Little Girl Found. Jo Leigh

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      Megan thought a moment. “Apple.”

      “Apple it is.” Hailey turned on the television, changing the channel until she found cartoons. Then she went to the kitchen and got one of the juice boxes she kept on hand. By the time she got back, the little girl was sitting cross-legged, her doll tucked safely into her lap. When Hailey handed her the juice, the girl smiled, then went back to watching Tom and Jerry.

      Hailey turned to the policeman. He really didn’t look good. Aside from his obvious discomfort, his cheeks seemed hollow and his skin pale. He hadn’t shaved for a while and his dark stubble made him look gruff and hard. But his eyes told her something different. His gaze was on Megan, and the way he looked at her said worlds about the man. The little one was in some kind of trouble and he knew it. More than that, he was concerned about her.

      As she signaled him to join her in the kitchen, she looked beyond the stubble and the brooding eyes. She’d thought he was handsome the first time she’d seen him, and that hadn’t changed. She wanted to know what had happened to him, whether someone was taking care of him. But that was for later.

      He made it to her dining room and sat down heavily in the first chair he came to. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Standing must hurt.

      “Coffee?” she asked.

      He nodded. “That would be great.”

      “How do you like it?”

      “Black,” he said, watching her keenly as she went into the kitchen. “I’m Jack McCabe,” he said. “I’ve seen you around.”

      “Yes, I recognized you, too. I didn’t know you knew Roy and Megan.”

      “I don’t. I mean, I’ve seen him a few times, said hello, but that’s all.”

      She poured the coffee into two mugs and brought them to the table. He took his with a grateful but worried smile. “So what happened?” she asked.

      “Did you hear the sirens this morning?”

      She nodded. “I didn’t realize they were at the complex. I’m so used to hearing them these days.”

      “They were here, all right. Roy,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, “was killed this morning.”

      Hailey almost dropped her mug. She put it down on the table as she fought for breath. “Killed? Are you sure?”

      Jack nodded. “I’m sure.”

      “How?” she asked too loudly. Moving closer to Jack, she asked again, “How?”

      “He was shot.”

      “What? Were you there? Was Megan there?”

      He shook his head. “Megan was safe. She didn’t see a thing. It wasn’t a random shooting. Whoever killed him did it on purpose.”

      “Oh, my God,” Hailey said, more to herself than to Jack. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around this horrific piece of news. Roy, dead? It was too absurd to be true. “How did you get Megan?”

      “I didn’t have much choice. Roy came to my door this morning. He shoved her at me, then ran off. He said he had to go to the hospital. That his wife was sick.”

      “Wife? He’s not married. His wife died several years ago.”

      Jack looked over at Megan, sitting so quietly. Somehow he wasn’t surprised that Roy had lied. “Does she have any other family?”

      “I think so. But not here in Houston. There might be an aunt in Florida. What did the police say?”

      “Not much. But I’m gonna go to the station this morning and find out all I can.”

      “You want me to watch her?”

      He nodded. “Until I can get social services out here.”

      The thought of Megan being surrounded by strangers, even well-meaning strangers, was unbearable. “No, please,” Hailey said. “Don’t call them. I’ll watch her.”

      “That’s fine for today, but at some point…”

      “Let’s deal with that later. After Megan has some time to get used to…” She sighed. “Poor little thing.”

      “Yeah,” he said. “It stinks.”

      “Do you have any of her things? Her clothes?”

      “There’s a pillowcase stuffed with her things back at my place. I haven’t looked in it.”

      “What do you say we do that now? I want to get her dressed, and then I’ll fix her some breakfast.”

      “You don’t have to go to work?”

      She shook her head. “I work here, out of my apartment. I design web sites.”

      Jack looked at her again, more carefully this time. She was sort of attractive, but that wasn’t what drew him to her. There was a calmness about her, a serenity, that he’d never felt from another person before. No wonder Megan had wanted to come here.

      “What’s wrong?” she asked.

      He shook his head. “We’d better go.”

      She gave him a questioning look, one that forced him to focus on her eyes. Blue, very blue. And kind. He could see where a man would go for a woman like her.

      “I’ll go dress and be right back,” she said. “There’s more coffee if you want it.”

      He nodded as she headed for her bedroom. When she was gone, his gaze moved to the girl. She seemed calm. But what did he know?

      As he waited for Hailey to return, he tapped his fingers on the tabletop, thinking about this morning. About the Taurus. Maybe it hadn’t been an HPD vehicle. It was dark. He wasn’t exactly at his mental peak. It certainly didn’t make sense. He knew most of the cops, at least from downtown. No one he knew would have done something so blatantly illegal. So if it wasn’t cops, then who? Roy had known someone was after him.

      Hailey came back, dressed in worn blue jeans and a pale blue sweater that buttoned down the front. The outfit showed off her curves very nicely. She went straight to Megan. “What do you say we go get dressed?”

      Megan looked up. “It’s bath time after Sesame Street.”

      “I see,” Hailey said. “Perhaps Mr. McCabe will let us use his bathtub.”

      Megan looked at him briefly, then back to Hailey. “I want to go home.”

      Hailey picked the girl up. “Gosh, you’re getting so big!” she said. “Pretty soon, you’ll be taller than this whole building!”

      Megan giggled.

      “We can’t go home, sweet pea,” Hailey said, her voice as soft as a feather pillow. “Not just yet.”

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