The Perfect Solution-A Suspense of Choices (19 page)

"There is never an aide in that room. I made it my business to comment on the fact before and was blown off." Phae stated clearly, glaring accusingly at Bertha Wall.

"I know that, now. How was I supposed to know that then? It was the first time I ever worked here and again I say Mrs. Wall told me there would be someone in the room with me. She went so far as to instruct me to come dressed to have fun. Like I said, I didn’t even know one child from another, let alone its parent. I was beginning to feel crazy.

The only reason I remember your child," she turned towards Catrine. "Is because he was dressed so cute and his hair was in such a darling style and he was so sweet. He was just about the nicest kid in the room. He gave me no problems."

"That's not what I want to hear. I know my baby. I know how he looks, smells, feels." Tears began to slowly roll down Catrine's face. "I want to know whether or not you can describe the person to us. Was she big?" Catrine started to beg within her desperation for answers. “Did he act like he wanted to go with her? Did she scare my baby? Did he cry?”

"Yes, as a matter of fact she did frighten him. Not because she was big or ugly, but because he did not know her."

"You knew this and still you sent the child away with her?" Detective Serge asked.

He looked at the young woman in astonishment. It was amazing how stupid some people were. As long as he had worked in the justice system, new and dumber things were done every day.

"At the time I didn't know." Stephanie excused herself. "I just thought he didn't want to go with her because he wanted his mother. He kept saying 'I want my momma,' and 'my momma didn't send you'. I was taught in my child development classes that by the end of the day some children just want to leave the center with their parent. They miss them and that is all they want to see. Is it my business to tell someone they can't take a child just because he refuses to leave with them? What if I had refused to let him go with her and I had been in the wrong? I was new here and couldn't tell which child belonged to which parent. Brhin kept saying something about a password but the woman just brushed it off." Stephanie raised her voice in her own defense when Catrine gasped in disbelief. "She said that you were ill and had forgotten to give her the password. I believed her. She sounded so convincing. She told me how you had been ill for at least a week and here you are, looking sick. She has to know you and you just forgot. After all, I couldn't but my trust on what Brhin was saying he is only three years old, just a child."

"This is ludicrous." Catrine threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Did Brhin seem as if he was stupid to you? I know you could tell he knew what he was talking about. Age means nothing. There is no possible way that you could not see that he was intelligent beyond his years. I don't even have to brag on the fact. All you had to do was talk to him."

"I did that. No matter how smart I thought he was, I still based my actions on his age. As sorry as I am about such a horrendous mistake, that is the choice I made. Stupid and unforgivable I know. She was an adult he was a preschooler. I am so sorry."

“Sorry is not putting Brhin in my arms." Catrine dismissed the paltry word contemptuously. "I have spent months drilling into Brhin all of the dangers of strangers and how to avoid them." She angrily pointed her fingers at each daycare worker. "I send him here and you stupid people just give him away."

"Yes, I did make that mistake," Stephanie reiterated her fault in the matter. "But after she had said that about you being sick and he had calmed down, I dismissed it. The only thing that bothered me is that as they walked out of the door, he turned back with tears in his eyes and asked me to call his mother. I even tried to take him back, but she virtually ran out of the door. She said it was too late and that she had to take him."

Catrine turned and pressed her face into Phae's shoulder and began to cry hysterically. Immediately, Austin appeared at their side and she transferred her anguish to his shoulder.

"Come and sit down, Cat." Leading Catrine to one of the rockers in the reception area, Austin turned to angrily shout at Stephanie. "Why in God's name didn't you call his mother?"

"I made an effort," Stephanie defended herself as she and the others followed them into the reception area. "It bothered me that the child was so upset, but how could I leave a room full of children and come up here? I sent a note to Mrs. Julioux over there," she pointed to the woman that Mrs. Krull had described as 'the little office worker'. "I gave it to one of the parents that were leaving at the same time as Brhin. In the note I described the woman and told Mrs. Julioux the problem and what I felt about it. Before I left for the day I told Mrs. Wall about the woman and your baby and she told me not to worry about it. Things were okay. That was all that I could do."

Stephanie looked through anguished pleading eyes at Phalene and then at Catrine. When no signs of sympathy came forth, Stephanie turned to the police officers.

"Tell me what else I could have done. I truly believed that she knew him. She called him by name."

"What." Everyone exclaimed in unison.

"Why didn't you say that before?" Detective Serge questioned sharply. "Did the boy act as if he knew her?"

"No not really. I just thought she was someone the mother knew and that the child just hadn't had a lot of contact with her."

"Could you have made a mistake and sent someone for your son?" Detective Serge questioned Catrine.

"I've already told you, no. I even sent a note to these stupid people." She waved her hand towards the group of workers contemptuously. "I was really ill this morning and I gave Brhin a note to let his teacher know that his aunt would be coming to get him. I told them the time and everything. I sat in the car as he went into the building and I watched as Mrs. Julioux opened the door for him. She waved at me and then I saw him take the note out of his pocket and show it to Mrs. Julioux. She waved it away. What happened to the note?" Catrine questioned Mrs. Julioux.

"I don't know. I told him to put it back in his pocket and give it to his teacher."

They all turned to Stephanie.

Stephanie pushed her fist tighter into the pocket of her jacket, squashing the balled paper into silence.

"No, no." She answered their question before they could ask. "No one ever gave me a note. If I had gotten one I would not have sent your son away with the wrong person. I'm not stupid. I just felt bombarded. And this can’t all be placed on me. I was just working here."

"Did your son have his name on his clothing, Ms. Teddi?" Detective Williams switched his gaze towards Catrine.

