Page 11 of Property of BamBam
“The system that’s supposed to protect her has let her down,” I jeer.
“It usually does,” Pokey replies. “I went ahead and did a background check on Olivia as well. Olivia Benson, age twenty, is a high school graduate whose parents died when she turned eighteen due to a car accident. Up until she had to stop working because of concerns with her pregnancy, she was employed at the diner in her hometown, having worked there since she wasfifteen. No write ups in her employment docket and she’s never had a no call no show reported. From what I found out, she’s reliable and even took on additional shifts when her co-workers couldn’t come in for theirs for one reason or another. She has had over thirty visits to the emergency room over the past two years. Not including the two overnight stays she had during her pregnancy, she’s been admitted ten of those times, with injuries that range from concussions to broken bones, as well as lacerations that required stitches.”
I wonder how many of those made it to the proper authorities? If she was as scared of him as she’s led me to believe she is, she probably had some bullshit story like she fell down the stairs or some other outrageous lie to cover his ass. He doesn’t strike me as the type of man who is willing to pay for his crimes. I bet he used some sort of threat to keep her in line.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I growl out. “He took out his insecurities and issues on a woman that he outweighs by at least seventy-five to one hundred pounds. Hell, she’s a good foot shorter than him as well.”
“Wonder how he’d do against amanthe same size as him,” Gopher adds, which has my brothers pounding on the table in agreement.
“How the hell did she get away this time?” Pokey asks.
“He went after Theo,” I say, “and she distracted him by putting herself in his path instead. At some point, she was able to grab the cast iron skillet and she hit him with it, which knocked him out and gave her time to run.” Chuckling, I add, “She was smart about it too. She hid his vehicle keys, and she took the money he had.”
“She’s sure she didn’t kill him?” Rio questions.
“She said he was still breathing when she left,” I reply. “Speaking of which, do you have any medical records on him, Pokey?”
Pokey snickers as he once again taps away on his keyboard, his fingers flying so fast it’s as if he’s a virtuoso. “As a matter of fact, Jasper Price was seen in the local emergency room yesterday afternoon. The reports show that he claims to have fallen and hit his head, knocking him out. However, they also indicate that he had scratches on his face, chest, and arms that he wasn’t able to explain. He was treated and released. I also found a missing person report that he filed for Olivia Benson and her three-month-old son, Theodore Benson.”
“That report needs to be buried,” Rio states. “Make it happen, Pokey.”
“Funny you should say that, Pres,” Pokey says, smirking. “Seems that their system is easy to access, and from the notes I’ve already scanned, they’re not looking too hard. The sheriff has known for quite some time that the fucker has been beating Olivia, and they’ve arrested him for it as well, but the judge always tosses out the charges. From what I can see, the Prices are somewhat well off, although they’re not native to that town. Olivia and her family have always lived there, so their history is deep and when her folks died, many of their friends tried to keep an eye out for Olivia since she was so young.”
“If you think it’s possible to report that she’s alright without shining a light on us, do so,” Rio instructs Pokey who simply nods.
“Let me guess, he isolated her,” I interject. I may watch a little too much Investigation Discovery, as well as listen to podcastswhen I drive the truck and horse trailer, but it makes sense. How else would abusers get away with the shit they do otherwise? Isolate, break down, demean until their prey is left completely destroyed or worst-case scenario, dead.
“It appears that way, BamBam,” Pokey says. “The only way to confirm it for sure would be to go there and do a little bit of digging around. We’d have to put feet to the ground because it looks as if the Prices have had a few things buried themselves.”
“Nah, I think if the fucker’s stupid enough to try and search for her and he ends up finding her here, we deal with it then,” Rio declares. “I’d rather fight on our turf.”
I nod because it makes complete sense to me. We won’t back down from a fight, nor will we hesitate to start one, but we know the players in our neck of the woods and because we try to foster a good community presence, a lot of what we do behind the scenes gets overlooked for the most part.
“Well, if hedoesshow up, we’ll make sure and send a delivery to Rip so he can fire one up for us,” Abyss drolly advises, causing all of us to burst out laughing.
While we have a mother chapter run by Big Daddy, every chapter is pretty much autonomous as far as businesses go. Some of our brothers are into dicier things than we are, but with us being so close to the border, we do our fair share of transports to help things along the proverbial pipeline. What works for one may not work for another and all that jazz.
“Okay, we’re going to have a visitor today,” Rio says, moving church along. “Issy found someone, a therapist, who’s coming to meet with Olivia.” As the brothers start to murmur, he raises his hand. “BamBam is well aware of the rules, brothers, but sheneeded immediate help yesterday. This is temporary until we can get her healed enough so she can go to Hope House.”
Hope House is a local non-profit organization that helps women who are leaving domestic abuse situations. They’ve got services that range from onsite accommodations, to group therapy for those who are able to live off the premises. I think it would be good for Livy to stay with them so she can start getting the help she desperately needs to heal from the shit that fucker has buried her in for the past two years.
Personally, seeing the small sparks of life that Livy’s shown, I’d love to see how she is when she’s whole again. Because she’s definitely got me intrigued, although I refuse to examine that too closely right now.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Olivia
Theo’s little snuffles bring me out of the deep sleep I was in, and while I have to be careful because I hurt worse this morning than I did yesterday, I manage to get him changed and dressed before I get dressed myself.
Since it’s easier to carry him in the snuggle, I put it on then get him inside, his little coos making me smile as I head down to the kitchen to make him a bottle.
“Good morning, Olivia,” Constance says as I breach the doorway.
“Good morning, Constance,” I shyly reply as I make my way to the refrigerator to grab a bottle.
“Let me get that warmed for you,” she states, taking it from me. “Go sit down, we’ll get you some food.”
