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“I will.”
Dave spoke with the women briefly, then introduced Annie to them.
“Candace, Marian, this is Annie Casson. She’s Stevie’s mother. And the little guy in the red t-shirt is Stevie.”
Everyone waved, friendly but intimidating, the scenario so weird that Annie was hyperventilating.
“Relax. You’re going to pass out if you keep breathing like that,” Maggie whispered.
“I can’t help it,” she said, and then without provocation, burst into tears.
The CPS workers went right to her, comforting her. “We’ll talk to Stevie, and then we’ll get out of your hair so you can enjoy your barbeque,” Marion said. “This is awful timing, but we wanted to talk to him as soon as possible.”
The children weren’t curious about the newcomers.
“Can we go inside to talk?” Candace asked, pointing to the cottage. “Mom, you’re welcome to join us.”
“Oh, I’m coming,” Annie said, sniffing.
“Stevie, come with Mommy for a just a minute,” Annie said. “You can come right back outside with Tina and Davie.”
“When you think he’s comfortable, just slip his shirt off for us,” Candace said and Annie nodded.
Maggie invited them inside, offering lemonade which they accepted. “Anything to put him at ease,” Marion whispered.
They sat in the living room, Annie on Maggie’s grandfather Lonnie’s leather chair with Stevie on her lap.
“That’s such a cute shirt,” Marian said.
“Let’s take your shirt off so Miss Marian can see the dinosaurs,” Annie said softly, pulling the shirt up.
“You can leave it around his neck if you’d like,” Marian said.
The marks were bruises now, six black and blue quarter-sized areas on the left from his waist to his underarm.
“Are there any below the waist?”
“Not that I remember,” Annie said, but she pulled his shorts and pullups down to the crack of his bottom and there was one small bruise on the left buttock.
“He’s got some scratches here, as well,” Annie said after they had taken pictures. She smoothed his shirt back down and stretched the collar down.
“Wow, what happened here to your neck, Stevie?” Candace asked.
“Grannie.”
“Oh, okay, Stevie. Where were you?”
“At Daddy’s.”
“Okay, well, that’s all for now. Thank you. I’m sorry,” Marian said, winking at Annie.
They prepared to leave, taking glasses to the kitchen. They’d talk to Dave first. After they left, Annie took Stevie outside again to play with the other children.
“They’re going to talk to Steve now,” Dave told Annie. “After that, they’ll decide whether I need to charge Beverly with a crime. I’ll talk to the commander, but it will probably be a misdemeanor. It might involve Steve, too.”
“In what way?” Annie asked.
“They might suggest supervised visitation and I’m sure there is going to be a parenting class involved.”
