Guardian of Justice
Carol Steward

MILLS & BOON

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks for making this series possible go to my editor, Melissa Endlich. I couldn’t have gotten through this without you. To my critique partners, Maya and Noelle, and my husband and kids for helping me to keep going through this challenge.

I’d like to thank the dedicated law enforcement officers and their families and pray for their safety.

I also want to acknowledge my appreciation to David Galyard for his help, and to my father for inspiring my admiration and respect for the men in uniform. And to my son Matt who surprised me and became a guardian of justice. And to his wife and family, God bless and stay safe out there!

ONE

“Kira Matthews?” The officer at the window of the Police Station motioned her forward. “You’ll be riding with Dallas Brooks tonight. He needs to pick you up right outside these doors. If you’ll go on out, he’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Thanks,” Kira said as she hurried out the doors to wait. A cruiser pulled to a stop in front of the station and the driver yelled, “If you’re Kira Matthews, get in.”

She nodded. “Nice to meet—”

“Sorry to rush you, I just got called out.”

She quickly climbed into the car and set her tote bag on the floor. “What’s the call?”

“Someone dialed 911, then hung up. Not a good way to start a Friday night.”

“I know what you mean.” Kira buckled her seat belt and Dallas took off, lights on and siren blaring. She held tight to the grab bar above the passenger’s door of the squad car, trying to keep her balance. “You take 911 hang-ups pretty seriously. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get anywhere in Antelope Springs. After all, we’re not in Denver. I’m sorry I was late arriving. I had an unexpected call from a foster parent right as I was leaving at five o’clock.”

“No problem. The dispatcher heard yelling in the background before whoever it was hung up, so I don’t want to waste any time. If it’s a prank, I’d like to catch the kid and teach him not to cry wolf.” As the officer turned the corner to Sixth Street, he cut the lights and siren on the squad car. “I’m Dallas Brooks, by the way.” Pulling to a stop diagonally across the end of the driveway, he glanced quickly at her. “Stay in the car. If it is a viable domestic call, guns or knives are always a possibility.”

“But I’m a social worker,” she started to say.

“Good, that may come in handy. Even more reason to keep you out of harm’s way.” He gave her a quick smile and turned off the engine. “I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come in, all right?”

“I walk into houses unarmed on a regular basis, Officer. We handle these calls every day, all day, just like you do. Dispatch said there may be kids in the house, and I should be there.”

“And if there are, I’ll come get you when I know if it’s necessary and if it’s safe.” He climbed out of the car, closing the door on her next words.

“Humph,” she muttered. Kira watched Officer Brooks study the situation as he walked up the driveway. When he reached the front of the house, she opened her door. Just as she put her foot on the asphalt, she heard a loud bang, yelling, and glass breaking. She jumped out of the vehicle and started toward the house.

“Get back in the car,” Dallas ordered. He pointed to the cruiser. “I don’t need to worry about you, too,” he said in a loud whisper, before putting his hand on his gun and stepping to the side of the entry. He knocked on the door and announced his presence, glancing in her direction again.

Kira moved hesitantly back to the car and turned her attention to the police radio. It didn’t take long for Officer Brooks to call dispatch for backup. “I hope you have the sense to wear your vest,” she muttered, feeling a sudden pang of anxiety at the thought.

It was warm for a spring evening and Kira wished she had the courage to turn the key and open the windows. If the sun wasn’t disappearing so quickly, she would. It would be just her luck the call would be nothing and the officer would come right out. Fanning herself with a notepad, Kira propped her door open with her leg to let some fresh air inside.

She heard a rattling sound and searched for the source. To the side of the house, a man had just jumped the gate in a chain-link fence and was staggering toward the car ahead of the cruiser. I hope he realizes we’re blocking the driveway, she thought. He started to get in, then saw the police car. Ducking behind the other vehicle, he studied the house. He seemed undecided whether to keep his eye on the cruiser or the building as he crawled along the half-dead, creeping juniper bushes edging the driveway. He kept turning his head back and forth, as if watching to make sure Officer Brooks didn’t come out and catch him. He brushed his long bushy hair back as he stepped around a bicycle in the driveway and moved toward the driver’s side of the patrol car.

Surely he wasn’t thinking of taking it, she thought. Kira pulled her leg into the car and quietly closed the door, searching for an automatic door lock. Where is it?

As soon as he was past the tallest juniper, the man charged toward the cruiser. Kira dived across the seat, pressing the lock button on the driver’s door just as the creepy guy tried to open it. He had tattoos, she noted, and his T-shirt was torn and spattered with blood.

He slammed his fist against the window and swore. Then he slumped across the hood, pressed his face to the windshield and locked his attention on Kira. Blood dripped from his forehead.

Her heart raced. Sure, stay in the car where it’s safe. Thanks a lot, Officer Brooks.

The madman stared at her for long moments, his eyes full of rage. He had to be high on something.

“God, stop this man before he hurts anyone else,” Kira prayed aloud. “Keep me safe, and the officer, too.”

Finally, sliding off the car, he turned and disappeared among the shadows of the trees near the front entrance.

