“I thought you’d never call,” Carter said by way of greeting ten seconds later.
“I need you,” my voice broke, and he lost all the amusement in his voice.
“Hey,” he lowered his voice and stepped away from whatever commotion was making it hard to hear him. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I stood, locked in the bathroom in the front office, and broke down while I tried to get out the words.
“Avery,” his voice cut through the din. “Avery, baby. I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
His words echoed the same ones I’d told to Ciara what now felt like years ago, but they packed the same punch.
“One of my students is being abused.” Seven words that tore into my soul and cut out the last bit of hope I had for the human race. “I don’t trust anyone else but you, Carter. Please. We have to help him.”
Dead silence on the other end of the call. It went on for so long that I thought he hung up. Only he must have muted me, because when I’d just about given up, noise filled the background and he was there again with a promise I’d never forget.
“I’m on my way.”
14
Carter
I hit mute as soon as Avery told me one of her students was being abused. We were in the middle of a meeting in the bullpen, and everyone heard her when I answered on speaker.
“Who is it?”
“What did she say?”
“What’s happening?”
“Why’d you mute it?”
“Who is it?”
Remy, Linc, and Chief Townsend all started talking at once, peppering me with question after question that I didn’t have the answer to, and I lost my temper.
“Shut the fuck up!” I roared, unable to hold the words back.
Avery James was quite possibly the only person who could elicit that type of emotional response from me. Just the fact that she was crying, and asking me for help, crushed every bit of control I had. She destroyed me, and then she had to add to it.
“I don’t trust anyone else but you, Carter. Please. We … We have to help him.” When her voice hitched, I was done.
I waited until the others had shut up before I unmuted the call. I stared straight at the chief while I spoke, too. Made it clear with my eyes that I’d be running point on this case. I might not be a detective in Birch, but I had been in Sunnyville, and I wouldn’t pass a child abuse case to anyone else. Chief Townsend told me before that he’d gone over my record, so I knew he wouldn’t question me taking it.
“I’m on my way.”
The relieved exhale on the other end of the line was the only thing I needed to hear.
I disconnected the call, and spun around to see all of their curious faces staring at me.
“What?” I barked. “What is it?”
“You lost your patience,” Linc pointed out. “You haven’t so much as raised your voice since you’ve been back in Birch. But one phone call with Avery James and you’re yelling at us.”
“It is pretty interesting,” Chief added. “I mean, I’m all for this. You know the protocols. You know what you’re doing. You used to do it in Sunnyvale. But I think it’s interesting that little Avery James is your kryptonite.”
Refusing to engage with them any further would be the only way I could handle them. Instead, I turned to Remy, the only one of the lot who hadn’t started ribbing me about Avery.
“Can you do me a favor and feed the animals while I’m gone?”
I walked out to the sounds of laughter coming from the bullpen and dispatch, mentally preparing myself for what would be coming next.
The receptionist wasn’t at her desk when I got to Birch Elementary, but Avery was. She looked up in a daze, with tears still pooling in her eyes and an expression on her face I wish I could banish for her.
“You came,” her awe-filled voice caressed my skin, music to my ears. “I didn’t know if you would or if you’d send someone else, because I didn’t text you.”
“Hey.” I crouched down, adjusting my uniform so I didn’t end up stabbing myself with my baton. “I told you I was on my way. I wouldn’t lie. Not to you.”
Avery’s brown eyes spilled over with the unshed tears, and my heart broke for her. What she undoubtedly found out must have broken a piece of her. Only the gods above knew that every case I worked in California had the same effect on me.
“Thank you,” she sniffed.
I reached over to the tissues that sat on the edge of the desk. Grabbing her a few, I handed them to her, and then waited for her to delicately wipe her eyes. I mean, that’s how every other woman I’d ever met would handle it. Not Avery, though. She wrapped that tissue around her nose and blew with all she was worth. Then she reached for more and wiped her eyes with those.
By the time she finished, I knew she was actually the perfect woman. Not concerned with how she appeared or looked in a moment of crisis, she actually wanted to take care of herself.
If it wasn’t so weird, I’d admit to being turned on by it. Instead, I leaned forward and balanced on the desk in front of me, waiting to hear what Avery had to say about her call.
“You wanna tell me about it?”
My question lit a fire in her eyes that hadn’t been there a moment before. Inner strength that she fully harnessed in order to do the best thing for her student.
“Lucas Zucker,” she said quietly. “Karen’s son.”
I had a pen in hand and my notebook, writing down everything she said for my report later. “Go on.”
“Ciara Moore came to me at lunch and told me that she saw bruises on his back. He told her that his mother hurt him.” Avery looked down at her hands. “Her description, and the emotion in her eyes … I could tell that she wasn’t lying, Carter. And Lucas, he’s been acting out and there’s just been something off you know? I arranged for the two of them to work together for the sixth grade formal. To plan it. I thought that if they got along, that he might have an easier time in class. I never, not once, thought that she was hurting him.”
I let her go on, because those details, the tiny little seemingly insignificant details were the ones that would help with a social worker.
“Chris called Bria,” Avery told me quietly, like she had read my mind. “She’s the lead social worker for Birch County, and I wanted to have someone close, for him. You understand.”
I nodded, still making notes and letting her talk. Clearly, she needed it.
“Has anyone talked to Lucas yet?”
When Avery didn’t answer my question I looked up at her to see sorrow in her eyes. “No. I was going to have Chris bring him. But he said he’d stay with the class. And I wanted you to talk to Ciara first. Her mom is waiting to take her home already. I thought she should be at home. Just in case Lucas reacts poorly.”
Color me impressed. Avery did it exactly the way I would myself. Get the bystander’s report, first. Make sure that the victim has a safe place to go to, and then step in. She really was perfect and amazing at her job.
“Okay,” I told her softly. “Is she in with the principal and her mom?”