Chapter 3

Once I was dressed and ready for the day, I made the call to Rose's parents. They must have been waiting for it as the phone only rang once before Dale picked it up.

"Hello."

"Hi, Dale. It's Sam Knight."

"Good morning, Sam. We were expecting your call. Is Rose okay? Should we come get her?"

"Rose is okay, Dale. Rose has told me what's troubling her, and as I expected, I am now working for her to help with her problem. I can't tell you about it yet because she's asked me not to. But I do need some things from you."

"What ever you need Sam. We talked about it after we talked to you, and we understand the need for trust. We hope you can tell us more soon but will not push. What do you need now?"

"I have a very good friend who is a doctor. He is the doctor who treated and still cares for all the girls I have helped before. They all seem to trust him as soon as they meet him, and I think Rose will, too. I want your permission for him to examine her."

"Of course, Sam. We wanted her to see a doctor any way, and I trust your recommendation."

"Good. Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you a letter asking for your permission, and you can send it back filled in."

He gave me the address and told me he had both a printer and scanner, so they would be able to sign the letter. He promised to get that done as soon as I sent it.

"That's fine, Dale. I'll have the doctor see her as soon as possible and let you know when to pick her up. The other thing I need is for you to keep Rose home from school for a few days. I'll get the doctor to write out a note advising it without giving any details. Then you'll need to arrange to get her school work so she doesn't fall behind. All this must look like any normal sick child staying home. You shouldn't answer any questions you can avoid at her school. Can you handle that?"

"Certainly, Sam. No trouble at all. Can you tell me if there's a medical problem you know about?"

"I can tell you that there's no medical problem I am aware of at the moment, but I want the exam just to be sure. I promise to tell you if there's anything medically wrong."

"Fine. Then we'll expect to get that e-mail from you soon and will get it right back to you. And Sam, thank you very much."

We said good bye and hung up. My next call was to my friend Jack, the doctor I had mentioned to Dale. He answered after a few rings, sounding sleepy.

"Hello, Sam. What's wrong?"

He had seen my number on his caller ID and knew I wouldn't be calling so early unless there was a problem.

"You know me too well, Jack. I have a girl I need you to examine."

"Is this another case like the others?"

"It's similar, but there is not likely to be any signs of physical abuse. I just need to be sure. Her parents will be sending me a letter of permission, and I'll have it here for you when you come over."

"Okay. When do you want me there?"

"How about ten-thirty? Can you manage that?"

"No problem. What can you tell me so I'll be sure to bring what I need?"

"Not much. She's fourteen years old and looks to be about five feet tall and around a hundred pounds. She's been sexually abused but not raped as far as I know. She is very emotional and scared of men and boys. The other girls have told her about me and she trusts me, but I can still sense her reluctance to being touched. Ginger will be here with you for the exam to make her more comfortable."

"Okay, Sam. I'll be there at the time you set. Get Ginger to tell her about me so she'll be more at ease."

"Will do, Jack. Thanks."

I sat down at my computer and wrote a quick letter for Dale to sign and e-mailed it to him. Then I called Ginger to come in and talk for a minute. I asked her to get Mary and to tell Rose about Doctor Jack. I told her he was coming to examine Rose after the girls left, and she needed to be ready for him. She agreed to take care of it. I reminded her the others should be ready to leave at ten. She said they knew and were getting their things together already. No one suspected there was anything going on with Rose.

I called and arranged for the van to pick up the girls and then called Mother to tell her they would be coming home a little early. I kidded her about her 'date' but she wouldn't tell me anything, and we laughed and said goodbye.

I saw that I had e-mail, and when I checked it, was from Dale. I was a little surprised at how fast he had sent the letter back. It was signed by both Vickie and him. He had also included another letter that was a surprise. It gave me complete authority to do what ever was required for Rose including medical decisions and all care while she was in my custody. It also approved of my taking her on as a client and gave me authority to act on her behalf as requested by her. It made things better for me, and I sent off a thank you. I printed out copies of the letters and added the files to the case file I had started for Rose.

