Search And Rescue: In Safe Hands Part 41

He opened his mouth to tell Viggy to heel, but he closed it again. The dog's normal reaction was to ignore him and curl into a miserable ball, and a part of Theo-a rather huge part-didn't want this family to think his dog was unhappy with him.

"We'd better go." He focused on the younger girl. "Do you want to help bring Viggy outside?"

"Yes!" Her face lit, and she jumped to her feet. "C'mon, Viggy!" She ran out of the kitchen, the twins following. Theo watched as the dog bounded after the kids, his tail up and wagging hard. It was the first time in a long time he'd seen Viggy without his tail tucked between his legs.

"Thank you." At the sound of Jules's voice, Theo turned from the now-empty doorway. "For being so nice to them."

Theo blinked. He'd been nice?

"I'd really like to get them a dog," she continued, speaking faster. Her drawl and quick speech blurred her words until they were almost unintelligible. "It's just that, as you can see," she waved at the oven with an unconvincing laugh, "we have so much to do with the house and getting the kids started at school and with my new job and everything, it's just better that we wait to get a pet. That's what I meant about not wanting to get a dog right now. You know, what D said that I said, and I'm so babbling right now, so I'll just be quiet."

Her words ended abruptly, and she stared at Theo, her panic returning in an almost visible flood. Theo was a little disappointed. He hadn't missed the squirreliness. Plus, her rambling monologue had just convinced him that the reference to "survival" hadn't meant merely food and shelter. This family was in trouble. "D?"

"Yes. Deirdre." She took a quick breath, as if she was about to launch into another speech. When the oldest boy-the only one not to run outside with Viggy-s.h.i.+fted slightly closer to Jules, she closed her mouth with an audible click and gave Theo a strained, closed-mouth smile.

Theo's gaze s.h.i.+fted to the teen. "What's your name?"

"Sam." There was no stutter that time. Theo met his eyes, and the boy looked back. There was something in his stance-a hidden flinch, a sense that he was torn between running and throwing a punch-that was troubling and familiar. Theo had seen something very similar when he'd interviewed abuse victims.

Theo's gaze moved to Jules. Although he could've been mistaken, could've been influenced by this stupid attraction he was fighting, he was pretty sure she wasn't the abuser. The protective att.i.tude Sam had toward her didn't fit.

"You're all siblings?"

"Yes." Jules's chin tilted in a slightly belligerent way that Theo noted with interest. The gesture made him pretty sure her answer wasn't entirely truthful.

"And the twins' names?"

"Tyson and Thomas."

Her entire body was braced, as if she was waiting for a blow. After regarding her silently for a moment, Theo took a step back and gestured toward the doorway into the hall. "I should get Viggy."

Exchanging a quick glance, Jules and Sam walked out of the kitchen ahead of Theo. Sam gave a few worried looks over his shoulder, but Jules kept her gaze fixed ahead, her spine a little too straight.

Happy, excited shrieks greeted them as they walked through the still-open front door. The three younger siblings had found a fallen tree branch and were playing fetch with Viggy. The stick was so long, it threatened to bowl over anyone in the dog's path, and the kids had to dodge away, laughing.

Jules sighed audibly. "Sam-I-Am, we're going to have to get them a dog, aren't we?"

Despite her long-suffering tone, she was smiling, and Theo found it hard to pull his gaze from her face. Tense and serious, Jules was hot. Happy, she was...more than hot. Theo forced himself to turn toward Sam, who'd made an amused sound that wasn't quite a laugh. Both were watching their younger siblings with the same expression, a look that Theo had a hard time interpreting. There was love and worry and a ferocious protectiveness and so much more written on their faces, their emotions so naked and raw that Theo, feeling like a voyeur, cleared his throat and glanced at the kids playing with the Malinois.

Viggy was acting like a different dog. No, that wasn't right. He was acting like the dog he used to be. The usual grief and guilt started to twist in his gut again, and Theo turned abruptly toward his SUV.

Only after he raised the back hatch did he turn back to the family. "Viggy." His voice was too harsh. Theo knew that, even before Viggy's tail dropped from its happy carriage and tucked between his legs. "Load."

