Fort Lupton (14 page)

“
We’re good at cleaning up
big messes,” Jabari said.

“
That’s the truth,” Yvonne
said. “We’re going to go over to that big house this afternoon to
play with the kids there.”

“
Keenan and Ivy?” Jabari
asked. “Paddie and Katy? I saw them yesterday.”

“
How does that sound?”
Yvonne asked.

“
I’d better rest for a
while,” Jabari said. “They probably want to play and
I’m . . . tired.”

Jabari yawned.

“
Okay,” Yvonne said.
“We’ll clean up first and eat and rest
and . . .”

She looked at the boy and saw that he was
falling asleep in the water. She smiled. She gave him a quick bath
and carried him into his room. She put him back into a diaper and
clean pajamas. She even managed to give him his medicine before he
was sound asleep. Unable to use his bed, she carried him into her
bedroom and let him sleep in there. With the child in her bed,
Yvonne took out a novel and read while he slept.

One thing was for sure. Jabari did not have
to go back today.

That was a very good thing.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning — 9:05 a.m.

Once again, Sandy stood on the office side
of a one-way mirror while Detective Red Bear sat in the interview
room. She stared at the back of his head. The wound from the blow
of Heather’s hockey puck had healed, but otherwise she was looking
at the same man, through the same window she’d looked through all
those weeks ago.

Once again, Detective Red Bear was waiting
for the U.S. Marshal’s to show up to take him away.

It didn’t matter that he’d hurt Maresol. It
didn’t matter that Maresol had had to go to the hospital. It didn’t
matter that Maresol now had a hole in her head. It didn’t matter
that the doctors had cut off a hunk of Maresol’s long hair. Seth
was taking Maresol to specialists to see what was next for her
healing.

All that mattered was that the precious
Detective Red Bear, miraculously risen from his heart issues, was
now disappearing forever.

Because Raz and Samantha had finally had
their baby, she was working with some other Homeland Security
agent, someone she hadn’t met. She scowled. She’d heard it was some
badass woman.

The problem was that Sandy didn’t love loud
mouthed, mean women. Or men, for that matter.

Sandy closed her eyes and prayed that this
badass woman would be someone like John Drayson. She was convinced
that his appearance at Denver Health was divine intervention. Dr.
Drayson had saved Charlie’s life, plain and simple. Sandy nodded to
herself.

She needed a divine intervention.

“
Oh hey, Sandy,” a woman’s
voice said.

Sandy opened her eyes to see Alex
Hargreaves. Sandy scowled.

“
You can’t be here,” Sandy
said.

“
How come?” Alex
asked.

“
Some Homeland Security
lady locked this whole section down.” Sandy couldn’t keep the
bitter pain from her voice. “So that nothing happens to the
precious detective.”

“
He does seem special.”
Alex nodded.

Sandy imitated a grumbling sound that Nash
made when he didn’t want to do something. Alex smiled.

“
Do you mind?” Alex
gestured to the electronic board in front of Sandy that controlled
the room.

“
Are you sure?” Sandy
asked. “Won’t you get in trouble?”

“
I spent all day and night
yesterday sitting around waiting for the blessed birth,” Alex said.
“Trouble would be good.”

“
Blessed birth?” Sandy
asked. She stepped back so Alex could get to the electronic
panel.

“
My mother’s words.” Alex
grinned. “Did you hear what happened?”

“
I heard something,
but . . .” Sandy shrugged.

“
Raz has been sick with
the flu,” Alex said. “Something he caught doing all this rape
investigation crap. Anyway, he was there with Sami, right? She was
getting a massage, so he stepped out for like two minutes.
Wham
, she’s gone. Panic!
Despair! Hysteria!”

“
Sounds hard.” Sandy
smiled.

In Alex’s easy company, Sandy was starting
to forget how hopeless and angry she felt.

