Chapter 14: Rubbing Salt in the Wound
Disclaimer: What belongs to me, does…what doesn't, I covet.
A/N: Death to School!! I should devote something to my despise for it…hmmm.
ENJOY!!
"Can you please tell me your name?" Dr. George Huang, FBI psychiatrist-behavioral-science-profiler extraordinaire. 'Or at least that's what they told me.' Sam thought idly. Truth was, she had seen this guy mentioned in newspapers before. He was some sort of genius when it came to shrinking heads. Sam could see why. The guy radiated quiet calmness. She had the feeling that she could say that she thought she was a rabid purple opossum people-eater with pointy ears that just wanted to be a dentist/psychic…and Dr. George Huang wouldn't bat an eye.
He just looked at you with this expression that seemed to say, "I won't judge you." And "I understand." That's why the man was a regular prodigy. He made the suspect or victim feel completely at ease. And when they're completely at ease, people have a tendency to talk. Dr. George Huang made you want to talk.
And right now, Sam didn't care. She didn't want to fight. She wanted to talk. 'Lord knows I've been quiet long enough'
"Can you please tell me your name?" The good doctor repeated, not looking the least bit impatient. 'Languid.' Was the only word to describe his speech and movement.
"Samantha Maitland." Sam recited. "But I prefer Sam."
"Yes." He smiled kindly. "I've been told."
"Which makes me wonder…" Sam leaned back in a non-aggressive manner. "Just what you've been told, exactly."
Dr. Huang smiled again. "Not much, actually." To his credit, he sounded sincere. "Why don't you help fill in the blanks?" He was expecting her to give him a song and dance.
"Have you got a few hours?" Sam sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face.
"I've got as much time as you need." Dr. Huang replied soothingly. He steepled his hands and studied her with a soft, but shrewd gaze.
"Okay." Sam took a deep breath. "I know the whole doctor-patient relationship thing, but…Doc, what I'm gonna tell you is basically everything the detectives want from me, so it would help a lot if you could just relay everything for me."
The doctor nodded and continued to study her. "Thank you. Okay, I guess…here does nothing." Sam inhaled slowly and exhaled at the same pace.
"Are you alright?" Dr. Huang asked, genuine concern in his tone.
"Yeah, it's just…" Sam voice hitched and the tears she had fought so hard to hold back for years began to gather in her eyes causing her vision to sparkle and run. "I've tried so hard to forget everything…that's happened. My parents…my new family." Sam laughed cruelly at herself.
George Huang watched Sam fight to keep her tears at bay. He knew it was a losing battle, but considering the weight of what he was about to hear…he assumed those tears were not in self-pity. From what the detectives had told him (which really wasn't a lot) he knew that the girl was tough. She didn't crack under pressure and she wasn't much in the 'sharing' department. But, she was just waiting to unravel. She wasn't breaking, she wasn't weak…just over-burdened. Sam just needed the right person to talk to.
"I'm sure that you guys know who my parents are by now. Even if you haven't told me." Sam waited and continued when Huang nodded. "My mother Josephine Maitland was a pathetic ex pageant girl. She married my father for his money. She had a taste for the expensive stuff. Pearls, silk pantsuits, professional updos, acrylic nails painted in red lacquer." With each word the contempt in her voice grew and she didn't bother to try and monitor it.
"My mother was content to ride my father's coattails for all eternity." Sam continued. "She couldn't think for herself. But, she had a mean streak. She had the most vicious, animalistic smile that she used when she watched my--," Sam broke off suddenly, eyes widening. Her hand jumped to her mouth and she looked guiltily at Huang.
George knew that her reaction was automatic; she hadn't thought about what she was doing when she stopped short. She had been conditioning herself for years never to tell the whole truth. Huang didn't take her abruptness personally; he knew better than that. Something had happened to her when she was younger and she had been working overtime to try and forget it ever since.
"Sam?" he asked quietly. He smiled softly at her, giving her time to breathe. "Take your time."
Sam nodded and her eyes dropped to the floor. Her hand dropped into her lap and twisted with the other. She took a deep breath and held it as she pulled her jacket tighter around her. Well, not her jacket…Elliot had let her borrow his "off-duty" jacket on account of her shirt being ripped and bloody.
Still not meeting Huang's eyes, Sam continued. "I'm an only child. Actually, I was a mistake to begin with and my parents had no trouble reminding me of that. They always thought they would have been better off if they had just terminated my mother's pregnancy, but in a moment of weakness…they didn't. My dad was a corporate hot-shot before he retired early when I was ten." Hesitating for a second she looked up, finally looking straight at Huang. "My mother was never faithful. She always had some guy on the side. My father knew, but he didn't care…he liked …younger women." Sam quirked her eyebrow in a gesture of humorless irony. "Girls, to be exact."
Huang nodded and made a note in his notebook. Glancing back up, he saw that her eyes were glistening with tears again. In a sudden wave of realization, Huang jerked involuntarily forward. He dropped his pen and notebook on a side table.
"Samantha, have you told the detectives?" Huang interlocked his hands in front of him and narrowed his eyes calculatingly at her.
Sam hung her head. "No." her voice was choked with a hidden sob. "I can't."
"Because you're embarrassed?"
"No." she shook her head miserably. "Because the statute of limitations was up last year. When I was fifteen."
Huang cocked his head. "I was told that you joined the gang when you were thirteen. That would also mean that that was the last time you saw your parents…and that was only three years ago. The statute of limitations on rape in New York is five years."
