Read Keeping the Tarnished Online
Authors: Bradon Nave
Answers
Graye
The office was beautifully crafted with rich, dark wood, a large bookshelf, and gray marble flooring. Graye and Jackson were with Brian in the waiting area of the empty office. Dr. Evans had performed the examination after hours, which was at noon on Saturday, as a courtesy to Johnny and everyone else involved. Officer Brad Stevenson was present as well, however he had informed Graye that some special agent would be joining them shortly, yet offered no details or further information. The woman imagined it was standard procedure in a case like this.
Graye had been skimming through magazines the entire time they had been there, yet hadn’t read a single article as she was completely nervous and terrified to learn what the doctor had to say. Jackson seemed to be staring at the same section of the wall for the past ten minutes, chewing his gum nervously.
The time seemed to be dragging by slowly, and no one seemed to want to discuss anything or even attempt to engage in casual conversation. As Brian stood from his chair and began walking in the direction of the facilities, the door to Dr. Evan’s exam room opened, and the woman exited.
Graye had heard of Dr. Barbara Evans, but had never met the woman prior to this. She wasn’t expecting a beautiful Cajun woman with a heavy French accent. She appeared young, fit, and had blonde hair and green eyes.
“Dr. Mulberry, I’m pleased you’re still here,” the woman said as she approached the four with a halfhearted smile. “I have been given permission to discuss my findings with you from my patient, Mr. Johnny Tregalis,” the woman said as she sat down in an empty chair next to Officer Stevenson and directly across from Graye, Jackson, and Brian.
Graye instantaneously developed the lump in her throat. Part of her wanted to exit the scene rather than hear of the forthcoming list of atrocities.
The woman opened the manila file and began reading in a robotic tone. “Radiology reveals healed fractures of the—” Dr. Evans stopped midsentence and turned her head from the file, away from the onlooking group of adults. She drew in several deep breaths and closed the file.
“The boy has several healed fractures. His right wrist, his right ulna, four rib fractures on the left side, two on the right, four metacarpal bones have healed incorrectly, three on the right and one on the left. He has significant scarring to the surface of his entire back, which is consistent with years of traumatic abuse. Significant scarring associated with healed anal fissures is present, which is most certainly consistent with trauma to the area. There are sixty-six noticeable circular scars on the boy’s trunk, and legs. The patient confirmed the injuries were inflicted with lit tobacco products. There was a significant scar on the boy’s chest consistent with a blade injury, which the patient confirmed. When I instructed the patient remove his gown, he began trembling in a fearful manner. The examination itself was, in my opinion, traumatic for this young man. Officer Stevenson, I will have my report to your office electronically this evening and in a hardcopy by close of business day, Monday. In my professional opinion, I feel it would be in the patient’s best interest if you conducted questioning at another time.”
“Yes, Doctor, of course,” Officer Stevenson said as the look of shock was slowly dissolving from his face as the doctor left the waiting room.
“I’ll kill him. I’ll fu—I’ll kill the bastard,” Graye heard Jackson say in a low, distressed voice as his face displayed a look of pure rage.
Graye’s attention turned to a gray-haired, clean-shaven, tall and slender man who had appeared in front of the four adults dressed in blue jeans, and a navy blue blazer. “I assume you’re referring to Thomas Tregalis?” the man said as he approached the group. “Are you Jackson and Graye Everett?” the man asked as he shook Officer Stevenson’s hand. “I’m Special Agent Terrence Boudreaux. I’ve been looking for Mr. Johnny Tregalis, and I am beyond pleased to learn the young man is in fact breathing,” the man said before anyone could answer. “As for wishing death on Thomas Tregalis, that won’t be necessary, the sick fuck is already dead.”
Graye was beyond shocked as she stared at the Agent in disbelief, she found herself almost incapable of speech, as if he had just informed her that he was from another planet.
“So, his father is dead? How? How is he, how did he die?” the woman blurted out to the best of her ability.
“His neighbor, Bill Clementine, found the man dead in his house upstate just four days after Bill allegedly gave Johnny a ride to a bus station in Shreveport. The man’s blood alcohol level was a point four nine, but that isn’t accurate because the man had been dead so long before they found him. But the examiner concluded natural causes,” the agent as Graye continued to stare at him, her ears felt as though they were on fire. “I’m gonna need you two and Mr. Tregalis to come to the local precinct with me to answer some questions, and you can plan on being there a while,” agent Boudreaux continued.
“Is Johnny in some sort of trouble? Are we?” Graye asked in an irritated and concerned voice as she leaned forward in her seat.
“Mrs. Everett, there was substantial amount of evidence recovered from the Tregalis residence that has led to at least one arrest. We found some of the most disgusting evidence depicting child abuse that I’ve ever seen in my career, and Johnny’s assistance is going to be needed to put the sick fuck away. We also need to question his knowledge regarding the murder of his mother, and the unidentified child found with her.”
“What!” Graye shrieked as she began to breathe deeply in disbelief. “That’s not right, his mother left when Johnny was, when he was sixteen. She took Jacob—”
“Jacob? Who is Jacob?” Boudreaux asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“Jacob is Johnny’s little brother. Are you telling us his mother and little brother are dead as well?” Jackson asked as he stood from his chair.
