“Then nobody would know,” Mack said.
Nick asked, “Any idea how old he is?”
“I’d say four to five,” she said. “It’s quite possible that he’s too young for school. And, if nobody knows about him,” she said, looking back at Mack, “they wouldn’t be expecting him in school anyway.”
“That’s quite true,” he said thoughtfully.
“We could go back over and make it an official visit,” she said. “To at least find out who Isaac’s family is.”
Mack nodded and said, “Maybe I’ll get one of the guys to do that.”
“Yep,” she said, “you do that.” As he walked a little farther away and made the phone call, she chuckled. Looking over at Nick, she said, “He walks away because he thinks he can keep the conversation out of my hearing.”
“Does it work?”
“Nope,” she said, “because I have a good idea what he’s up to.”
“But isn’t he trying to keep you safe?”
“No, he’s trying to keep me out of his business,” she said, with a big fat grin. “And that doesn’t work.”
Chapter 12
Mack returned a few minutes later with a surprised look on his face.
She stared at him, knowing something was up. “What? What is it?”
“The cemetery had some security cameras. The guys have been going through the images,” he said, “and a couple faces they don’t recognize. Most of the visitors were locals, but a few we can’t identify, and they’re asking you to take a look.”
She looked at him in surprise and then jumped to her feet. “Perfect,” she said. “Can we do it now, even though it’s Sunday?”
“It’s better for us actually, since it’s a little calmer.”
She smiled and nodded. “Now?”
“Sure,” he said, as he looked over at his brother. “Are you coming to dinner tonight at Mom’s?”
Nick nodded. “I’ll be there,” he said, “and, in the meantime, I’ve got paperwork to deal with.” With that, he waved a hand and disappeared out her front door.
She turned, looked at Mack, and said, “In spite of you,” she said, “I like him.”
Laughing, Mack replied, “Nick is a really good guy.”
“I’m just a little leery,” she said, although with a relieved smile. “This whole thing is scary honestly. I would just as soon spend the rest of my life never seeing my ex again.”
“Nobody said you had to see him,” he said in surprise.
“Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Ask Nick, but frequently it can all be done without you having to face him.”
“Oh, in that case,” she said, “I feel much better.”
“Good,” he said. “Come on. Let’s get down to the station.”
“Okay,” she said. “What about the animals?”
“Let’s take them along. I’m still trying to unlock the mystery of how Thaddeus thinks, so we can figure out what’s really going on with that.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” she muttered. As they headed out to his truck, she snagged her purse.
“Do you need to shop anywhere today?” he asked. “And, by the way, I checked your sump pumps earlier, and both are doing fine.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.” And it was, as she’d completely forgotten about it. “And, as you saw, the fridge is a little bare.”
He snorted. “That’s more than a little bare,” he said, as he opened the passenger door to his truck and lifted Mugs up, so he could sit in the footwell. Goliath jumped up all on his own, and Thaddeus never left her shoulder. With Doreen and all her animals safely ensconced, he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. As he got in, he said, “How is your head?”
“It’s much better today,” she said. “Now I can’t stop thinking about Thaddeus going off by himself, coming back with a note.”
“And how typical of you,” he said. “You can’t stop thinking about Thaddeus’s solo adventure, but getting attacked and hit over the head is a whole different story.”
“That’s true,” she said. “The thought of somebody being held captive just bothers me.”
“Are you thinking of your own captivity while married?”
She shrugged. “It’s not fair for anybody,” she said, “and, if it relates to that little boy, it’s even worse.”
“But we don’t have any way to connect that to him,” he said. “Remember my warnings about assumptions.”
“I know that,” she said patiently. “You’re always on me about that, so how could I forget?”
“Of course I am,” he said. “And we have to do things legally.”
“Right,” she said. “It really hampers things, doesn’t it?”
He chuckled. “In some ways, yes, it does, but it keeps everybody following the law, so that we don’t end up doing renegade stuff, like your ex.”
“Good point,” she said, with a heavy sigh. “That’s exactly what he did. He always wanted to do things his way and never had the patience to follow the law. He often said it was too slow, too fussy, and that he could get things done much faster without it.”
“Apparently he did, but there comes a point in the process where you have to pay for that involvement, and the time could be now.”
“Maybe so. He is pretty slippery though,” she said, “so I highly doubt it.”
He smiled and said, “Well, hopefully my brother will give him just enough rope, and maybe, just maybe, he will hang himself.” She looked at him in surprise, and he immediately shook his head. “I don’t mean that literally,” he said. “It’s just an expression.”
“Where do these expressions come from?” she wondered. “I mean, why would anybody hang themself? It doesn’t make sense.”
He sighed and said, “Don’t worry about it.”
With a shrug, she said, “I wasn’t going to. I figured you just didn’t know where it came from.”
He burst out laughing. “Well, actually I do, but I’m not going there,” he said. “Besides, we’re at the station already.”
“That’s the thing about a community like this,” she said. “Everything is so close by, and everybody is right here.”
“Exactly.” He hopped out, walked around, and said, “Come on. Let’s get the animals. I love the fact that they’re welcome in the station. They might as well get their own shields too. They’ve done so much for the city.”
“And it’s lovely that you guys believe that,” she said. “It certainly makes my life easier.”
“True,” he said, “but the bottom line is that they’ve done more good than harm, so we’re willing to give them—”
“Enough room to hang themselves?”
Laughing out loud at her quick wit, he then shook his head and said, “No, obviously we don’t want them to hang themselves.”