"No. I know better than that. I try my best not to do such things. I know that it makes it easier for your child to be taken if his name is used by a complete stranger."

"Now that I think about it," said Stephanie, "Brhin was sitting at the table waiting for his snack. He children's names are laminated on an animal shaped piece of construction paper and taped to the tables. The woman could have easily read his name."

"Would you get the note that Ms. Franklin sent to the office," Detective Williams turned to the director.

Bertha Wall in turn switched her attention impatiently to Mrs. Julioux.

"Mrs. Julioux you never gave me a note," she accused. "Go and get that note for me, now." She waved her hand in a commanding gesture.

"I can't." Mrs. Julioux stood by the entrance of the room looking disconcerted and twisting a scarf into knots. "I was drinking a Coke when Brandi's mother reached over the desk to hand me this piece of paper, she knocked over the drink and everything that was on the desk including the note was soaked. I just threw it all away."

"Jesus." Austin looked at Mrs. Julioux. "Did you even bother to ask Stephanie what was in the note?”

"No, I didn't. When I had everything cleared and did get a chance to go back there she had already been sent home for the day and you had already come and gone."

Wordlessly, Catrine threw her hands in the air and shook her head in bewilderment.

"What kind of people do you hire?" Phalene disgustedly turned to Bertha Wall. "I'm flabbergasted. How can you be sure that you receive even half of your messages?"

Mrs. Wall just shrugged her shoulders and bowed her head in defeat.

"Well, she does," Mrs. Julioux stood angrily glaring at Phalene. "I don't ever make mistakes like the ones that have happened here today. And I am not clumsy. Today was just a very busy day. All Wednesday's are since it is the last day to pay without collecting penalties, most of the parents wanted to pay their fees and I was extremely busy. We have two hundred and ten children enrolled here. I am in charge of collecting fees and keeping the records organized. That's combining both centers and I have only been here for two weeks. A lot of the parents I don't know myself. I’ve tried talking to Mrs. Wall about that, but she is constantly on the run. I've been spending most of my time here and even my off time trying to get and keep the records straight. Mrs. Wall wasn't here for most of the day and that meant I had to deal with the parents and answer the telephones and solve any other minor problem that might have occurred. Everything that has happened today seems to be just a combination of circumstances and bad timing."

Detective Williams pulled out her pen and note pad.

"Ms. Franklin, would you be able to describe the woman that has little Brhin-Kristoffer?"

"Yes. She has been all that I could think of since leaving the daycare. Her face is embedded in my mind. She was about forty, maybe older. Tall, at least two or three inches taller than I am. I'm five-five, so she had to be five feet eight. Her hair was in braids to her shoulders."

"What color was her hair?"

"Uhm, black braided extensions with some gold strands weaved in. She had a large mole under her right eye and was dark complexioned. Her skin was the color of Mrs. Wall's but without all the makeup. She wore a large blue stoned ring on the index finger of her right hand. Her nails were extremely long and painted in multi-colors of blue purple and pink. She was also wearing old Nike tennis, a Dallas Cowboy starter jacket and faded black jeans."

"Did you notice anything strange about the way she spoke?"

"A little bit. She didn't sound as if she came from Texas. She was very sure of herself. I really thought that she knew him. The way that she kept fingering his hair just seemed so natural. She mentioned his recent haircut and how she liked it better the way it was now. I just figured that she knew him. How else would she know he had just had his hair cut? Why else would she choose him? She even promised him that they would go to McDonald's. The way she reminded Brhin of how much he loved to go there and how they go there each Saturday. I felt comfortable giving him to her. She even knew what kind of jacket he wore. She described it perfectly."

"How did she ask for the jacket? Did she ask where his jacket is or did she ask for it by color?"

"She asked for it by color. Told me it was black leather and that it zipped and had a hood."

"That is the color of his jacket," Catrine confirmed. "I wonder how she could have known all of that. How could she have known that he loves McDonald's?"

"Those are things we will have to check into." Detective Serge answered. "She probably chose him because he appealed to her. And it is common knowledge that all children love to go to McDonald's. How often do you bring him there?"

"Every Saturday morning, that’s how we start our weekend."

"Do you frequent a certain McDonald's?"

"Yes, the one on Washington. Its playground faces a plot of woods and looks more welcoming than any other."

"We'll post a car outside the restaurant in case she brings him there."

"How many children were sitting at the table with Brhin?" Detective Williams questioned Stephanie.

"There were two little boys, maybe three."

"Did she speak to any of them?"

"No not that I know of. When I walked into the room from the kitchen, she was kneeling before him at the table. He was talking to her."

"Did it seem as if he knew her?"

"I couldn't tell you that." She shrugged her shoulders. "They were just talking. I couldn't hear what they were saying. When I walked into the room I got this funny feeling, because there she was kneeling in front of him and talking to him when all of the other parents had been walking in the room, grabbing their kids and walking out without a backward glance. Everything seemed to be moving really fast."

Detective Williams turned to the director.

"These monitors that are sitting here," she pointed to the wall, "do you turn them on?"

"Yes, as soon I open The P. S. Center. That's one of the first thing I do after turning off the alarm. They monitor both of the centers insides and out. The A.P.S. also has its own which is why these are off when we close. I can check the entire building for intruders when I come in the mornings instead of walking from room to room. As a matter of fact, we should have a tape of today's session. Let me just get it."

Fiddling with the monitor system, Bertha extracted the tape and handed it to the detective.

"Thank you." She tucked it under her arm. "We'll take this to the station and see what kind of evidence we come up with."