Investigation - Part 1

Steven Otto was a veteran investigator, first with the police force in Texas, later as a private detective.

Normally he dealt with cheating spouses or vanished people, but the job he had received from Kenneth Loesing was a bit more unusual.His client wanted to find out if a former employee of his had been abused as a child.

Kenneth Loesing's Personal Assistant gave Steven Otto all the details they had about Coldham Fintan Noose III.

The subject had grown up in Florida, so that was where Mr. Otto was heading to. The parents, Beverly and Coldham Fintan Noose II, still lived there. He also had found out a bit of the background. The parents hailed from Maryland and Massachusetts respectively. Mr. Noose was an architect and Mrs. Noose a school administrator. Mrs. Noose was from a blue collar background - her father had been a miner -, Mr. Noose descended from a prominent doctor's family in Boston. Steven Otto also found out that the Nooses didn't have any contact with their sons. They had a fall out with Coldham Fintan III when he was eighteen and about half a year at college. The private investigator guessed his subject had dropped out of college as a consequence of being cut off financially by his parents. Coldham Fintan opened his own security company and based on the tax filings was pretty successful. Holiday Michael Noose, the subject's younger brother had no contact with his parents for roughly 5 years. Contrary to Coldham Fintan his brother still received full financial support from his parents and finished his studies to become an architect even if the fallout happened about a year before Holiday Michael graduated. It seemed the Nooses cared more for the youngest child.

Steven Otto requested the school files of both children, by claiming to be a psychologist, treating one of them, to see if there were any notes about suspected abuses. While waiting for the replies, he made email contact with Beverly Noose, pretending to conduct a study about child rearing methods and if she and her husband were interested in taking part.

Beverly and her husband had two traits: They were very conscious of their reputation and vain.

To be chosen for a study flattered them and made them feel important. They agreed, so Steven Otto sent them a questionnaire.

In the meantime the Elementary School Coldham Fintan and Holiday Michael had visited had answered back and included the requested files. There was nothing indicating the school had noticed anything unusual going on at home. Since there were the names of a few teachers mentioned in the reports, Steven Otto tried to get in contact with them. He found out to his dismay that two of the teachers had died. One had been in his eighties, the other was only thirty.

Steven Otto contacted Carol Resch, who had been Coldham Fintan's teacher from kindergarten til the end of second grade. She was sixty, had retired and lived now in California. She agreed to meet him at her home in Palm Springs. Steven Otto flew to San Diego and drove with a rental car to Palm Springs. The journey was picturesque and if he wouldn't have been on business Steven would have made a de-tour to Julian. He loved apple pie and the town was famous for it. Palm Springs was about 123 miles north east of San Diego. The journey took a bit over two hours. The directions Mrs. Resch had given were precise, so Steven didn't have problems locating her address. Mrs. Resch lived in a one storey Spanish style building. Steven parked the car on the street and went up to the door to ring the bell. Carol Resch was petite with short grey hair and blue grey eyes. There were a few wrinkles, but overall Mrs. Resch had kept a certain youthfulness. Mrs. Resch invited Steven Otto in, after seeing his credentials. The private investigator had to bend, when he entered the living room, because he had the height and physique of a basketball player, even so he hadn't played in a team since college. Mrs. Resch liked the red haired and blue eyed man in his fifties based on his friendliness and curiosity. It hadn't been lost to her that he had taken in all the details of the hallway and was now interested in the living room. The hallway had been painted in bright yellow, while the living room walls were pink. Carol liked chintzy furniture. It wasn't to Steven's taste. He admired the many photographs of the classes Carol had taught. Steven wondered if in one of them were Coldham Fintan and Mike too. Mrs. Resch offered Steven coffee and cake. He accepted gladly. Settling down, they talked about the beautiful weather and a bit about Carol's teaching experiences, before Mr. Otto broached the reason for his visit. "Do you remember Coldham Fintan?" "Of course I do!" exclaimed Mrs. Resch. She went to pick up a couple of framed photographs. "We called him Fin. That's him from age four to six. As you know he was born in November 1977, so he was one of the youngest." Mr. Otto studied the boy. On the three photographs Fin was always placed at the front. On one he looked very serious, on the others he smiled.  The boy was blond. Steven couldn't make out the eye color. He thought Fin had been shorter than other boys in his class. "How would you describe Fin?" "Well, he was very shy, but when he said something it made sense. He was honest to a fault. I liked him." "Did he ever tell you about his relationship with his parents?" "Yes, Fin was generally very well behaved and had good manners, but once he had gotten a reprimand and his parents had been informed. He was chalk white and it was very obvious he dreaded going home. Fin was - I would guess - about five. I asked him what he thought his parents would do to him. Fin was visibly embarrassed, but since he was a very bad liar, he admitted he was most likely getting a spanking. You shouldn't forget this was in the eighties and resorting to physical punishment fairly normal. I never approved of it." "When you saw Fin again, did he make any signs he had been spanked?" Mrs. Resch thought for a moment. "I think I met him the next day and he made a normal impression to me." "Were there ever signs Fin had bruises or other injuries?" Carol wasn't stupid and gave Steven an odd look. "What are you implying?" "Well, Fin made allegations that his parents abused him as a child." Carol was shocked. "I didn't know about it and Fin didn't show any signs - at least not as long as I had him as a student." "Did you teach Holiday Michael as well?" "No." "Did you have contact with Fin's parents?" "I talked to them a few times. They made a good impression. They seemed to be interested how their son was faring. Mrs. Noose was ambitious. She expected from Fin that he performed. She wouldn't have had to worry. Fin maybe wasn't in the top five of his class, but he had generally A and B grades and rarely a C." Mr. Otto asked if there was anything else Carol could think of. Carol couldn't. He left his business card just in case.

