When
I came back home, I put my purchases away, ate supper with Maggie and the girls,
and went back to my room. I didn’t know if Maggie understood the implications
of what had happened. However, I could see what was down the road, and it will
all come to a head in the next couple days.
On
Tuesday morning I took the girls to the Aquarium. I knew that would take up all
day and that is what I wanted. When we returned, there was an envelope which a
policeman had left in the mail slot. It was addressed to Dolores Kosciuszko
asking me to call the precinct desk. When I called, the desk sergeant said,
“Ms.
Kosciuszko, we need you to come to the precinct house at your earliest
convenience to be interviewed by a detective.”
“My
job is babysitting two children all day while their mother is at work. Monday
is my day off. Could I wait until then?”
“When
does the mother come home?”
“Usually
about 4:00 PM.”
“I’ll
send a detective there today at 4:00PM to pick you up.”
The
detective arrived just as Maggie was coming home. He was driving an unmarked
car but it was obvious to anyone who lives in the city that he was a policeman.
“Which
one of you ladies is Ms. Dolores Kosciuszko?”
“I
am Sergeant Charles Bailey. Would you come with me please?”
The
girls looked puzzled and frightened. Maggie took them by the hand and led them
into the house.
I
had to ride in the back seat where people who have been arrested ride. There is
no upholstery. It is some kind of molded fiberglass seat that is easy to clean
and in which suspects cannot hide weapons or evidence like they could in the
pleats and separations of an upholstered seat. We rode in silence. At the precinct
the sergeant had to open my door from the outside.
Inside
the precinct building I followed the sergeant to a room with a table, chairs on
either side, a huge mirror on the wall behind me, a video camera and microphone
mounted on a tripod on the table, and a light shining on me.
The
detective read off, almost in a monologue, a case file number, his name and
badge number, the precinct number and Chicago Police Department.
“State
your name and address.”
“Dolores
Kosciuszko, 390 Armitage, Chicago, Illinois.”
“In
your own words describe the events of the evening of July 3 and the morning of
July 4 of this year.”
“I
am a live-in babysitter for two daughters of Mrs. Maggie O’Toole. We decided to
take the girls to the Navy Yard to see the fireworks. As soon as Maggie came
home from work, we got ready and left – probably about 5PM. When we arrived at
the Navy Yard we let the girls go on some of the rides and we all went on the
ferris wheel. We walked around the midway for a while and then went to a grassy
slope where we were going to watch the fireworks. We had brought sandwiches. I
went back to the midway and bought two lemonades.
“When
we were finished eating, I took the trash and went looking for a trash barrel. I
saw Sean O’Toole in the crowd. I was frightened. He had previously attacked me.
I kept my head down and walked to the trash barrel. While I was throwing the
trash away, he came up behind me and said,’I see you b****. I know where to
find you. When I come that protective order won’t be worth s***.’
“I
was nervous after it was dark and the fireworks started. I didn’t see him again
and I didn’t have a chance to tell Maggie without the girls hearing me. It was
after midnight when we returned to the house. I was exhausted; Maggie and the
girls were using the bathroom upstairs so I took a sponge bath in the sink at
the back of my ground floor apartment.
“I
got in bed and fell asleep. Sometime during the night a man with a black hood
on his head woke me by pulling me upright in bed by my hair. He said that he
had been watching me bathe from out in the back yard. He said that he was going
to rape me “rough and hard” and then he was going to cut up my face and body so
that I would be “dog ugly”. He yanked the covers off of me and was climbing
onto my futon to straddle me. I saw an opening and kicked him in the groin as
hard as I could. He grabbed at himself and fell toward me. I poked two fingers
through the holes in his mask and into his eyes. Then I jumped up and hit him
on the head as hard as I could with some books. It knocked him out. I pulled
the mask off, picked up the knife with it, called the police, ran out onto the
sidewalk and called for Maggie. The police came in several minutes and went
into my apartment and took him out.”
“You
said that he had previously attacked you?”
“I
don’t remember the date. It was several weeks ago. It was on a Friday. I had
taken the girls to the library and we were walking home. A half block from the
house I saw a man get out of a car and stand in front of the house. I asked the
older girl, Karen, if she knew the man. She said, ‘It’s Daddy and I’m scared. Mommy
said that he might come and take us away.’
I gave her the house key and told her to get her sister, Kaitlynn, into
the house, lock the door, run upstairs and not to open the door again until she
saw the man drive away.
“I
got between the man and the girls. When they were inside he started raging at
me that they were his girls and that he had a legal right to see them or to
take them with him. I could tell that he had been drinking. I told him that the
police were the ones who made sure the laws were obeyed. I was calling them and
he could make his case to them or to a judge. When I completed the call he
slapped me so hard that my knees buckled. I may have been unconscious. The next
thing I knew the police were there and Karen was kneeling over me crying. The
policeman told me that unless the mother had a custody order, the father indeed
could see the girls or take them with him.
