Snatched

Part 56 - Westchester Police Station

Wendy Nicholson pulled into the car park of Westchester Police Station and looked into the back of her car. She looked at the small childs car seat and frowned. How could such a small child have been through as much trauma as that and what circumstances had led to this happening? Stuffed into a carry on bag for an eight hour flight from France to Los Angeles. Wendy shuddered at the thought. She took a deep breath in and stepped out of the car. Having served almost 20 years as a social worker, there were very few cases that shocked her anymore. But this was one of them.

When Wendy strolled into the Police Station, her head held high to mask what she was feeling, the first thing she noticed was the little boy sat in a chair behind the reception desk. His lips were tinged blue. No wonder after everything he'd been through today. He was clutching a small teddy. She knew that police departments often kept toys for children who had had to be pulled out of traumatic family circumstances. The boy was also eating a granola bar. A quick way of boosting the calories in his body, she supposed.

The look on the receptionists face was quite solemn. By the looks of the things, the entire office had been dealing with this case for many hours and they were all exhausted by it. No surprise, really.

'Hello', Wendy greeted the receptionist, not sure whether to try and sound cheerful or not, considering the circumstances. 'My names Wendy Nicholson. I'm the social worker assigned to the case of Daniel Dumont.'
'Oh hello, this is Daniel', the receptionist said, motioning towards the little boy sat behind her. As if Wendy didn't already know who he was.
'Daniel', the little boys ears pricked up. This is Wendy and she's come here today to see you!' Wendy could tell that despite her exhaustion, the receptionist was trying to be cheerful for Daniels sake.

'Hello Daniel', Wendy said, as she sat down on the chair next to the little boy. 'My names Wendy, but you can finish your granola bar before you speak to me if you'd like'.
'No, I ok.' the little boy said, 'ou est ma mere?' Wendy could tell, from the little high school French she remembered, that the little boy was asking where his mother was. Her heart broke for him.
'She's staying somewhere else for now, but I'd like you to come with me in my car if that's ok.'
'Is your car fast?' the little boy asked. 'I like cars. Brrrmm brrmm.' Wendy smiled to herself.
'No I'm afraid it's not very fast. But I have a red car seat just for you!'
'Oh I like red!' Daniel said, 'lots of cars are red.'
'Well that's lucky!' Wendy said. 'Listen Daniel, I'm going to take you in my car to go and visit a very nice family.'
'I like very nice family', Daniel said, 'I stay with Maddie and Antoine and Jace and Louis. They very nice family!'
'I'm sure they are' Wendy said. She remembered the name Maddie from Daniels notes, as one of the women who'd helped smuggle him into the country. 'But I'm going to take you to see another very nice American family.'
'Oh', the little boy said, 'ma mere say I born in America. She say some people in America nice and some not nice. But you say these people very nice and you very nice, so I happy.'
'Oh thank you, Daniel' Wendy said, relieved that the little boy was happy to go with her.
'Now we'll take teddy and we'll find a bin for that wrapper and then I'll take you to my car!'
'Yay!' the little boy said.

**

Shelby sat at her desk at the social work office in downtown Los Angeles. As she spun around on her chair absentmindedly, she knocked over her cup of coffee. Turning around, Shelby realised that the coffee had spilled all over the pile of case notes on her desk.

Quickly, Shelby grabbed the case notes and shook them, in an attempt to clear off some of the coffee. No, she decided. They were ruined beyond compare. Shelby put the notes in the waste paper bin beside her. Surely they couldn't have been that important. Nothing exciting ever happened in this office.

Suddenly the phone rang. Shelby picked it up.
'Westchester social services, what can I help you with?' she asked, in the cheerful voice she normally put on when answering the phone.
'Hi', the recepient said, 'my name is Luke Danes. I'm calling about a missing child from Connecticut and I was wondering if you'd ever heard of a Daniel..'
Shelby interrupted the man. 'Let me just look through my notes', she said. Shelby quickly glanced over the notes on her desk. 'No sorry', she said, 'I've not heard of us taking in a little boy from Connecticut'.
'Ok, no worries' the man said and he hung up the phone.