“Inside.”
“Okay,” Vic said. He glanced at Frank, who was staring straight at the ground without blinking. “Does he do anything else besides that?”
Beth did not respond.
Vic folded his hands on the table and laid his chin down on top of them, putting himself even lower than Beth was. “I promise it’s okay if you tell me. I just want to make sure nobody can hurt you anymore.”
“He pulls down his pants and makes me kiss it.”
Vic felt Frank’s leg shaking next to his. He stepped on Frank’s foot gently. “Here comes another one of those yucky things, okay? By it do you mean his penis?”
Beth nodded and her mother’s head collapsed into her folded arms.
Vic brought Mr. Lamia back and asked him to sit down. His wife had collected her thoughts and Beth remained motionless, watching her father’s every movement. “Now will someone please tell me what’s going on?”
“Your daughter is reporting that Uncle Petey has been molesting her over a period of two years.”
“What?” he looked back and forth between his wife and Beth. “But that’s… when? What happened?”
“When she sleeps over at their house, he’s been doing things to her and making her do things to him,” Vic said.
Mr. Lamia’s mouth opened and closed several times like a fish lying on the bottom of a boat; nothing came out of him except small bursts of air. “Oh my God,” he moaned. “Oh my GOD!” He covered his face with his hands and sobbed.
Beth’s lip quivered and she reached out for her father’s hand, “I’m sorry, daddy,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, honey,” he said. He pulled his hand away and wiped his eyes with his shirt. “I’m just worried about Uncle Petey. That’s all.”
“I’m gonna take that motherfucker and throw him headfirst down the fucking stairs!”
Vic held up his hands and said, “Lower your voice, or they’ll hear you.”
“Fuck that piece of shit! He’s worried about Pedophile Petey?”
“Listen to me!” Vic said. “I know it’s ridiculous, but we need to stay focused here. Do you want to yell at the dad, or lock up the scumbag that hurt the kid?”
Frank put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “All right. What do we need to do?”
Vic peered around the corner to look into the room. The family was sitting quietly, not talking. “I need to get the kid consentualized for a wire so we can call Uncle Petey. If we get him on tape, he’ll be in jail by tonight.”
“Let’s do it.”
Frank started for the room but Vic stopped him. “I can’t have dad involved with the wire. I don’t trust him.”
“So what’s to stop him from just calling this guy and tipping him off while we’re setting it up?”
“Somebody has to keep him talking,” Vic said. “Somebody who can set their personal feelings aside and put the job first.”
Frank sighed. “Working with you really sucks.”
“Don’t I know it.”
They went back into the room and Vic said, “Mrs. Lamia? I need you and Beth to come with me so we can make arrangements to get her immediate treatment.”
Mr. Lamia stood up and said, “Wait a second. I think I’d like to call an attorney first.”
“An attorney? For what?”
“To see what my legal rights are.”
Vic took a step closer to him, “Your legal rights aren’t coming into question here, sir. Your daughter is the victim of a terrible crime and it’s our responsibility to protect her.”
“I just think things are moving a little fast and I’d like to speak to my wife in private before we do anything.”
Vic looked back and forth from the little girl to her father, trying to think on the fly. “Don’t you want your daughter to be looked at by a doctor just in case something did happen?”
“Of course, but—”
“Then let me go set that up while Officer O’Ryan asks you for some information about your Uncle. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I want us to all stay together,” Mr. Lamia said. “Things are moving way too fast here.”
“I hear what you’re saying,” Vic said in a soothing voice. He put his arm around Mr. Lamia’s shoulder and whispered, “There’s some questions my partner has to ask you that I don’t think you want your wife and little girl to hear about, okay? I’m trying to be a little discreet here.”
Mr. Lamia’s eyes widened, “Questions about what?”
“Private things.” He pointed at Mrs. Lamia and waved her toward the door, “You two come with me.” Mr. Lamia started to protest but Frank moved in front of him to block his way while Vic hustled Beth and her mother into the hallway and closed the door behind him.
Mrs. Lamia grabbed Beth’s hand and hurried down the hallway after him. “What hospital are we going to?”
Vic turned toward her at the top of the stairs and said, “We’re not. I lied. Time to decide, Mrs. Lamia. Good wife or good mom.”
Beth looked up at her mother and Mrs. Lamia said, “Easy choice. Let’s go.”
Vic held his desk phone’s receiver up so that Mrs. Lamia and Beth could both hear the Assistant District Attorney say, “And no one has promised you anything or threatened you in any way to cooperate with this investigation?”
“No,” they both said.
“Vic? You guys are good to go.”
Vic hung up the phone and pushed a yellow notepad across the desk toward Beth. “I wrote down some things I want you to say. The most important part is to let him talk. I’ll be listening to the conversation, so if I write anything down or signal you, it’s probably important.”
“Okay,” she said.
Vic looked at Mrs. Lamia, “And no matter what is said, you need to keep completely quiet. Can you do that?”
Mrs. Lamia put her hand over her mouth and nodded several times.
Vic stuck the micro-recorder onto the cellphone’s earpiece and plugged his headphones into the trapping device. He gave her the thumbs up and said, “Placing the call.”
The phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Aunt Eris?”
“Who’s this? Beth?”
“Hi. Is Uncle Petey there?”
“Let me check. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just need to talk to him for a second.”
“What’s wrong?”
Vic held up his hand and shook his finger at her.
“Nothing. I just wanted to ask him something.”
Vic gave her the thumbs-up.
“Hang on and I’ll get him. Pete?”
There was static on the phone and dim voices in Vic’s headphones. A man picked up the phone, “Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Beth.”
“Hey sweetie. Is everything okay?”
“Ask her what’s wrong?”
“I will! Just give me a second.”
Beth leaned forward to read the first thing Vic had written. “I… have a problem and don’t know what to do.”
“What is it, hon?”
“I’ve got a sore in my mouth and I think it’s from the last time I slept over.”
A pause.
Vic held his breath.
The voice returned, but quieter, “What do you mean?”
“From the game we play at bedtime where I kiss you there. The stuff that came out of it left a sore in my gums.”
Mrs. Lamia’s eyes were wide and red, and her hand was shaking against her mouth.