Steve Dolan was evaluated by the court-appointed psychiatrist and found to be unfit to stand trial on the grounds of mental incapacity, and was sent to Atascadero, Casey signing the committal papers without a qualm. After what he’d tried to do to an innocent baby, and done to her in the past, she would have strapped him in the chair and pulled the switch herself if she had the opportunity. She still felt the horror and helpless outrage swell up in her, hot and powerful, whenever she thought about what he’d threatened to do to that innocent baby.
No, let him rot in that scary place, penned-up together with all the other crazies and violent sexual predators; he was where he deserved to be, he was one of them, after all, so he should feel right at home. She’d never agree to his release; if necessary she’d swear to a judge on a stack of bibles that she considered him a threat to her life and family, anything to keep him caged-up in there forever.
As it transpired, she didn’t have to resort to that; six months after his initial committal, Steve Dolan was re-evaluated and this time was deemed to be fit to stand trial, and so he was transferred back to the jail at Santa Rita to await trial. Less than a week after he was transferred back, he was found dead in a shower room; he’d been viciously beaten and gang-raped, a bar of soap forced into his mouth to muffle his cries, and once his attackers had finished with him, they’d stabbed him several times through the neck and chest with a shiv carved from a toothbrush; whoever had done it had used such force it had snapped-off inside one of the puncture wounds. No perpetrator had been uncovered, and the case was listed as ‘Under Investigation’.
When Robbie got the news, he pondered how to break it to Casey; asking Frank only got him one answer; “Tell her the truth, Robbie, it’s what you’re good at.”
Robbie waited until that night to tell her, waiting for the right opportunity. They were lying in bed, luxuriating in the feel of each other, warm and comfortable, when Robbie decided that now was the right time.
“Baby, we got a visit today, Sergeant Bell, Daly City PD; it’s about your fath… about Steve.”
Casey turned away from him, her body suddenly stiff and unyielding.
“Robbie, if you ever loved me, if you want me to stay with you, you’ll never mention that fucker again, not as long as you live, do you understand?” she gritted, her voice almost harsh with hatred and anger.
Robbie put his hand on her waist, drawing her closer.
“No, Case, you don’t understand; he was found… dead, in a shower room in Santa Rita, he’d been… sexually assaulted, beaten and stabbed. They don’t have anyone for it yet, they’re still investigating, was all he could tell me.”
Casey lay absolutely still, and Robbie thought she was crying, but when she turned back to face him, her eyes were dry, and her features calm, composed.
“Then it’s over, baby, he’s gone and it’s all finally over. If there’s a Hell, he’s in it, and I’m glad; he did so much wrong to both of us, to so many other people, and if he went to jail, one day they’d have let him out, and none of us, you, my babies, me, would be safe. Now I know he’ll never be the boogeyman waiting around the corner, now he’ll never be back to plague us; now our babies will be safe, and so will we. God help me, but I’m glad he’s dead, now at least he won’t try and kill any more innocent little babies, now he’ll never rape me again, now he’ll never be back to try and hurt you. He thought he could live by the sword, instead he died by the sword. It’s over, and we can forget him!”
Robbie was shocked at her dismissal of the man who, irrespective of his actions, was still their father. Casey saw the shock and dismay in his eyes, and reached up to caress his cheek.
“You’re a good man, Robbie, and one day, a year, ten years from now, you’d have found a way to forgive him, but I can never do that; I know what I sound like, baby, and if it shocks you, I’m sorry, but when it comes to my husband and my babies, nothing matters except that they’re safe; I would condemn that man to a million hells if I had to, if it meant my babies slept safe in their beds at night. I hate him for what he did to us, for what he had the power to do, and I cannot find anything inside me that allows me to forgive him, not now, not ever. Right now he’s being punished for what he’s done, and that’s an end to it. I never want to hear his name again, Robbie; that part of our life is gone now, dead and buried with him!”
Robbie backed away, her words making sense even if he was a little shocked at her harsh dismissal of the man. As he pondered her words, something she’d said clicked, and he turned back to her.
“Case, you said “babies”, what did you mean?”
Casey stretched and slid her arms around him as she hugged him close.
“Oh yes, my darling Robbie, I knew there was something I wanted to tell you…!”