Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“How do you know Detective O’Meara?”
“He’s Duncan’s old partner’s kid,” he said, walking to the kitchen sink to wash his hands.
“Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Good kid, good cop.”
“He’s not a kid, Sam, he’s probably in his thirties.”
He squinted at me. “Anyone younger than me is a kid.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
Right around eleven, Sam went back outside when three police cruisers were suddenly on our street, lights going, and lots of officers. When I looked outside, checking on my husband as he made his way to our front gate, I saw a man pacing in front of our neighbor’s house directly across the street, and yelling. There was a woman there with her face in her hands, crying, shaking, another man with his arm around her, and several other people milling about.
Into the fray walked Sam, and minutes after that, I saw that Detective O’Meara was there, this time with a tall Black woman who, from the disdainful shake of her head, did not look at all impressed by the wailing the woman was doing, who everyone was trying to comfort.
Sam came back inside and explained that the woman with O’Meara was his partner, Detective Mekia Hall.
“Nice to meet you,” I greeted her.
“And you, sir,” she replied.
“You didn’t look happy with the lady who was crying,” I stated.
“Yeah, neither would you,” she told me. “That’s Ruby’s mother.”
“What?” I was confused.
“Apparently, she left that party with her boyfriend, her aunt’s party, for another one. She told her mother that she put her daughter down for a nap in a back bedroom since she was going to be up late tonight.”
“No,” I tried not to yell.
“Wait, there’s more,” Hall continued. Stunning woman, she could have modeled if she hadn’t gone into law enforcement. “She was a bit tipsy when she left, so she thinks she told her mother she was leaving, and she’s pretty sure she informed her that she wasn’t taking her daughter with her. But she’s not positive.”
“And the grandmother didn’t go and check?”
“It’s the first get-together, party, they’ve been to in a while, so they were all having a good time.”
“Why didn’t anyone answer the door when my husband knocked, and I’m sure, rang the doorbell?”
She shrugged. “I doubt they heard. They were all in the back, under tents, with heaters. I mean it’s great they were outside, but no one saw the little girl.”
“Plus, they’re all gonna get Covid because they’re not wearing masks,” O’Meara chimed in, nearly snarling.
“That’s the least of that woman’s problems,” Hall said curtly. “After all this, I can’t imagine that Ruby’s father is going to have to worry about getting sole custody anymore.”
“Are they going through a divorce?”
She nodded. “A bad one, apparently. That’s her boyfriend pacing out there, and he’s livid that we can’t just let this go.”
“He’s mostly pissed at you,” O’Meara told Sam. “Blames you for getting involved in the first place and alerting us.”
“As though letting a little girl walk around in the street by herself was a better alternative,” Hall pointed out, looking across the room at Ruby, who was asleep on the floor between Hannah and Jake.
They had made her a little nest of blankets, Hannah’s stuffed animals, and Dobby, who was curled up beside her.
“You did a great job making her feel at home.”
“Thank you.” I accepted the compliment, feeling the warmth in her words.
“Are all these kids yours?”
I pointed out the ones that were mine.
“Well, your daughter’s boyfriend and your son’s boyfriend look really comfortable here. That’s a testament to good parenting.”
I didn’t correct Harper’s status. The way the two boys always sat, nearly on top of each other, had prompted more than one comment like that over the years. “Can I get you both some coffee while we wait for Ruby’s father to show up?”
“No. Thank you,” Hall replied graciously. “We need to get some more information from the mother.”
“Are you going to let her come over and see her daughter?”
“That’s up to Mr. Bishop, Ruby’s father. Technically, per their divorce agreement, Ruby should be at her father’s house at this exact moment. Her mother was supposed to have dropped her off with him before eleven.”
These were specifics I was thrilled to have no experience with.
The detectives left then, after shaking our hands, and Sam led me quickly into the kitchen and then spun me around to face him.
“What’s the matter with you? You’re basically wilting in front of me.”
“Sorry, I—sometimes it gets thrown in my face how lucky we are, and instead of thinking about the good, I obsess on the what-ifs.”
“I see,” he placated me, easing me forward into his waiting arms.
“I’m not a child, Sam,” I groused at him.
“No,” he agreed, lifting my chin for a kiss. “You are not.”
Being kissed for any reason at all by Sam Kage was always a reward, so I didn’t grumble about the why and simply savored the closeness.