Page 70 of Reckoning

Trevor blinked. “Uh…you can see the future?”

“Sort of,” Tate said. “Don’t worry, kid. I’m never wrong.”

Trevor nodded and stuffed another french fry in his mouth, chewed and swallowed, then took a sip of Seven-Up. Even as he was swallowing, he began to cry.

Tate moved the food tray and sat down on the bed beside him, and carefully slid his arm behind the little boy’s back. “You’ve had a long, scary four days, haven’t you?”

Trevor nodded, then buried his face against Tate’s chest and started sobbing.

Tate’s heart broke. He could see the horrors the little boy had endured and was pretty sure Trevor saw somebody being murdered too. He knew it would take years of counseling for him to learn to deal with it, but right now all he needed was to feel safe.

Trevor cried himself into silence, but now he was cold and shaking—more from shock than from the air conditioning. Tate pulled the covers up over Trevor’s shoulders and held him close.

“It’s okay, Trev. Cry it all out. You’re safe now, and that man will never get his hands on you again. He’s going to grow old and die in prison, and you’re going to grow up and forget he ever existed, okay?”

Trevor shuddered on a sigh, and slowly, Tate felt him relaxing.

“Want any more of your hamburger?” he asked.

“No, thank you,” Trevor whispered.

Tate patted his shoulder. “Guess what I hear?”

Trevor stilled, then sat up. “A helicopter?”

Tate grinned. “Good ears!”

Trevor glanced toward the window. “Is it Dad?”

“Yes. They’ll be walking through that door pretty soon to take you home. Chief Watts will probably escort them in.”

Trevor had a death grip on Tate’s shirt. “Will you stay with me until then?”

“I sure will. When I make a promise, I keep it.”

They heard the chopper land, then a police siren. Tate pulled the blanket up around Trevor’s trembling shoulders again.

Minutes passed, and Trevor had gone silent.

Then footsteps…a lot of footsteps coming up the hall, closer and closer to the door to Trevor’s room, and then the door flew inward and Trevor screamed.

“Daddy! Mommy!”

Tate unwound the little boy from his lap as the Stennetts came running. Trevor leaped off the bed into his father’s waiting arms.

Chief Watts and a federal agent named Walt Juneau were with them, but the moment the federal agent saw Tate, he immediately confronted him.

“Tate Bandy, I’m Special Agent Juneau. Can we talk?”

Tate gave him a look. “In the hall. Not in front of the boy,” he said.

Trevor thought Tate was leaving and cried out. “Tate! Tate! Don’t leave!”

“I’m just gonna be outside for a minute,” Tate said.

Juneau paused. “Is Tate your friend?” he asked.

Trevor frowned. “Tate saved me. He told the police about the bad man, and he kept his promise to stay with me until Mommy and Daddy came.”