Little Abode for Children - Chapter 7

 

The Body

Almost a week has passed since the gala night. Captain Brown called Nathan and enquired, “What’s the problem? Haven’t you searched the library thoroughly?”

Nathan replied, “I did Ma’am. In fact, I have found some leads. I mentioned them in detail in my updated report.  We still need to protect certain persons like Jack O’hara till we can make the necessary arrests.”

Captain Brown seemed impatient, “When have you updated your report?

Nathan answered, “Last night.”

Captain seemed to be browsing through the report on the computer screen in front of her.  She tightened her jaws and commented, “Have you filed for permission to access the feeds from surveillance cameras already?”

Nathan became enthusiastic in his response, “Yes, I have copied necessary clips from traffic camera footage. Metra Station footage is about to arrive. Only, Judge Hopkins is waiting for the opinion of Kenosha county officials since they manage Simmons Public Library. The gala was a private event. If the county would have waived its privilege of surveillance over the library premises during the event, then Judge Hopkins may be required to subpoena financial details of donations of the gala night from the organizers, especially, Little Abode for Children, and, also, their video recordings of the event. However, I have asked Little Abode for Children for their guest list for the gala night. They have provided the list.”

Lieutenant Kelly entered the captain's office. He reported, “Captain, we’ve got a mangled body on the steps of the arena around the war memorial in Library Park …”

Captain Brown frowned and murmured, “Due North of the library building.” And asked, “Who’s reported?”

Lieutenant Kelly answered, “A jogger. By a nine one one call.”

Detective Nathan was on his feet already. He asked for permission, “Can I attend the crime scene, Captain, Lieutenant?” 

Obviously, he was permitted.

At the crime scene Coroner Goodman was still in action. She looked up and nodded to Detective Nathan Adams. Nathan smiled and asked, “What does the good doctor have here for me?”

Dr. Goodman reported, “A woman. Mid-thirties. Died primarily of asphyxiation. Dark discoloration of the skin at places, cyanosis …. pointing to asphyxiation. Unless I do the X-rays I can barely tell what has caused the asphyxia. Also, the disfigurement of face and fingers, require me to study a little more to determine if those mangling occurred before her death or after. Time of death is between one to three in the morning today.”

City news mill started brewing if the body belonged to Teressa LeRoy. Captain Brown called the press and announced, “From primary investigations it appears that the bodily remains of a human female found in Library Park does not belong to Ms. LeRoy. At this time, we cannot share any update about any of the ongoing investigations about Ms. LeRoy’s disappearance or about the dead body discovered at Library Park.”

Nathan rushed to meet Teressa LeRoy’s sister Ellen and Aunt Mary. Nathan felt quite familiar to them. He appeased them, “You must trust me. Teressa is well and alive. As soon as we take the person responsible for her disappearance in custody, she will probably be able to call you.”

From looks on their respective faces Nathan guessed that none of them believed Nathan’s statement. Yet he refrained from being more convincing for the sake of the investigation.

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Little Abode for Children - Chapter 6

 

The Streets

Nathan was walking from Seventh Avenue towards the library building. He was remembering that the library neighborhood used to be one of the safest areas in the city. Yet it appeared to be a high crime area compared to neighborhoods far west from the lake.

These thoughts brought into his mind what he had read once in a police training material. Statistically high crime rates were observed within walking distance from public transit stations. 

From Kenosha Metra Station, the library was just fifteen minutes’ walk along eleventh avenue and sixtieth street, across eighth street. He could not help but blame Metra Station and its link to Chicago for the general high crime rates of the city. Kenosha appeared in several studies for its higher crime rates compared to other cities of similar size and population in the nation.

He walked past the entire Library Park and arrived at the brink of Eighth Avenue. He needed darkness to pursue the ghost in the library. Hence, he ventured to walking to Metra Station and walking back to the library when it was dark. He had also decided to reconnoiter the southwest corner of Library Park. This corner appeared to be the fringe area of high crime zones in the city. 

The pleasant summer breeze brought a shadow of loneliness. It reminded Nathan of his friends. Some of them went back to school in pursuit of advanced business degrees or law degrees. Nathan chose police work, after leaving active service in the military.

Returning from his second tour to Afghanistan he discovered that his mother had become older and frailer. He wished to live near her. She suggested Nathan join the police force like his father. That was five years ago. 

Since then he has become somewhat submerged in work. He barely found time to meet new people outside work. In the past five years, he has not made any friends. Nor did he go on any date.

Around Metra Station, he found a few children loitering about. Some were in hoodies and pretended to walk fast to a defined destination. Nathan walked further North and came back to the station in a while, just to check that children who pretended to walk away were back in the waiting area.

Nathan felt sorry for the children. The evening pleasantness brought by the breeze would turn to chill during the wee hours of the day. The children would suffer in the cold until the child services department would rescue them.

He was thinking of calling the child services department. He was hesitating because the call might shift his focus from the job in hand.

By that time, a colorfully painted van appeared, displaying the name Little Abode for Children, on its flanks. A young woman along with an old woman stepped out of the van. They interacted with the children and all the children boarded the van. Nathan made a note about the event. 

He visited Little Abode for Children the very next day. It was linked to the missing woman, Teressa LeRoy. At the office and shelter of Little Abode for Children Nathan was received by Samantha. She used to volunteer there thrice a week. For a paid job, she used to work at Grand Electricals and Finances based at Milwaukee. Her husband used to be an engineer, with Kenosha City Council. They had three children together. 