Sam flinched at his bluntness, but she appreciated it all the same. "I know. Dear old dad only…did that to me once. It was the night after he retired. He was angry that I hadn't congratulated him. He told me he would make me appreciate him and his "sizeable" advantage over the competitors."
Dr. Huang nodded, but inside he was fuming. But, as a professional psychiatrist he had been trained to keep a calm demeanor no matter what he heard. But…what a thing to say to your child! Your daughter!
"Samantha, I am very sorry." Huang struggled to keep his voice low and even.
Sam smiled. "I appreciate that, but…it was a long time ago. I've…I've put it behind me." Sam nodded with pseudo-conviction. When Huang gave her a look that showed he hadn't bought it Sam sighed. "Mostly."
"Tell me what happened the day you ran away." He phrased it as a statement, but Sam knew that she had the choice to stay quiet.
"My dad videotaped the…incident when I was ten. He made copies of it and hid them away where I couldn't find them. I knew that he had the "boys" over for poker and beer every Saturday night…I'm pretty sure that he showed them the tape at least once."
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, that day I ran away…" Sam shoved her hair behind her ears and leaned forward looking at the floor. "Three of his "guys" came over looking for my parents. They argued and it got bad. They beat my mother, tortured her, and left her lying naked on the kitchen floor. They made my father watch. The last thing I saw before I ran out the front door was my father getting shoved up against the wall, a gun pressed to his throat."
Sam paused, clenching and unclenching her fists. "The last thing I heard was one of them shouting that the kid was getting away and," Sam met Huang's gaze. Her eyes were devoid of tears and, instead, full of fury. "And that if I was caught…I was to be shot on site. No questions asked."
Sam watched something flit through the doctor's eyes, but it was gone before she could identify it. He sat back and regarded her with that softly shrewd gaze that Sam was beginning to think of as his trademark. He seemed to be deciding if what he needed to say, should be said. Sam decided to do him one better.
"Look, I don't know what happened to them. I don't know their names, didn't see their faces, and wouldn't recognize their voices. I didn't report it to the police because ZJ and the others found me before I got my head wrapped around it. I couldn't get away from them, so in a…naïve effort to get them to let me go, I told them what happened and what I was running from. ZJ was the only one who didn't laugh. Apparently, he went through something similar as a kid."
Sam stopped, seemingly to catch her breath. Huang waited for her to continue. He wasn't disappointed. "I'll also assume that you're wondering why this little incident didn't come up when you checked out who my parents were. My dad, even though he is retired, he's still a corporate bigwig. So were the guys who attacked them. You won't find a report or any other kind of record about the attack because there isn't one. They buried it three years ago. My parents aren't gonna talk and the attackers definitely aren't either."
Huang nodded, picked up his notebook and wrote something else in it. A minute later he looked up. He opened his mouth, but Sam cut across him.
"No, I haven't said anything to Elliot or Olivia, but I'm sure you'll tell them everything I just said." Sam smiled at him, hoping she hadn't sounded accusatory. "Please, don't misunderstand me…I want you to tell them."
"Why?" Huang asked after a moment's pause.
"Because I'm not one to repeat myself?" Sam tried.
"Sam."
Sam puffed out her cheeks and rolled her eyes. "Because telling one person is hard enough. I'm not ready to walk out there and tell an entire squad what happened a lifetime ago." To her immense relief, the doctor nodded.
"Alright." He narrowed his eyes at her again. "If you ever need to talk about anything—"
"I know where to find you." Sam stood up and shoved her hands in Elliot's jacket's pockets. "Besides, the detectives probably have you on speed dial." Sam gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Dr. Huang."
Huang stood up and nodded his head. "You're welcome." He held out his hand. Sam took it and was slightly surprised when she felt herself relax at his touch. Damn, this doctor was good.
Sam headed for the door that would lead back into the precinct. She and Huang had been talking in the precinct's bunks. She stopped when her hand touched the doorknob. "Oh! I almost forgot!" she whipped around and caught Huang's eyes again.
"What?" Huang furrowed his brow and took a few hurried steps toward her, worried.
"The gang. I…I don't know their name." Sam glanced at him sheepishly and, seeing a surprised look on his face, shrugged. "I wasn't an integral member of it. I was "ZJ's girl." That's how they all referred to me. I never went on any of their…nightly activities. They didn't tell me anything."
When Huang looked thoughtfully into space, Sam stepped in again. "Look, it wouldn't matter even id I could tell you. They are huge…the gang, the whole gang is bigger than even I can imagine. I'm pretty sure they stretch past the tri-state area."
"And you plan to kill them all?" Huang looked at her skeptically.
Sam grinned. "Ah, no." she shook her head. "I can't say that. That would mean if I did happen to kill any of them…it would be premeditated." Huang gave her a small smile despite wanting to keep a cool expression. "Besides, I think the whole gang is kind of…cordoned off from each other. In sections. I'm not even a blip on any of the other section's radars. We just have to deal with our…section." Sam frowned at her lack of better word choice.
"Right." Huang said, frowning slightly. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and held it for her.
"Thanks." Sam ducked her head as she stepped out.
"Do you want to be there when I inform the detectives?" Huang asked following her down the stairs.
Sam hesitated on the last step, then turned around. "No, that's okay. I have a, uh…friend to deal with in Interrogation 4." With that Sam turned, walked past all four detectives without meeting their eyes and into the interrogation room.
TBC
A/N: No action, mucho apologies! Please R&R!