The Case

The Case Samantha M Thomas Copyright © 2023 by Samantha M Thomas All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact [include publisher/author contact info]. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. Book Cover by www.getcovers.com Edited by Victoria Ellis at Cruel Ink Editing and Designs. First edition 2023 Contents . Chapter Content Warning 1. Chapter 1 2. Chapter 2 3. Chapter 3 4. Chapter 4 5. Chapter 5 6. Chapter 6 7. Chapter 7 8. Chapter 8 9. Chapter 9 10. Chapter 10 11. Chapter 11 12. Chapter 12 13. Chapter 13 14. Chapter 14 15. Chapter 15 16. Chapter 16 17. Chapter 17 18. Chapter 18 19. Chapter 19 20. Chapter 20 21. Chapter 21 22. Chapter 22 23. Chapter 23 24. Chapter 24 25. Chapter 25 26. Chapter 26 27. Chapter 27 28. Chapter 28 29. Chapter 29 30. Chapter 30 31. Chapter 31 32. Epilogue 33. Acknowledgements Also By Sometimes it takes a while to really find yourself. Sometimes you know exactly what you want to do with your life. And sometimes, those two people collide and create a fucking magical life. Don’t be afraid to chase unicorns. Content Warning This book had mentions of child neglect and child abuse, not shown directly on page. Also has brief mention of drug abuse. Chapter 1 Larkin F uck this day. I thump my head onto my desk, hoping it restarts this shit storm of a day. It doesn’t, of course, but I need to find a way to get five minutes to myself right now. The walls in my office feel like they’re shrinking in on me, and the throbbing behind my eyes is creeping into migraine territory. How am I supposed to work with he who must not be named when I literally can’t be in the same room with him for more than five minutes? How does our director think this is a good idea? When I came in today, I expected the usual. I’d get updates on the cases currently on my caseload and then check for any new ones that were assigned to me overnight. Being a social worker whose focus is on children is not for the faint of heart. My caseload is changing every single day, and most of the time our agency takes over when Child Protective Services needs an assist, or if the case needs more resources—we tend to have the especially difficult cases. I feel like my hands are tied, and it’s so difficult to make an actual difference in these kids’ lives. What makes this challenge ten times harder is the dick head himself… Theo. We’re what I would consider rivals. We hold the same job title, the same education, and the same letters after our names. The difference is Theo is a strait-laced, by the book asshole who makes it his life’s mission to block every good thing I do for our clients—and he claims it’s because I’m not “following the rules.” Listen, I know there are a ton of rules to follow when it comes to our job. For the most part, I do try to stick to those. However, when I have the power to help a kid who is being neglected or abused, you better believe I’m doing it—and I don’t care what rules I break to help them. I don’t break the rules in a detrimental way. I’m never at risk of losing my license, but I firmly believe that taking risks saves lives, and I won’t apologize for that…especially to the good little choir boy. Today I walked into work and had a memo that my boss, Scott, needed to see me when I got in. It’s not unusual to get briefed on particularly difficult or sensitive cases so I didn’t think anything of it. What I was not expecting was the saint himself sitting in one of the chairs in front of Scott’s desk. I felt his stare on the side of my face as I sat down before we both learned our normal working environment was about to get overhauled. I tuned out when I heard the words, “Jointly work on this case.” Working with Theo is literally my worst nightmare—and it’s coming true. As soon as we’re dismissed, I speed walk to my office in an attempt to get my head on straight. Now, it’s time to face the music and figure out what kind of a case needs two social workers involved. No matter how much I believe that working with Theo is a bad idea, I have to keep the end goal firmly in the forefront of my head. Helping this family, this child, is the only thing that matters. I open up the file Scott gave me. So far it seems pretty straight forward: single parent home, multiple reports by neighbors and teachers, and a poor attendance record. It looks like the current social worker on the case has used every resource at their disposal with CPS without pulling the child from the home. Huh, that’s a little bit of a red flag. Usually, if there’s abuse or neglect happening and you have plenty of evidence, the immediate response is to take temporary custody of the child. Deciding to withhold my judgement, I continue reading the report. Gavin, age eight, multiple truancies at school along with reports of suspicious bruising. Comes to school in dirty clothes and appears to have lost weight over the last year according to the school counselor. Looks like the social worker has been on this case for the last four years, and they’ve completed multiple interviews