All for Acceptance II
By:
Rod
(© 2010 by the author)
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's
consent. Comments are appreciated at...
Chapter 5
“Professor Saunders, we have received the order from Judge Hamilton to produce Jeffrey Adams in his Honor’s chambers at 1:00 this afternoon. Any idea what we should do now?” asked Brad.
“Call in Rory the lab assistant who found Jeffrey and took care of his body.”
“Professor Saunders, how may I help you?” asked Rory as he entered the office.
“There has been an investigation begun concerning Jeffrey. I know you found him and took care of his body. I don’t want to know what you did with him, but we are going to have to get our story together to get through the investigation.”
“Perhaps we should tell the judge that he ran away and we have not been able find him. We hadn’t reported it as it only occurred last week and we were hoping to find him and alleviate any problems that might be caused by his disappearance,” suggested Professor Saunders.
“I can’t see where we have any other choice, do we?” asked Brad.
“If that’s how you wish to handle it, I can go along with that. Over the previous week-end we found his room empty and could not locate him anywhere on the grounds. We began a more thorough search with no results. On Monday when the two of you returned I let you know what was happening and I presume you took over putting out whatever contacts were needed to continue the search,” replied Rory.
“That sounds like the best approach to me and one we shouldn’t have a problem with,” stated Professor Saunders.
“I can’t see anything else that would make sense. I just hope they don’t give us too much of a hassle over not reporting it before now,” commented Brad.
“Very well then. I will call Judge Hamilton and let him know of Jeffery’s disappearance. I can only hope we don’t have too big of an argument from him. Besides, this way the Judge’s people can began a search as well,” said Professor Saunders. “I just hope, Rory, you took care of his body in such a way that it won’t be found.”
“I don’t think there is anything to worry about there. His body won’t be found,” stated Rory emphatically.
“Good, thank you for your help. If we are lucky and we hold to the story, I believe we can weather this. Unfortunately we may not be able to get another study subject. Perhaps we should re-examine our data and maybe we can still publish something. I’ll make the call to the Judge and see where we can go from here.”
“Judge Hamilton. This is Professor Saunders calling. We received your summons to produce Jeffrey Adams and we have a bit of a problem.”
“Really, and what exactly is that problem?” asked Judge Hamilton.
‘It seems that week-end before last Jeffrey disappeared from the facility. We have been attempting to locate him but so far have been unsuccessful.”
“And why was this not reported before now?”
“We hoped that we could locate the boy rapidly but unfortunately we have not been able to. With your summons we had no other choice but to report his disappearance to you.”
“Needless to say there will not be any possibility of an approval for any other child to be put in your care. I still do not know exactly why you should have custody of any children. What exactly is the purpose of you having custody?”
“We are studying children with extremely high IQ’s to see if there is any particular item we can isolate in an attempt to explain what may precipitate the inordinate level of intelligence.”
“Sounds like a worthwhile study, but I am afraid I can’t support the use of wards of the state for your study, especially when the one you have had has come up missing. I will contact the detective department and Children and Family Services to have them become more active in a search for him.”
“Thank you for your understanding, if there is anything we can do to help please call.”
“I would imagine the detective in charge of the case will be contacting you for any information leading up to Jeffrey’s disappearance.
“We will be more than happy to help in any way possible.”
“I am sorry to hear he is missing and very disturbed with the situation. We will be in contact. Good day.”
“Detective Jones. Judge Hamilton here. I just received a call from Professor Saunders and according to him Jeffrey Adams has disappeared, suspected of running away over the week-end before last.”
“I just wonder if that is really the case or not,” commented Detective Jones.
“I don’t know but I would appreciate if you could look into it. In the meantime I am going to give Children and Family Services a call and let them know what I have been told. Let me know anything you may find out.”
“I certainly will, Your Honor. I can only hope we can find him.”
“I agree. Good by for now,” said Judge Hamilton before hanging up just to pick the phone back up and dial Children and Family Services.
“Good afternoon, Children and Family Services, Angela here, how may I be of service?”
“Good afternoon, this is Judge Hamilton. Can you connect me to the worker assigned to Jeffrey Adams?”
“Your Honor, that would be Melanie Fairbanks. She is tied up on a call right now. Could I take a message and have her return your call?”
“It is very important that I speak with her as soon as possible.”
“I will see if I can have someone check with her and see if I can get her on the line, Your Honor.”
“Thank you, I will hold while you check.”
“Thank you for holding, Your Honor, but I believe you will want her to return your call as soon as she has concluded the call she is on. She is on the line with Jeffrey right now and he called long distance.”
“I agree, please have here call me in my chambers as soon as possible.”
“Judge Hamilton. This is Melanie Fairbanks with Children and Family Services. I have disturbing news. Jeffrey is in the northern area of the state and just called me asking me for assistance. He would only give me information as to his location on the condition that we do not return him to Professor Saunders and his institution.”
“Did he tell you very much about what has happened?”
“Not very much at this point. I imagine we will be able to find out more once I can pick him up to bring him back.”
“I presume then you have promised not to send him back with Professor Saunders?”