As the dog cowered, the kids went silent. Regret flooded Theo, filling him with a caustic burn that was all too familiar. Theo clenched his fists and took a breath, and then another. It was one thing for Hugh or Otto to see the mess that Theo and Viggy had become. For whatever reason, though, Theo didn't want these kids to have to witness the wreck that Don had left. He especially didn't want Jules to know. Why he cared what the squirrelly waitress thought was beyond him, but he couldn't help sending her a sideways glance to see how she was reacting.

Although her smile had disappeared, Jules didn't look scared or upset. Instead, she was looking back and forth between Theo and the dog with a thoughtful expression.

"He doesn't want the fun to end," she said lightly to her siblings. "Why don't y'all help get him into the car?"

The kids immediately dove into the game, running toward Theo's Blazer while calling Viggy to follow. After a few seconds, he perked up slightly and trotted after the children. When he got closer to the SUV, he slowed, his whole body seeming to shrink in on itself.

Theo moved away from the open hatch and watched as the kids crowded around the back of the SUV, urging Viggy to jump inside.

"Load." The word came out too loudly, making the kids and the dog jump and look at him anxiously. Theo gritted his teeth, sucking in a breath through his nose before trying to moderate his tone. "The command is 'load.'"

The three kids relaxed and returned to their efforts. "Viggy, load!"

Reluctantly, as if Viggy was just as loath to return to the reality of grief and loss as Theo was, Viggy jumped into the rear compartment. One of the twins-Tyson, Theo was fairly certain-lowered the hatch door. The ease with which these children had gotten the dog to relax and play made Theo envious. At the same time it raised a flicker of hope that the dog would someday be the happy, confident Viggy he used to be.

"Thank you." His words were stiff, but they were lucky he'd managed to say anything at all. Theo felt his lungs tighten. This family-the hot waitress and dog-whispering children and their not-quite-hidden flinches-was starting to wake something inside of him. His emotions were bleeding through the armor he'd built to contain them, and it was making it hard to breathe. He needed to leave.

After a single step toward the driver's door, he paused. "The stove fire is under control?"

Jules grimaced. "Yes. All that's left is the cleaning."

"Have it checked before you try to use it again." The suggestion came out more as an order, but Jules didn't look offended. She did appear tired and a little sad as she gave him a forced smile that could have meant anything. Theo was pretty sure it wasn't the response he wanted, though. "Something could've been damaged by the fire, and that thing is ancient. You don't want to mess around with gas. Have your landlord get it checked."

"Okay!" Jules held up her hands, palms out, in a gesture of surrender. "I'll have someone look at it."

Her promise was too vague to satisfy Theo, but there was nothing he could do except call the stove repairman himself. As much as he wanted to do exactly that, he barely knew this family. They'd never accept his help. With a stiff incline of his head to Jules and her siblings, Theo got into the driver's seat and started the SUV.

As he eased down the driveway, Theo glanced in the rearview mirror at the family that was watching him leave. He'd expected to feel relief at being away from their agitating presence, but he didn't.

All he felt was hollow.

"I like that dog," Dez said, watching the SUV disappear around the first curve in the driveway.

So had Jules. The dog's partner was a different story. It wasn't that she didn't like him, but "like" was such an inadequate word for what she'd felt. His continued visits to the diner had made most of her initial cop-sighting panic fade. If he'd known what she'd done, what she was hiding, then he'd have arrested her already and the kids would be back with Courtney. Her stomach lurched at the thought.

She'd been shocked to see him in her house, all her fears returning in a cras.h.i.+ng wave, and she'd had to shove back the instinctual urge to tackle him and yell at her siblings to run. He'd just been concerned about their oven fire, though. And he'd been worried about her. Contented warmth flowed through her at the thought.

"Jules." The impatient note in Tio's voice told her that it wasn't the first time he'd said her name.

She tore her gaze from the spot where she'd last seen the cop who was a little too fascinating-and around a little too often-for her peace of mind. "Sorry, T. What's up?"

"Can we go to the library?" he asked. "I'd like to see if someone scanned in an owner's manual for our stove."

