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Setting down her teacup, Maria studied her so intently that B.J. almost squirmed in her seat. “You know about Daniel's mother.”
B.J. nodded. “I know she was killed when a couple of junkies broke into her home to rob her.”
“She was trying to raise her son alone after Daniel's father was killed in a bar fight. Anita had little formal education and she had some health problems that she never took the time to address properly. She didn't have much money, and the housing complex where she was forced to live was poorly maintained and overrun by drug dealers. The place was torn down years ago.
“Anyway, my sister planned to move as soon as she could, but she was killed before she could get away. Daniel found her when he came home from school.”
“It must have been a nightmare for him.” And even that, B.J. knew, was an understatement.
“The killers took an old television set, a pair of gold earrings that Daniel's father had given my sister and ten dollars in cash,” Maria said bitterly. “They probably would have taken the wedding band she always wore, but it was very tight on her finger and they must have been in a hurry to get away.”
B.J.'s hand tightened spasmodically around the ring that meant so much to Daniel.
“I wanted to take Daniel, but I was battling breast cancer at the time,” Maria added. “There was no one else. He was so angry and rebellious that I worried about him getting into serious trouble. He was placed in two foster homes that didn't work out for him before he was sent to your uncle's ranch.”
“My uncle has a special bond with angry teenage boys,” B.J. said. “Probably because he was one himself.”
“I saw the difference in Daniel as soon as he came home to me when I was able to care for him. He was still very quiet but respectful and focused on his studies. He lived with me until he completed high school and he has been taking care of me ever since.”
“And do you know what he's been doing during those years?” B.J. asked quietly.
“He tells me he works with computers. I think he tells me this so I won't worry about him,” Maria added, once again displaying the astuteness that must have made it difficult for Daniel to deceive her.
“Do you know how to reach him now?”
“I have his cell phone number for emergency use only. He calls me from it twice a week.”
B.J. gazed steadily at the older woman. “I know it's asking a lot, but will you give me that number?”
She could use the number to trace where the calls had come from, perhaps. After all, she had a few strings to pull, if necessary, she told herself, picturing her uncle Ryan's face.
Maria considered her question for a moment and then she smiled. “When you came to me last time telling me about the party, I helped you partly because I thought it would be nice for Daniel to visit the ranch again and thank the people who had been so good to him.”
B.J. was curious about her wording. “What was the other reason?”
“I recognized you from a photograph Daniel keeps in his possession. It's almost as precious to him, I think, as his mother's ring.”
B.J. was stunned. “A—a photograph? Of me?”
Maria nodded her gray head. “You are a young girl, standing next to Daniel. There are horses in the background, and you are smiling at him. Even in that old photograph, I could see that you were very fond of him.”
B.J. actually remembered Cassie taking that snap shot during a Fourth of July party at the ranch. Cassie had taken dozens of pictures that day, and B.J. had seen them all. She hadn't realized Daniel had carried one of them with him when he left.
“My Daniel is a good man, B.J., but he is too much alone. He needs a home. A family. I sent you to him before because I think he has always cared about you. And from the way you have spoken of him today, I think you care about him, too.”
B.J. didn't bother to deny it. “Yes. Very much.”
Maria smiled. “Then go find him. And you may tell him I sent you to him.”
Sighing, B.J. looked at the ring again. “It isn't going to be easy. Daniel has his emotions locked away so tightly, I'm not sure he knows how to let them out now.”
“Then teach him. The things that matter most in life aren't the ones that come most easily, B.J.”
Gazing into the eyes of the woman whose wisdom had come through years of hard experience, B.J. was amazed that Maria could still sound so hopeful and optimistic. She had a feeling that Maria would get along very well with her mother.
Daniel's steps dragged as he trudged through an alley toward the ratty Chicago apartment building in which he had lived for the past two and a half weeks. The heavy biker boots contributed in part to his sluggish movements, but not as much as the weariness that permeated all the way through to his bones.
His face itched. He scratched absently at the thick stubble that darkened his cheeks and chin. His hair felt long against the back of his neck and heavy with the gel he'd applied liberally to it. The stained T-shirt and ragged jeans he wore didn't fit very well and they weren't overly comfortable.
