Chapter 3 - Ms. Alvarez Had Been Watching
Elena Alvarez arrived at my house the following morning after speaking with CPS.
She was thirty-nine, exhausted, and angrier than any elementary-school teacher I had ever met.
But she never displayed that anger in front of Ruby.
She sat on the floor.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Ruby stared at her.
Then walked over and climbed into her lap.
That told me more than any introduction could.
Ms. Alvarez had been documenting concerns for almost two months.
Ruby stealing crackers from classmates.
Eating discarded apple slices from the cafeteria tray return.
Hiding granola bars in her socks.
Asking whether lunch was “earned.”
Falling asleep during reading circle.
Once, when another child complained about being hungry before lunch, Ruby whispered:
“Just don’t talk about it and they forget you’re hungry.”
Elena contacted Paula.
Paula blamed picky eating.
Then she blamed growth spurts.
Then constipation.
Then Ruby “seeking attention.”
Elena requested the school nurse assess her.
Ruby’s weight had dropped noticeably from the beginning of the school year.
That triggered more questions.
Three days before Paula brought Ruby to me, Elena asked Ruby why she was so hungry on Mondays.
Ruby answered:
“Weekends are harder.”
That was when Elena filed the mandatory report.
“Why hide a note in her backpack?” I asked.
Elena looked ashamed.
“Because I became afraid the normal process wasn’t moving fast enough.”
CPS had acknowledged her report.
But Ruby was still going home every afternoon.
Then yesterday, Ruby told Elena:
“Mom says we’re making my room pretty before the lady comes.”
“What lady?”
Ruby didn’t know.
That frightened Elena enough to take the photograph herself.
“How?”
“Ruby had described the chair. At dismissal Paula was late. I walked Ruby home because they live two blocks from the school.”
Paula wasn’t there.
Sergio answered.
The front door remained open while he took a phone call.
From the doorway Elena could see down the hall.
The chair was there.
She photographed it from outside without entering.
Then she slipped the note into Ruby’s coloring book.
“I knew you existed because Ruby talks about you.”
“What does she say?”
Elena smiled sadly.
“That Uncle Robert lets her have seconds.”
I had babysat Ruby twice in the previous year.
I hadn’t noticed anything.
That knowledge ate at me.
Elena saw it.
“Children can hide survival rules very well when they think adults invented them for a reason.”
CPS investigator Denise Walker arrived shortly afterward.
She explained that no permanent custody decision would happen in my living room.
First:
medical assessment.
Interviews.
Home inspection.
Safety evaluation.
Court if necessary.
Then she asked a strange question.
“Why did Paula say you were keeping Ruby for three days?”
“A trip.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Denise wrote something down.
“Because according to our records, Paula received notice yesterday that CPS intended to contact her.”
My stomach tightened.
“She knew?”
“We need to determine exactly what she knew and when.”
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Paula didn’t leave Ruby with me because she needed a babysitter.
She needed Ruby somewhere else.
