Finding My Normal

Ch 74: The Accident

The Day of Sang's 8th Birthday...

"She's still here, but everyone else is gone.  They took all their stuff."  Cody Jr. tells his father.

"That bastard!  Abandoning his daughter?  Why, because that bitch won't take care of her and he wants to run off with his mistress I bet!"  The D.A. sighs in frustration and paces back and forth across the Sorenson kitchen.

"Should I wake her?  Get her up so she can come with us?"  His son asks.

"No, no.  We can't...I know she'd be better off, but..."  The D.A. has a pained look in his eyes, he wants to help Sang, but he's afraid.  Will she go willingly?  Will she accept the new family they can become?  He doesn't want to risk it.  "Son, we have to leave her.  She'll be okay.  We can protect her, make sure she stays out of harms way."  He stops pacing and heads towards the front door.

"But Dad..."

"No!  Cody, lets go.  We need to see if we can catch up to Mr. Sorenson.  We can still get him to confess."  Cody watches his dad leave the house and make his way towards the car.  This is his chance to let Sang know she's not alone.  If Cody Jr. can give her one ounce of comfort he will.  He takes out the rose he brought with him as a birthday gift for Sang and lays it on the kitchen counter as he begins to write a note for her.  He wishes her a happy birthday and promises that they will be back soon.  A short honk from outside alerts him to his dad's impatience so he leaves the gift and hurries to the car.

Cody stares out the window as his dad drives them on the coastal highway.  It's not until his dad swears that he brings his attention back to the road.  Right in front of their approaching car is the Sorenson vehicle hanging half way over the now broken railing.  The white van that passes by us, speeding away from the scene, is the likely culprit of this hit and run.  The car half beaten in and mangled sits upside down on top of the teetering railing.  One false move and it goes over.  The D.A. slams his breaks and gets out of the car with it still running, Cody follows quickly behind him rushing towards the scene.

"Get the girl!" Cody's father yells as he heads towards the drivers side.  Cody obeys and quickly rushes to the back passenger seat to pull Marie out.  She's unconscious and bloody, bruises already forming on her young face.  Cody holds her up as he undoes the seat belt and carefully slips her out.  He carries her all the way to the car and moves into the back seat with her to make sure she doesn't injure herself further.  One he feels she's settled he runs back out to help his father get the others out.

While his son carries Marie to safety the District Attorney, furious and seeking justice for his dead wife, leans in to the broken drivers side window.  "Save me."  Mr. Sorenson whispers, half choking on his own blood.

"You killed my wife.  Thousands lost their lives to you and your greed. You let that monster abuse your daughter over and over. Then you abandon her? For what? To save yourself and the new family you've started with Angela. Who were you going to abandon next? Marie?"  The D.A. shouts haphazardly leaning against the car causing it to teeter even more over the edge.

"Please. I'm sorry. Help me get out before it falls over."  Mr. Sorenson begs.

The D.A. shakes his head.  "You won't even put your wife's life before yours?  You disgust me."

"Please, help."  Mr. Sorenson continues to beg for his own selfish life.

"I got Marie out and that monster right there,"  He says pointing to the unconscious Mrs. Sorenson, "can rot in hell right by your side. Sang won't be in harms way again, she's under my protection now."

The District Attorney consumed with grief over his dead wife, seeking justice and tortured by how an innocent child like Sang was treated by these monsters just snaps.  He pushes the car the inch it needed to fall over the cliff.

 "Dad!"  Cody yells as he approaches the site of where the car once sat.  He looks up in astonishment at his father.  The person who taught him to always be on the side of good now did something so bad and irreversible.

"I was too late son, you need to stay here and make sure everything goes smoothly. When the cops get here, stay under their radar. Feel out what they're labeling it as. If they don't rule it as an accident I'll take care of it. Report back once they've finished with the scene, I'll take Marie with us. And ditch that mask!"

Cody didn't even realize he was still wearing the thing.  He runs over and throws away the mask in a trash can at the corner of a street filled with shops.  Two hours into the investigation a crowd formed and Cody Jr. is standing near the edge of the caution tape the police put up around the scene of the crime.  People are mumbling, gossiping, jumping to conclusions about what has gone on, but only Cody, his father and the driver of the white van know.  An hour ago Cody's dad called him to let him know the white van belonged to a member of the drug cartel.  Turns out they were trying to eliminate the guy they thought could potentially rat them out.  As Cody tries to listen and take in his surrounding's he notices a kid walking around with his mask that he dumped earlier.  Cody shakes his head in frustration at how stupid he was in throwing it away.  He should have been more careful, stuck it in towards the bottom, piled stuff on top.  

"The camera's... check if they're facing this direction and get copies of the tapes."  Detective Reynolds orders.

"The second set of tire marks is going in the opposite direction."  One of the CSI crew members points out as he walks up to her.

"Hit and run?"

"Not sure, we'll see what the cameras show and what forensics can uncover."  

With that Cody races back to find a bus stop so he can head back home and tell his father everything that is going on so they can cover their tracks.  Cody never brings up what his father did, he ignores it and focuses his attention on Sang and keeping her safe.