“We have no record of Irene Tregalis giving birth to a second child. Unless she never sought medical assistance…” he paused and rubbed his chin. “The remains of Irene and a male toddler were found preserved in a padlocked deep freezer inside the old barn on the Tregalis property. The medical examiner confirmed the cause of death for both victims was blunt force trauma to the head, and that the female had been thawed out at least once, and sexually violated postmortem.” The agent appeared to have a difficult time even relaying the information as Graye remained silent and disgusted.
“Are you telling me you believe Johnny doesn’t know Irene Tregalis is deceased?” the agent asked as he looked at Graye with a desperate look on his face.
“No. He absolutely has no idea, and it’s going to be perhaps more than the boy’s fragile psychological well-being can handle at this point,” Brian chimed in as he appeared just as overwhelmed as the Everetts.
“Are you the boy’s doctor?” Boudreaux asked as he looked at Brian.
“I’m his psychologist, Dr. Evan’s is in her office toward the back,” Brian replied as he pointed toward the back of the office building.
“Well, it might be best if you came along with us. I imagine it to be a long night,” Boudreaux said as he turned from the stunned group, shaking his head.
The News
Johnny
“Do these photographs look familiar, Johnny? Do you remember these?” Boudreaux asked the silent young man as he sat across from him with several pictures scattered on the table. The room was dark, pale blue, and as cold as the hearts of some of the violators that had been interrogated in it. Johnny glimpsed at the Polaroids, but quickly looked away. The boy looked at his reflection in the large mirror on the wall, he had no idea how to admit to himself that the kid being violated in the pictures was him, and he certainly had no clue how to tell the agent this.
“Johnny, Doug Davenport is in custody. He’s gonna pay for what he did to you, but you’ve got to help me out here. There may be other boys out there that this man has hurt, and I need your help.” Boudreaux’s words appeared genuine to Johnny. The thought of other boys suffering the way Johnny had made the young man realize he had to respond somehow, someway.
“That’s me,” the boy said as he tapped one of the many pictures, “all of ’em.” Johnny then turned from the agent and looked at his reflection again. He was surprised that he didn’t feel more emotion than he did as he was neither regretful nor relieved that he disclosed his identity in the atrocious photographs.
“You’re a brave man, Johnny. I know without a doubt you’re gonna get past this and do something absolutely fantastic, but right now we’ve gotta focus on putting this son of a bitch behind bars for as long as we can. Do you think you would be willing to talk to a jury in a courtroom?”
Johnny looked at Boudreaux with a frightened look on his face. “I can’t. If he found out it would be real bad,” the boy said as he briefly looked at the pictures again and then looked back at the mirror.
“Johnny, I got to tell you something, and it ain’t gonna be easy for you to hear, but you need to hear it just the same. Johnny, your daddy is dead; he was found dead July 22 by a neighbor, a Mr. Bill Clementine.”
As Johnny heard these words, he stared at Boudreaux in disbelief as an uncontrollable smile fell across the boy’s face.
“You know that for sure? No lie?” the boy asked as he continued to smile, feeling as though years of oppression were being lifted from his psychology.
“Medical examiner confirmed the identity, he’s on a slab as we speak, young man,” Boudreaux replied happily as Johnny seemed absolutely thrilled by the news.
“He…he gave my dad money almost every week, and sometimes twice a week, just depending. Sometimes he took the pictures, but if he wanted to be…if he wanted to be in the picture too, then my dad would take it,” Johnny explained as he watched Boudreaux’s face develop a heavy scowl and a look of disgust. The agent gathered the pictures and placed them back in the folder file.
“That’s why my mom took my brother away. Uncle Doug came to see him once, and the next day they left, just disappeared.”
“So, Johnny, are you willing to testify to that in an open court?”
“You mean just tell ’em what I just told you? I can do that,” the boy said as Boudreaux began to smile, as well.
“I know you can, son, I have no doubt about it. When this is all over you’re gonna have no regrets about putting that nasty-ass piece of garbage behind bars for good. You know what happens to men like him in prison, don’t ya, Johnny?” Johnny looked at Boudreaux with an intrigued look on his face. “They get everything given right back to ’em, and they usually don’t last too long, my friend.”
“Can you burn ’em?” the boy asked randomly.
“The pictures? No, son, they go logged into evidence, but I assure you, you won’t have to see any of ’em again after this is all over.”
Johnny shook his head slightly as the agent finished his sentence. “Not the pictures, my dad, can you burn my dad? They burned my grandma when she died and let my aunt dump her ashes out on her land,” the boy said happily. The thought of his father’s body going up in flames brought great pleasure to the boy.
“That’s not my department there, son. But I promise you this, come hell or high water, we’ll get you your dad’s ashes.” The agent looked at Johnny for a few seconds and then rose from his seat. “Johnny, there’s something else we need to talk about, and I feel it would be best if you take a small break, grab a soda or something, and I’m going to bring in Brian to sit with us, okay?”
Tarnished
Graye
Graye found the office to be uncomfortably small and cramped, and the air was stuffy and stagnant with the Everetts, Brian, and Officer Stevenson all crammed in the tiny quarters.
