"I told a nurse in Flagstaff I fell," Leo admitted. "I was afraid to tell her the truth with Hank standing there." Dr. Chen put down her pen and looked at him directly. "You can tell me the truth now," she said.
"I can't promise that everything will be easy after you do, but I can make sure your account is recorded." Leo swallowed. "Then I want to start with the kids who are still there."
He spoke for almost an hour. He told her about the locked food cupboard, the chores that became punishments, the gambling slips he had found in the laundry, and the way Hank made children apologize for injuries they had not caused. He described Miguel's fear of losing his socks and Tessa's habit of waiting at the kitchen door until she knew whether it was safe to enter. He also described the little things that seemed shameful to mention, like the birthday cake Hank ate by himself after promising to share it or the school project Ben had not been allowed to finish because a rental unit needed cleaning.
Dr. Chen did not treat the small details as distractions. She asked when they happened, who else might remember them, and whether Leo knew how to contact the children's schools. Nora Bennett joined them later with a second person from child welfare whose task was to arrange independent interviews and a safety visit to Hank's house. Leo listened to the plan with a mixture of relief and terror. If Hank learned he had spoken, the old man might try to punish the others before anyone arrived.
"Can you go today?" Leo asked. Nora glanced at her colleague. "We're already making arrangements," she said.
"I will not give you a time I can't guarantee, but protecting the children you named is part of what we're doing." Leo nodded, unsatisfied but aware that she had given him more information than the adults who once moved him from home to home. He asked for a phone call and, when offered the hospital's telephone, found he had no number he trusted enough to dial.
Sully waited in the corridor outside Leo's room for nearly two hours. A nurse eventually convinced him to let somebody change the dressing on his shoulder, and he returned wearing a fresh bandage and an expression that suggested he would argue with anyone who told him to go home. Ox arrived carrying a clean sweatshirt, socks, and a paper bag of food that the nurse promptly inspected before approving it. Leo stared at the clothes as if they were expensive gifts. Sully placed them on a chair and said, "The sweatshirt is yours whether I see you again or not."
"Why?" Leo asked. Sully looked almost offended by the question, then understood it. "Because you need one," he answered.