Close To The Heart (Westen Series Book 5) Read online

  “So, what do you know?” he asked, after looking each one in the eyes, no attempt to conceal anything from them.

  The younger boys all glanced at Geoff, then back at him.

  “I was awake when you came in last night,” Geoff said. “Heard you and Ms. Davis talking in the living room.”

  “What did you hear?” Daniel had learned years ago that asking open-ended questions gained you more information than ones that could be answered by yes or no or even a grunt. From the countenance of all four he had a suspicion what was on their minds. He just hoped he wasn’t wrong, and their issue was his budding relationship with their housemother.

  “That Lexie is in danger. We want to help protect her.” Geoff said, glancing at his friends, who all nodded their heads. “She’s like our little sister,” he hurried to continue, thinking Daniel was going to tell them no, that it wasn’t for kids to get mixed up in. Which is exactly what he should say. “We might pick on her, call her shrimp, but we’re not going to let anyone hurt her.”

  Daniel took a long drink of his coffee, allowing his own emotions to settle before speaking. Here were four boys all from different backgrounds, fighting demons in their own lives, willing to put themselves in the line of fire to protect someone smaller and more vulnerable than themselves. If he was their father, he couldn’t be prouder.

  How do you reward such loyalty, such determination, such love?

  With respect.

  “I’m pretty sure rumor has gotten around town, therefore around the school, that we’ve had some recent deaths in the county due to heroin,” he began. All the boys gave him a slight nod of their heads. “At some point someone from the sheriff’s department will be speaking with student body at the high school about drug use, but right now we have a more immediate issue. Lexie’s mother was found dead yesterday from an overdose.”

  Silence descended over them, all the boys looking at the floor or their feet. Trent and Bryan folded their arms over their chests, completely closing off. Both of them had lost a parent to drugs. Lexie’s situation had to be triggering bad memories. Wishing he knew how to help them, the last thing he wanted to do was drag out some psychology mumbo-jumbo. He might not know much about kids and grief, but he was pretty sure, they’d had enough pretty platitudes. He chose to remain quiet instead.

  “So, it’s just drugs then?” Colt finally broke the silence with a glance at Geoff.

  “No, it wasn’t just drugs.” Daniel held up his hand as Trent and Bryan both shot angry looks at their youngest member and opened their mouths to comment. “What I am about to tell you doesn’t leave this room. Do you understand?”

  The four of them exchanged looks. Geoff, always the leader, nodded his agreement first, quickly followed by the others.

  “Sheriff Justice and I believe that the deaths may not be accidental.”

  “You think someone’s giving them hot shots?” Bryan asked.

  Daniel wasn’t surprised that the blond knew what a hotshot was. Both his parents had been addicts. It was the reason he’d been placed in the foster system at such an early age.

  “What’s a hotshot?” Colt asked.

  “Everybody knows what that is,” Trent, another child of drug addicts, muttered.

  “Not everyone,” Colt said, leaning forward to glare at him.

  “I’ll tell ya later,” Bryan said, pushing the youngest back into his chair

  “It’s a way to murder someone and mask it as an overdose,” Daniel said before the conversation degraded further. “We think someone is targeting addicts with young kids, mostly girls, and no other relatives. Kill them. Disappear with the kids.”

  “Human trafficking,” Geoff said.

  “That’s sick.” Bryan looked at Trent.

  “Not good,” he said, growing a little pale.

  Something in the way they’d reacted sparked suspicion in Daniel. “Did you two ever run across anything like this, before you came to Westen House?”

  Again, Bryan and Trent exchanged slanted-eyed looks.

  Bryan folded his arms over his chest once more. “When you’re in the state places, you hear rumors.”

  “From other kids,” Trent said, matching Bryan’s closed-off defensive body posture. “I never knew anyone taken.”

  “It was like the boogieman stories everyone tells kids to get them to behave,” Bryan said. “Don’t leave the shelter or your foster families to go with your druggie parents. They might sell you for drugs.”

