the work you do. I’ve worked with some of your clients. Every agency in the city admires your agency and uses you as a role model for theirs.” Her ruffled feathers smoothed down a little after that. “I didn’t even think we should be following up on this, but CPS can’t make exceptions, or some of the real abusers would slip through our nets, so occasionally we wind up investigating respectable people. It’s all routine, and then that’s it. Your little girl must be a bit of a tomboy,” he said, smiling at her.
“Very much so,” she said, smiling back, but he could see that she would have liked to strangle him and throw him out of her office, but she was too smart for that. And he had couched it well. She looked at her watch then. “How much longer will this take? I have a meeting with the head of foster care.”
“Just a few minutes. Mrs. Roberts, would you say your child is in good health?”
“Of course. She has regular checkups and her shots are up to date.”
“Do you trust your nanny and think she’s responsible?”
“Yes, I do.” She looked bored by then and annoyed, but she had definitely lied to him about several things, which he found more interesting than what she’d said.
“Has your daughter had any recent injuries? Significant falls, broken bones, stitches, anything that required medical attention by a doctor or in a hospital?”
“None.” She lied again, about Jaime’s chin in Florida, and the dog bite.
“I’m happy to hear it,” he said as he stood up. “Thank you for your time. We’ll just file this for now.”
“I assume the file will be closed after this. Or are you going to continue counting doctors’ visits until she goes to college?” She was trying to intimidate him and it didn’t work. He looked her squarely in the eye when he answered.
“You know how CPS works. Once a report is made and we investigate it, the file stays open for a year. We check in now and then if we think it’s necessary, which is unlikely in your case. But we’re obliged by law to keep the case open for a year. You deal with CPS all the time, so you know that.”
“That applies to us too?” She almost shrieked at him.
“It applies to everyone. If we made exceptions, we’d be all over the press for favoritism, or saying that money talks. You know what the media do with that.”
“I can’t believe this. Have you seen my husband yet?”
“No, I haven’t. I plan to, but I haven’t had time and I wanted to make you aware of it first.” She nodded and walked him to the door.
“Thank you for your visit,” she said with clenched teeth, and she almost slammed the door behind him and would have liked to. She called Austin five minutes later after she tried to calm down, but Dan Knoll beat her to it, and he was talking to Austin when she called.
“I just saw your wife,” Dan warned him. “She’s not too happy with me. I told her I haven’t seen you yet, and I wanted to give you a heads-up. I told her this is just routine when a child gets injured as often as Jaime has, and is treated at a hospital. I told her that either a physician or the hospital reported it, as they are obliged to. She couldn’t say much to that. She also lied to me about several things. She said you had a gate when Jaime fell. She said Jaime has had no recent injuries. She’s only had stitches once, not three times, and she didn’t tell me about the pool accident in Florida or the dog bite. I think she figured I’d have no record of either one. Let’s agree now on when you say you saw me. How about late this afternoon?”
“That’s fine, I’ll be in the office.”
“I asked her questions about childhood diseases, vaccinations, missed school, very benign stuff. You can say that I asked you the same questions as a matter of record.”
“Thank you. You may save my marriage yet.” Dan wasn’t sure that was a good idea. She was a liar, which confirmed what he thought of her.
“She asked me how long the case would stay open, and I told her we keep our files open for a year and then we close them, which is true. We want to make sure everything is solid and a child