She rushed to reassure him. “Oh, no, he hasn’t done anything,” she said. “I just wondered,” and she stopped, hesitating. Mack moved closer to her, one eyebrow raised. “I just wondered if he’s okay,” she said in a rush. The father looked at her, but there didn’t appear to be anything in that gaze that helped her figure out if he was happy at her concern or pissed off.
“He’s fine,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why? What’s this all about?”
“Nothing really,” she said. “I just saw him out in the pathway, and I worried because he was all alone.”
He frowned at her. “And he got in trouble for that too,” he said. “He knows better than to go over there. But what can you do? You can’t watch him every minute of the day.”
“No, of course not,” she said, “but he’s okay, right?”
“He is very okay,” he said, then hesitated to say anything else. “Look. I know you’re just one of those do-gooder types. Rest assured he is fine.”
She nodded slowly. “Does he go to school?”
“Not yet,” he said, “but he is due to go next year.”
“And he will go?”
He shrugged. “No reason not to send him. He’s not slow or anything,” he said, “just quiet.” Straightening up, he glared at her.
“And I didn’t mean to imply that either,” she said immediately. “I’ve just been concerned, that’s all.”
He waved at her. “And now you can take that concern and look after somebody else,” he said. “Isaac is just fine.” And, with that, he stepped back and slammed the door in her face.
Mack looked at her. “And now what do you want to do?”
“I guess there’s no law enforcement angle to this, is there?”
“Nope, none at all.”
She hesitated. He walked down the steps, and she frowned that she couldn’t just follow him.
He looked back at her. “So what is it you want to do?”
“What’ll it take to get into his backyard?”
“It’ll take a warrant,” he said, “and a warrant will require justifiable cause, which we do not have.”
She sighed and slowly moved down the steps beside him.
“That bad?”
“Yeah. It just feels like something’s wrong,” she said, “and I can’t toss off that feeling about the message.”
“I noticed you didn’t mention that to either of them.”
“No,” she said, “I wouldn’t dare.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I think somebody is in trouble,” she said. “If we let it out of the bag that they’ve put out a plea for help, how can we possibly expect them to stay safe?”
He looked at her and looked around at the neighborhood. “You want to walk up the pathway, and you can show me around a bit?”
She nodded cheerfully. “Now that I do want to do.” With that, they walked around the corner of the house and headed back to the pathway where she had been before. She came up to where she’d last seen Isaac, and almost immediately his head popped through the bushes.
“Why, hello, Isaac. How are you today?” She smiled broadly, and he smiled back. “This is my friend Mack.” Isaac looked at Mack, and his smile fell away. “He’s okay,” she said. “He’s a very good guy.” Isaac looked at her, looked at Mack again, then back to her, still not saying a word.
“Hey, Isaac, where’s your mom?” Mack asked. “Can we talk to her?”
He slowly shook his head.
“Why is that?” Mack asked. Doreen stayed quiet, expecting Isaac to say she wasn’t home.
“She’s not allowed to talk to anybody,” Isaac said.
At that, she stiffened. “Oh, well, maybe, if we went inside, we could talk to her.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Not allowed at all.”
“Okay,” she said, desperately trying to figure out what to say to him. “Maybe your mommy wants to talk to me.”
He looked at her in surprise, and then he looked behind him. “I don’t know,” he said, chewing on his fingers. Even as she watched, it looked as if he was trying to fit his whole fist inside as well.
She reached out a hand and gently patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said, “not to worry.”
He looked at her, looked up at Mack, and then shrugged.
“I’d really like to talk to her.”
He nodded slowly.
“Could you take me to her? I’d like Thaddeus to meet her. And maybe Mugs too.” At that, he looked down at Mugs and grinned. Mugs walked over and rubbed up against the little boy’s legs. Isaac bent down and wrapped an arm around the dog and gave him a big hug.
She looked back at Mack, then spoke to Isaac. “If you take me to talk to your mommy,” she said, “Mack will stay right here.”
“Will he keep the puppy?”
“No, of course not. I want your mommy to meet my puppy too.” At that, Isaac laughed. “Puppy. Bring puppy,” he said, then disappeared into the cutout in the chain-link fence. She stared at the fence and sighed. “I don’t think that hole is big enough for me,” she muttered, but, with Mack’s help, she managed to squeeze through and only ripped her shirt once. She looked back at Mack and could tell from the look on his face that he was not at all happy about this development.
“You know it’s the only way right now,” she said. “I’ll be back in a minute.” And, with that, she disappeared through the shrubbery.
Chapter 31
Doreen heard Mack in the background, whispering at her to stay hidden, because nobody knew just how the owner of the house would feel. But the little boy was dashing ahead around a shed. She followed the best she could, and, when she came to one, he dashed in behind what looked like a blanket thrown over the top. She stopped, then looked to make sure she was out of sight of the house, then stepped in behind him. There was a surprised gasp, a little shriek, then a muted voice.
“What did you do? What did you do?”
Doreen waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and then very quietly, she said, “Hello, my name is Doreen.” There, sitting in the far corner, she saw what looked like a young woman. Doreen smiled and crouched on the floor, so she wouldn’t be so imposing, then said, “Hi.” She pointed to Thaddeus on her shoulder. “Do you know this guy?”
The woman slowly stood and walked a few steps closer. “How did you get in here?” she whispered. There was obvious fear in her voice, and she kept staring at the point where the blanket parted for a doorway.
Doreen stood too. “Well, I guess you could say that I followed Isaac. Is he yours?”
She nodded slowly.
Doreen asked again. “Are you free to leave?” The woman looked at her, and, through the tears and the fear in her eyes, she slowly shook her head.
“Are you the one who put the note on my Thaddeus here?”
The woman looked at Thaddeus, then gasped, her hand going up to clasp per mouth, but she nodded.