[ St. Helen's Orphanage ]

[knockknock_hack]

St. Helen’s Orphanage tried to look welcoming. The green grass, three trees, and small lake gave the lands a congenial appearance, but the building itself destroyed any idea of serenity. It had once been a prison, and, even without the electric wire running across the top of the fences, it showed. A group of older boys played basketball while ten

Comments

[hadotherplans]

Myka gave a small smile. "Mr. Thomas. I assume your secretary informed you of the nature of our visit?"

[igetvibes]

Pete nodded and gave the man a slight smile as well, glancing around to see if he spotted Claudia anywhere. "And if she has," he added, "Could you tell us where Miss Donovan is? We'd like to take care of this as soon as possible."

[knockknock_hack]

"Miss Donovan's inside," Thomas said, ushering them in. "I let her poke around the girl's dormitory to... satisfy her." He sighed as he walked with them. "Your call was such a relief. I was just about to call Dr. Ross. I'm afraid she's in... a very serious delusional state. It was so good to hear someone was on their way to collect her."

[hadotherplans]

Myka raised her brows. "I think you've misunderstood our reasons for being here." She pulled out her badge. "We're with the Secret Service. Ms. Donovan works alongside us, in a civilian capacity - mostly doing computer-related work. We're here to take control of the investigation that she started."

[igetvibes]

Pete nodded in agreement with Myka. "And to check on her, of course," he added. "I'm guessing Miss Donovan asked you already if there was anything strange about these, um, recent suicides?"

[knockknock_hack]

The man stopped and stared at them. They wouldn't be saying this to him if they were just here to humor Claudia. But Claudia working with the Secret Service? He frowned at the thought but told himself to wait it out.

"I don't know why the Secret Service is investigating suicides at an orphanage then," he replied. He looked at Pete. "She did, and I explained to her what I thought she already knew. A lot of the children who come here are... troubled."

[hadotherplans]

"If that's the case, we'll be questioning your methods of treatment and possibly launch a full-scale investigation into the orphanage," Myka said sharply. She didn't like the man, or his apparent attitude toward Claudia. "The nature of our investigation as it stands now, however, is classified."

[igetvibes]

There was another nod from Pete, who was frowning at the look on the man's face. "We'll let you know if anything comes up, of course" he continued, trying to (hopefully) smooth things over. Someone around here had to at least make an attempt to be cooperative. "But right now we need to talk to Claudia. She'll tell us --" Why she ran off without explaining herself "--what we need to know."

[knockknock_hack]

"We've endured every sort of inspection you can imagine, Ms. Bering," Mr. Thomas said as he continued walking with the agents. "There has been no sign whatsoever of misconduct."

He frowned, pausing at a door. "Here at St. Helen's, we are used to... difficult children. By the time they come to us, usually between foster homes, they have a record of behavioral misconduct. For instance, a fourteen-year-old girl who not only sabotaged every potiental adoption but also wired a boy's locker her third week at a school to deliver a mild but steady electric charge when he attempted to open it." He shook his head and unlocked the nearby door.

"Usually, they do find other foster homes, but... Most of the children we see here are never adopted. They merely age out of the system."

[hadotherplans]

Myka wasn't in the mood to listen to the man's excuses. "If you can just show us to Ms. Donovan, it would be much appreciated."

[igetvibes]

Pete nodded in agreement with Myka. "We understand, you're probably used to this kind of thing. But we'd still like to look into it."

[knockknock_hack]

Thomas led them into the room, and, sure enough, Claudia was sitting on the bed. She focused initially just on the superintendent, and her eyes narrowed.

"Okay, locking me in a room when I was fourteen? Pissed me off. Doing now? So not cool."

"You sounded delusional, Miss Donovan," Thomas said with a practiced calm. "I was concerned that, left to your own devices, you might show violent tendencies."

"I'd like to kick your ass right about now. How's that for violent tendencies?" She looked over at Pete and Myka and managed a slight smile, more guilty than anything else, "Um. Hi guys."

[hadotherplans]

Myka waved slightly, but her tone was unamused. "Hi."

[igetvibes]

"Soooo." Pete glanced at the superintendent and raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, Mr. Thomas, but we need to discuss things with Miss Donovan right now," he told the man. "We'll let you know if we need anything."

Now it was Claudia's turn. "Okay, you wanna tell us what the hell is going on here?"

[knockknock_hack]

Claudia grabbed her bag from beside the bed as Thomas left the room. Maybe if she pretended like this was a totally normal situation, she could get away with it. If she could just channel Artie...

She pulled out a makeshift folder and offered a picture. "Lucas Porter, seventeen. He committed suicide the night before last. Hanged himself in his room." She paused. Artie would deliver this was the utmost calm. "His ten-year-old sister found the body. This is the fifteenth suicide in this orphanage in ten years. In that same span of time? There have been nine other attempts."

[hadotherplans]

"Okay," Myka frowned, processing the information, putting her anger at Claudia on the backburner. "What are the variables? What's changed or stayed the same in that time? Are there...any things these kids had in common? Anything similar about the manners of death? What about the kids who survived? Are any of them still around?" She glanced from Claudia to Pete.