Page 5 of Heal
"You know we have resources—"
"I know. I don't need a shrink. I just need time. You know me. I'll be fine. Tonight was just hard with four coming in at once. It takes a little more out of you. What was hardest was the teen wouldn't let any females around her. She insisted I examine her. She wouldn't even let a woman do a blood draw. The woman they arrested must have obsessed over this girl."
"I wish we could have gotten hold of her before the cops did." Bryon tapped the folder with his finger. "I'll have Noam see what he can find out from his connections at the police station, and I'll have Matt pull all records on the foster parents. This sounds as if it's been going on for years. If so, I want to know why it wasn't caught or reported before this."
"Any doctor could have seen the abuse. I know foster kids are supposed to be seen yearly for physicals, but it's clear these four weren't. If they were, the doctor needs to be looked at, because there was no hiding the abuse. Even if they healed before going in, there is so much obvious scarring, like bite marks and scratches, that they would have known." Beau stretched his legs out. "Look into everyone connected to this case."
"CPS will be doing interviews, right?" Bryon asked.
Beau nodded. "As soon as I give the okay, but I won't for a few days. I have a caseworker from the hospital scheduled to visit the kids tomorrow. At least I know she'll do what is right for them and not just try to close the case and find them new homes." Beau shook his head. "CPS will fight to rush things."
"We can't count on CPS to handle this. It's their fault this wasn't caught sooner."
Beau agreed. He had yet to see CPS handle a child abuse case correctly. Sure, they followed through on the prosecution, but no changes were ever made to make sure this didn't happen again. He didn't even trust the courts anymore. More often than not, the pedophiles would serve a few years and be out on the streets, looking for new victims.
"I'll have Becca pull up court records and keep us posted on the case." Bryon pulled out his phone and started to type out a text message.
Beau didn't say anything as Bryon sent a text to his girlfriend. Becca worked at the courthouse and was their inside source for everything that went on through arrest to the end of the trial. She was also able to alert them to cases they weren't aware of, so they could add the name of the pedophiles to their watch list.
When he was done, Bryon set his phone on the table. "This is the fourth case we've had in the last month where the foster parents were raping the children living with them. I know this is nothing new, but it seems to be increasing."
Beau thought about the cases he'd seen over the last few months. Being the only pediatric hospital in the area, almost all child abuse cases came to his attention at some point. There did seem to be a slight increase in children sexually assaulted while in foster care. "It is. And it's not just one here and there, it's groups of children from the same homes. The pedophiles don't even try to hide it anymore. We never used to see the abuse we do now, the bites, scratches, bruising."
"And these are only the ones we know about. Statistics say that we only see maybe two percent of the abuse that goes on. That means there are a lot of kids out there suffering that we aren't even aware of." Bryon reached for his phone. "I'm going to have Matt pull the number of child deaths over the last year, especially those in the foster care system. My gut tells me those numbers will be higher as well."
"Tell me again why we do this?" Beau stood, grabbing his plate, and taking it over to the garbage to scrape the food off before setting it in the sink.
"Because we make a difference. I know at times like this it doesn't seem like it, especially with the shitload of cases we've had the last few months, but think how much worse it would be if we didn't do what we do," Bryon told him.
"We stop one and three more show up. The world is filled with sick fucks." Beau leaned against the counter.
"You look tired, Beau. Maybe you need a vacation? You haven't taken any time off in over a year." Bryon stared at him. "You can't do what we do and not need some time to decompress."
"I'm just a doctor. I'd be seeing this stuff even if I wasn't part of this team."
"Maybe, but you pay attention to it more, you hear about other cases, you know the extent of the problem better than you would if you weren't working with us. Think about taking a week or two off. Find yourself a nice beach and lay in the sun for hours. You're not going to do anyone any good if you're tired and burned out." Bryon stood, taking his own plate to the sink.
That was the problem. Being the only doctor on the team, he needed to be around all the time. He didn't want to think about what would happen if someone got injured and he wasn't there to save them. Going to the hospital wasn't an option if a team member got hurt. Not with what they did. It would bring too much attention to the team and risk everything they worked for. "I'll think about it. Maybe around Christmas."
"Maybe before." Bryon raised a brow. "Christmas is still two months away. How about Thanksgiving even?"
"No can do. Dear old Dad has summoned me to dinner. He claims there is family business to take care of." Beau didn't hide the sarcasm from his voice. As much as he loved his parents, spending time with them was not his favorite pastime. He called his mother weekly, but his interaction with his father was much less.
"Everything okay?" Bryon knew all about Beau's family and why he tried to separate himself from them as much as he could.
"I assume they'd tell me if it wasn't and not wait for Thanksgiving dinner. God knows what the old man has up his sleeve. It's probably another ploy to try and get me to give up medicine and come take over the family business." Beau's grip on the counter tightened at just the thought of having to sit behind a desk all day. He had no desire to work for his father or take over the company. Maddington Textiles might be one of the largest companies in the world, but that didn't mean Beau wanted to run the damn place.
"Well, you know you're always welcome here for Thanksgiving should you decide to skip out on their invitation." Bryon pulled another beer from the fridge. "Want one?"
"Nah, thanks anyway, but I want to get home. I'm beat." Beau pushed away from the counter. "I'll give you a call tomorrow if I find out anything more, but I'm guessing the police will try to keep this as quiet as they can. No one wants the public to know there are problems in a government-run agency." Beau pulled his keys out of his pocket.
"You're probably right. I'll text you with anything we find out. You just do your job and make those kids well again," Bryon told him.
Beau gave a nod and a wave as he headed out the door, wishing he could heal the kids he'd treated tonight, but the truth was, healing from what they'd gone through was going to take a hell of a lot more than he could give. If they ever healed, it would take a lot of time and therapy. It was more than physical injuries that needed treating, and for once, he was glad he only had to treat the physical ones, because he had no idea how to even begin to heal a child mentally from what they'd faced. He wasn't even sure it was possible.
As he pulled out of the driveway and headed home, he thought about his day and all he'd seen. He made a difference, he was sure he did, but nights like this, it just didn't seem to be enough.
CHAPTER THREE
