In Safe Hands (Search and Rescue #4)(140)
“C’mon, y’all.” She shoved the driver’s door open with more confidence than she felt. “Dez, you too.” Even though just a few people were around, and the few extra-early students were headed into the school, Jules didn’t want Dez to be left alone. It was going to be hard enough having them out of her sight for the whole day while they were in school.
Ty groaned, but Tio got out of the backseat more enthusiastically. Sam didn’t say anything, but Jules could feel his tension. If he’d been drawn any tighter, Sam would’ve snapped like an overstressed steel cable. Catching his sleeve—but being careful not to grab his arm—she held him back a few steps, allowing the twins and Dez to walk slightly ahead of them.
“Dennis is good at what he does,” she said very quietly, so that only Sam could hear. “We have new names, new social security numbers, new ages, new lives.”
Sam stared straight ahead, the muscle in his jaw working.
“She won’t find us.” She looked for any sign that her words had reassured him, but his expression hadn’t changed. “If there’s any chance she even has a clue where we are, we’ll run again. I’m sure Dennis has a new-life warranty of some sort.”
It was a sad attempt at a joke, but it made Sam finally meet her eyes. “I’m okay, J-Juju. It’s j-j-just…” He gestured toward the ugly building. “N-n-new school.”
“Oh.” It shouldn’t have been such a surprise that Sam was worried about such a normal thing as his first day at a new school, but it was. They’d been freaking out over getting away and staying away from Courtney so much that Jules had forgotten any other worries existed. “You’ll do great, Sam. All the work will be old hat to you. If anything, you’ll be bored.”
Sam came as close as she’d ever seen to rolling his eyes. “Sure, J-Ju.”
The twins and Dez waited at the main doors for Jules and Sam to catch up. Feeling like a parenting failure, she asked, “Are you nervous about starting school, Ty?”
“Nah.” His shrug was a hair too nonchalant as they passed through the door into the dimness of a hallway. “I’m not scared. Not that excited about getting homework and stuff, but school is school. Kids are kids. Some are nice and some are *s.”
“Language!”
Tio looked at her seriously. “It is the most appropriate term for some people in our demographic.”
Since she couldn’t really argue with the truth about that, Jules changed the subject. “What about you, T? Any first-day jitters?”
The look her brother gave her was completely uncomprehending. “Why would school make me nervous?” For him, school had always been his safe place.
“Good,” she said, eyeing the sign that pointed toward the office. “That’s…” Her attempt at a pep talk died as they turned the corner.
“Th-there’s one r-r-reason to b-b-be n-nervous about school,” Sam muttered under his breath as they all came to a startled halt—all except for Dez.
“Viggy!” she called, lurching forward. Grabbing a handful of her shirt, Jules caught her little sister just in time.
“Dez! Viggy’s working!” she whispered, her hope of escaping before Theo noticed them dying a quick death. The cop—looking like hot, broody forbidden fruit—was already turning away from Hugh and moving toward them. Viggy was trying to plunge forward to get to Dez, and Theo’s arm strained, his biceps bulging under his uniform shirt, as he held back the dog. Despite her panic, Jules’s attention was caught by the way his sleeve looked on the verge of ripping, as if it was struggling to contain the impressive muscles underneath.
Despite her reluctant fascination, Jules could barely contain the urge to bolt. There were a thousand reasons why Theo might be at the school, reasons that had nothing to do with the fact that Jules was a felon and had kidnapped her siblings and he had discovered these things because he was a cop and solving crimes was what cops did and she was going to spend the rest of her life in prison knowing that she had failed her brothers and sister and—
“J-Juju,” Sam muttered under his breath. “B-b-b-breathe.”
At the reminder, she sucked in oxygen, cringing at the gasping sound she made and hoping Theo hadn’t heard. She already felt like her crimes were tattooed on her forehead; she didn’t need to act any more suspiciously in front of the cop.
Theo stopped a few feet from them, greeting them with a short jerk of his head as he half-wrestled, half-ordered Viggy into a sit. When Dez lurched forward again, jerking against Jules’s hold, Jules realized she still had a grip on the back of her sister’s shirt.
“Dez,” she said, focusing on the girl in front of her so that Theo’s…Theo-ness didn’t take away her ability to speak. “Stop.”
“But I want to pet him.” Viggy’s tail thumped against the floor, as if in approval of that plan.
“He’s on duty.” That deep, clipped voice made the hairs on Jules’s arms stand up straight, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t from fear. “He can’t play with you when he’s on duty. He needs to focus.”
“Oh.” Dez drooped a little, but she didn’t make any additional efforts to get to Viggy.
“What’s he focusing on today?” Jules asked, trying to keep the question light and casual. The tremor in her voice might have ruined the effect she was going for, though.