Why is he going into the house? Kira grabbed the radio receiver and pressed the button, just as she’d always wanted to do when she sat in her father’s patrol car as a child. “Help!” Suddenly, the radio codes she’d heard so many times vanished into thin air. She could practically visualize them as if they were written on paper, but for the life of her she couldn’t think of the one she needed. “Dispatch, this is Kira Matthews,” she finally said. The man had appeared again, and was bending over in front of the house to pick something up.

“What are you doing on this channel?” a voice answered. The dispatcher obviously wasn’t used to distress calls from ride-alongs.

“Send help,” she yelped, dropping the mike when she saw the man heading back toward her, waving a huge rock above his head.

Panic pulsed through her. She found the mike again and forced herself to speak slowly. “I’m a…a social worker riding along with…” What was his name? “Brooks,” she blurted, then screamed as the crazy man heaved the rock at the driver’s door, shaking the squad car. “A man is trying to break into the cruiser. Help!”

Dispatch didn’t respond.

The man threw the rock at the car again, barely missing the window this time. The rock bounced onto the hood and he followed it.

Kira gulped. He was going to get in unless she did something. She searched fervently for controls for the lights and sirens.

“Oh come on, where are they?” She leaned closer to the dash in her search.

As the man stood up on the hood of the car, he threw the rock directly at her. Kira reached out and hit the horn.

TWO

Dallas approached the modest brick house, taking mental notes. Small basement windows. Tall juniper bushes block the view from street to front door. The edge of a curtain is caught in the closed window. Where’s the screen? He stepped closer and looked around, wondering if he’d missed it on the ground nearby. The other windows each had them. Why not this one? He glanced at the front door again, then the window. Dallas heard a loud bang and reached for his gun as glass shattered.

A deep voice yelled profanities. Doors slammed, as if someone was leaving. Someone madder than a raging bull. Dallas stepped back into the driveway, around the junky old car, and took a look around the corner of the house to get his bearings. A heavy padlock secured the chain-link gate to the backyard. Junk was piled on the other side. He listened, but didn’t hear any sounds of movement. He had a sudden image of being back in the high school the day of the shooting.

Inside, a woman’s voice bellowed, “You just had to torque him off, didn’t you? I don’t know how you think we’re going to come up with the money to fix that window!”

“Same way you pay for everything else, I ’spect,” a young boy snapped back, a slight crack in his voice.

Dallas heard the sound of skin slapping skin. It didn’t sound like a prank call any longer. He glanced toward the cruiser. Looked like Kira Matthews was going to be working tonight, after all. She was already on her way.

“Get back in the car,” he said as quietly as he could, waving her away. She took her own sweet time following his order, he noted. He crept up the steps and to the side of the entrance.

“PD 138 requesting backup ASAP. Domestic disturbance in progress.”

“Copy 138.”

“One-ten responding,” Mark Pierson replied.

Dallas knocked on the door, ready to announce his presence, just as the woman blasted the child with enough profanity to burn even his jaded ears.

“Police, open the door,” he yelled.

The woman murmured something that he couldn’t make out, then yelled, “Hold yer horses.”

Dallas heard faint footsteps run on hard floors inside the house. “Police. Open the door,” he repeated. He rested one hand on his gun and the other on the handle of the screen door. He pressed the button and pulled. Locked. “Ma’am, open the door, now.”

He heard three locks click before the wood door opened, then one more click opened the screen. The residents were afraid of anyone getting in, that was for sure. In most neighborhoods, two locks were overly cautious. In this subdivision, three was definitely overkill. A padlocked gate and heavily secured door? Something wasn’t right.

“Yeah?” The woman who appeared pulled the door closed behind her, blocking his view of the inside.

He nodded toward the house. “We had a 911 call from this residence. I’m going to need to come in and make sure everything is okay, ma’am.”

“No one here called you.” She glanced behind her and muttered another profanity before returning her attention to Dallas. “My kid just broke that window and I lost my temper. Ya know, kids don’t have any respect these days.” Her speech slurred and she tugged her stringy blond hair away from her pocked face. “It’s no big deal. I mean yelling, ya just gotta do it sometimes with fifteen-year-olds.” The woman’s hands didn’t stop moving in random jerky gestures.

Keep her calm, she’s on some sort of drugs. “I’m going to need to talk to everyone, make sure you’ve all calmed down before I can leave.”

There was a long pause before she opened the door and motioned him inside. “See? The kid is fine.”

Dallas looked around as he stepped in, adrenaline causing a pulsing in his temples. He had a bad feeling. Just like the day in the school. “Is there anyone else in the house?”

She got a panicked look on her gaunt face. “I don’t want no trouble, Officer.” Her head twitched as she spoke.

Dallas took another step inside. A gangly boy stood, barefoot, in the middle of the broken glass, glaring at his mother. “Who was slamming doors when I walked up the steps?” Dallas asked.

No one said a word. Everything seemed quiet elsewhere in the house. Was it too quiet? He glanced down the hall toward the next room. There were no lights on, no sounds.

Pulling a small pad of paper and a pen from his chest pocket, Dallas jotted down a few notes for the report. “I need your name,” he said with his pen poised.

She threw her head back and crossed her arms over her chest as she let out a groan. “Shirley Mason.”