So far Mr. Otto had only heard hearsay. There was no evidence there was any physical abuse going on. Steven decided to remain open and see what the questionnaire revealed and what other people had to say about the Nooses.

The questionnaire was returned and to Mr. Otto's surprise stated Beverly and Coldham had spanked their kids. Hm. Mr. Otto replied via email this was very interesting and if he could interview them. It was getting exciting.

Steven had also managed to track down another two teachers, who knew Fin from age eight to twelve. He visited Gihad Buchanan first, who lived and worked in Tallahassee.

They met at a cafe to discuss Fin. Gihad was a tall man in his mid-forties. He had very short reddish brown hair and steely blue eyes. Gihad made the impression he was a neat freak. He placed his cutlery, so that his fork and knife were the same distance from his plate. When he took a slice of bread he made sure it was cut into even pieces and they were all exactly the same size. Gihad was also straight forward. "Why are you interested in Fin?" Steven replied: "If you don't mind, I'll tell you later." "I hope it's not because he did something illegal." "No. What makes you think so?" "Well, he was too introvert and seemed to trust nobody. That's for me a sign Fin had something to hide or would turn into a criminal. He seemed cold and distanced." "How do you mean?" "Fin didn't talk a lot and very rarely spoke about his family. He hated being touched and I don't know if it had to do with modesty or something else, but he was always the last in the shower after sports and didn't want to be seen naked." "Maybe he had something to hide. Did you ever consider Fin's behavior as a sign of child abuse?" Gihad stopped cutting his steak sandwich. "No. I didn't think so." Steven believed otherwise. Seeing the indicators, Fin could have told Steven's client the truth. Steven thanked Gihad.

Next on his agenda was Ingo Mueller, a German in his late fifties. Steven Otto was happy he didn't have to go back to California, where Ingo now resided. He had business to do in Miami, so they agreed to meet at the Ritz Carlton. Mr. Mueller was fairly relaxed and had only a slight accent. Ingo was grey haired and had blue eyes. Ingo thought Fin had been a wimp as a child. Ingo had noticed Fin was teased about his name, but instead of standing up to the bullies he ignored them and withdrew. Steven frowned when he heard Mr. Mueller had done nothing to stop the teasing. Ingo explained: "The kids had to figure it out themselves." Mr. Mueller also said Fin seemed sometimes distracted and squirmed a lot during class. Steven didn't know what to make of Fin being distracted. A picture of the boy emerged, though. Fin seemed to have been introvert, honest, didn't trust people and didn't like to be touched. Steven thought there might have been signs of abuse, like Fin's fear of going home, his dislike of being seen naked, his shyness and avoiding physical contact with other people.

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