Protection Detail

Both dogs alerted, their ears twitching, their tails still and straight as they shifted their gazes to the deep woods they’d just come through.

Another branch snapped.

Glory growled.

She knew what she was hearing. Not the stealthy movement of a deer. Someone was in the woods, and whoever it was seemed to be between Gavin and All Our Kids.

That didn’t make him happy.

He gestured to Chase. “The suspect might be heading back to the foster home,” he mouthed.

Chase nodded. “What’s the plan?”

“Let’s separate. Try to hem him in.”

Chase nodded, taking two steps away and melting into the trees. There one minute. Gone the next.

Gavin issued a short quiet command, and Glory took off, moving through trees and foliage with unerring purpose. She had the scent. She was going to find the perpetrator, and the person who’d shot and killed Michael Jeffries was going to be made to pay for it.

* * *

Like Cassie, most of the children staying at All Our Kids didn’t trust the police. They’d come from a variety of homes, foster placements and difficult situations, but the one thing they all had in common was a deep-seated distrust of authority. In her three years working as housemother, that seemed to be the one and only overriding theme, the piece of baggage every single one of her kids brought into the home. She spent a lot of time working with the kids to help them overcome that, and each child spent time with counselors and therapists.

That was all well and good, but right at that moment, it didn’t matter. In the wee hours of the morning, with darkness pushing against the kitchen window and sleep still fogging their brains, there wasn’t one of the seven kids who wanted anything to do with Officer Anderson.

With Virginia upstairs trying to settle Juan back down, Cassie was having to deal with the attitudes, the silences and the tears on her own.

It probably would have been a good idea if a female officer had conducted the interview. Most of the kids responded better to female authority, but Officer Anderson hadn’t wanted to waste time bringing someone else in.

She’d warned him, told him it wouldn’t be a waste of time if it helped open the mouths of her charges.

He’d insisted on doing things his way.

And, now they were all in the kitchen, the sharp scent of gasoline seeping in from under the back door.

The dead-eyed guy had been trying to burn the house down.

The smell was a constant reminder and a distraction. One Cassie didn’t want or need. The Hazmat team would be there eventually. For now, she had to fight to keep from gagging every time she inhaled. She eyed the kids, all of them seated at the oversize table, their eyes sharp, their faces set in an array of scowls. They looked like a mutiny getting ready to happen.

“Your silence doesn’t change anything. Someone,” Officer Anderson said, his voice just a little too loud, “was outside of the house tonight. That person needs to own up to it.” He speared each kid with a look meant to melt their defiance.

None of them even blinked.

“Confess to it,” he continued. “Before you find yourself in more trouble.”

“You’re not in trouble,” Cassie broke in, knowing full well that threatening the kids wasn’t going to help. “You won’t be in trouble if you admit you were outside.”

Nothing.

Not a peep from anyone.

There was strength in numbers, the silence of one bolstering the silence of the others. They should have talked to each child individually, but Officer Anderson had wanted to save time. Another mistake on his part. The guy seemed kind enough, but he hadn’t wanted to listen to anything Cassie had to say.

Typical, her childish self whispered. The piece of her that was still the young kid being yanked from her bed every other night, police streaming into her room and demanding that she get up, wanted to tell Officer Anderson that they were done playing twenty questions.

The more mature part, the part that wanted to keep her kids alive, the part that wanted to stay alive with them, knew she needed to keep her mouth shut and let him do his job.

“Right. Sorry. I shouldn’t have said trouble. No one is in trouble,” Officer Anderson agreed, his gaze jumping from one child to another. “I just need to know where you were, what you saw.”

“Destiny?” Cassie prodded. She doubted the young girl would have wandered to the congressman’s house, but the kid seemed to know everything about everyone in the house. If someone else had left, she’d probably know it.

“What?” Destiny asked, studying her nails like they were way more interesting than Cassie or Officer Anderson.

“Did you hear anyone leave the house tonight?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“I was sleeping like a baby until you started screaming, and truth be told, I want to be sleeping again.”

“How about everyone else?” Officer Anderson’s asked. Maybe he thought he could read guilt or fear on their faces.

They just kept staring at him like he had two heads.

“Look.” He raked a hand over his hair, paced to the sink and turned to face the kids again. “A blue mitten was found over near the congressman’s house. One of you dropped it. You might as well ’fess up.”

“I have blue mittens,” David piped up. “But I wasn’t wearing them tonight. They’re in my coat pocket.”

“Where’s your coat?” Officer Anderson asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Son, you don’t just misplace a coat. Obviously, you wore it recently. How about you think about it a little more carefully?”

David shrank back, sliding down so low in his chair, Cassie thought he might slip right under the table.

“It should be in the closet,” Cassie offered. “How about you go look for it?”

David scrambled out of the chair and ran from the room. It would only take him a couple of seconds to reach the coat closet. He’d probably take longer. If he came back at all.

“These kids leave the house at night very often?” Officer Anderson asked.

More than she wanted. She’d thought about putting an alarm system in, but too many of the kids had been in homes where there were bars on the windows, security systems, guard dogs. “Occasionally.”

“You ever think of putting in a security system?”

“I’ve thought about it.”