“
We totally lost her,”
Alex said. “You should have seen my mother. ‘What do you mean she’s
gone?’ and ‘How can a woman in labor disappear?’”

Alex laughed.

“
Raz and I had to pull all
of our resources to
find
her,” Alex said. “Then, your brother,
right?”

Sandy nodded.

“
Anyway, Raz was hanging
in there after more than a day of labor,” Alex said. “And all of
this drama.”

“
What did he do?” Sandy
had to smile at this silly story, and Alex’s conspiratorial
tone.

“
Fainted,” Alex said. “I
caught the blessed birth. ME! Well, me and Max,
together.”

Alex laughed.

“
Was Samantha mad?” Sandy
asked.

“
No,” Alex said. “She’s
all blubbery and happy. I don’t know if she noticed Raz was passed
out. You know how she is.”

Alex stuck a memory stick into a USB slot on
the electronic board.

“
I guess I don’t know how
Samantha is,” Sandy scowled.

“
She’s pretty focused on
what’s going on with
her
,” Alex laughed.

“
She was so great with
Charlie,” Sandy started to defend Samantha. “I don’t think any of
us . . .”

“
Oh don’t worry, that’s
not a put-down,” Alex said. “She’d be the first one to say that she
gets really focused on what she wants. Nothing else
matters.”

“
Yeah, I guess I’ve heard
her say that,” Sandy said.

Alex pushed a button on the board.

“
Oh, you mean she had her
baby so she didn’t care what happened to Raz?” Sandy
asked.

Alex nodded. Sandy laughed.

“
Was he upset?” Sandy
asked.

“
Nah,” Alex said. “He’s
seen her with shoes!”

Laughing, Alex turned a dial on the board.
Detective Red Bear looked up at the ceiling and then around the
room. He turned his head to look at the one-way mirror.

“
Can you take a step
back?” Alex asked.

“
Why?” Sandy
asked.

Alex took a handgun out from a holster at
her sacrum and pointed it at the window.

“
You’re going to shoot
him?” Sandy was a little embarrassed at how her voice rose with
hope.

“
Yeah, I know, right?”
Alex asked.

Alex’s entire focus was on the window and
the man in the room. Detective Red Bear hopped to his feet. He
looked around the room before screaming with rage. Handcuffed but
otherwise unrestrained, he pounded his fists against the one-way
mirror. Sandy was so surprised that she yelped and hopped back.

His fists pounded against the mirrored glass
again. Trying to look through, he pressed his face up against the
glass.

“
That’s
mine
!” he said.
“It’s
mine
!”

He was so intense and angry that Sandy
scooted to a dark corner of the room away from the window. Three
police officers came into the interview room. Detective Red Bear
fought them tooth and nail, but they finally got his feet and hands
restrained. Once he was tied down, Alex holstered her handgun.

Detective Red Bear continued to scream like
a caged animal. Alex looked around the room for Sandy.

“
Don’t be frightened,”
Alex said. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“
I’ve heard that before,”
Sandy said.

“
No, he really can’t now,”
Alex said.

“
Why?”

“
Let’s see,” Alex said.
“Raz and Colin have dismantled his entire operation. One of my guys
found his last hidden bank account — that’s how we knew he was
here. We tried to get to Seth’s house before he hurt Maresol,
but . . . We were about twenty minutes too
late.”

Alex nodded toward the detective. He was
yanking on his hand cuffs in an effort to free himself from his
restraints.

“
What is that?” Sandy
pointed to the USB drive.

“
I thought you’d never
ask.” Alex grinned.

“
And?”

“
Your mother’s symphony,”
Alex said. “Seth told us about the symphony, and you know we had
some downtime last night.”

“
You broke the code?”
Sandy asked.

“
Me and Max.” Alex nodded.
“Seth conducted the Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra this morning.
You know, those musicians got there about a half hour after we
finished. Three in the morning, no less. Seth called; they showed
up. Unbelievable. They just finished. Seth says it’s not perfect —
like we could tell the difference.”

