“His secretary?” the officer asked.
She nodded. “I think so. He travels with her. They goall overtogether.”
“My daddy is gone with his secretary a lot too,” Johnny added helpfully. “They go to Oklahoma mostly. Or Kansas.”
“The secretary ofagriculture,” Piper cried out. “And Deborah Templeton. The secretary ofstate. My husband is a DS agent.”
The officer glanced over at her. “What’s his name?”
“Brendan Mondello.”
The officer’s stern face betrayed a hint of a smile. “I know Brendan Mondello.”
“You do?”
“Sure. I did a stint in DS, too, till my wife threatened to divorce me because I was never home. So I switched to local law enforcement.”
“Then you understand—”
Suddenly Valentina and Reggie burst into the building.
“This is all my fault,” Valentina bellowed dramatically. “I am an addict. Andbingois my drug of choice.”
The officer sighed. “And you are?”
“Valentina Lucia Rossellini. And I promised to watch these children today, but instead I left them unattended because the jackpot at the Blue Diamond Bingo Emporium has reached $10,000.”
“That’s right,” Reggie nodded. “And I had to haul her ass out of thereagain. Shameful. Truly shameful.”
The officer rubbed his forehead. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”
“He’s our PE teacher,” Johnny said.
Reggie extended his hand to the officers. “Reggie Spade, United States Marine Corps. Retired. Nice to meet you. Kids, get into formation.”
The kids immediately lined up in two neat rows and saluted. The sound of feet stomping on plywood echoed from the entrance, and then Garrett and Brendan rushed in.
“Honey, I’m so sorry I was late getting home to watch the kids. You told me how important it was for me to be home by four o’clock today to help watch the kids, but traffic was terrible on the Fourteenth Street Bridge, and I just couldn’t get here in time.”
Kiersten mustered a smile. Someone had called the cavalry, and they’d ridden to the rescue, armed with semi-plausible excuses.
“Same here,” Brendan said, casting an apologetic look at Piper. “I’m really sorry I’m late, honey.”
One of the officers looked up at Brendan. “Brendan Mondello?”
“Sam Elridge?” Brendan took his outstretched hand as the officer slapped him on the back. “Hey, man, great to see you again.”
Suddenly Miles strode through the doorway and joined the group.
“Let me guess,” the other officer said, lifting an eyebrow. “You promised to watch the kids too?”
“No, actually,” Miles said. “But I can provide this.”
“What is it?” the officer asked.
“Video.” Miles came forward with his phone. “From the wildlife cameras I’ve placed throughout our neighborhood. The time stamp is in the corner. If you look here, you can see Chip Davis approaching the children, right here, between their home and Lillian’s house, about an hour ago. You can see him gesturing to the house where we are currently standing.”
“Okay.”
