Life Hacks/Ask Billie what she means by that

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” You ask.

“Hmmm...” Billie groans, pressing her ear into your hip as she looks down toward the inside of your jacket. It doesn’t look like he… err… whatever, you’ll just think of her as a he for now even though you know better. It doesn’t seem to look like “he” really wants to answer.

“Billy,” you call ‘his’ attention, bending your knees and breaking out of her grip as you get down to his eye level. “Billy,” you repeat, “what did you mean they are bad at their job?”

Sh.. he tries to look away again, but you can see he is trying to formulate a way to answer your question. “They were mean...” she says. “Just like.. just like my… ehh...” It seems she is having trouble completing her sentence, but you sort of get what she is about to say and place a hand on her shoulder to calm ‘him’ and silently assure him you get the message.

“It’s Ok,” you tell him, “was your daddy mean to you a lot?” This question gets a weak nod from Billie. “What did the lady who came to your house do that was mean like that?” You ask.

Billy simply lets out a moan, and then bursts into a sudden flare of activity as he seems to be angrily ripping his shirt off his own back. Your mind goes into a flare of activity wondering what to think for a moment, but at the same time guessing what you are probably about to see. As he struggles with the hoody he is wearing, the black T-shirt he is wearing beneath is also pulled up revealing her bare stomach. Around the lower rib-cage, you catch sight of a large discolored yellowish spot, a healing bruise that looks like it must be about a week or so old. It is possible to get a bruise of that sort from the wild play kids normally engage in, but it is really not likely. It is right around where her elbow would normally cover, meaning it is right in an area you would instinctively protect if you took a fall or something. The most likely way to get a bruise there is that someone else hit you, and judging by the size of the bruise it would have to have been an adult.

Billy pulls his T-shirt back down as he finally gets the hoodie up over his head. It seems that one was not the bruise he was intending to show you. Instead, after the hoodie is off, he pulls up his left sleeve to show you another bruise in the shape of a hand-print on his upper arm and shoulder. Now THAT is something 100% impossible to make without human violence. You think you are starting to understand what happened.

“Did she grab you there while she was trying to get you to leave with her?” You ask, getting a slight nod in response from Billy.

“I beat the bitch up and then got away,” he says, the venom back in his voice. Somehow, you don’t think it went down exactly as he is saying, but you don’t want to excuse the social worker off-hand just yet. However, looking at this bruise as well you can see signs that it is an older healing bruise. It does not look fresh, so you are certain at least that the social worker isn’t the one who put it there.

What do you do now?

• Continue to question “Billy”
• Convince “Billy” to come to the police station with you
• Call Officer Thompsett and tell her you found “Billy”
• Give “Billy” a blace to hide till you figure out what to do

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