“Mrs Williams, I know that this is a difficult time for you and your family. We just need to ask you a few questions about your daughter’s time at speech lessons when she was a girl.”
Jack and Sue sat in the living room of Lindsay and Richard Williams. As they watched the older women, it was clear that she had spent most of the morning crying for her lost daughter. Sue couldn’t even begin to imagine what they were going through. She’d never lost anyone close to her and she hoped it would be a long time before she had to go through that the Williams’ were experiencing now.
“You mean back in Ohio with Ms Casey?” She asked as Jack nodded. “Ms Casey was a lovely women, Claire adored her. She always loved going to her classes but she would always come back very subdued. She was never the same girl that we left there earlier in the day. She didn’t say why to start with but then we managed to get out of her that one of the boys had been pestering her. She said that he wouldn’t leave her alone and kept following her around wherever she went. Claire was only nine at the time. She said this boy was probably about fifteen or sixteen. We did speak with Ms Casey about it and she said she would take it up with the boy’s parents but the problems didn’t stop. In the end we took her out of her classes and found her another teacher.”
Sue looked at Jack and could tell that he was thinking the same as she was. If Ms Casey was old of her daughter’s problem, why did she do nothing about it? The bigger question was why did she not tell them about it when they went to see her?
“Did you know the name of the boy Mrs Williams?” Sue asked.
“You know, now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever found out his name. Ms Casey said that she knew who it was and that she would deal with it. It never occurred to me to ask his name.”
“Thank you for your help Mrs Williams.” Jack said as they stood.
As Mrs Williams escorted them to the door, they said their goodbyes and offered their condolences as they left the house. When they were in the car, Sue looked at Jack. The way he was looking at her told her that there was something on his mind and Sue sensed that it was something to do with her.
“Is everything okay Jack? You look like there is something on your mind.” She asked him.
She watched as he turned to her, his facial expressions giving away nothing as to what he was thinking. A few more moments passed before he spoke.
“When you were seeing Ms Casey, did this boy ever pester you?
She smiled when she realised the reason for the solemn look on his handsome face. Reaching out she took his hand.
“No Jack. No one bothered me. My mom and dad used to drop me off and pick me up. The rest of the time I was with Ms Casey. I was rarely on my own.
She saw the expression on his face change, clearly relieved that she hadn’t had the same problems with this boy that the other girls had.
“Good, because I’m the only member of the male species who is allowed to pester you now.”
The smile and wink he threw at her were almost her undoing and she was pleased she was sitting down. He kept her eyes on him as he released her hand and put the car into gear. When the road was clear, he pulled away.
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