He heard dialogue from dispatch coming through the radio on his shoulder and turned it down slightly so it didn’t interrupt his discussion with the family.

Dallas shot a quick glance at the boy. Drops of red on the floor next to the window caught his eye as he did so. “And this young man is your son?” he asked.

The woman nodded.

“Your name?” Dallas asked the teenager.

After a short pause, the boy answered, “Cody.”

“Last name?”

“Jones,” Cody said.

“What happened here?” Dallas asked him.

“I just told you what happened. You got more questions, ask me,” Shirley ordered, making it clear that she’d do the talking.

Dallas looked at Cody’s bare feet and the shards of glass surrounding them. “You cut?” Something didn’t add up here. Dallas lifted the boy out of the glass, noting the lack of meat on his ribs.

Cody shook his head. “I’m fine,” he said, with obvious satisfaction at disobeying his mother. Her glare was lethal.

“So who’s bleeding?” The child he’d heard running had sounded much smaller. Was that who’d been cut? Could that be who’d slammed the doors? A sibling, maybe? Was Cody trying to protect a brother or sister? “Ma’am, please go sit on the sofa while we sort through all of this.” He checked the boy for cuts while the mother stomped over and dropped onto the shabby couch.

“Who else is or was in the house?”

No answer. Over the mike, Dallas heard broken messages from a frantic voice. Why in the world wasn’t dispatch intervening? He didn’t need a distraction right now, he thought, as he turned the volume down even more.

The beeping of a car horn sounded. What’s going on now? He went to the door to see what was happening, and noticed the lights of his cruiser flashing. Then the siren started, drilling through the brick walls.

“Don’t either of you move an inch!” Dallas said as he rushed out the door. He jumped off the porch in time to see a man running down the street.

Dallas looked frantically for the social worker. “Miss Matthews?” He turned and scanned behind him, then spun back to the car. Where is she?

Again he radioed dispatch. “We have a suspect fleeing a domestic disturbance. He’s headed south on Sixth Street, toward Main Street. Long dark hair, medium build, average height, jeans and white T-shirt. There are three, possibly more subjects here at the house.”

He couldn’t see Miss Matthews in the car, but the doors were still closed. And the passenger half of the windshield was shattered like a spider web.

“Subject may have vandalized a police cruiser,” he reported. He looked down the street again, then scanned the area between the car and the road, seeing nothing. He leaned closer to the cruiser and finally saw her lying across the seat with her hands over her head. She’s hurt! He realized. The adrenaline pulsing through his body came screeching to a sudden halt.

Mark Pierson’s police car rushed past the house and took off after the suspect while Dallas tried to open his cruiser’s door.

It wasn’t closed tight, but it was locked. He knocked repeatedly. “Miss Matthews, open the door.” When she jumped, she hit her head on the steering wheel. She turned toward him, rubbing her temple. Her huge eyes shone with fright as she fumbled for the door handle.

“Are you okay?” Dallas reached across and turned off the siren and lights, then backed out of the car again. She was shaking. He quickly took stock, glad to see that the broken windshield had held. The majority of the damage was right in front of the passenger. He shook her gently. “Miss Matthews?”

“Stay in the car, out of harm’s way, my foot!” She pointed to the windshield and started to climb out, but Dallas stopped her.

He touched his hand to her shoulder and knelt down between the door and the car. “Hang on there for a minute. Tell me what happened.” Kira’s cocoa-colored skin seemed paler than it had before the incident. Was she in shock?

“What happened? Didn’t you hear me telling dispatch?” Wide-eyed, he gazed darted from the shattered windshield to him.

The frantic voice made sense now. “A little, but it wasn’t really clear,” he said, not about to admit she’d sounded like a lunatic. He hadn’t even realized it was her speaking. Now he at least understood why.

She was going through everything that had happened when as another officer approached. Pete Ford paused, listening.

“You’re sure he wanted to get in in order to take the car?” Pete asked.

The social worker glared at him. “Look at the driver’s door! It has to have a dent the size of…” She glanced at her hand, then at Dallas’s. “The size of your fist,” she said, grabbing his wrist and lifting it in the air.

Pete walked around the car and nodded. “Yep, it sure does.”

“And when he couldn’t get in, he must have decided I could be convinced to let him in, for he threw the rock at the door again and again. He obviously wasn’t thinking about safety glass.” She shivered.

When Miss Matthews had finished talking, Pete pointed to the house. “Who’s inside? I’ll catch up there.”

“Mom and a son. Shirley—” Dallas glanced at his notes “—Mason, and Cody Jones. I suspect there’s a younger child, but no one is talking yet. This guy must have been leaving the back of the house as I was going in—”

“He jumped the fence about three to five minutes after you went inside,” Miss Matthews confirmed.

Dallas waited a minute to make sure she was through. “I think we need to get that cleared up right away, find out what he was doing here. The suspect I saw running had dark hair—”

“It was past his shoulders,” Miss Matthews interrupted again. “And frizzy. Wild looking…” She held her hands a few inches from her head to show how full the guy’s hair was. “He was Caucasian. And had tattoos all over his arms.” Dallas’s mind drifted and he wondered if he had sounded as frazzled after the shooting that day.

