Helpless

Chapter 32

Jill couldn’t look her father in the eye. She knew only vague details about the charges against him. She knew that her best friend, Lindsey Wells, was suspected of having a relationship with her father. She knew the police had found illegal images on his laptop computer, that her father had been charged with possession and distribution of child pornography, but she did not know the specifics.

Because of privacy laws specific to crimes involving minors, and Angie’s concerns for the students’ well-being, everybody involved with Tom’s case had agreed not to reveal any information to the public. Nobody knew the identities, ages, or nature of the images Tom had been accused of distributing. Jill was unaware that her father allegedly possessed lewd and lascivious pictures of her classmates, her best friend’s images among them. Or that he would be accused of masterminding a distribution ring that deployed online recruiting to scout victims to procure new product.

Jill’s already shaky world seemed shattered beyond repair. First her mother, and now this. Tom didn’t want to further test her ability to cope.

“It’s not fair, kiddo,” he kept saying to her. “It’s just not fair to you.”

They sat together at the kitchen table, but neither spoke for quite some time. On a usual school-day morning Jill would have her backpack ready for the day. But today she had her army green duffel bag at her side. And the bag was stuffed full of her clothes.

“Don’t give up on me, Jill,” Tom said. “Did you look at any of the articles I gave you?”

“I read them.”

“And?”

“And what do you want me to say?”

“I want you to say that you’ll give me some time,” Tom said. “You’ll give me a chance to clear my name.”

Jill looked past him, out the kitchen window and into a backyard that was green and lush and peaceful.

With Marvin’s help, Tom had found dozens of cases of computers being used to falsify evidence of statutory rape. Men wrongly accused on the Internet of having a sexual relationship with a minor. Even the sensationalized TV show A Predator Among Us was found guilty of entrapment. Apparently, one overly zealous producer had goaded a man with whom he’d been quarreling into meeting a girl presumed to be twenty-one years old. But when the guy showed up, the producer had changed the transcript of his “chat” and lowered the age to thirteen. The poor guy was arrested but later acquitted. The producer lost his job. Not surprisingly, the other guy’s company found cause to fire him as well.

Marvin found even more instances of pornographic images that were maliciously transferred to an otherwise clean computer. The motive for planting evidence was often revenge—a disgruntled employee or jealous lover. It happened frequently enough to give rise to a cottage industry of attorneys who specialized in proving that exact defense. Marvin didn’t count himself among those self-proclaimed experts, but Tom remained confident that his attorney was better.

Marvin had printed out more than a hundred pages from the different cases that had similarities to his own. Tom had put them in a folder, which he gave to Jill.

“Read through this,” he had said. “I just want you to see that it’s possible that I’m being framed.”

Tom was glad to know Jill had read them. At least she was willing to sit with him at the kitchen table. On the day of his release, that hadn’t even been a possibility.

“I know you want me to believe you,” Jill said. “But what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Stay here? I don’t think I can do that.”

“No, honey. I’m not asking you to stay here. I understand that this is hard for you.”

His worry about Kip Lange was now barely a pulse. There had been no sightings. No outside perimeter alarms had been set off. No blackmail attempts. Nothing from Lange at all. In some ways, Tom wished that it was Lange behind this nightmare. At least then he’d know why somebody was out to destroy him.

“Did you do this? Did you do what they’re saying?”

“Of course not, honey. But I am going to find out who did.”

“I don’t know what to believe about you anymore. I’m going to talk to Lindsey. I’m going to find out for myself.” Jill’s attitude seemed to change. For a moment, she was no longer distant. Tom saw a fresh surge of anger, and an aura of newfound determination.

“This will work itself out. I promise.”

“So we’re all clear, right?” Jill said. “You know what I’m doing.”

“You’ll be staying at the Kalinowskis’.”

“Flo and Irena have cleaned up the guest bedroom for me.”

Jill might have been placed into the foster care system if it weren’t for the social worker’s intervention. She had petitioned the state to let Jill legally reside with the Kalinowski family.

“I have the number. But the same rules apply. You don’t go anywhere alone. You tell an adult where you’re going, and check in when you get there. We talk at least once a day. Just briefly, if that’s all you can manage. Just to let me know that you’re all right.”

“Okay, I guess,” Jill said.

“Do you have everything you need?”

“If not, I can come back and get it.”

“You can come back anytime,” Tom said. “This is your home.”

“I just need to do this for now, okay?” Jill stood up from the table and disappeared through the doorway. She came back, holding Teddy.

Tom saw the raggedy bear tucked under her arm and his whole face brightened. “Hey, I didn’t know you still had him,” he said.

Teddy was missing one eye. His gray fur was nappy in places, missing in others. Jill was only four when Tom had brought home the bear she’d been eyeing at the toy store. It took only one night of bonding for her to need Teddy to fall asleep every night thereafter.

“Whatever,” Jill said, stuffing Teddy into her duffel bag. She could zip it only part way because the bag was already crammed full. Teddy’s arm was sticking out the top as if the bear were crying out for help. Tom heard three quick beeps from a car that had pulled up and parked out front.

“That’s my ride,” Jill said. She put her backpack on, then slung her duffel bag over her shoulder.

“Once a night. A quick call. Agreed?”

Jill kept her back to Tom. No embrace. No kiss good-bye. “Okay,” she said reluctantly.

Tom waved to Vern from the door. Vern got out of his Subaru sedan just as Jill was getting in. Tom could see his daughter through the windshield, talking to Vern’s kids and already more animated.

Vern hurried over to Tom. The two men shook hands.

“Hey, Tom. How you holding up?”

“As well as can be expected,” Tom said.

Vern nodded. “I just wanted you to know that I’ve got your back here, buddy,” Vern said. “You’re going to get through this.”

“Thanks, Vern. That means a lot to me. Promise you’ll be good to my girl.”

“You know I will. Heck, Sylvia’s got a week’s worth of gourmet meals planned. Trust me, she’ll be well looked after. And she’ll be coming home soon, too. This is all a setup. I know it is.”

“I appreciate the faith, Vern. I really do.”

The men shook again. Vern returned to his car, and Tom watched him drive away. He waved to Jill, but she didn’t wave back.

With a heavy sigh, he turned and walked back up the stairs to the top floor of the split-level home. He glanced to his right and saw the whiteboard perched up against the rolltop desk in the living room, where he’d last left it. He looked at the whiteboard and noticed something about it was different. Hadn’t he erased a corner of the square representing their trust obstacle? Of course I did, he thought to himself. He had wanted to illustrate some initial progress made in getting past their mutual distrust. But the square didn’t look the way he had left it. No, the partially erased square was once again complete. He didn’t know when she’d done it, but she had.

Jill had drawn that missing corner back in.