Chapter 2: How Safe is Safe

Things in my house then settled down a little. Cathy got daily calls from the DSS caseworker checking on her welfare. After the calls Cathy would relate to me what they had talked about. I was glad for Cathy's sake that DSS was doing their job quite admirably. Cathy was starting to relax some but several times during the night she would awake screaming and end up in my bed being comforted. I had a great deal of affection for her and did not object to her coming to me with her fears even if it meant sleeping in my bed from time to time.

Her father was arraigned and charged with murder in the first degree for killing his wife and assault in the first for attacking Cathy. At the arraignment his public defender entered a plea of not guilty for him and bail was set at half a million cash or bond. He contacted a lawyer who got to work on his case right away. The lawyer pooled all of the assets and contacted a bail bondsman to post bail. The lion's share of the assets posted was in the form of the house. I heard about his posting bail and that the father would be out of jail the next day. I checked with my attorney and he indicated to me that Cathy had every right to remove whatever personal affects she wanted from the house. He also suggested that she get it done before the next day when her father would be released.

Cathy and I got busy and got all of her mother's clothes and possessions over to my house. I asked Cathy if she knew where there were any legal papers and she told me that her parents had a small file cabinet where every thing was stored. I went through the file and extracted anything I could find related to Cathy or her mom. We ended up with the better part of a file box full which I sequestered in my basement safe. The bail bondsman had come by to see what we were removing from the house. I explained the situation to him and told him what we had removed. One thing I did not mention to him or Cathy was that I had taken a hunting rifle and a pistol that I had locked up in my basement along with the ammunition.

We got everything put away in my house by late afternoon so timing was perfect. About noon the next day I got a call from my attorney informing me that Cathy's father had made bail and was released. He warned me that her father would undoubtedly be going to the house and would notice the things which had been removed. In his fit of anger he would probably come to my house shortly thereafter.

The order of protection dictated that her father was not to be within 500 feet of her which meant that if he did indeed go to his house he would be in violation of the order. Around supper time I saw him pull up to his house in his car and go inside. I called the police to inform them that he was over there. A patrol officer came to my house to see the order of protection. He then called for backup and drove down to the house and went to the door to confront Cathy's father with the intention of arresting him. The front door opened and there was a scuffle where a knife was thrust at the officer who fired at the man dropping him in a single shot. The injured officer called for an ambulance and staggered back to my house where I administered first aid to him until the ambulance and other patrol car arrived.

When I saw the medical examiner car arrive I new that Cathy's father was dead. That meant that she had lost both of her parents; but, I was relieved to know that the SOB that started this all was dead. One of the officers came to me and Cathy to tell us of the situation. I could see a look of relief on Cathy's face as she hugged me tightly.