Guardian Of Justice. Carol Steward

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      Kira grasped the child’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Betsy, Officer Brooks is our friend. He’s going to help you, and Cody, too. Aren’t you, Officer Brooks?”

      Dallas’s blue eyes met hers, and Kira felt his anger fade. He reminded her of her oldest brother, Kent. Strong and stubborn. But when it came to kids, she could see his soft side.

      “Yeah, we’ve been worried about you, Betsy. We couldn’t find you.” He knelt down several feet away and smiled at the little girl. “Did you dial 911 for help?”

      Betsy tightened her grip and shook her head, inching behind Kira.

      “It’s okay if you did. It was very smart to call. And we came here to help you. Betsy, did you get any scratches from the broken window?” he asked gently. Kira realized that with his military haircut, Dallas looked a little like a teddy bear, with a stocky body and full face shadowed with dark stubble.

      The little girl kept moving farther away, spinning Kira around in the process. As soon as Betsy realized she was face-to-face with Dallas again, she ducked behind Kira once more.

      “I’m going to stay right here. I won’t come any closer. Can you show Miss Matthews your arms so we can make sure you’re okay?”

      Betsy showed one arm while keeping a death grip on Kira, then switched.

      Dallas gave a smile of approval. “Thanks, Betsy. Could you answer a few questions for me?”

      The frightened child nodded, peeking out from behind Kira.

      “Do you know if Cody was playing baseball tonight?”

      She shook her head.

      “You don’t know?” Dallas prompted.

      “No, he wasn’t playing baseball,” Betsy said softly.

      Dallas glanced at her bear, then back at her. “What was Cody doing?”

      “He was mad at Mickey,” she whispered, repeating the story of Mickey hurting her, so Cody took a swing at him with the bat. “I don’t like Mickey. Cody don’t, neither.”

      Officer Brooks glanced at Kira, obviously sharing her concern. “Did Mickey hurt you, Betsy?” Kira asked.

      Betsy immediately shook her head. Her response was almost too quick.

      “If he’s hurting you, or your brother, or your mom, Betsy, you need to tell Miss Matthews so we can make sure he doesn’t anymore.”

      Betsy turned away.

      “Let’s go back into the house. We can talk more later.”

      Dallas hadn’t missed the child’s body language, either, Kira noted. She watched the interaction with admiration. She didn’t have fond memories of the officer who’d taken her and her younger half-brother Jimmy away after her parents’ car accident. And she would never forget the night Jimmy’s family had taken him away, leaving her with the foster family. Which was half the reason she was here tonight. It was time someone made Protective Services fit the name.

      After Officer Brooks asked Betsy several more simple questions, he said, “Why don’t you go into the house and see your mother?”

      Betsy took off running.

      Kira sent him a silent plea, which he ignored. He started to follow the child.

      “I need to talk to you,” she said quietly. He stopped, and she continued talking. “I’m not comfortable leaving the little girl here. She was trying to sneak out of her house.”

      He glanced at the running child, then back to Kira. “She’s not too concerned to go back now.”

      As soon as she was out of earshot, Kira cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s afraid of Mickey, whoever he is.”

      “Her mother’s boyfriend. That’s who attacked the car,” Dallas explained. He wrote a few things on his pad of paper, then put it back into his chest pocket. “We can’t seem to get anyone to admit exactly what happened. The boy was apparently trying to protect his little sister. I doubt the guy will be back tonight. Mom seems upset enough to get a restraining order to keep him out of the house after this.” Dallas stopped and faced Kira. “We can’t do anything right now. We had Mom perform some maneuvers, and it doesn’t appear she’s intoxicated. We put out a BOLO for Mickey. Oh, sorry, that means be on the lookout—’”

      “I know what a BOLO is. But…” Kira grabbed his arm to keep him from walking away.

      He glanced at her hand and pulled his arm from her grip. “I know it isn’t easy, Miss Matthews, but it’s not a crime to break a window or scold your kids. We don’t know that the kid actually hit the man, or whether Mickey hit him first. We simply don’t have enough to take further action yet.”

      She couldn’t believe it. “Look, Officer—” She caught herself. “Dallas, I appreciate your attempt to get to the bottom of this, but we are obligated to ensure the children’s safety.” Kira touched her finger to her chest. “I am, anyway.”

      “Don’t start that battle,” Dallas warned. “The boyfriend is gone, and Mom doesn’t think he’ll be back. For now, that is the best we can ask for. We’ll increase patrols in the area. Pete is getting a description as we speak. The boyfriend is probably staying away on purpose, but until he returns, we can’t just yank kids away from their custodial parent on a ‘maybe’ or a hunch.”

      Kira spoke softly, but firmly. “First of all, I’m not yanking kids away from parents, I’m protecting them. It isn’t a hunch. There’s a whole lot more than meets the eye going on here. For one thing, how was a little tiny girl like Betsy able to get out of the basement so easily?”

      Dallas shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “You know as well as I do, kids are industrious. Don’t tell me you never snuck out of your parent’s house when you were a kid.”

      She answered without hesitation. “As a matter of fact, I did.”

      He got a look of satisfaction in his icy blue eyes, without having to say ‘I told you so.’

      Before he distracted her, Kira added, “I snuck out of every foster home I was in until the Matthews family adopted me. But kids run for a reason. We need to find out why Betsy was sneaking out of her home.”

      The complacency disappeared from his face. Replaced by a look of dismay. She might have taken some satisfaction in her small victory, but was simply happy to have his attention, finally.

      “I’m sorry. I’d have never guessed you had such a difficult childhood.” His mouth twisted into a forced smile. “As much as I’d like to change the outcome of this call, Miss Matthews, I can’t. No crime has been committed. My gut tells me we don’t know the full truth, but we don’t have any reason to press charges. If I were a gambler, I would lay odds that we’ll be back before the weekend is over. Like you, I hope nothing happens in the СКАЧАТЬ