Dallas glanced at her hair. From the looks of it, her own would frizz out just as far if it wasn’t in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her brown eyes were huge, with long lashes framing them. Her gaze darted back to the car, as if it would bite her.

“He was high or stoned, one of the two. His eyes were…scary.” She looked back at the windshield and wrapped her arms around herself. “He was bleeding. He put his hands and face up against the glass, so you can probably get fingerprints.” She pointed. “Don’t let anyone touch that spot.”

“We’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” Dallas focused his attention on Kira, wishing he could have prevented this incident. He realized she was processing the experience, a bit at a time. Normally, he’d have been irritated with her for interrupting him, but he understood her shock. He’d been there. He moved to the trunk, popped it open and pulled out a blanket, forcing his post traumatic stress symptoms from his mind, only allowing it to help him prevent her from experiencing a delayed reaction as he had.

Returning, he unfolded it and offered it to her. “Why don’t you cover up with this for a few minutes and rest. We’ll talk more in a few minutes.”

She needed to know someone was there to let her talk.

Thank you. I don’t know why I’m so cold.”

Dallas knew that soon she’d realize she did know why, she just didn’t want to admit it. She wanted to be in control, just like she was every other day. A strong woman like her walked into domestic disturbances on a regular basis, but after tonight, things would be different. “Go on in, I’ll be a few more minutes,” Dallas said to the other officer. He couldn’t bring himself to walk out on Kira yet.

Pete nodded and went inside without a word. Dallas liked knowing the men serving next to him here in the middle of rural Colorado. Pete had a wife and a one-year-old son. That was more than Dallas had known about most of the officers in Phoenix.

He looked into the cruiser, surprised to see Miss Matthews had leaned her head back and closed her eyes. He knew her calm wouldn’t last very long.

More officers showed up, and he let them assist in the search for evidence, and keep spectators off the premises while they finished the investigation. He assigned one officer to find out what neighbors knew about the family.

Dallas took the opportunity to take notes for his report. About ten minutes later he noticed Miss Matthews’s eyes were open again, and he leaned back into the car. “Are you warming up?”

She nodded. “I thought for a minute that he was going to go into the house after you. I couldn’t think of anything to do except pray and honk the horn, hoping maybe that would scare him away.”

Dallas reached for her hand and held on tight. He wished he could give her the strength to get through the evening unscathed. “You did a great job. I like your quick thinking. Take a deep breath and be thankful that it wasn’t any worse.”

THREE

“Are there kids inside?” Kira didn’t dare dwell on what had happened. She needed to help the children get away from this crazy man. There wasn’t time to waste. Kira couldn’t believe Dallas wasn’t back inside the house yet. Why was he still out here? And why wouldn’t he let her go in?

“Yeah, but you’re not going in yet.” He kept jotting notes, looking around, talking to other officers and jotting more. From the firm set of his jaw and shoulder, she knew he wouldn’t be easy to convince. He kept his emotions carefully guarded.

She knew from her brothers’ comments that officers had to secure the premises before allowing anyone into a volatile scene. What were the chances that Kira would have ended up in the line of fire while waiting outside? “It couldn’t be any worse inside, could it? We have a job to do.”

“It’s getting done. You need to calm down.”

“I am calm,” she argued.

“Yeah, I see that.” One side of his mouth turned up. It wasn’t quite a smile, but maybe he was one of those brooding types that didn’t smile. “Calm down some more, then.” He quirked an eyebrow, revealing a sense of humor in his blue eyes.

Kira looked around at the half-dozen officers who were making their presence known in the neighborhood. “I will point out I followed your orders to a T. Am I supposed to be a robot and not get a bit riled after being scared out of my wits?” That’s all it was, she reassured herself. It was no more frightening than when her brothers jumped out at her from around the corner in the dark basement.

But it was different, her ugly conscience reminded her. This wasn’t in the security of her adopted family’s basement. This was….

She wasn’t going to let herself think about it. Not now.

“I need to get in there, Officer Brooks. The last place I should be is out here twiddling my thumbs.”

“We’ll go, in a few minutes. I just know it’s too soon to jump right back into the middle of the situation. A little more time wouldn’t be a bad idea. We’re trained to always prepare for the unexpected when responding to a domestic disturbance, but…” Dallas cleared his throat. “I shouldn’t have…” He couldn’t even think of what he’d done wrong. It was just a bad situation.

“I’m not blaming you.” She felt bad for razzing him now. She hadn’t expected him to take it personally. His sensitivity caught her off guard, and she felt the warmth of his hand holding hers all over again. “The guy could have come barreling out of the back room of the house,” she said quietly. The last thing Dallas needed right now was for the other officers to hear her comforting him. “You didn’t know. If Child Protection had received the call, I’d have been here without a police escort at all.” She needed to take her mind off how handsome Dallas was and get back to work. “For now, could I at least get out of this car?”

He paused just long enough to make her wonder whether something else was happening. He gave a quick scan of the area, then moved out of her way. He took the blanket as it fell from her shoulders, and wrapped it around her again. “It’s getting a little chilly. Why don’t you keep this with you?” His gaze lingered a moment too long before he broke the connection. She knew it was dangerous to let her feelings show and to let herself read anything into Dallas’s gaze.