Sandy stared at the interview room.

“
You want to hear it?”
Alex asked. “You’d have to hear him scream.”

“
That’s okay,” Sandy
sniffed back a tear.

“
I have to stay with you
until the marshals get here,” Alex said. She leaned close to Sandy.
In a low voice, she said, “They’ve been here for an hour or so. So
when you’re done watching this prick suffer, you just let me know.
They’ll take out the trash.”

Sandy was so surprised that she just blinked
at Alex.

“
You are a badass,” Sandy
said.

“
Just hate it when the
refuse fucks with good people,” Alex said. “Makes me
mad.”

Sandy nodded.

“
You wanna see pictures of
the blessed birth?” Alex asked.

Smiling, Sandy nodded.

Tiniest firefly

Thursday morning — 10:05 a.m.

Edie was a fairy. In fact, she was Queen
Fand’s second daughter.

“
I have a crown and
everything,” Edie said to the twin she thought might be Tanner.
“You need to drink this!”

Edie put the bottle’s nipple into the baby’s
mouth. In the blink of an eye, the bottle smashed against the wall.
The baby laughed. His brother laughed. Edie scowled.

“
I’m the daughter of a
fairy queen!” Edie said out loud.

The babies seemed to think that was the
funniest thing they’d ever heard. Edie turned away from them. She
closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

She was failing miserably.

Jacob, had taken care of Katy for the night,
so Edie only had to focus on the infants. She’d been able to get
the sweet Rachel and Mack to sleep with a simple lullaby. Little
Maggie needed a tiny bit of snuggling and she was out like a
light.

But these twins . . .

She felt like a complete
idiot. She’d begged for this job. She wanted to help these
fairy-human babies. She was charged with training Katy in the
simple ways of fairy. Gilfand had promised Jacob that he would
teach him how to use his skills. Gilfand’s promise was
Princess
Edie’s
command.

Damn it! She’d even sold her house on the
Isle of Man. What would she do if she lost this job?

“
I just want to do a good
job!” Edie said to herself. “I always do a good job!”

“
They’re just playing with
you.”

Edie opened her eyes to Katy’s voice.

“
They do this with Jill?”
Edie asked.

“
Oh, no.” Katy smiled.
“Mommy’s different. She’s only human so we’re nicer to her. But
you . . .”

Katy pointed above Edie’s head. The twins
had levitated a baby blanket above her head. It fell on her head
when she looked up. The babies squealed with laughter. Edie yanked
the blanket off her head and spun around.

The babies stopped laughing. Edie nodded.
That was better. She turned to see that Katy had her finger to her
lips. Edie scowled at Katy.

“
I’m
supposed to do it!” Edie said.

“
Okay,” Katy said. “Go
ahead.”

The twins started howling. Edie squinted at
Katy.

“
How did you do that?”
Edie asked.

“
I did what Mommy does,”
Katy said.

“
What’s that?” Edie
asked.

“
I told them what to do,”
Katy said. “You have to say, ‘Drink this bottle now.’ ‘Go to sleep
now.’ Stuff like that.”

“
I did!”

“
I bet you didn’t,” Katy
said. “You probably said something nice, like ‘Here’s your bottle.
Hope you like it,’ and stuff like that.”

Katy nodded, and Edie blushed.

“
That works for Rachel and
Mack,” Katy said. “They’re really nice babies.”

Edie squinted at Katy.

“
We’re not that nice,”
Katy said with a grin. She trotted up to the edge of the crib.
“Here, I’ll show you.”

Katy picked up the bottle of breast
milk.

“
Drink this,” Katy
ordered. Katy held up the bottle. The twin closest to Katy looked
at the bottle and then at Katy.

“
You have to put it in
their . . .” Edie started to say.

The bottle of breast milk floated out of
Katy’s hand. It flew over the crib railing and into the mouth of
the twin closest to the edge.