A New Beginning

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Detective Rollins and Carisi just entered the hospital room of a ten year old victim to get her statement.

"Hi Daisy, I'm Detective Rollins, this is my partner Detective Carisi. Do you think you can tell us what happened?" Amanda asked the ten year old girl in a gentle, warm tone.

"Umm," The child looked to her mother who gave an encouraging nod, then back to Amanda and Dom. "O-kay." She hesitated again. "I was waiting outside with Maisie-"

Daisy's mother Carla spoke up "Maisie is our dog, we were going to take her for a walk, I told Maisie to wait for me. We don't allow her to walk her alone." Her voice was full of emotions as she tried to hold back tears.

"We understand." Amanda said softly. "Please continue."

"It happened so fast, I felt strong arms wrap around me, his hand over my mouth before I had the chance to scream." Daisy sniffled. "He was trying to put me in a car, but Maisie bit him and that's when he dropped me." She turned into her mother and cried into her chest.

Carla mother kissed her head, rubbing her back and looked at both detectives. "I heard Maisie barking and that's what made me go outside, and I saw the man drop Daisy, and that's when he got in the van and sped off."

"Can either of you describe him?" Dominick asked looking between the two of them.

Daisy lifted her head off her mom's chest and looked over at the handsome detective. "I didn't see him, I did see a tattoo on his hand though. It looked like a dragon."

"I didn't really see his face, but he had long black hair, about, shoulder length, he was about 6 feet tall and thin. From his profile it looked at though he could be between 20 and 30. Maybe."

"Are you able to describe the vehicle? Color, make, maybe the license plate?" Amanda pressed slightly to get as much information as possible.

Carla once again answered, keeping an embrace on her daughter. "It was a maroon SUV, I believe it was a Denali, with uh..." she closed her eyes shaking her head as she tried to remember the license plate. "It was a New York plate...the beginning letters were JXD. I'm sorry that's all....that's all I can remember." She placed a gentle kiss on her daughter's head.

"Please don't be sorry. All of that is very, very helpful." Dominick said. "I am sorry you had to go through all of this, and I promise you, we are going to do everything in our power to catch the guy who did this."

"Thank you Detectives." Carla acknowledged gratefully.

After they finished up their interview, the two detectives were heading out of the hospital. The automatic doors 'swooshed' open, the cool October air blending with the warm air from the hospital vestibule as they entered outside.

As the two got in the car, Sonny let out an unconscious sigh.

Amanda looked over from the driver's seat. "Hey, are you okay?"

Running his hand through his ash blonde hair, he replied. "Cases involving kids just really hit me hard. When I looked at that little girl lying in that hospital bed, I-I just pictured my baby girl. She's ten, just like Daisy; it breaks my heart knowing that no matter how hard I try, there is still a possibility that I can not protect my own kids one hundred percent."

"You know I may not have any kids right now but I do have a little sister. I'm always doing my best to keep her out of trouble. Last week when we interviewed the 14 year old rape vic, Tess, her story really hit home with me as it was similar to what happened with my sister. So I understand in that way. But we can only do what we can to teach them to make smart decisions and the other times we do what we can to catch all the bad guys." Amanda said placing a comforting touch to his arm with a warm smile.