Silent Protector. Barbara Phinney

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СКАЧАТЬ frowned at him. “Why would he ask you for anything? You kidnapped him.”

      He looked down at Charlie, who’d accepted his own bottle of juice. Ignoring his aunt’s accusation, the boy drank deeply. Patience, Ian told himself. She obviously doesn’t have all the facts.

      He opened his bottle and took a long swallow. Liz had finished a third of hers before setting the bottle down on the table beside her.

      “I didn’t kidnap him. But before I tell you anything, I need to know one thing. How did you find Charlie? I didn’t tell him where he was.”

      With her left arm, Liz pulled the boy close. Charlie returned the hug, setting his head down on her wet lap. “Why should I tell you anything? You say you didn’t kidnap Charlie, but here he is, and when he talked to me, he sure sounded like he didn’t want to be here.”

      Ian pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down. “Tell me how you found out he was missing.”

      Immediately, Liz glanced down at the boy, all the while pulling him closer.

      Then she met Ian’s calm stare with a direct one of her own. “I’d rather not discuss that right now.”

      Of course. Ian knew some of the details and guessed the boy wouldn’t want to hear them all again. They did include his father’s death.

      He turned to his assistant. She still stood there, hands clasped in front of her. “Monica, please take Charlie down to the kitchen and make us all a snack. Liz and I need to talk.”

      Charlie looked up at his aunt, his expression stricken.

      “He needs to stay near me,” Liz stated.

      “The kitchen is twenty feet away. We’ll leave the door open,” Ian answered. “Charlie, your aunt and I need to talk in private. It’s important, okay? You know why, don’t you?”

      Charlie’s gaze dropped, and he nodded. Again, Ian was amazed at how the boy acted. So calmly, as if he’d been simply waiting for his aunt to arrive.

      “I won’t leave, I promise. But—” Liz shot Ian a sharp glance “—if it’s important then we need to talk. I’ll be down to the kitchen in a minute, okay?”

      Monica held out one hand and took Charlie away. Ian watched them leave. At the middle of the building, the rec center’s kitchen was still well stocked with fruit, raw vegetables, granola bars and juice, all left over from the Vacation Bible School they’d just completed. Having a snack would ease the boy’s uncertainty, he was sure.

      Despite Ian’s promise, the door to the clinic clicked shut behind the pair. Ian turned back to face Liz.

      “Tell me how you found Charlie.”

      She leaned forward. “Tell me why you need to know and why it’s so important.”

      Ian glared at Liz, only to receive an equal glare in return. “Because it is, and that’s all I can say.”

      Liz straightened. “Then why should I tell you anything? You brought Charlie here against his will, you have someone out there acting like a sentry, ready to shove cars off the road, and then you pull a gun on me after you rescue me. So, explain to me why I should tell you anything at all. And why I shouldn’t be calling the police!”

      Ian leaned forward. “First up, your phone, if you had one, is sitting at the bottom of the inlet, so calling anyone will be difficult. Second, I have not authorized anyone to use force to prevent people from coming here. I would never condone that dangerous behavior. Third, Charlie was given into my custody by the police.”

      Liz shook her head in confusion. “Do you know what you’ve done to Charlie, bringing him all the way down here without someone he knows? And what right do the police have handing him over to you, some stranger? Just because you’re a pastor doesn’t mean you know what’s best for Charlie. And while I’m at it, what kind of a pastor walks around pointing a gun at people?” She leaned forward. “So why don’t you start talking first? Because as far as I’m concerned, I’m the one who should have custody of Charlie, not you. And be asking all the questions.”

      Ian folded his arms. “And where were you while Charlie’s father was dragging him all over the state?”

      He knew he surprised her with his knowledge of Charlie’s whereabouts all these months, but with a withering look, she refused to be intimidated. “Jerry moved to Bangor a while back. I’ve been saving my money for a good lawyer. And part of the way through that time, I gave Jerry some of it. I knew he was going to blow it all on something stupid, but at the time, I just wanted to stay in contact with Charlie, and that was my only way. Though I realize now it was a mistake because it set me back months in my savings. The only good it did was it allowed me to see Charlie nearly every Sunday. So I took him to a church in Bangor. And out to supper.”

      “Okay,” Ian said with a nod. “I’ll answer your questions, but you have to answer a few more, first. How did you find out about Jerry’s murder?”

      “Like I said, I get to visit Charlie regularly. Jerry usually sleeps off a Saturday night binge, anyway. I went to their apartment last Sunday and found the police there.”

      “Sunday morning?”

      “No, Sunday afternoon. We do something special and go to church Sunday night.”

      Abruptly, she pulled in a deep breath and blinked rapidly. Then she bit her lips. Both lips in a way he’d seen Charlie do when he wanted to keep quiet. “I remember telling the police who I was and…” She held her breath a bit while her chin wrinkled. “I was standing in the doorway of the apartment hoping to see Charlie.” She shut her eyes. “All I could smell was…”

      Ian guessed what the smell could be. He watched Liz steel herself against the memory. But obviously, her nephew was too important just to relinquish herself to her fears.

      “It was awful. Jerry was a drug dealer with high hopes of making a fast million. But the police had never charged him with anything. They were investigating him. Maybe they wanted someone bigger than Jerry. Someone whose conviction would take more than just a few drugs off the street.”

      She lay her fingers along her eyebrows and shut her eyes tight. “But all I saw were Charlie’s things splattered with blood. It was terrible.” Liz bit her lips again. Then she rubbed her forehead. “I asked where Charlie was, and they told me he hadn’t survived the gun battle there. I wanted to see his remains….” She swallowed a sob. “But they wouldn’t let me.”

      Her world had crashed, he could see.

      “The police said they would release the body when they were done with it. Then they drove me home.” She set her head into her hands and finished off, “I went home and just cried and cried.”

      “When did Charlie call you?”

      She looked up to show him watering eyes. “A few hours later, after I’d gone for a walk and stopped in to see my pastor. I couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t say where he was, but he read to me what his boarding pass said and told me he was on an island at the edge of the Everglades.”

      “How did he know that?”

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