The Perfect Solution-A Suspense of Choices (20 page)

"Could we watch them here? Maybe...." Bertha asked.

"No," Detective Serge answered. "I think its best we view it before airing it to the public."

"You probably won't see the abductor on the tape because those monitors weren’t on when I came here this afternoon." Phalene pointed to the offending items. "I have a habit of standing and watching the monitors before I go to get Brhin. Just to see what is going on around here. I had to tell Mrs. Julioux that they were not on. She was standing in the office cleaning her desk. The idiot had no idea that the monitors were off and there is no telling how long they’d been off. They might not show anything to help us."

"This is ridiculous." Detective Serge gave the tape back to Bertha. "Go ahead and put it in."

Looking like a woman sentenced to her doom, Bertha reluctantly reached for the tape and turned to walk down the hallway.

"Where are you going, Mrs. Wall?"

Detective Serge followed behind her.

"To the theater room, the monitors don't play back tapes so we'll have to use the VCR in there. Everyone can follow me."

Trailing behind Bertha into the television room, the small crowd stood in a close huddle and watched the tape in fascination.

Detective Williams had her note pad out and was taking notes. Everyone watched as scene after scene of abuse and neglect flashed across the screen. The infants were left crying in their cribs while the caregivers sat in the rocking chairs eating and talking. Children two years old and up were paddled openly and some were escorted into a closet and came out crying. Even though each class had two teachers, the infant room was staffed with three teachers in the room, the classes were left unattended for extended periods of time and the toddler room was indeed over crowded.

The tape showed how hard Stephanie had worked in the class and it showed that she had really done her best to keep the children happy and safe. Even though the current situation was stressful, the group standing in front of the television gave a little laugh at the comical chase that went on for nearly five minutes when Stephanie had the children in the restroom. She had kept her sense of humor in what would probably have driven another person insane. It showed how she had tried to entertain them above the periodic bouts of crying while trying to help the older children take care of their business.

As the tape played through the day it brought to light a lot of abuse and neglectful behavior of many of the other teachers in various rooms.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Catrine exclaimed in shock.

"I can't believe this." Phalene glanced at Bertha and back at the television screen. "Don't stand there with your hand over our mouth as if you had no idea that any of those things go on here. You are the director. This center has no business being open."

"Mrs. Wall do you ever review these tapes?" Detective Serge pushed pause on the tape player and massaged his left temple and sighed tiredly. "Do you ever check to see what your staff does during the day? Do you realize that if a parent sees these tapes, they could file charges on you? As it is, it will be my duty to turn this tape in to the proper authorities."

"No," she answered. "Not usually. Only if there is an incident or if a parent complains about something. I have a set of those monitors in my office. The staff knows that I keep the monitors on and take note of all potential problems. And I am severe with taking corrective measures. When I am here, I see none of these activities. They are a model staff. I can't be here all of the time. There are things I have to do as the director and a person of business. I have changed staff often because I don't want things like that to happen. If you knew the center, you would understand that the three women that were doing the abuse are new to the staff. I will immediately terminate their employ." She looked at the three offending women to make sure they knew she was talking to them. "You can review the tapes acquired throughout the past few months. None of this monstrosity will be on them," Bertha promised. "I have truly been working hard to weed out the bad seed and I have put a lot of money into this center because I want this to be a model facility.

I know I started off with making money as my priority, but things have changed. I will do anything to make it the model facility it needs deserves to be. That's why I pay these people almost double minimum wage. I know the toddler room had too many children for one person and I have been working to remedy the situation. It is hard to find good staff, but I did call for two people to come in this morning. I had three very important appointments today and had to leave. I didn't know that only one had come in until I returned. I had no idea that Mrs. Julioux hadn't called anyone else in. If I would have been here, some of the older children could have been combined for a while and one of those teachers would have been sent to help Stephanie. Doing that would have been perfectly legal." She threw a disbelieving look at Mrs. Julioux.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about it. It was so hectic in the office. My thoughts were scattered. I know that it was mentioned earlier that there is never an aid in that room, but sometimes I help out in there, or the van drivers may hang over, or a staff member from the other center is called in to help. It just depends on how many children are in the room on a particular day. That many toddlers don't always come, especially not on a daily basis. Mothers can be very possessive of their children at that age and tend to keep them home. I know nothing can excuse what went on today, but one incident can have a snowball effect on a predestined situation. I just have the feeling that Brhin's abduction was a preplanned thing."

"Why don't we finishing viewing the tape and then discuss the wherefores of the care that is taken at the center." Detective Serge pushed the button and the tape resumed. Silent anticipation reigned as the group observed the entrance of Mona Boots into the building.

The camera panned in on her face as she rested her back against the glass of the front doors and watched Brhin walking down the hall. The smile on her face was gentle as she looked at him. Taking a step forward, she abruptly stopped smiling when she noticed the camera posted in the corner and facing the front door. Walking closer to the camera, she sarcastically voiced her thanks to 'the little red head' for giving her Brhin and blatantly brandished her tongue to the screen. Leaving her post at the door, she walked towards the receptionist's office. No one was in there and so she turned around and went back into the reception room. Walking up to the monitors, she casually turned them off. The next thing seen on the screen was the back of Bertha's torso. She had obviously just turned the machines back on.

“How far down the hall is the room you were in?" Detective Serge looked towards Stephanie Franklin as they walked back to the reception area and resumed the positions they had taken earlier.

"It's the fourth one down. You have to turn right when you get under the clock."

"That's a short walk from here. Did you happen to notice what kind of car she was driving?"

"No, I'm sorry." She directed her statement to Catrine.

