Reunited By A Secret Child. Leigh Bale

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СКАЧАТЬ don’t care what you’re after. You need to leave. I’ve just called the police,” she said, throttling the broomstick with her hands.

      Confusion fogged Reese’s brain. Katie was defending him? He couldn’t believe it. They’d been friends in high school. Sort of. Not really. But that was a long time ago. And he admitted silently that he’d never treated Katie very well. He’d been pretty drunk the night of their graduation when he’d used her abominably. He barely remembered the details, but he still knew what he’d done. So why was she standing up for him now?

      “Look, I don’t want any trouble. I have nothing to say. There’s no story here, so you might as well leave.” Reese spoke above the dull roar.

      He held up his hands, as if to ward them off. Like a wolf scenting blood, they moved in closer.

      “You heard him, folks. You need to pack it up and go home,” Charlie boomed. Lifting his cane, he used it to push his way through the throng.

      Reese made a break for it but found his path blocked by a short, stocky man holding a digital recorder. “What does it feel like to be the only one who survived?”

      Bruce Miller. Reese recognized the award-winning reporter immediately. He was with the National News Registry. Headstrong, assertive and unwilling to take no for an answer. Bruce had been dogging Reese for two weeks. When he wasn’t carrying on an interview, he held a plump, stinky cigar clenched between his teeth. The guy was relentless.

      In the jostling crowd, Charlie bumped against Bruce. “I asked you to leave.”

      “You don’t have to be so pushy about it.” Bruce glared his disapproval.

      A shrill siren sounded, growing louder as a squad car pulled into the parking lot. Tilting his head to one side, Reese breathed an audible sigh of relief. With the police here, Katie leaned her broom against the outer wall and stood with Chrissy beside the office door. Her cheeks were a pretty shade of pink, her eyes crinkled with concern. For him. No, surely he imagined that. She was just worried about all the people standing in the parking lot of her motel. It was bad for business, after all.

      Reese gravitated toward her, grateful to see a familiar face. Right now, he felt adrift in a stormy sea of doubt, with multiple leaks in his life raft. She was like a lifeline, reeling him in. For the first time in a long time, he needed someone else’s help, and that left him feeling strangely humbled.

      “What’s going on here?” Martin Sanders, the chief of police, got out of his squad car and strode toward the mob.

      Reese hesitated. As a teenager, he’d had plenty of altercations with this officer. So had his father. Reese couldn’t remember the number of times his dad had been locked in a cell overnight for being drunk and disorderly or writing a bad check. Either Reese or his mom had always bailed him out. Most of the money Reese made working summer jobs had been taken by his dad to buy booze. Instead of buying new school clothes, Reese’s mom had let out the hems in his old pants and mended his threadbare socks and shirts. Being poor because of his father’s penchant for drink had taken its toll on Reese’s morale. He hated being the child of a drunkard.

      Chief Sanders looked older now, with gray at his temples, but he was still big, tall and capable. He tugged up his duty belt, laden with a gun, handcuffs and a Taser. It was obvious from his fierce demeanor that he knew how to handle himself with these reporters.

      “Thanks for coming, Chief Sanders. I’ve asked them all to leave, but they’ve refused,” Charlie said.

      “What’s the big deal? We just want an interview,” Bruce Miller called.

      Sanders turned and looked at Reese. “Are you the cause of all this ruckus?”

      Reese nodded. “Yes, sir, but I don’t mean any harm.”

      As the policeman sized him up, recognition flashed in his eyes, followed by a glaze of distaste. Reese couldn’t blame him. No doubt the lawman remembered every rotten act he’d committed when he was a youth. Destroying property, tagging fences with spray paint, getting drunk with his friends. In retrospect, Reese didn’t know why he’d done such things. It was as if he’d wanted to get back at his father for all the pain he caused at home.

      “Do you want to give them an interview?” Sanders asked.

      Reese shook his head. “No, sir. I have nothing to say to any of them.”

      A thought occurred to him and he suddenly knew how they’d found him. Over an hour earlier, Milly Carver had delivered extra towels to his room before he went to lunch. No doubt the maid had blabbed that he was here and news had spread like wildfire.

      Sanders faced the crowd. “You heard him, folks. You’ll have to leave now. Most of you are from out of town. I suggest you get in your cars and keep on going.”

      “I’d like another room here for the night,” Bruce said.

      “Sorry, but since you checked out this morning, I have no rooms available for any of you,” Charlie said.

      Reese hated to be the cause of the man losing business.

      “If you take the main road into Carson City, I’m sure you’ll find accommodations there, or in Reno. Or you can stay at Rigbee’s Motel down the street,” Charlie said.

      “Yeah, sure,” Bruce groused.

      They all grumbled but slowly drifted away, leaving Reese in peace.

      “Take him inside the office.” Charlie nudged Katie, but she didn’t move, seeming frozen in place.

      “Come on. Follow me.”

      Reese looked down and found Chrissy holding his hand. Locking her jaw and lifting her chin with determination, she led him into the relative safety of the reception room. There was something familiar about the way she tilted her head, but he couldn’t figure it out. Nor did he understand why this child and her mother were trying to protect him. He wasn’t used to being rescued.

      Inside the office, Reese breathed a sigh of relief. He could still hear the reporters outside and Chief Sanders’s booming voice as he directed them to pack up their equipment. Maybe Reese should leave town, but he hadn’t gone to the cemetery to visit his mom yet. He wanted to stay at least long enough to pay his respects to her. So, what should he do? Where could he go?

      “Thanks for that,” he said to Charlie and Katie. Highly conscious that Chrissy was still gripping his hand, he politely withdrew.

      “They’ll just come back. What can we do?” Katie asked her father.

      Charlie shrugged. “He’ll have to leave, of course.”

      “But where will he go?” she said.

      Reese chuckled. “You know, I’m right here. You don’t need to talk as though I’m not listening to your conversation.”

      Katie licked her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, Reese. I’m just concerned, that’s all. I don’t want trouble.”

      “Neither do I,” he said.

      “What do you want to do, then?” she asked.

      “You’re СКАЧАТЬ