Kira stretched and shook her legs out, as if she’d been cramped in the car for ages. They had left the station a little over an hour ago.

She walked around the car and saw the gouge in the door where the sharp rock had dented the steel. “If the crazy guy hadn’t been so high, he probably would have hit his target.”

“Yeah,” Dallas responded somberly. “Remember not to touch the car anymore. We’ve called for an investigator to come get prints. Do you need anything?”

She shook her head.

“Listen, I have to get back inside and talk to the mother. I want to get a little more information about the situation before I bring you in and frighten them with Child Protection. It’s nothing personal.”

She regarded him with a speculative gaze. Somehow it felt personal. “Just make sure someone’s out here with me, and I’ll be fine.” She felt another chill go up her spine, and wrapped her arms across her chest, tugging the blanket tighter. “Officer…”

“Dallas.”

Yeah, it definitely felt personal. Kira stuffed the attraction deeper inside. She didn’t want another cop in her life. Her dad and three brothers were enough. “I’m sorry I broke protocol, with the radio and everything.”

“Don’t worry about it. You did the right thing,” he said quietly.

His clear blue eyes were full of life and pain, yet she saw warmth there, too. He forced a tight-lipped smile before turning away. He was solidly built, but didn’t seem to have that tough-guy mentality, as she had initially presumed. Kim realized she was staring, and nodded.

“Officer Williams will stay out here with you to watch for the guy, though I doubt he’ll return tonight.” Dallas gently patted her arm, and Kira noticed a hint of a smile. “It’s going to be okay.”

She tried sitting in the cruiser again, but couldn’t shake the edginess. How long would it be before she’d forget the madman’s eyes staring her down? Kira got back out and leaned against the front fender, watching the house like an anxious puppy.

To the left, two officers visited, pointing down the block. Did they see someone? Other than a few neighbors peering out their darkened windows to see what was happening, all appeared quiet again.

Officer Williams kept his distance, but several times asked if she was doing okay. She jotted notes to be used in her study and glanced up, hoping Dallas would emerge. She was getting worried. She studied the house, wondering what was going on inside.

Behind a round bush, a light appeared suddenly, as if it had risen out of the ground. Kira shrugged the blanket off and dropped it on the grass. She stepped closer, examining the foundation of the house for windows. Keeping her distance from any shadowed areas where someone could be lurking, she stepped past the corner of the house, but the light was gone. Were officers searching the basement? Why were the other windows not lit?

Suddenly, Kira spotted a little girl’s face in the glow of the streetlight. A curly haired blonde was peering out of a basement window. Frightened eyes looked around suspiciously, then disappeared. Seconds later a tattered stuffed animal flew from the window well. Kira watched for a moment.

Dallas obviously didn’t know the little girl was there, or she’d probably be in a bigger hurry to get out of the house. Officer Williams was busy searching the front yard for evidence. Even if the police did know she was in the house, Kira reasoned, if the child slipped out the small window, they might not be able to catch her. I’m doing him a favor.

She hurried forward and offered her hand. “Hi there. I’m Kira Matthews. Do you need some help?”

The little girl dropped back into the house as if she was on a park slide.

How’d she do that? Kira couldn’t believe her eyes. The child had disappeared in an instant. Kira hesitantly stepped closer, then knelt down and peered into the dark basement. “It’s okay, honey, I can help you. I’m with Social Services. Are you okay?”

“Un-huh,” a small voice answered, so quietly Kira could hardly hear her.

She kicked back into her social worker role. “Are you hurt?” When there was no answer, she asked the girl’s name. Kira felt her chills return.

She heard scuffling from inside the basement. After a long pause, the girl finally answered, “Betsy.”

“That’s a really pretty name. How old are you, Betsy?” She heard soft sniffles. The little girl was frightened.

“Betsy, can you come back up here so we can talk?” Kira asked. She wanted to get out of these shadows before the madman returned. With the light beaming out of the basement, she felt as if she had a spotlight trained on her.

Nothing but whimpers broke the silence.

“Can you tell me why you are sneaking out of the house, Betsy?”

“Mama told me to,” she whimpered.

Kira waited patiently. She studied the small window, wondering if there was any way she could get through it. Her better judgment warned her not to go into a house blind. Her brothers would never let her live it down if she did. She had no idea what or who would be waiting when and if she finally squeezed through the tiny opening. And by the time she made it, who knew where Betsy would be?

“What happened?”

“Mickey hurt me, so Cody…” She choked up and couldn’t talk.

“What did Cody do?”

“He got mad at Mickey, and—” The noise of a motorcycle roaring down the quiet street drowned out her words. “—bat and broke the window. And Mama told me to scat.”

Kira recalled the time her brothers had run through the sliding door playing football, and how upset her mother had been. Hiding makes perfect sense to me, but… “Mamas get mad sometimes, don’t they? Did you say Cody was mad at Mickey?”

“Yep. Mickey’s mean. He’s a bad dude.”

Kira glanced around the yard, certain that Mickey was the crazy man who’d scared her. Kira leaned closer to the basement window and looked inside. She didn’t hear anyone else in the background, but saw a soft glow coming through a doorway—likely the source or the light? “Betsy, are you alone in the basement?”