“I bet you are." Catrine snapped. "I would hate to have the fact that I put a child's life in danger, on my mind."

"I don't know if this will make any difference," Bertha wall cleared her throat. "But I saw a car sitting outside of the building, across the street."

Everyone's attention swung to Mrs. Wall.

"When did you see this car?" Detective Williams asked. Jotting notes in her notebook.

"As a matter of fact, now that I come to remember, it was there the past three days. This morning I really made a mental note of it and said if it was still there after a certain time that I would call the police, but I became involved in things going on around here and when I looked out of my office window again, it had gone and it wasn't there this afternoon."

"Three days this week? Did you notice who was driving? Could it have been a parent?"

"I couldn't tell whether the driver was male or female. It wore a dark cap on the head and was leaning over the steering wheel. As I said, I really paid attention this morning because I was sitting at the desk. I don't usually have time to do such a thing, but I was trying to figure out what I was going to do about getting someone to substitute and just staring out of the window. For the past three days I just noticed the car in passing. It would be there about 7:30 and gone by 9. In the afternoon it would be there until 3 or 3:30."

"Those are around the times I would bring Brhin to the center and pick him up." Catrine whispered.

"Are you sure?" Detective Serge again placed his pen to this note pad. The scribbling sounds became the loudest noise in the room." Ladies, I think we can safely say that Brhin was being stalked. This is definitely a case of kidnapping."

Catrine covered her eyes. "I can't believe this is happening."

"I saw the car, also." A voice volunteered from the back of the group.

The first woman that had spoken to Catrine and Phae outside of The P. S. Center stepped forward.

“What in hell is wrong with you people? Why don’t you just volunteer the information you now? Why do you stand there and wait for a specific question to be asked? Just blurt it out for Christ’s sake.”

“Excuse me. Who are you and why are you in my center?” Bertha wrinkled her nose with the attitude she saved for what she deemed as ‘recalcitrant’ parents.

“I’m that child’s father. The one who is so pissed off at the moment I can’t even think straight. You idiots just need to throw in whatever you know so the police can go and find him.”

"I’m just remembering things as I listen. I’m sorry. I'm guessing that the person driving the car was the same woman that took Brhin." The woman informed them. "I had my class outside in the play yard and we were by the fence on the far left, near the street when this car stopped at the intersection. I wouldn't have noticed the car because there was nothing spectacular about it. It was dark, hunter green I think the color is. It's a new model car, uh a Honda or something like that. It had a Garfield doll stuck to its back window and the only reason I noticed that was because one of the kids in my class pointed out the fact the Brhin-Kristoffer was in the back seat crying."Tears started to run down the woman's face and she hurriedly brushed them away.

"I looked up and sure enough, Brhin was beating his little fist against the glass and crying. I thought it was strange because I had never see him cry before and I am so accustomed to you, Ms. Teddi or your sister picking Brhin-Kristoffer up and so I took mental note of the license number in order to tell someone when I got in the building. But then I was called into the building because of an accident." She looked towards Stephanie. "And with the getting my class in, dealing with the children from the toddler's room and helping monitor all of the other children, I forgot the number, but I do remember it had an Arizona plate. As soon as I could, I called Mrs. Wall into the TV room and told her what I saw. She told me not to worry about it. I thought she would have called you to make sure that the child was all right. I am so sorry."

She turned to get a Kleenex from the table and sat in on of the chairs and cried softly. Mrs. Krull moved near the chair and patted her on the shoulder as she too fought with her tears. For a few moments everyone stood silent and misty-eyed, each person dealing with his or her own emotions.

Catrine quietly blew her nose and rubbed her fingers under her eyes to remove any remaining tears. Without warning, she jumped from her chair and stumped across the room to stand in front of Mrs. Wall. Startled, the woman stepped back.

"How in the world could you let someone walk away with my baby? You didn't even have the common sense to call my home and let me know that my child was gone. I know you knew. How could you not when not one but two people told you they thought that something was wrong? Do you realize that you helped someone kidnap a child? Do you?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I...”

"Do you think I care that you're sorry? What in God's name does that do for me? What does it do for my baby? I'm standing here, not knowing whether to kill you or just cry in frustration. I wish I could just…" Catrine reached out to grab Mrs. Wall but Detective Serge stepped in between.

"Calm down." He placed his hand on Catrine's shoulder and she irritably shrugged it off. "This will not help anything."

"It won't help me get my child back, but it would sure make me feel better to kill her right, now."

"I understand that, but I need you to stay calm." Detective Serge, pat her on the shoulder.

"I know. I'm sorry." Catrine stepped back and looked around the room. Lifting her face towards the ceiling, she blinked to hold back the tears. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I'm just… I don't know lost, hurt …and profoundly disappointed." Her hand fluttered in the air in frustration. "I think I have cried more here than I have ever done in my entire life. I just can't take it in." Catrine shook her head in confusion. "I have never been so disillusioned. I put my trust in you." She glared angrily. "I placed the most precious thing I had in the world in your hands and you people did not take your job seriously. Do you understand how important your presence is here? This is not just a baby-sitting thing. You are responsible for lives, lives that depend totally on you when they are here." Catrine quickly bypassed the detective and stood in front of Mrs. Wall. "You have absolutely no business," she angrily jabbed a finger into the woman's chest with every word she spoke. "No business at all having any control over the lives of so many children. None of you do." Her voice broke with the bluntness of her words as she turned and waved her hand to include the entire staff of the day care center. "All of you should be held responsible for neglect, and abuse and I will make sure that you are." Getting control of herself, she continued.