  Damn. What kinds of terrors had these kids lived through? Had other things happened to them? He knew kids in the system were at higher risk for physical and sexual abuse. The thought of his boys suffering either, made the coffee in his stomach turn sour. Daniel didn’t want to pry and by the belligerent look of both of them, he doubted they wanted to share, at least not now.

  “Do you think someone will try and break in here and take Lexie?” Geoff asked. “Is that why you spent the night?”

  “And why the sheriff’s cars have been driving by every evening?” Colt asked.

  “You think someone would hurt Ms. Davis to get to her?” Bryan asked.

  Daniel held up his hand again to gain some order. “We’re only working on a theory this might be a case of child kidnapping. But given the circumstances, the sheriff thinks it best if someone keep an eye on things here. At least for a while.”

  “So, you’re gonna sleep here?” Geoff asked.

  Daniel nodded. “For a while. At least until we think Lexie is safe.”

  “Who’s going to be with Ms. Davis while we’re away at school?” Colt asked. “You know Lexie likes to play outside a lot.”

  “Someone could just snatch her.” Bryan added.

  “And Ms. Davis is too nice to defend herself.” Trent sat straight up in his chair as if he was ready to do battle with an unseen enemy.

  “Ms. Davis is a lot tougher than you guys think,” Geoff said quietly, his gaze lifting to meet Daniel’s.

  Apparently, the young man had heard everything last night, including his decision not to father children and Melissa’s recounting of her abuse. But given the others were making scoffing sounds at his prediction that Melissa had a deeper strength, Geoff had chosen to only tell the others about the threat to Lexie. Wisdom and discretion had come with the teen’s recently acquired maturity. Daniel knew it had to be Melissa’s influence as house mother.

  “So, what do we do to protect them?” Colt asked.

  “Since you made the baseball team, you all have my phone number.” Daniel considered his reply. “Right now, you keep your eyes and ears open. One of the advantages to living in a small town, is you know when someone is new to the area.”

  “What about all the tourists that come to town?” Bryan asked. “Kyle says they see strangers in the Peaches ’N Cream all the time since the weather got nicer.”

  Daniel nodded to acknowledge the teen’s observation. “The sheriff and I will worry about the town. You pay attention to things here. If any of you see anyone strange hanging around the house or in the area, you report it to me. Okay?”

  All four teens nodded, their faces fixed with grim determination.

  Gage hung up the phone and rubbed both hands down his face in weary frustration.

  “I take it, Cliff didn’t have good news?” his wife’s soft voice asked from behind him.

  Slowly, he turned to find Bobby standing in the kitchen in her favorite sleeping t-shirt, which now stretched a little over her growing lower abdomen. He’d always thought her sexy since the day she literally fell into his arms, but he had to confess, seeing the changes her body was going through as she carried the child they’d lovingly made together—yeah, perfection just kept getting better and better.

  Opening his arms, he moved the chair to give her room to perch on his thigh. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a slow, lingering kiss. Any other day he’d deepen it, take her up the stairs or swivel her around to straddle him as they made passionate love right there i
n the kitchen. Not today.

  Today he’d take the soft, warm comfort she offered to ease the aching darkness that had settled on his soul since the pieces of the newest threat to his town started to come together. As an undercover narcotics officer he’d seen the truly worse parts of the human condition, walked and lived among it. He’d seen what depravity people would stoop to just to get their next fix. Men and women willing to sell their bodies to make enough money to score a rock of crack or a line of coke. Policemen, politicians and judges looking the other way while their pockets were lined with money from drug kingpins. People who stole, maimed, raped and killed just to rise in the ranks of cartels. Families destroyed by one person so greedy and lusting after the high that they let their children starve to death or become just as addicted.

  When he’d left the hospital barely alive to come back to Westen, he’d hoped to never get drawn into the black abyss that was the drug world. So, today, he was going to hold onto the goodness in his life, the woman on his lap, loving him enough to understand what he needed most. Her.

