Guardian of Justice Read Online Free Page B

“Why don’t you go into the house and see your mother?”
    Betsy took off running.
    Kira sent him a silent plea, which he ignored. He started to follow the child.
    “I need to talk to you,” she said quietly. He stopped, and she continued talking. “I’m not comfortable leaving the little girl here. She was trying to sneak out of her house.”
    He glanced at the running child, then back to Kira. “She’s not too concerned to go back now.”
    As soon as she was out of earshot, Kira cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s afraid of Mickey, whoever he is.”
    “Her mother’s boyfriend. That’s who attacked the car,” Dallas explained. He wrote a few things on his pad of paper, then put it back into his chest pocket. “We can’t seem to get anyone to admit exactly what happened. The boy was apparently trying to protect his little sister. I doubt the guy will be back tonight. Mom seems upset enough to get a restraining order to keep him out of the house after this.” Dallas stopped and faced Kira. “We can’t do anything right now. We had Mom perform some maneuvers, and it doesn’t appear she’s intoxicated. We put out a BOLO for Mickey. Oh, sorry, that means be on the lookout—’”
    “I know what a BOLO is. But…” Kira grabbed his arm to keep him from walking away.
    He glanced at her hand and pulled his arm from her grip. “I know it isn’t easy, Miss Matthews, but it’s not a crime to break a window or scold your kids. We don’t know that the kid actually hit the man, or whether Mickey hit him first. We simply don’t have enough to take further action yet.”
    She couldn’t believe it. “Look, Officer—” She caught herself. “Dallas, I appreciate your attempt to get to the bottom of this, but we are obligated to ensure the children’s safety.” Kira touched her finger to her chest. “I am, anyway.”
    “Don’t start that battle,” Dallas warned. “The boyfriend is gone, and Mom doesn’t think he’ll be back. For now, that is the best we can ask for. We’ll increase patrols in the area. Pete is getting a description as we speak. The boyfriend is probably staying away on purpose, but until he returns, we can’t just yank kids away from their custodial parent on a ‘maybe’ or a hunch.”
    Kira spoke softly, but firmly. “First of all, I’m not yanking kids away from parents, I’m protecting them. It isn’t a hunch. There’s a whole lot more than meets the eye going on here. For one thing, how was a little tiny girl like Betsy able to get out of the basement so easily?”
    Dallas shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “You know as well as I do, kids are industrious. Don’t tell me you never snuck out of your parent’s house when you were a kid.”
    She answered without hesitation. “As a matter of fact, I did.”
    He got a look of satisfaction in his icy blue eyes, without having to say ‘I told you so.’
    Before he distracted her, Kira added, “I snuck out of every foster home I was in until the Matthews family adopted me. But kids run for a reason. We need to find out why Betsy was sneaking out of her home.”
    The complacency disappeared from his face. Replaced by a look of dismay. She might have taken some satisfaction in her small victory, but was simply happy to have his attention, finally.
    “I’m sorry. I’d have never guessed you had such a difficult childhood.” His mouth twisted into a forced smile. “As much as I’d like to change the outcome of this call, Miss Matthews, I can’t. No crime has been committed. My gut tells me we don’t know the full truth, but we don’t have any reason to press charges. If I were a gambler, I would lay odds that we’ll be back before the weekend is over. Like you, I hope nothing happens in the meantime.”
    Kira shook her head. “I’m not waiting to take action. Did you get a good look through the house?”
    Dallas shook his head. “Officer Ford hunted for the girl, but he didn’t