“Yep, I locked the secret door.”

Secret door? Kira looked harder, getting as close as she could without sticking her head in the window well. She couldn’t see much, and felt for cobwebs. It felt clear.

She eased even closer to the window well and finally ducked her head in, bracing herself against the brick house. There weren’t just lights in the other room, there were plants. Lots of them, from what she could tell. “Was Mickey coming after you?” She tried to keep her focus on the little girl and still per around inside. If it wasn’t so bright in the other room, I could see her better. “Betsy, I want to help you. Come on out.”

“Mama be mad,” Betsy said with a catch in her voice.

Kira didn’t miss things like that. “I’ll talk to your mama for you. I want to help you and Cody.”

She was met with silence again.

She waited several minutes before she went on. “Betsy, I know you’re scared. Together we’ll find a way to help you and Cody. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” She picked up the bear the child had thrown out. “What is your teddy bear’s name, Betsy?”

Kira waited, and finally she heard movement. And then a little blond head again appeared in the opening. The child looked around before climbing out to Kira, hesitating as if she had second thoughts.

“It’s okay, Betsy. I’m going to help you.” The little girl’s eyes reflected not only sadness, but fear and neglect. Kira’s heart ached. “Here you go, Betsy. Your teddy missed you.”

The little girl snatched the bear from Kira’s grip. “Fuzzy.”

FOUR

“Miss Matthews?” Dallas paused. “Williams, where’s my ride-along? I told you to watch out for her.”

Kira started to answer, but one look at the fear on Betsy’s face told her to wait. The child was Kira’s priority now. “Come here, Betsy. It’s okay. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

“She was next to the car just a minute ago,” the other officer answered.

Dallas didn’t sound happy, a fact she could hear in his voice even from the other side of the house. “Kira!”

Betsy started to run, but Kira caught her.

“We’re back here,” she said quickly, then glanced at Betsy. “It’s okay, honey. It’s not Mickey. This is a police officer. He won’t hurt you.”

Dallas rushed around the corner of the home, then came to an abrupt halt. “Oh, there you are.”

Betsy let out a squeal, and Kira wrapped her arm around the little girl. “It’s okay.” Dallas was tall, with broad shoulders, a menacing sight with the glow of the streetlight behind him. He must look frightening to such a petite girl. Kira let go of Betsy, stood up and offered her hand instead. The little girl shied away when Dallas looked down at her. Betsy clung to her ragged bear…what was left of it.

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 meantime.”

Kira shook her head. “I’m not waiting to take action. Did you get a good look through the house?”

Dallas shook his head. “Officer Ford hunted for the girl, but he didn’t see anything out of line or he’d have said something.”

“He obviously didn’t check the basement, or he’d have found Betsy. Right?”

Dallas face reddened. “What are you talking about? If you’re still upset about me telling you to stay in the car, we followed policy for your protection, and ours.”

“I know police policy, Officer. I grew up with it every day. I’m talking about something odd in the basement. Betsy said she locked the secret door.”

“What?”

“When I was trying to get Betsy to come out of the basement, I saw an odd glow in the next room. Through a doorway.”

Dallas raised an eyebrow. “Glow? Such as?”

“Fluorescent lights. Not the normal glow of table lamps.” He wasn’t catching her hints. “They have a really large garden in the basement.”

“I get it, Kira. You think they’re growing illegal drugs. I’m trying to stay in chronological order, so, you tried to get her to come out? You instigated it?”

Kira shook her head. “I was standing next to the car, as instructed, when I looked up to see if you were around. Betsy peeked out of the window well and was ready to escape, so I went to talk to her.”

Dallas was taking notes. “That’s it?”

“No, that’s not it. I didn’t know if you were coming after her, and if so, if you’d be able to find her if she got out before you caught up with—”

“I’m not questioning your decision, Miss Matthews,” he said impatiently. “I’m trying to determine if the suspicious plants were in plain sight or if you went looking for some reason to take the kids away from their mother….”

“Social Services doesn’t go looking for reasons to take children from their families.” She placed her hands on her hips. “How dare you think such a thing. This is a perfect example of why—”

“Let’s stick to this case, if we could.” He stared at her with a slight smile as he radioed the other officer. “Officer 138 to PD. Pete, stay with the family.”

“I have jurisdiction with the children, you know,” Kira said.

Dallas nodded, then took a step toward the house and checked out the basement windows.

“We’re not leaving the children here.” She felt her blood pressure rise.

“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Miss Matthews. I’m on your side. I just want to be sure we do it by the book so the charges stick. Was the window open when you got there to help the girl, or did you open it?” He started walking, shining his flashlight along the foundation. “Let’s go back to the window Betsy was in.”

“Around the corner, kind of behind that lilac bush, in the shadows…” Kira extended her right arm in that direction as he followed.

“Now, just to clarify, you didn’t touch the window at all, and the little girl climbed out on her own?”

“Yes, I knelt down when I got here. I startled her, and she disappeared back into the house. That’s when I bent down to look for her. It just looked dark at first, but then I noticed the glow, and a sort of greenhouse in the other room.”

