Someone To Watch Over Me
by Purple Lacey
Part 11
The morning dawned bright and sunny. Buck and Ezra had a lazy morning, leisurely eating the breakfast Nettie cooked for them then heading upstairs to shower and dress for the day. Buck deliberately didn’t mention the upcoming interview, and Ezra seemed a bit more relaxed that morning, but Buck could still tell the boy was worried about the upcoming ordeal. The man just wished Ezra didn’t have to go through the interview, knowing that reliving the terrible months under his stepfather’s roof was bound to be painful for the child.
Vin had arrived right on time and had gone out of his way to be extra cheerful and upbeat for the boy watching him with frightened eyes. He had taken the time to explain what would happen to Ezra and had promised he would be right there for the whole thing.
Both men stressed the fact to the child that he could not mention any part that Chris had played in his escape from his former home and had gently helped the boy fashion a believable story to cover how he had gotten out of the house that evening, trying to stick as close to the truth as possible. Vin made sure he had answers to any questions that the detective was liable to ask him. Ezra repeated the story back without hesitation and very convincingly. It was ironic that all the practice Ezra had gotten in the past from being forced by his mother to tell believable lies to cover up his stepfather’s abuse was going to work for their benefit now.
Ezra looked like he wanted to bolt but Buck was so proud of the way the boy staunchly gathered his courage and nodded when Vin asked him if he was ready to go. Buck felt intensely moved when the boy immediately grabbed for his hand, reaching out for his support and reassurance; not Vin’s support or Chris’ but his. The big man was humbled by the trust the boy showed with that one simple, unthinking act.
Vin’s mud-splashed Grand Cherokee was parked in front of the house and he led them to the car and opened the back door for Ezra to crawl in. Buck gave Vin a speaking look then got in after him. Vin accepted Buck’s decision with a silent nod and closed the door. He walked around to the driver’s side door, opened it, and climbed in while Buck buckled himself and Ezra in.
“What do you think of my jeep, Ez?” Vin asked as he tried to distract the little boy. “Pretty cool, huh? It’s real good for camping. I go camping whenever I can. It’s one of my favorite things to do. You ever been camping?”
“No,” Ezra said in a tiny voice.
“Ah, man! You don’t know what you’re missing. You need to get Buck to take you. Maybe we can go together. I think you’d like it,” Vin told him smiling at the boy in the rear view mirror.
“What do you do when you go camping?” Ezra asked looking back at him with interest, his curiosity temporarily overriding his nervousness.
“Well, you go out into the forest, or down to the beach, or uh... well, really anyplace outdoors... anyway, you go out and go hiking, or fishing, or canoeing. You sleep in a tent or, if the weather is nice, under the stars. You fix your meals over an open fire. It’s just you and nature. It’s great!” Vin told him enthusiastically.
Ezra stared at him in disbelief before saying with shock, “You sleep OUTSIDE! With the bugs, and animals, and...and...!” The child looked completely lost for words at the idea.
Buck had to bite his lip hard to keep from laughing out loud at the look of horror that appeared on the boy’s face. Apparently his boy was not destined to be the rugged outdoorsman type. Well at least Vin had picked a topic that took the boy’s mind from the upcoming interview.
“Ah, Ez,” Vin argued with the boy, “You should give it a chance. It can be really fun.”
Ezra looked skeptical but didn’t dare disagree with Vin out loud, although he really didn’t need to verbalize what was clearly written all over his face. The rest of the ride passed with Vin trying to sell the child on the wonders of camping. Ezra remained doggedly unconvinced.
Vin pulled the vehicle into the officers’ parking lot at the precinct building and parked in his customary spot. Ezra had gotten quiet again and cast anxious looks at the building. Buck patted his small hand, the one that had never once let go of Buck’s, and whispered a few quiet reassurances. Buck opened the door and helped the boy out after unbuckling him. Ezra sidled up close to him, pressing his body against his leg and Buck could feel the hand holding his tighten its grip.