She nibbled on the inside of her lip as she studied him, her mind working.

"Do you not want me to go to the library?" Tio finally prompted when her silence went on too long.

"No." She shook off her distracted thoughts. "I mean, I'll take you. I'm just wondering if it's irresponsible of me to let you work on the stove. Shouldn't we have a professional...um, oven person look at it? Like Theo said, gas is nothing to fool around with."

He gave her a look of mixed condescension and long-suffering patience that sat oddly on his fifteen-year-old face. "I'll be fine, Jules. I know what I'm doing. At least, I will when I get that manual." He tilted his head toward the SUV meaningfully.

"Okay." She headed for the house to grab her keys and lock up, calling over her shoulder, "But if you get blown up, I'm going to be annoyed!"

Sam followed her inside, and she gave him an inquiring look.

"Th-Theo?" he repeated, frowning.

Examining her brother's extra-tense face, unsure of what, exactly, he was asking her, she said, "The cop who was just here."

"How d-d-do you know him?"

She grabbed the keys and her purse from the kitchen table they'd found at the thrift store. It was a little small for all of them, and the five chairs didn't exactly match-either the table or each other-but the set had cost a total of seventeen dollars. With their supply of cash dwindling painfully fast, affordability beat out aesthetics. "I wouldn't say I know him. He's at the diner every morning, that's all."

"B-but you c-c-call h-him Theo?"

She was still confused. "Yes?"

"Why?"

"Uh...because that's his name? What else should I call him?"

His fists clenched at his sides. "How ab-b-bout Of-f-ficer? Or G-Guy Who C-C-Can Ar-rest You for K-Kidnapping?"

"Sam." Her voice was soft, and she resisted the urge to squeeze his arm. As tense as he was, the last thing he'd want was to be touched. "It's okay. He doesn't know."

"M-mayb-b-be." He closed his eyes for a second as his jaw muscles worked, and she knew he was trying to get his stutter under control. "N-not yet. B-b-but he c-c-could f-find out."

She stared at him helplessly, unable to deny what he'd said. Theo could find out what she'd done, who they were, everything. "If he does, we'll run." It was weak, she knew, but it was all she could say to rea.s.sure him.

Sam didn't look at all rea.s.sured. "D-d-d-do you l-like him?"

"What?" The word came out a bit screechy, and she winced inwardly as Sam's frown deepened. "Of course not. That'd be crazy."

"It w-w-would be cr-cr-crazy." His grim tone made her drop her eyes. Maybe she'd thought he was hot, and maybe she'd thought about him a few times-and not in a he-could-arrest-me sort of way-but anyone with a pulse would indulge in a few daydreams when confronted by a man that good-looking. "Th-hat'd b-be b-b-bad, J-Ju."

"I know."

"Really b-bad."

"I know." Her response was barely more than a sigh as a tiny hope she hadn't even realized she'd been harboring slipped away. It hit her that this was her life now. Until Dez was eighteen and the threat of Courtney was gone, Jules couldn't date, couldn't have any close friends, couldn't get attached to anyone. If people got close, they'd ask questions. Jules had to be ready to take off at a moment's notice.

Loneliness crept up her throat, making it tight, but she swallowed the self-pity. It was worth it. Getting the kids away from Courtney was worth the sacrifice. She met Sam's worried gaze and held it steadily.

"I know, Sam." No matter how hot and protective and gruffly kind he was, Theo was also a cop, and she was a criminal. Jules had to stay away from him...no matter how hard that may be.

Chapter 10.

What was wrong with him? Theo huffed out a humorless laugh as he slid out of his solitary booth and tossed down enough cash to cover the lunch he'd barely touched, plus tip. A better question would be what wasn't wrong with him, he figured.

Megan lifted her eyebrows as he pa.s.sed her on the way to the door. To his relief, she wasn't curious enough about his unusual lunchtime appearance to ask him why he was there. If she had asked, he didn't have an answer-at least not one he wanted to share.