Dallas leaned down to peer inside, shining his flashlight in the open window. He turned his light in each direction, and froze. “Whoa,” he said with obvious shock.

“What? It’s marijuana, right?”

He stood and pulled out his cell phone and dialed immediately. Dallas took several steps away from her and talked so quietly she couldn’t hear.

When he returned, he took her by the elbow and led her to the house.

She shook her arm loose. “What’s wrong?”

Dallas’s mood had turned 180 degrees. “Get the kids ready to get out of here.”

“Dallas,” Kira said impatiently. “Is it meth?”

He walked closer to her and hurried her along. “Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration have been watching the guy, Mickey Zelanski, waiting for the chance to bust him and his dealers. We shouldn’t have been sent here. They’ve searched his house half a dozen times and can’t find the stash.” He motioned to the other officers. “Don’t let anyone near that window,” he said to them. “The DEA is sending agents over to take over the investigation. Stay out of sight until they arrive.” He instructed them where to stand before he returned his attention to Kira. “We need to take care of business as quickly as possible, but first, I need to talk to Betsy, find out how she’s getting in there.”

“You think that lunatic is watching?”

“With a stash like this, there’s no doubt he will be, if he’s not already. We need to get out of here.”

Kira looked right at him. “A stakeout? Here in Antelope Springs, Colorado?” She fought the urge to glance at the closest neighbor’s windows.

“You don’t need to know that. Mickey will definitely be back, and when he arrives, he’ll have a greeting committee.”

Kira still couldn’t believe the Drug Enforcement Administration was watching a house here in the middle of rural Colorado. She knew meth labs were common here, but they didn’t usually reach the level of the DEA. “Why is the DEA involved?”

“Didn’t you notice the bags of meth and bricks of coke in the corner?” he asked quietly.

“Cocaine?” As soon as she said it, she popped her hand over her mouth.

“Who knows what all we’re going to find.”

Kira looked around. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I think you need to get the children out of here as soon as possible.”

FIVE

As Kira walked toward the home, she took a deep breath, saying a quick prayer for God to give her wisdom to help this family. She paused before going inside, wondered which foster home, if any, had space available for two kids tonight. “Lord, would you prepare a home for these children while I go through the paperwork? I know the system is full, but I need a miracle, again.”

“So, that necklace is more than just a decoration, huh?” Dallas said as he rejoined her again.

“Definitely. I couldn’t get through a day without God. Some days we have a lot of talks. What about you?” Kira glanced quickly at the attractive officer, trying not to stare into his touch but tender gaze. He’s nice looking, she thought.

“We have an on-again off-again relationship, it seems,” he said quietly as they reached the door. “In this line of work, you can’t survive without God to cover your back, but the attendance records in any church are pretty dismal.”

“That’s the nature of the job, unfortunately.” Kira didn’t have time to think about his comments now. She had work to do. While the drug task force evaluated the contamination threat of the home, Kira and Dallas convinced the mother that she had no options left. Finally, Shirley gave the information Kira needed about parents and possible extended family members who might be able to take care of the children while she was “away.” Kira explained that a family group conference would be scheduled to meet with a review committee from Social Services to discuss care of the children. In the meantime, Kira would investigate the suitability of each family member.

The mother was angry, Cody quiet and Betsy just plain afraid. A female officer came and sat with the kids in the other room while Kira talked with the mother.

“Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration will be here soon,” Dallas said, prompting her to finish up. “They’d like the kids out of here before they arrive. We need to have a doctor make sure the kids haven’t been exposed to any harmful chemicals or drugs.”

The mother began swearing again as they were taken away.

“What about the drugs,” Kira asked quietly. “Are they making them in the home, too?”

“No, it’s not a kitchen, so we don’t have those risks to deal with. But just in case, they’ve had the children change clothes. And since it’s become such a big problem in the area, we have those new regulations to follow. We need to have the children checked out at the hospital. As for Mickey and Shirley, their problems are much bigger than you can imagine. Best we just get the kids into a home, where they can move on.”

Her jaw dropped.

“Come on, how soon will you be ready?” Dallas motioned toward the kids’ bedrooms. “Let’s get their things and go, so that the DEA can do their work.”

Kira looked around each child’s room. There wasn’t much that they would be allowed to take, yet somehow they’d filled a few bags. “Anything else you need?”

“I want my bear!” Betsy demanded.

Dallas knelt down next to the girl. “I have a brand-new stuffed animal I’d like to give you, Betsy. I know it’s not the same but—”

“I want my bear.”

Kira offered Betsy a hug, while Cody hit them all over the head with the cold, hard facts. “They had to take it, Betsy. Mickey stuffed it with drugs, remember? The police have to take it now.” His voice was filled with bitterness.

“Mama…” Betsy whimpered.

It never failed to amaze Kira that children clung to the familiar even when it wasn’t worth holding on to. Getting the kids’ essentials together drained her, for it brought back too many memories of her own childhood misery.

“We need to leave now,” she said softly. “I’m going to find a nice home for you to stay at until I’ve had a chance to talk with your aunt.”

“No, I want Mommy,” Betsy whined, running down the hallway.

Dallas caught her and lifted her into his arms. “Come on, Betsy, let’s find that new toy I have for you.” He carried her to the patrol car while Cody lagged defiantly behind.