Samantha told Nathan, “It was Teressa’s brainchild. She used to be here before going to work for the library five days a week and after her shift at the library is over. She is, was, the heart of the center. First kid she rescued on a wintry night was Melissa. Teressa was herself a student then. Her elder sister, Ellen, works for the city Child Services Department. The two sisters partnered in this endeavor. Later, their entire family and extended family, friends joined hands. We even had a gala ….. Everything has changed that night. The children are still reeling in shock. Jack has stopped stepping outside home. He probably feels guilty.”

The story of creating Little Abode for Children filled Nathan’s heart with warmth. He enrolled to be a volunteer. 

However, Nathan needed to know more about Jack. Hence, he asked Samantha about Jack’s address. Jack was then living with Mrs. Kirk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Little Abode for Children - Chapter 5

 

The Ghost

Keith and Melissa were living with Mrs. Owen. Mrs. Owen used to teach ballet at her own studio at Kenosha downtown. She was also a member of Kenosha Knitting Circle. 

Keith was assigned a project by his History teacher about industries of Kenosha before the Second World War. Mrs. Owen had many books about dances, arts and culture in her personal collection, but those were of no help to Keith. 

Social distancing and lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak shortened the library hours since the day after Ms. LeRoy’s gown appeared in the library. The library’s digital repository was not much open to the children under eighteen. Mrs. Henkel or the librarian, Mrs. Atkins, like earlier, could no longer override the VPN access password for the children, if they thought fit. Borrowing Kindle, for accessing digital resources, seemed impossible, too.

After much discussion, Keith and Melissa found themselves desperate to access the library for at least one half of a day. They cooked a plan.

They entered the library during its opening hours, then sneaked into the library reference section, remained hidden there till the library was closed for the public and all the staff left. They had planned to surrender to the janitor at night, making an apology for being locked inside, reasoning that they were working in rapt attention oblivious of the library closing time, and expressing surprises for not being noticed by the library staff before closing of the library. 

They were almost done by late evening. Their ears were up to hear the janitor entering the library.  Their work was being disrupted intermittently by lights being turned off by the motion sensors. To keep them on, Melissa was strolling around the table where Keith was working.

She saw a woman roaming in the history section of the library. She whispered to Keith. Together they approached the history section to get a closer peek at her. The lights along their path were turning on as they proceeded. 

Suddenly, all the lights turned off, altogether. Moving to and fro, Keith and Melissa were confirmed that the motion sensors had stopped working. Trapped in darkness, they lost direction.

They had heard the rumor that Ms. LeRoy could have died inside the library and her ghost could have remained confined thereof. Especially, many guessed that her ghost had hung the gown in the classic literature section.

The ghost hypothesis sparked first into Keith’s mind. He muttered it to Melissa. They turned numb in horror. Then, using flashlights of cell phones, they crawled to an emergency exit.

As soon as their feet touched the grounds of Library Park, they started running towards the nearest streetlights. As they opened the emergency exit, the library’s electronic security system raised the alarm.

Nathan heard the alarm. He was in Library Park, measuring the times required to reach any of the drivable roads around Library Park from the library building. He ran towards the library building to check for break ins before patrol cars appeared. Keith and Melissa ran into him.

He took them to a nearby Waffle House. After sipping some hot chocolate, Melissa got her colors back. Keith was still panting. By and by, they spilled their plan to Nathan and how it went sideways.

Nathan noted, “Keith and Melissa were escaping a ghost in the library! Must pay a visit to this ghost.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Little Abode for Children - Chapter 4

 

The Children

The children were mostly from Chicago. A few of them were from Milwaukee. The railroads carried them to Kenosha, the picturesque town by the lake Michigan.

Coming from North or South, their stories were almost the same. All of them either escaped a terrible home or fled from a dangerous neighborhood. Many of them had at least one parent in jail. Many of them used to be beaten to bleed either by a harsh stepparent, or by an aggressive stepsibling, or by a drug addict half sibling, or by a gang banger cousin. Some escaped schools as gangs started using schools for gang initiation. 

Many of them found a safe home with Mrs. Kirk and other members of Kenosha Knitting Circle, like Teressa’s Aunt Mary. They found hope in learning and joy in living at gracious foster homes. For them, the library was their gateway to the universe of knowledge.

After Teressa’s disappearance, they used to gather at the library to help each other learn. It was their way of paying respect to Teressa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Little Abode for Children - Chapter 3

 

The Gala

The gala was for raising funds for building up a shelter for the street children. Kenosha did not yet have any.

City’s older generation had always been generous to these children. They used to take these children for fostering. One among the foster parents was Mrs. Kirk.

Mrs. Kirk used to teach History at Kenosha Middle School. She retired a few years ago. A year ago, she suffered from her first heart attack. It shook her thoughts about the children she used to look after. Since then she started thinking of building a home for street kids. After all, these children could never be sent back. She expressed this concern of her to her friends at Kenosha Knitting Circle. 

Mrs. Mary Munro was in the circle. She was Teressa’s grand aunt. She knew about Teressa’s involvement and effort with the children. She shared, “My grandniece, Teressa, runs a center for the street kids. Off course with help and support from her friends and family. She, too, needs an expansion. Can we talk to her?”

Hence, Teressa with Kenosha Knitting Circle arranged a fundraiser event for expansion of Little Abode for Children. The library supported the event by hosting the gala on the first floor of the library building.

The gala appeared to be quite a success. It helped gather a million dollar in contribution. Kenosha Undergarment Factory, a leading global manufacturer of underwear, donated one of their abandoned warehouses to build a kitchen and shelter for rescued street children.

Nathan scribbled a question in his notebook, “Who’d be against such benevolent endeavors and enthusiasts?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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