Case by Case Love

Chapter 62: Summary of Facts

Hank walks out of his office as he looks around at the detectives he is surrounded by, knowing each of them had something different to take away from their experience that morning. Each of them had questioned people and got answers, which had to add up to something. So why wasn't there a possible suspect named already?

"What do we got so far here?" Hank questions as he looks between the desks before him, awaiting for someone to use their voice and say something. "The coroner confirmed to myself and Kevin that the cause of death was a blow to the skull and strangulation. There were also several other bruises along the young boy's body, consist with being abused." Jay's eyes stay locked on Erin the entire time, their conversation before arriving with the parents and throughout repeating in his mind. His intuition was always spot on so why were they ignoring it? He should have walked Kenny out of that house in handcuffs.

"Were there past bruis-" Jay questions, ready to start putting the pieces together. He just needed the evidence to back his theory. The conversation was enough in his mind, but he knew he would need more for a judge.

"Consistent with being abused, past and at time of death. There was a broken arm that never fully healed properly, and hospital records never show it being attended to." Jay glances down at the desk, taking a deep breath. Out of everyone in that room, Hank knew that comment alone was a trigger for Jay's PTSD. He had gone through his own version of that himself.

"The father Kenny gave me attitude the entire time that we were at his residence. He put his back up against the wall when I even hinted towards there being possible abuse, and began very upset in his responses." 

"Ms. Lindsay Harper confirmed that she had asked the principal to look into possible child abuse when it came to Sterling," Kim comments, as Jay's eyes return back to Erin. The evidence was beginning to add up. Maybe they should not had been so hard on things in what had transpired. 

"I'm telling you, everything about the father is not adding up to me. Why would you be upset about someone asking questions in relation to your son's death? Why would you be afraid of handing over contacts of possible enemies that could have hurt your son?" Jay takes a deep breath, remembering another critical detail. What about the sister? "He wouldn't allow us to talk to the daughter, afraid that we were going to ask her if she was abused. He was afraid of how that would affect her. If your child is being hurt by someone, you would want to know who so you could get revenge. Wouldn't you do whatever it took to work with those trying to find those answers?" 

"Let's not jump to conclusions and do the wrong thing right now," Hank suggests, catching everyone's attention. If it was any other case, they would be gearing up already to go arrest the son of a bitch. However, due to whom it involved, they all knew to not bother moving just yet. "If we go slapping cuffs on him, we need to be absolutely certain because you know the mayor will be ripping down the door." 

"How does a mayor get re-elected if they are helping cover for a child abuser?" Jay nods his head in agreement, knowing if anybody got that hint, there would be no future for sure. It was why he wasn't worried about taking this step. Or at least he would tell himself that so he could get his hands on the prick. 

"They don't, but they also can throw a department out if they falsely arrest someone on child abuse charges." Jay looks down at his desk, knowing he was willing to take the risk if it meant going after someone this evil. It almost him frustrated enough to put a whole through the desk right now. 

"Can we get an interview with the daughter Luna? Could we maybe talk to the parents separately?" Jay could feel Erin's eyes on him, knowing the next words out of her mouth could throw him to the wolves. He was fine with that, not wanting to apologize for what he said or happened. It was worth it now his suspicions were proving to be more true.

"The father was open to Luna speaking with a parent present, as long as that interrogation was not done by Jay Halstead," Erin reveals as she takes a deep breath. She was already prepared for the questions that would follow, or a possible reprimand to the office. "Maybe if I take a trip back down to the parents with say Kim, we could have the conversation." 

"Good cop, bad cop - they have sympathy and are willing to go with the flow, while I openly tell them what I think," Jay simply states with a smirk on his face. Perhaps there was no reason to be worried about what happened. Perhaps it was still for the right reason. It was now a play they could use, and maybe get Kenny to crack right in their arms. "It seems Kenny thought my opinion was very poor." 

"Is that so?" Hank questions, to which Jay nods his head back in return. He could already re-hear the conversation over and over in his head.

"I asked him directly if he was abusing his son, to which his wife answered first in his defence. He also started to grow angry that it was even a thought. His wife spoke of his anger issues. I linked them to possibly causing abuse; he thought that was too far off track. His company enemies due to anger issues - he didn't want to hand over his contacts due to possibly scaring away potential business. I called him out in not wanting to find the sick bastard that hurt his son. That sick bastard, meanwhile, was standing right in front of me. So please tell me we can prove it so he can rot away where he belongs."