Vin led the man and boy to the back entrance where he punched in a code on the security pad and opened the door for them. He walked them up the stairs, throwing back greetings to his fellow officers as they passed. Ezra kept close to Buck but looked around with a child’s natural inquisitiveness. It didn’t look like the police stations he’s seen on the television, he decided. It looked more like the office at his school.
Vin pushed open a door and stood back to allow the two to enter ahead of him. They were in a large open room with about half a dozen desks, some of which were currently occupied. Vin nodded in acknowledgment to the greetings tossed his way but didn’t pause as he headed straight to an office on the other side of the common area and knocked lightly on the open door.
“Hey, Susan,” he greeted the tall brunette woman seated behind the desk piled high with file folders, and used Styrofoam cups.
The woman looked up from the file she was poring over to grin at the long-haired blond now standing in her office.
“How’s it going, Tanner? Did you bring our witness?” the woman asked. Then she looked beyond the man and saw Buck and the little boy clinging to his side and rose with a smile. “Hi. My name is Susan,” she said approaching Ezra slowly and going down on one trouser-clad knee in front of the child, putting herself on his level. “You must be, Ezra. I’m very glad to get the chance to meet you. Vin tells me good things about you. He said you’re a very special and brave little boy. How are you feeling today?”
Ezra shrugged and tried to get even closer to Buck. “Okay,” he said in a small, cautious voice while watching her warily.
“Mr. Wilmington,” she stood up and greeted Buck. “Thank you for bring Ezra down today.”
“Detective,” Buck said reaching out to shake the hand she offered. “I would I like say it was a pleasure, but...”
She nodded her understanding of his unfinished sentence. ”All of us wish it wasn’t necessary,” she told him.
The detective switched her attention back to the reason they were all there, namely the silent child watching with trepidation.
“Vin tells me you just got a few new toys. Maybe we can talk about them some? I like toys myself. I’d really enjoy hearing about the ones you have. Would that be okay with you?” Susan asked him gently, hoping to get the boy to relax a little and build some rapport between them.
Ezra just shrugged again, not willing to give any ground to this stranger trying so hard to act friendly. Ezra had been taught to be wary of people that seemed to be too friendly. His mother had told him repeatedly not to trust people like that because they were only being nice because they wanted something from him. Ezra was smart enough to know that this woman wanted something, too, even if it was only to tell her about his stepfather. Buck, and Vin and the other’s were the only people he had ever known that were nice without wanting anything from him in return.
“Why don’t we go down to someplace that has enough chairs for everyone,” Torrance said easily and led them to one of the interrogation rooms down the hall from her office. She pushed open the door and invited them inside.
The medium sized room was painted a bland blue color, brighter than the ones Ezra had seen in cop shows on the television, but the big mirror along one wall fit the stereotype to a tee. Ezra cast an anxious glance at that mirror. He knew there could be people watching from the other side of that glass and it made him nervous. He didn’t like the idea of somebody watching with out him knowing.
The group took seats. Buck picked up Ezra and placed him in a chair by his side across the table from Detective Torrance with Vin pulling up a chair to sit at the end of the table between Ezra and the detective. Ezra still held onto Buck’s hand like a limpet, but he could no longer press himself against the man as he wanted to since there was a small space separating their chairs. He missed the safe feeling he felt at the contact.
The detective tried to make small talk with the boy, but the friendlier she tried to be the quieter the child became and the more guarded his face grew. Finally realizing she was not making any progress that way, she decided to just begin with her questions.
“Vin has also told me you have had a pretty bad time of it for awhile now. Could we talk about that for a little bit?”
Ezra looked up a Buck then over at Vin who both nodded and smiled in encouragement. He sighed and turned back to the waiting policewoman and said, “What do you want to know?”
{Author’s note: I am going to leave the details of what Ezra went through to your imagination. I had planned to be more explicit discussing what was said in Ezra’s interview, but I just couldn’t. It was too hard. After trying to write the very first instance of his abuse, I found it was just too disturbing an image to have trapped in my head- the curse of having too good an imagination, I guess. I didn’t want anymore like that there (one was bad enough), so I’m leaving it like this. Fill in the blanks with whatever makes you comfortable.}