The Homecoming (Thunder Point #6)(47)

Charlie Adams had come on duty at five and was going to be in town, doing the same thing Seth had been doing until trick-or-treating was over for the evening. He called his cell rather than using the radio. “I’m going to be out for a few minutes, delivering a juvenile to his parents.”

“It’s not one of my juveniles, is it?” Charlie asked, in reference to his own teenagers.

“I haven’t had any problems with Adams teenagers tonight. This is a Delaney. I don’t think it’ll take him long to explain to his mother that he’s been assaulting little kids and stealing their candy.”

Bobby Delaney groaned and slid down in his seat.

“May the force be with you,” Charlie said.

Seth drove eight or ten blocks to the house. It wasn’t a very big house. Two-story with a porch. He’d heard it was Sue and her three kids plus Sue’s sister, brother-in-law and their two kids living there. Eight people would be a crowd in that space. The place looked pretty quiet. There was a light on in the living room but it was otherwise dark.

Bobby preceded him across the porch and opened the front door. He heard Sassy’s voice shout, “Who’s home?”

“Ma?” Bobby called.

Sassy walked into the living room from downstairs. She was all made up though she wore two fat curlers in her white-blond hair with the pink tips. She wore skintight black pants with high-heeled knee-high boots over them, a silky low-cut top that flattered her cle**age and a shiny vest. She frowned when she saw Bobby and Seth standing just inside the door. “Seth?” she asked.

“Tell your mother why I brought you home,” Seth said.

“I boosted some kid’s candy,” he said quietly.

She took another step closer. “You stole it?” she asked. “You stole some little kid’s candy?”

“He wasn’t that little,” Bobby said defensively.

“Two kids,” Seth said. “Both smaller than Bobby. He came on them from behind and then was going to run, but guess who was right there to chase him? The law.”

Sassy glared at her son. “Go to your room.” Then she looked at Seth. “What do I have to do now? Pay a fine? What?”

“How about you keep him in to think about consequences. You might want to make him apologize to his victims and their parents.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

Seth frowned. “You on your way out?”

“Maybe, I don’t know.”

“Can I just suggest, you should do something about this. Your son could’ve hurt those kids.”

“He’s a pain sometimes, but he wouldn’t hurt anyone,” she said.

“Wherever you were thinking of going, you weren’t thinking of driving there, were you?”

“Why? What’s this about?”

“About your breath, which is pretty high-octane right now.” He sniffed the air. “Wine, I guess. And a lot of it.”

“I’ve had one glass of wine! And I’m over twenty-one!”

“Is that your car in the drive?” he asked.

“Yeah, why?”

He shrugged. “Just wondering what to be on the lookout for. Listen, maybe you should get Bobby’s dad involved, make sure he gets the message that his little prank is actually against the law, not to mention it’s a real bad kind of bullying and stealing to ignore. You don’t want him getting the impression it’s okay. It’s not okay. If I hadn’t been there, I can’t guess what might’ve happened to those little kids. Plus, Bobby wasn’t alone—there was another kid with him who took off. I wouldn’t have brought him home to you if I didn’t take this seriously. You understand me?”

“I understand you still hold a grudge from high school,” she said, giving her hair a flick over her shoulder.

“Sorry? What?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Seth. We were going steady, we were first loves, broke up badly and it was probably my fault and you’re not over it. That explains the way you’ve been acting.”

He frowned. “How have I been acting?”

“Like you don’t care. Like you don’t dare take a chance on me now, even though we’re years older.”

He continued to frown and shook his head. “I think you’ve got the wrong impression, Sue. Now, about Bobby—”

“Bobby’s fine,” she snapped. “This is about you and me and you know it!”

“There is no you and me,” he said as patiently as he could.

“So you keep saying, but you never forget your first time....”

“I think you are drunk. No matter what, don’t drive tonight. And if you’re smart, you’ll call Bobby’s father and tell him the boy is in need of a strong moral influence.”

“Right,” she said. “Sure.”

“Sue, listen to me. Listen very carefully. There was a very brief time we dated when we were kids. It was a long time ago. You weren’t my first and I definitely wasn’t yours. And I haven’t thought about you once in seventeen years. I didn’t even know you married Robbie Delaney because no one mentioned it and I didn’t care enough to ask. There’s nothing. There won’t be anything. Not in this lifetime. Now let it go, drop it, and if you love your boy at all, concentrate on being a decent mother to him!”