I went out and checked on the girls, and when Rose looked up, I signaled her to come with me to my room. The others didn't seem to notice her leaving the room. When we got to my room I showed her the letters and explained what they meant.

"Did you tell my parents what I told you?" She seemed very upset.

"NO! I didn't, Rose. I told them I was working for you and that I couldn't tell them anything without your permission. They accepted that and are very glad that you're getting help with what ever is bothering you. They only want what's best for you and will do what ever is needed to see you're taken care of."

She seemed to relax then. I told her that Doctor Jack was coming at ten-thirty after the others left, so they didn't need to know about it. I asked if the girls had told her about Doctor Jack, and she said they had and she was okay with him examining her. I sent her back to the others and went back to my computer. I found a message from Amber with some information about the school and the four boys I had asked her to check out. She'd been able to figure out their full names from a list of the senior class that she found on line at the school's web site. It looked like none of the boys were involved in sports or any clubs. Almost all the other seniors were in at least one club or sport. It was easy to assume they were the ones we were interested in. She included pictures of the boys so I could get confirmation from Rose.

Amber also had a run down on the two teachers. They had both come to the school at the same time just two years ago. They had worked at another school in another state and had left together in the middle of the school year. She was able to find an article from a local paper that indicated an unusual number of girls had taken advantage of that school's voluntary transfer policy, and an investigation had taken place at about the time the two teachers had left. It indicated that the investigation had resulted in the expulsion of half-a-dozen boys, but no details were given because they were minors. She suggested that the reason nothing was mentioned about the two teachers was partly because of personnel policies and possibly to avoid any chance of parents bringing suit against the school for whatever had happened. She indicated she would continue to check and see if she could get in touch with an insider who might be willing to talk off the record.

I sent a short note thanking her and approving of her follow through plans. Just as I finished that I got a call from Wilson.

"What's up, Sam?"

"I need some info on a few people off the record. It involves some minors, so I'll understand if you can't get anything. I can't tell you what's involved yet but promise to tell you as soon as I have anything solid for you to take action on."

"Okay. Tell me what you need, and I'll see what I can find out."

I gave him the names of the four boys and the two teachers. I asked him to check NCIC and local records for anything he could find. I also mentioned the case at the other school and asked if he could find anything out about that. He promised to try and to get back to me ASAP.

Right on cue I got a call from Mike. I told him I needed a meeting with him and Beth, the ex-FBI agent that was Chief of Field operations, that afternoon and asked if we had any qualified teachers working for us. He said he wasn't sure but would check. I asked him to have one at our meeting if he found one. I also needed an operative that could pass for a high school senior, preferably a very sexy-looking one. He said he'd have one at our meeting. I also asked for "The Geek" to be present. That was what everyone called Walter Schwartz, our electronics and surveillance expert. He knew it and always smiled when he heard it used. Mike agreed to have everyone I needed at the meeting.

I asked Rose to come into my room and showed her the pictures. She quickly identified them as the right four boys.

I updated the Rose file and went to see what was going on with the girls. It was almost ten, and they were all ready and waiting in the front room. As I entered the room they all gathered around and thanked me for letting them have a pajama party. I got a hug and a kiss on the cheek from each of them. Even Rose followed the others as if she was leaving too. The van arrived a few minutes later, and as the girls left they each said goodbye to Rose and told her they were glad to have met her and looked forward to seeing her at school. She was almost in tears when they left. She really needed the support and was not expecting it. The other three girls were soon gone as well.

Doctor Jack arrived right on schedule. He barely got in the door before Ginger was hugging him and kissing his cheek. His smile lit up the room as she held him and told him how happy she was to see him. I introduced him to Rose and was pleased to see her smile when he took her hand and kissed the back of it. She even blushed a little. I knew then that she'd be okay with him. I suggested they use the spare bedroom, and as they went in I gave Ginger my digital camera and asked her to take any pictures she thought were needed. She knew what I meant and agreed.

I sat down and waited. I went over my actions so far and thought about what I needed to do. I knew I had to help Rose any way I could. We could always get her out of that school, but that would leave others at risk. I needed to stop what was going on and see to it that the perp's were punished. This could not be allowed to continue.