“It’s worthwhile what y’all have done, but the reality is that you don’t gotta clue what you’re doing. You act like you rescued this boy from the brink and that’s final, like there’s nothing else to it,” Officer Stevenson proclaimed confidently.
Graye’s face was bright red, partially from anger, partially from the claustrophobic surroundings she was in. She felt the urge to reach across the desk and slap the shit out of the young officer. “How dare you assume to know what we do and do not know,” Graye snapped hatefully as she felt her husband place his hand upon her thigh. The three chairs on the opposite side of the officer’s desk were so tightly packed into the office that there was little elbow room at all.
“I’ve seen these kids, a good deal of ’em pop a round off in their own head by the time they’re twenty-one,” Officer Stevenson said as he reclined back in his comfortable office chair.
“Excuse me, do you have any specific evidence or data reflecting suicide rates among victimized teenage boys that were linked primarily to you or this agency? Because if you do then you certainly cannot exclude yourself from the equation, my young friend,” Brian said in a condescending manner as the door to the office opened slightly.
“Dr. Mulberry, I believe I could use you in the next room,” Boudreaux said politely with a smile.
“Is everything okay?” a concerned Graye asked as she leaned over to see the agent.
“Everything is going better than expected. That’s a fine young man in that room, and I commend his bravery,” Boudreaux replied as Graye looked directly at Officer Stevenson, smiling as she gave him a glare.
She watched as Brian finagled his way from the office, allowing the Everetts to stretch out some and get a bit more comfortable.
“I really just hope you two know what you’re gettin’ yourselves into is all I’m gonna say,” Officer Stevenson said as Jackson leaned forward in his seat.
“I do believe you have said quite enough. If you think for a damn minute that we give a shit what the hell you think, well guess again, asshole. You think just because the kid is a little damaged that he’s what, unlovable, unsalvageable?” Jackson snapped at the officer in a harsh tone of voice as Stevenson’s face became red, and his eyes widened.
“Now, hold on there, mister. I never used the word damaged, not even once. These kids are tarnished, and if you think that’s just gonna disappear, then you got a rude awakening, my friend,” Officer Stevenson snapped back.
Graye began to laugh lightly as she looked at the officer in complete disgust. “We are not friends, and I don’t believe I can stomach the ignorance that spews from your mouth any longer. Tarnished or not, we are keeping him, he is part of our family, and that’s just what families do. If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the ladies’ room and rid myself of your face.” As Graye stood from her chair, she heard her husband laughing as the man stood up as well. The two began to exit the office of the seemingly stunned young officer, who appeared to have been genuinely offended.
Graye and Jackson squeezed their way out of the tiny office and made their way to the hall. There was a bench to the right side of the hallway. Graye simply followed her husband, as claiming the need to use the facilities was merely an excuse to get away from Officer Stevenson. As the couple sat down, Graye’s heart rate slowly began to return to normal.
“Are we making the right decision, Jackson? I know in my heart that we are, but I need to know you feel the same way. We don’t know everything about him, are we capable?” Graye looked at her husband, placing her hand on his thigh.
“From what we do know, do you really think we could turn him away at this point?” Jackson asked as Graye felt him take her hand. “Our perseverance is going to determine the rest of his life. I’m not looking at this as some sort of pet project, I love that kid, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get him the help he needs. I’m two hundred percent positive we are making the right decision. We have Brian, and a wealth of resources, and as of now we know for sure we are the only thing he has. We can’t let some two-bit loudmouth discourage us, Graye. This isn’t going to get any easier anytime soon so we need to stay strong for our family, all of them.” Graye looked at her husband smiling, and hugged him around his waist.
“I seriously don’t know what I did to deserve you,” the woman said as her emotional moment was cut short by the sound of loud yelling.
“That’s Johnny, what the hell is going on?” Jackson asked as the couple jumped from the bench and headed toward the loud shouts.
Officer Stevenson ran past them and through the door that led to the interrogation room.
“I want Graye! I wanna see Graye and Jackson, now!” Johnny yelled as tore through the doors, looking for the couple.
Instantly, Graye knew Johnny had been informed of his mother and brother’s passing.
As the boy spotted Graye, he ran for her, throwing his arms around her and crying loudly.
Graye tried her best to comfort the boy, but she was crying as well. She felt Jackson approach the two as he wrapped his arms around both of them.
As the tears fell, no one knew the words to say, there were none.
Brian approached slowly, placing his hand on Jackson’s shoulder, “They want the boy upstate in two days for questioning and to assist with making arrangements for the deceased. I think it would be best if I came to your house this evening as well.”
Graye watched as Agent Boudreaux approached with his head down and his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry, son. If there is anything I can do, please let me know. Mr. Everett can you have this young man in Shreveport day after tomorrow? He needs to meet with the prosecutor and make final arrangements for his family.”
“Yes, we’ll all three be there,” Jackson replied as the agent patted his shoulder and walked away.
Graye looked at Johnny, who seemed completely devastated, and instantly thought of the long road the young man had ahead of him. She knew the entire family would need to be as supportive as possible to see him through.