Читать книгу Guardian Of Justice - Carol Steward - Страница 9

“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.”