It was the squirrelly waitress's fault. He'd gotten used to seeing her every day, but their usual breakfast had been canceled when a traffic stop for a broken taillight turned out to be a wanted meth dealer in a car he'd stolen from his now probably ex-girlfriend.

Jules hadn't even been working, though, unless she'd been hiding in the kitchen the entire time he was there. That was a definite possibility, since he'd acted like a complete a.s.s every time he saw her. But not seeing her made him cranky-well, crankier than usual-and that made him even more p.i.s.sed that he was allowing an almost-stranger to determine his mood.

He shoved the door a little too hard as he left the diner. The perfect September weather mocked his bad mood. The sun was a little too bright and cheery, the air just cool enough to feel good against his face. His frown deepening, he shoved on his sungla.s.ses.

A familiar Volkswagen Jetta was parked next to his squad car. It took him a few seconds to remember who the VW's owner was. When it finally struck him, his step faltered, and he had the cowardly urge to duck back into the diner. It was too late, though. She was already headed his way.

"Hey, Theo." Sherry Baker, Don's daughter, attempted a smile, but it collapsed before it was fully formed.

Theo couldn't even manage that much. Instead he gave her a stiff nod. "Sherry." That was all he could say. If he tried anything else-an "I'm sorry for your loss," or even "How are you?"-his guilt and rage would choke him before he could get out more than a word.

Sherry didn't look offended, though. The last time he'd seen her had been at the funeral, where she'd screamed at him, blaming him for not seeing the signs, not doing anything to stop it. Theo had taken every bit of abuse she'd heaped on him, knowing that he deserved that and more...so much more. Don had been his friend, his mentor, his brother. Theo should've known, should've at least suspected. What kind of self-involved bubble had he lived in that Don's misery escaped him so completely?

Except for the downward cast of her mouth, Sherry looked like she always had before. Her blond hair was washed and brushed, pulled back in a neat braid, and her sundress looked new. She appeared like a different person than that pain-wracked mourner at her dad's funeral.

Now, she just seemed quietly sad. Oddly enough, Theo felt a jolt of envy for that sign of straight-up grief. He wished that was what he felt, rather than this seething mess of angry emotions that was corroding his insides.

"How's it going?"

How was he supposed to answer that? Quite s.h.i.+ttily, thank you for asking. I've even managed to f.u.c.k up your dad's dog. How are you? Swallowing the words, Theo twitched one shoulder in a shrug. When Sherry's mouth flattened, he knew it had come off as callous and uncaring rather than the truth: that he was so locked up by regret he couldn't even talk to her.

It was Sherry's turn to offer a jerky nod. "See you around, Theo."

He watched her go into the diner, his guilt multiplying into a giant churning ma.s.s so huge it felt as if his skin couldn't contain it. Clenching and unclenching his fists as the urge to punch something-or someone-surged through him, he stalked the rest of the way to his squad car and jerked open the door.

His bad day had somehow, magically, become so much worse.

"Maybe we could be homeschooled?" Ty asked hopefully.

As the five of them stared at the two-story building, a mustard yellow box with just a few narrow windows on each corner, Jules was tempted to agree. Then she thought about the reality of trying to teach her siblings-especially Tio-and she sighed.

"C'mon, y'all." She shoved the driver's door open with more confidence than she felt. "Dez, you too." Even though just a few people were around, and the few extra-early students were headed into the school, Jules didn't want Dez to be left alone. It was going to be hard enough having them out of her sight for the whole day while they were in school.

Ty groaned, but Tio got out of the backseat more enthusiastically. Sam didn't say anything, but Jules could feel his tension. If he'd been drawn any tighter, Sam would've snapped like an overstressed steel cable. Catching his sleeve-but being careful not to grab his arm-she held him back a few steps, allowing the twins and Dez to walk slightly ahead of them.

"Dennis is good at what he does," she said very quietly, so that only Sam could hear. "We have new names, new social security numbers, new ages, new lives."

Sam stared straight ahead, the muscle in his jaw working.

"She won't find us." She looked for any sign that her words had rea.s.sured him, but his expression hadn't changed. "If there's any chance she even has a clue where we are, we'll run again. I'm sure Dennis has a new-life warranty of some sort."