“Most definitely. I was prepared to remove him from there when I went back the last time, but was unable to get anything other than a runaround. I suspected he wasn’t there, but couldn’t find out anything.”
“May I suggest that an officer from the juvenile system accompany you to pick him up?”
“That would be appreciated. I want to leave as soon as possible. It should be a few hour drive.”
“I’m going to call the detective I have working on this case and see if he would arrange for a police escort for you. I will either call you myself or have the escort call you as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. I will be looking forward to the call while I ready things here in the office so I can leave.”
“Hello, Melanie Fairbanks? This is Officer Ted Burke. I received a call requesting that I accompany you to pick up Jeffrey Adams.”
“Officer Burke, thank you for calling. When would it be possible for us to leave?” asked Ms. Fairbanks.
“The department has assigned a vehicle to drive us to his location and I can pick you up at your office within a half hour if that would be acceptable.”
“That would be fine. I will be ready to leave by then. It is still early enough in the day that I believe we should be able to pick Jeffrey up and bring him back here before dinner this afternoon. That being the case, I don’t think we really need to pick up anything else. I’ll just have all the paper work in place.”
“Ms. Fairbanks, if you don’t mind me asking, where will we be taking Jeffrey when we return?”
“I’ll make the call before you get here to be sure, but I feel the best place for him will be at Phillip’s Second Chance Home. When we hang up I’m going to call James Townsend and be sure it will be acceptable with him.”
“I’m sure Jeffrey will be quite happy there. I’ve never seen an unhappy child in that facility. They do care for each one of their charges. I’ll see you within the half hour.”
“Very well. I’ll have everything with me when you arrive. Good bye for now.”
The drive to Cloquet was exactly two hours. It wasn’t hard to find the house on Old Rt-33. When they pulled in they were met by a middle aged man who demanded to know who they were and what they wanted. Officer Burke quickly identified himself and introduced Ms. Fairbanks. Once their id was carefully scrutinized by the man they were lead into the house. Waiting in the living room was Jeffrey.
“Jeffrey, how are you?” asked Ms. Fairbanks.
“Who is the policeman with you?” inquired Jeffrey.
“This is Officer Ted Burke,” replied Melanie.
“Hello, Jeffrey. You can call me Ted if you’d like. I came along with Ms. Fairbanks to see that you are alright and get back to Minneapolis safely.”
“Just so you don’t take me back to Saunders!” stated Jeffrey emphatically as a tear started to fall.
“Don’t worry. There is no way I will let you go back there. I would like to know what happened though, if you would tell me,” said Melanie.
“Can I tell you about it later? It hurts too much right now to talk about.”
Before Melanie or Officer could say anything else, a woman appeared and invited everyone to sit down for lunch. When Melanie stated they could stop on their way, the woman wouldn’t take no for an answer and informed them that lunch was on the table, sufficient for everyone and there was no reason for them to leave until after they had eaten. Besides, Jeffrey had eaten very little for breakfast and was probably starved by now and should eat something before they got back on the road. After all she had prepared something that Jeffrey particularly liked and he should be able to enjoy it. He had been very upset when he had taken a call last night and had a very uneasy night as he decided just what he needed to do. He still hadn’t rested well after deciding to call into Children and Family Services this morning. Now that they were there and assured him he would not go back to Saunders perhaps he could eat better. With a full stomach he could enjoy the trip back a bit more.
Lunch was simple but bountiful. It seemed that Jeffrey had quite a fondness for fried chicken and there were as many chicken legs as he could eat waiting at the table for him. Along with mashed potatoes, corn and biscuits a tall glass of milk helped to wash everything down. A piece of chocolate cake for desert made the meal complete. They would be lucky if Jeffrey didn’t sleep all the way back to Minneapolis. For that matter, Ted and Melanie would be lucky to stay awake as they had been prompted to eat heartily as well.
Conversation during lunch was light and stayed away from the situation at hand. Jeffrey had been very fortunate to spend the short time with these folks. Nothing had been said of how he had arrived there and neither of the couple responded when a few gently hints had been made to draw out an explanation. Considering what Jeffrey had said on the phone and the obvious care this couple had taken of Jeffrey, neither Melanie nor Officer Ted felt there was any reason to feel something was wrong that needed further investigation. Jeffrey would explain what had happened and these people were just temporary good Samaritans who had cared for him when he needed it most. Melanie and Officer Ted where quite curious how Jeffrey had gotten a hundred and thirty seven miles away to arrive there, but that was a question for later.
Lunch was soon over and Jeffrey grabbed his bag with the couple of changes of clothes he had. With a few tears and many hugs, Jeffrey thanked the couple for their care and was ready to leave.
With another two hours driving, Melanie hoped Jeffrey would be able to tell them something about what had occurred within the last couple of weeks. As expected, however, they had hardly pulled out of the drive when they found Jeffrey had leaned over in the seat and fallen asleep. Perhaps he would awaken with enough time remaining to tell his account of things before they arrived at Phillip’s Second Chance Home.
To be continued...
A special thanks to Jesse Mercer for editing.
Posted: 12/17/10