What little rapport Kira had managed to build with the girl diminished just as quickly once Betsy figured out she was being taken away from her mother. She wanted nothing to do with Kira now.

Cody caught up with Officer Brooks immediately when Betsy screamed for her mother.

“I’ll take care of her, she’s my sister.” Cody puffed his scrawny chest out and reached for Betsy. Officer Brooks relinquished the little girl without a word.

That surprised her, but why, Kira wasn’t sure. She studied him a moment before turning to watch the boy’s response to his sister’s fear.

“It’s going to be okay, Bets,” Cody said in a soothing voice. “I promise, I’ll take care of you.” He paused only long enough for Dallas to open the back door of Officer Williams’s patrol car. Williams had taken Dallas’s cruiser to the impound lot for the investigator to run prints and record the damage. They didn’t want the kids to see the destruction Mickey had done. They’d already been through enough.

As Cody waited for his sister to climb into the car, he turned to Officer Brooks. “Thanks, man,” he said quietly.

Kira couldn’t believe what she thought she heard. She shot a quick glance at Dallas just in time to see him deliberately wipe a smile from his face. “Just doing my job.”

Kira carried the children’s belongings, feeling slightly left out. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had thanked her for removing them from a dangerous home setting. She waited for Dallas to close the door before she said anything. “What was that about?”

“It’s our job. You can’t let feelings get in the way.”

She stood there, stunned, while Dallas took the grocery bags holding the kids’ few belongings, and put them into the trunk. She knew he was right, but it didn’t stop the pain. She was the one who’d been terrorized, she’d found Betsy, then she’d convinced Dallas that they needed to be removed from the home. Yet he received the thanks, the hugs and the glory.

How dare he claim they couldn’t let themselves get emotionally involved? “How, exactly, do you turn off the emotions, Officer Brooks?”

“I thought we agreed that you’d call me Dallas. I’m doing my job. There’s no room for emotions.”

She didn’t believe him for a minute. “Job well done, then. If you wouldn’t mind taking us to the police station so I can get my car, I’d appreciate it.”

“I’ll be happy to, after we have the kids checked out at the hospital. Hopefully, that won’t take too long, since the house wasn’t where the meth was cooked.”

Kira called the Social Services number and discussed the case with the staff member on duty. A few minutes later, as Dallas and Kira waited for clearance from the hospital, she said, “The intake caseworker is having trouble finding a home where we can keep the children together. As usual, we’re overloaded with children, and understaffed with foster homes.”

While she was talking, Dallas dug through a box in the trunk filled with stuffed toys. Finally he pulled out a golden bunny. “Think she’ll like this?”

“It might distract her for now.” Kira knew it was unlikely that a new stuffed animal would console Betsy for the loss of Fuzzy Bear, but it was worth a try. What Betsy wanted was security, and right now, that felt a long way off to a little girl.

Dallas tossed the golden-yellow bunny into the air and caught it with his other hand. “It’s going to be a long road for these kids, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so,” Kira agreed.

“Here.” He handed the toy to Kira. “You give it to her.”

She caught it, startled by the unexpected gesture. The softness of the fur surprised her as well. When she looked up to thank Dallas, he was already in the car.

After a slight hesitation, she opened the back door and climbed inside. “Dal…” She caught herself. “Officer Brooks found this for you, Betsy. We know it won’t be the same as Fuzzy.” She paused to brush the soft fur one more time. “But if you close your eyes and snuggle her, it feels soft and fuzzy like your bear.” Kira handed the toy to Betsy. “Look, the bunny’s fur is the same color as your hair.”

Betsy closed her eyes and brushed the bunny against her cheek. A tiny smile replaced the pout. “Thank you.” She hugged the animal and held it up for her brother’s approval, and it even brought a brief smile to his face.

Two hours later, both kids had a clean bill of health and Kira was on her way to the short-term foster care home. It would be a couple of days before Social Services could evaluate the aunt’s qualifications as a kinship provider. Unfortunately, the only place in the county that had room for both children on short notice was thirty minutes away. Since the intake caseworker who was on call lived in the opposite direction from the foster home, Kira had agreed to drop the kids off on her way home. “Are you two hungry? I can stop and get you a hamburger.”

“That would be good, thanks,” Cody said quietly.

Kira turned into the only fast-food restaurant in town with a drive-up window. If the kids had a full stomach, they would be more content, the drive would go quicker, plus they would have something to keep them busy. They had enough to think about right now without hunger being one of them.

The children gave her their order and Kira pulled forward to wait for the food.

“I want Mommy,” Betsy whimpered.

Kira glanced into the rearview mirror at the little girl, who kept a tight grip on her brother with one skinny little arm.

“Mom’s sick, Betsy. She needs to go to the doctor and get help,” the teen said.

The words of wisdom startled Kira, even while she knew the anger he expressed earlier wasn’t gone. It couldn’t be. According to their files, Cody had to know what was coming. They’d been through this before. Betsy probably didn’t remember going through it the last time. She had been just a year and a half old.

Kira had read their file while the intake caseworker had finished up the paperwork. How could their mother have come so far and then let herself slip up again?

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