All Good Deeds Read Online Free Page A

showed up,” Kelly said. “They didn’t realize it until they were halfway home. One kid told her mom, and she called the police. Luce, she lives in the apartments across the street from Justin Beckett’s duplex.”
    Justin Beckett. My legs weakened, and I grabbed Kelly’s arm before remembering the girl was still sensitive about touching. “Sorry.”
    “It’s okay. Come sit down.”
    I followed Kelly to her office. Two large monitors were hooked up to a powerful desktop, and a partially built computer occupied most of the extra desk. Her gait was light, her lithe hips swaying as though she were dancing to her own soundtrack.
    Kelly’s emotional growth had been so stunted sometimes she still seemed like a confused adolescent. I longed for the day when she felt secure enough to engage in a normal activity, like dating or even going to the movie theater with me. I supposed that was too much exposure, considering the way her stepfather had treated her.
    “So, Justin Beckett,” Kelly said. “What don’t I know about him?”
    I really didn’t want to go back to these painful memories, but Kelly needed to know the whole story in order to do her job. I took a deep breath. “Not much. Ten years ago, Justin Beckett was one of my first cases as a newly minted social worker. Back then, I still believed I could change the world and that no amount of horrors would be too much for me to bear. Then I met the Becketts.” I hesitated, afraid this might hurt Kelly, but she nodded for me to continue.
    “A neighbor called CPS after hearing fighting from the house on numerous occasions. I was sent to investigate and found eleven-year-old Justin and his seventeen-year-old brother, Todd, who was in charge while the parents worked.” I still remembered the stale smell of the house, the way Justin’s small form shrank away whenever my attention turned to him. I stood up and walked to the small window. Below, the breakdancers were still going strong.
    “The brothers had been fighting, and what at first seemed like normal sibling issues, especially with latchkey kids, quickly turned suspicious. Justin was withdrawn and secretive, but he was prone to outbursts. He also had bruises he wouldn’t account for.” I should have pushed the issue. I was young and naïve, and my instincts weren’t enough to get him removed from his home. Irrationally focused on being new and shiny and full of determination to change lives, I’d ignored my base instincts–instincts honed from years of watching my sister’s strange behavior and never knowing what it all meant. Until it was much too late.
    I pushed on. “I suggested follow-up visits and interviewing the parents more thoroughly, but my superior nixed it. Not enough evidence and a backload of cases. Two weeks later, Justin Beckett molested and beat a ten-year-old girl to death.”
    “I remember reading because he was far too young to be tried as an adult,” Kelly said, “Justin was remanded to a youth psychiatric facility to serve his sentence.”
    I nodded. “He was given extensive treatment. I visited him several times in those first couple of years, and even though psychologists were hesitant to fit him into the accepted pedophile mold, I still saw the same darkness smoldering in his eyes.” I gnawed at a hangnail and looked away from Kelly’s sad eyes. “And then the state released him last year, without making him register as a sex offender. The family and I petitioned the court to keep him in the psychiatric facility, but no one listened. You know the decisions I made after that happened.” I rubbed my temples. “What’s the chatter?”
    “There’s a neighborhood-wide search in progress.” Kelly chewed her fingernails, which were already down to the nub. “Police are questioning all the parents and teachers, plus bus drivers and anyone else with access to the kids. And it gets better. You mentioned his half-brother Todd? He went on to become a cop.”
    I last saw Todd