  Bobby broke the kiss, leaning back to stare into his eyes, her soft hand smoothing one side of his stubble-covered face. “What did Cliff have to say?”

  After finding Rose’s corpse in the house and sending Daniel to safeguard the residents of Westen House, he’d contacted Cliff Weber, one of his old narcotics team members back in Columbus. Knowing Cliff might be on assignment or doing his preferred night shift, he’d left a message to call him ASAP, before crawling into bed for a few hours of restless sleep. The phone had rung just before dawn.

  “Unfortunately, our suspicions were right and it’s worse than we thought. All across the state, they’ve seen an uptake of overdoses and missing kids afterwards.”

  “Dear God,” Bobby said, slipping her hand down to rest on her belly, just where their child was growing safely inside her. A protective gesture that doubled how much he loved her. “Why haven’t they done anything? Why isn’t it in the news?”

  “It’s in small pockets all across the state. Mostly single parents, no one really looking for the kids. People and kids slipping through the cracks. The local news crews are oblivious.”

  “Then how does Cliff know it’s happening?”

  “Because people like us, law enforcement in the boondocks who know our residents on a first-name basis, are asking questions.” He stared out the kitchen window as the pinkish light of dawn filtered through the clouds. “It feels like the dam burst up stream and the water’s rushing towards us, threatening to drown the whole town in a tsunami of drug addiction and all that goes with it. Kids are going missing and all we can do is fill a few sandbags to protect what we have and steer the floods away from our front doors. Meanwhile, no one at the dam has a clue how to fix the problem or even knows there is one.”

  Bobby twisted slightly on his lap and cupped his face in her warm soft hands. She smoothed her thumbs across his cheeks to wipe the moisture he’d felt escape his eyes, the tension in his muscles easing as he stared into her beautiful face. “First things first. We’ll get more bags and sand and more people to help us fill them.”

  “And how do you propose we do that?” he asked, his spirits already lifting at the positive attitude she had. Bobby always looked at a problem from the what-can-we-do-to-fix-it side, rather than only seeing the negative problem and letting it weigh her down.

  “We begin by protecting the community. Assemble a task force from the healthcare world, like Doc Clint, the schools with the school board and Sandy Blair, the high school principal. We combine those with Libby Reynolds and other county social workers, child protective services and anyone running homeless shelters together. See if they have patterns of missing children. Also get their help in seeing what we can do to help decrease the drug addiction in our residents. If we can reduce the need, the dealers will have to go elsewhere.”

  “The churches in town have been running a soup kitchen for the homeless and transients. Maybe Father Kawalski, Paster Miller and Minister White have insights on who they think are at risk?”

  “Susie Miller and your cousin Emma are very good friends. Both work at the soup kitchen. Why don’t I have a talk with them? We can even include our intrepid newsman, Sean Callahan, to research articles about other deaths and missing kids from other parts of the state.”

  “Those are all great ideas for activating the community,” Gage hesitated.

  “But?”

  “Community outreach is important, especially in the long run, but my gut tells me we have a more acute problem.”

  “Lexie.”

  Gage nodded, wiping his hand over his face. “The little girl saw her mother’s supplier. He probably had every intention of taking her once her mother had served her purpose and had no reason to hide his identity from her. But then the blizzard happened, and she got left behind, out of his reach.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  Gage sighed. “Who would’ve thought finding a tiny little girl abandoned in a cold house during a blizzard could be a blessing?”

  A soft smile lit his wife’s face as she cupped his face again. “Yes, as scary as it was at the time, finding her alone there was a blessing. Think of what might have happened if Rose had taken her along that night. Rose would still be dead, but we would never have known about Lexie or what happened to her. It’s also a blessing, because if that little girl did see him, knows his name, can identify him, well, it might help us stop him from taking other children, killing their parents.” She leaned in and kissed him softly, then smiled again at him. “And I think she may be a blessing for Melissa and Dan, too.”