“I
explained all this to Maggie. She went to the police with me, where I signed
and received a copy of the officer’s report. She then went to the Child
Protection department of DHS. They obtained a protection order, went to court
and had her awarded full custody temporarily, started the process to have her
awarded child support. I don’t know the details but Mr. O’Toole must think that
I am the one to blame.”
“Ms.
Kosciuszko, this is going to be one or more felony charges against Mr. O’Toole.
You are going to have to be interviewed by an Assistant District Attorney and
you are, most likely, going to have to testify in a trial.”
“That
is the Gordian knot that I am caught in. I came to Chicago to start a new life.
I was looking for a room to rent and a job. A woman referred me to Maggie
O’Toole. Maggie had a first floor room for rent and she needed a babysitter for
her girls until school starts. She offered me free room and board if I would
babysit her girls this summer. Her husband had left her the previous year the
day before Thanksgiving. She had not heard from him. She filed a missing
persons report. The police found him but wouldn’t give her the address.
“My
problem is this – I am going to have to leave that home in the next couple days.
My relationship with the girls and even with Maggie will be destroyed when they
find out that the father/husband might go to prison and that it is my testimony
that will send him there. Blood is thicker than water. I will have to leave. I
may even have to return to that little town in Arkansas that I was trying to
escape.”
“I
will try to set up an appointment with an Assistant District Attorney tomorrow
or Thursday at 4:00PM. Do you have a cell phone? Good. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know
when I will pick you up.”
He
drove me back to the house. This time he had opened the front door on the
passenger side and let me ride up front.
Maggie
and the girls were already eating when I came in. I quickly washed and sat down
at the table. They were all quiet. After supper I helped Maggie gather the
dishes and wash them. After the girls were in the living room watching
television, I said quietly,
“Maggie,
I am going to have to leave, probably in the next few days.”
“I
know, Dolores, you are not the one at fault – Sean is to blame. But when the
word gets out that Sean is in jail, and if there is a trial, the whole
neighborhood will be against you. That is just the way it is. He is from the
neighborhood and you are an outsider. Then they will start saying things to the
girls. I don’t know what I am going to do, but I know you will have to leave.”
“Let’s
say Friday when you get home from work.”
We
hugged and I went downstairs to my room.
I
had forgotten about Linda Halstead. I would have to go there either tomorrow
evening or Thursday evening and tell them that I would not be able to tutor
Linda any more.
I
tried to read but couldn’t concentrate. I put my cell phone on the charger so
that it would be ready for Sergeant Bailey’s call tomorrow. I took the
underwear I bought Monday out of the packages, washed them in the sink, rinsed
them, and hung them up in different places to dry. I got my new shoes out of
the box and decided to wear them tomorrow.
I
had taped newspapers over the windows in the kitchen after the break in. I took
a sponge bath at the sink and crawled into my futon bed. It had cost me $550
plus $20 to the deliveryman plus about $100 for the sheets and comforter. I was
not going to get very many nights sleep for almost $700. I decided that I was
going to enjoy tonight’s sleep.
On
Wednesday I took the girls along with me while I ran some errands. I went to
the bank and withdrew another $500. I went to the post office and filled out a
form for the Post Office to hold all my mail until I sent a new address to
which to forward it. Then I went to the library, returned all my books
(including the ones I had used to hit Sean). I told the Librarian that I would
not be able to hold the Story Hour any longer.
On
our way home, Sergeant Bailey called to say that he would pick me up at 4:00 PM
that day.
The
interview with the Assistant District Attorney covered the same material as my
interview with Sergeant Bailey.
“What
is this about you moving? Where are you
going?”
“I
don’t know. I can’t stay in that house. I am not safe. He has relatives that
live in the same block. I am an outsider. His wife told me that I will have to
leave. I won’t be effective as a babysitter when neighbors start telling the
girls, ‘That is the woman who is going to send your Daddy to prison.’ I don’t have any other job here. I’m running
out of money. I’m moving out of her house Friday evening. I will go to a motel
for a few days and then I will either go back to Arkansas or I will go to
Baltimore. I am afraid of Sean O’Toole. That is why I want to leave Chicago.”
“Will
you keep us informed of your whereabouts?
Here is my card.”
“Yes,
I will keep you informed of my new address.”
The
next day I returned to the library and made a reservation on the computer at
Hostels International for Friday- Monday.
I
found a cardboard box to pack the extra items I had accumulated that wouldn’t
fit in my suitcase. I put my best clothes in the suitcase so that I could put the
box in storage as soon as I registered at the hostel.
Thursday
evening I went to the Halstead’s. Mr. Halstead came to the door and glowered at
me. “V-I-C-T-O-R-I-A!”
Mrs.
Halstead came to the door. “I didn’t think you would be coming back.”
“Actually,
I came to tell you that I cannot continue tutoring Linda.”
“Yes,
I heard that you were caught getting it on with Mr. O’Toole.”
My
chin dropped. I started to reply, then turned and left.
That
day and the next went in a whirl and soon I was saying good-bye to Maggie and
the girls. I called a taxi to take me and my bags to the hostel.
After
checking in and getting settled, I went out for supper. When I returned, I went
to a quiet place in the lobby and called Willard.
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