The Guardian

doing their routine business. Amber sat next to her mother, forcing herself to be calm. She appeared unmoved by all the chaos and commotion that was going on.
    Gil had been taken by ambulance to UMC for treatment of his wounds. His weren’t as bad the others. Nevertheless, they knew who had done it. The MO was there. There was the sign around his neck and the words child molester on his forehead. He had the same wire ties around his genitals.
    Halloway looked at Amber. He was trying to read her demeanor. Finally, he said, “I have to ask you some questions Amber. I know it may be uncomfortable for you, but I’m afraid we need to know.”
    Amber looked at him. He had similar eyes like the Guardian. She didn’t see any meanness or anything like that. What she did see was trust and compassion.
    “Okay” was all she said. She moved closer to her mom. Jane’s arm snuggly around her daughter, letting her know she had her support.
    “First we need to know if you saw who it was who came into your room, other than your father.”
    Amber’s eyes went wild, Halloway could see the hate and anger in them. “He wasn’t my father!” she said. “He just lived here.” Her mother hugged her tighter to her side.
    “You’re right. I’m sorry. Let me rephrase that. Did you see who it was that came into your room?”
    “No not really.”
    “How is that? Not really, what didn’t you see?”
    “He was all covered in black, even his head. The lights were out so it was really hard to see him.” She said. “He was like a shadow come to life.”
    “How did you know it was a man?”
    “I know because he spoke to me.”
    Jane almost fell over. She turned and looked at Amber. “He spoke to you, you didn’t tell me that.” She was in shock.
    Griffin reached over and put her hand on Jane’s shoulder, trying to calm her down.
    “Well, was it a good thing? Did he try to hurt you in any way?” Halloway asked.
    “No. He told me that he was here to help me. He said that he was my Guardian Angel and I know it’s true because I kept praying to God to help me. He heard my prayers and he sent the Guardian Angel down. He said that Gil would never hurt me again.”
    Halloway looked at Griffin who was franticly taking notes. This was the most they had gotten since this thing had started months ago. Someone had actually spoken to him. There was an eye witness.
    “So, this Guardian Angel, why was he here to protect you? What was he protecting you from?”
    Amber was sweating now. She had known that this question would come. He had told her it would and had told her she had to be brave and not to worry. He assured her that he would be there to protect her.
    She looked up at her mom, Jane smiled and said, “Its okay honey, just tell the Lieutenant what you told me.” Jane’s eyes were filled and overflowing with tears. She was shocked at what Amber had told her while they sat and waited for the police to arrive.
    “Well, Gil was making me do things.”
    “What types of things?”
    “He would come into my room at night.” She looked over at her mother again for support. He’d make me take my clothes off and, and,” she looked to her mom again for support, she was scared to death they would think it was her fault. Even though the Guardian had assured her that it wasn’t, she knew they would blame her.
    “Go ahead, its okay.” Jane said to her.
    “He made me put his thing in my mouth and, and he put his fingers up in me and. Oh God, he made me do all sorts of nasty things to him.” She buried her face in her hands. Her eyes were filling with tears again. She sat sobbing. It was like a great heavy weight had been lifted off of her chest. She buried her face in her mother’s chest and sobbed uncontrollably.
    “You know what? I don’t think we need any more right now” Halloway said the sorrow and anger tearing at his heart like a great sharp claw.
    “Detective Griffin, Ms. Cartwright, we’ll need to have her examined for evidence of physical abuse if you know what I mean. I’m sorry.”
    “That’s okay, I know you do.”
    “God, I had no idea, no idea. I mean, I knew something had been troubling her. I even took her to a doctor. No one even had a clue it was anything remotely close to this serious. My poor baby, why didn’t you tell me, why?” Jane said, stroking her daughter’s hair.
    “I was afraid you’d hate me. You’d think it was my fault. Gil said you’d make me go away.”
    “Oh my poor, poor