  “Melissa Davis and Dan?” Gage asked, surprised.

  Bobby nodded. “They’ve bonded over Lexie.”

  “Dan did seem anxious to get over to the Westen House to keep them safe last night. Although he has a connection to the four boys living there. According to Cleetus, all four made the varsity or junior varsity baseball teams. I didn’t know Dan had more than a professional interest there.”

  Bobby slowly grinned. “Why don’t you come upstairs, and I’ll show you exactly what our deputy’s interest is in the house mother at the Westen House?”

  Gage slipped her off his lap and took her hand, letting her lead him to their bedroom. His night had been bad. His day was going to be shitty. Maybe spending some quality time between the sheets with his pregnant wife would help him get through the disaster.

  18

  Are you going with us to see the judge?”

  Leaning back against the kitchen counter, sipping her morning coffee, Melissa watched Lexie ask her question. The little girl peeked up at Daniel as they finished their breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Melissa’s heart ached for her. Ached that such a sweet and bright child had a mother who’d abandoned her for drugs. Ached that someone as young as Lexie had suffered so much loss and disappointment already in life. Ached that she and Daniel were about to shatter that world a little more.

  The morning had been a bit of a whirlwind. When she’d dressed and come to the kitchen to start breakfast, she’d found all four boys and Daniel sitting around the table. He’d been drinking coffee while they ate cereal, chatting about baseball practice later today. The whole experience had been surreal. They’d looked like a family, especially when Lexie wandered in still dressed in her pajamas and her battered ancient teddy bear under one arm and sat on the banquet bench next to Geoff who automatically scooted in to make room for her. The poignancy of the whole scene hit her hard and she’d quickly focused on packing lunches for the boys.

  “Well,” Daniel said after polishing off the last bite of pancake on his plate, wiping his mouth and setting aside his napkin. “Would you like me to go with you to see the judge?”

  Lexie nodded, her pigtails bouncing a bit, her blue eyes wide.

  “There’s nothing to be scared of. Judge Rawlins is a very nice man. He’s got grandkids just about your age.”

  “Mama said judges were mean.”


  Daniel glanced at Melissa. She had no idea where that statement came from and shrugged to tell him so, then came over to join them at the table, scooting onto the banquet seat beside Lexie. “What else did your mama say about judges?”

  “Judges can take me away.” Lexie pushed one of the two remaining pieces of her pancakes around on her plate. “If the judge takes me away, who will have lunch with Wöden every day? And who will play video race games with Trent and Colt? No one will be able to help Bryan study physics. He always wants me to ask him questions. And Geoff needs me to help him make pictures. And if I go away, I won’t be able to listen to you read to me every night or make treats for the tosters to eat after school.” She paused her litany of special chores she had in the Westen House and fixed her eyes on Daniel. “And who will help me learn to be a baseball player?”

  He swallowed hard and Melissa understood he was finding it hard to answer her through his own emotions. Finally, he laid his hand over the little girl’s. “I don’t know what the judge will have to say today, Lexie, but I think he’ll want to know all your concerns of why you should stay here with us.”

  Lexie nodded and popped another bite of pancake into her mouth, looking a little more confident about meeting Judge Rawlins.

  Melissa finished her coffee while she waited for Lexie to finish her breakfast, putting off the really hard conversation she still had to have with her. Last night, she and Daniel discussed how to tell Lexie about her mother, both of them agreeing she needed to know before they left for the court hearing this morning. Still, how do you tell a six-year-old child that her mother is dead?

  When Lexie finished her pancakes and drank the last of her milk, Melissa met Daniel’s eyes across the table. With his lips pressed in a line and compassion in his dark eyes, he gave her a little nod. They’d decided it would be best if the news came from her, somehow thinking it might be gentler. Now, she wished Daniel was telling her, because how do you break the heart of someone you’ve come to love as much as she did Lexie?