Hour of Need (Scarlet Falls #1)(57)

“You’ll look after Faith and Ellie’s grandmother?”

“I will.” Hannah’s mouth tightened, the ferocity of her expression sharpened by her lean face and edgy haircut. “I won’t let you down again.”

“You didn’t let anyone down, Hannah. You saved those kids.”

Her sideways glance was full of self-reproach.

“You’d scare the crap out of me.” But Grant’s attempt to lighten her mood only gleaned him a scant, tight-lipped smile.

He herded Ellie, Julia, and Carson into the minivan. He glanced at his nephew in the rearview mirror. Carson seemed to be holding up all right, but the boy hadn’t needed any more trauma. His eyes were too serious for a six-year-old. “Do you need to talk about what happened, Carson?”

The boy shook his head. “I’m not allowed.”

“Detective McNamara asked us not to discuss it until we’d given him our statement,” Julia explained.

“I listened,” Carson said.

“You certainly did. Good job, buddy.” Grant adjusted the mirror and studied Julia. The teen’s face displayed more anxiety than Carson’s. She had a better grasp of the danger they’d been in that afternoon. But neither kid had cracked under the pressure. They’d held it together like soldiers. From what Hannah had told him, Julia had behaved like a hero.

“OK. Well, we can talk about it afterward.” Grant backed out of the driveway and headed toward town. A glance at Ellie’s face showed her gaze fixed on the passenger window. Her revelation had rocked him.

His mind conjured up images of a man holding her at gunpoint and threatening her family and Ellie spending the next two days searching for the file.

Abducting Ellie was one more reason for Grant to extract payback. He’d given her a hard time agreeing to keep her predicament from the police, but the truth was, Grant wouldn’t mind finding his brother’s killer before the cops. Plus, Ellie made fair points about the lack of progress on the murder case and her inability to provide a description of her extortionist. Grant wanted the killer punished before he went back to Afghanistan. It wouldn’t be fair to force her to expose her secret and risk her family’s safety when he might have to leave her with the threat still viable.

Ellie and her family had worked their way into his heart over the past few days. In a perfect world, he’d tuck them under his wing along with his family. But nothing was perfect.

He parked at the police station and escorted them inside. Ellie and Julia took chairs in the waiting area. Carson walked in a circle, touching everything. His little hands ran over plastic chair backs and desk edges, as if he needed to ground himself physically in the police station to hold it together. Grant took a seat and offered the boy a knee, but Carson shook his head and kept moving.

While they waited for McNamara to get organized, Grant checked his messages. Mac hadn’t responded to his text. He would feel a lot better about Faith, Nan, and Hannah being alone if his sister had her handgun. Her hand-to-hand self-defense might be rusty after years as a corporate attorney, but she’d been a natural marksman at birth. Shooting came as easily to her as studying to Lee and sense of direction to Mac. Grant swore his youngest brother could find his way out of Siberia with a stick and a roll of duct tape. If only Mac were as reliable as he was directionally gifted. In the meantime, at least Hannah had Nan’s shotgun.

“We’re ready for Carson.” McNamara gestured toward an open door.

Grant put his hand on his nephew’s shoulder and guided him inside a small conference room. Five chairs surrounded an oval table.

McNamara stopped at the door. He motioned toward a slender young woman with long red hair and glasses seated at the table. “Kailee is a police artist for the county. She’s going to work with Carson while I take Julia’s statement. Then we’ll switch.”

“Good plan.” Grant settled in a chair, trying to look comfortable and hoping his attitude rubbed off on Carson.

“Hi, Carson. I’m Kailee.” Kailee smiled. On her lap she held a sketch pad and pencil.

“Hi, Kailee.” Carson crawled into Grant’s lap.

Grant hugged him close. No matter what happened, he wanted the boy to feel safe while he was reliving a scary incident.

McNamara crouched in front of Carson. “Kailee is really good at drawing people. Do you think you can describe the man you saw this afternoon?”

Carson turned his head to give Grant a questioning look.

Grant tightened his grip. “It’s OK.”

The boy pressed closer to Grant’s chest and nodded. “Yes.” His voice was small.

“OK, then. I’ll be back in a little while.” McNamara closed the door on his way out.

“Carson, tell me about the man’s face,” Kailee said.

“He’s always crying.”

Kailee tilted her head. “That’s interesting. How do you know?”

“He has a teardrop on his face.” Carson pointed to his own cheekbone, just below his eye socket. “Right here. It’s blue.”

Kailee’s pencil moved on her paper. “Like this?” She turned the paper to face Carson. She’d drawn the outline of a face with a tear where Carson indicated.

His head bobbed.

“Does he have any other pictures on his body?” she asked.