was grinding his teeth.
Gabriel knew the move. He was trying not to say something. He had trouble not just speaking his mind when he wanted to. Probably an effort not to scare Sang too badly.
“We need to be more careful around her parents,” Nathan said.
So her parents did this? Asshats. Which one? He didn’t like the sound of it. Sometimes with parents, if one was doing the abuse, the other could sometimes be ignoring it and allowing it to happen, or the other parent was suffering abuse as well, assuming they were taking the brunt of it and not realizing their kids were getting it, too. Like Kota and his mother...It could be difficult to tell from the outside.
Kota nodded. “I think that’s why we need to talk about it.” He turned his focus onto Sang. “Tell us what we need to do.”
She said nothing at first. She hadn’t even said anything since they’d come in. Gabriel wondered if her throat hurt to talk, and if so, why was Kota asking her to? Where was some pen and paper?
She nervously looked between all of them sitting around her.
His heart sped up, unsure she’d speak, unsure if with him being there, being new to her, if she’d be honest about what was going on. Maybe he should go downstairs...
“I’m not sure where to start,” she said in a whisper. Gabriel strained to hear it, even right next to her. He couldn’t tell much about her voice from that.
Gabriel shared a look with Nathan and then Kota. You all know her better than I do at this point. What the hell do you want out of her? Give her something to work with.
“What would we have to do if we wanted to come over?” Kota asked. “Let’s start with that.”
An odd noise started up outside, distracting everyone from what was going on. A basketball, or at least what sounded like one.
Okay, yeah. Gabriel focused on Sang, but everyone else was looking toward the window. Why? It was probably just one of the neighbor kids. Let’s get back to what the hell was happening here.
But Nathan got up anyway, going to the window toward the front of the house where Kota had a window seat. He leaned over it to look. “It’s Derrick.”
Was he coming here? To play basketball with them? He didn’t normally just come over. They hadn’t really hung out much, not for a few years.
Not after they thought maybe they could pull him into the Academy and he refused. He didn’t want extra work. The Academy didn’t see him as a valid option anyway. Since then, they’d lost track of what he’d been up to.
Everyone got up, including Sang. Kota, Nathan and her crowded the window seat. Victor and Gabriel moved to the other one as the sound drifted further down the road and it was likely he’d appear there soon.
It took a minute, but Derrick came into view. Horrid black bowl-cut hair, probably his mom did it, but it wasn’t the look for him. He hung his shirt over his shoulder, no shoes, jean shorts, looking like a street urchin. He bounced the ball along, but passed up Kota’s drive, and even Nathan’s.
“Where is he going?” Nathan asked.
The room fell silent as everyone watched Derrick head straight to the two-story gray house.
; “Did you meet him?” Kota said from the other side of the room. “Is he going to ask for you?”
Yeah, was this bad? Derrick seemed like he was just going to see if there was anyone home. Like he knew Sang lived there and wanted to see if she’d come out. There weren’t many people on this road, and if they were new, then he was just going to introduce himself.
Half-naked. Gabriel wanted to chuckle. Crazy Derrick. Sometimes he still acted like he was ten, just finding some friends to play with.
“I’ve never seen him before,” Sang whispered, although Gabriel could catch it better this time. A little raspy in tone.
Derrick disappeared into the garage, like there was a side door there. After a few minutes, he reappeared, and a girl showed up behind him. Who the hell was that? A sister? Why wasn’t she here?
Did she even know her sister was here, with her throat burned?
Was her throat burned, too? Or was it just Sang that got that? And why?
Gabriel was completely lost on what was going on.
The girl started playing basketball with Derrick. Okay, seemed normal. He checked quickly behind with the others. Why were they still watching?
“Looks okay to me,” Nathan said. He turned to Sang. “Maybe we should go over.”
“Wait a minute,” she said. She reached for his shirt sleeve, tugging on it to get him to stay put. He appeared confused and then gazed back outside at the gray house.
Gabriel went back to watching, and minutes passed. What next?
At first, they seemed to just be playing HORSE or something together. The ball went crazy, shooting into the garage at one point. The girl went to go get it, but stopped quickly. Derrick was looking that direction too but not moving. After a second, the sister scurried inside. Derrick went in quickly, reappeared with his basketball and headed down the driveway slowly, this time just carrying the ball for a bit at his hip.
“What happened?” Nathan asked. “Was it your mom?”
“She called to them at the door.” Gabriel stopped watching to look over his shoulder at her. “You should go home. She has chores to do,” she said in an odd tone, like she was trying to mimic someone’s voice but with that raspy tone making it odd.
