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Charlie raised his head and swiped away tears.
“Show me,” he whispered.
Aaron held it up into Charlie’s line of vision. When he saw all the color leave the boy’s face and his eyes widen in sudden fear, he knew before the words came out of Charlie’s mouth what he was going to say.
“It’s him! That’s the man who shot me. Do you know his name?” Charlie asked.
“Not yet, but we will, and you’re helping us catch him. Good job, Charlie.”
Charlie nodded, but his knuckles were white from the grip he had on Betty’s hand.
“Thanks to all of you,” Aaron said, and picked up his phone and ended the recording. “I’ve got to get this back to the precinct. Take care, Charlie, and don’t forget that fishing date.”
And then he was gone.
Ray looked at Betty, then frowned. “Now how did they happen to come by that sketch?”
Betty shrugged. “We know the sheriff’s men followed a trail of footprints all the way back to Jubilee. Maybe they caught a man on security cameras that led them to believe he could be their suspect. And they just had to make sure their guess was right.”
“Maybe,” Ray said, but he wasn’t satisfied. If that was the case, then they could have just enlarged the footage, made a print from one of the images, and showed them a photo. However, he didn’t care how they came by it if they could just find the bastard and put him behind bars for life.
Aaron raced back to the station and straight to Warren’s office.
“Hey Chief, I’m back. We have a positive ID.”
Sonny looked up. “Awesome,” and took the recorder Aaron laid on his desk.
“That’s the interview,” Aaron said. “I listened to it on the way back. And FYI, Charlie is scared out of his mind. He doesn’t know why the man tried to kill him, and is afraid he’ll come back to finish him off.”
Sonny frowned. “Damn it. That makes it more imperative to find him and get him behind bars.”
“Are there any results from the DNA samples taken from the parking lot?” Aaron asked.
“Again, we processed the DNA, but he’s not in the system, so we don’t know who it belongs to. But the picture will be in the paper tomorrow and there aresecurity cameras all over town. Hopefully, someone will recognize him.”
A day later, Dani got a call from her movers. They’d be in Jubilee tomorrow. She was looking forward to getting out of the hotel, and if she was honest with herself, looking forward to seeing Aaron Pope again. And since she’d promised to let him know when she had confirmation from the movers, she sent him a text.
This is Dani. You asked me to let you know about my movers. They’ll be here tomorrow in the early afternoon. I’ll text you when they arrive.
A couple of minutes later, she got a text back.
Awesome news for you! See you then!
She smiled, then chided herself for the spurt of excitement. “He was just returning my message. Not asking me out. Calm the hell down, girl,” she muttered, then got dressed and left the hotel. She went straight to the supermarket and began shopping for cleaning supplies and basic groceries. That way she’d be one step ahead when her furniture arrived.
The next day, Aaron reminded his family about the movers’ arrival today, and to be watching for his text. They’d all worked out getting time off, and Shirley was already in baking mode when he left the house.
Dani was up early, packing to leave the hotel, when she got a call from the movers telling her they were planning to be in Jubilee around 1:00 p.m. She checked out after breakfast, and by 10:00 a.m., she had everything loaded into her car and was headed across town to her new home.
She pulled into the garage and then carried in her suitcase and the two boxes she’d brought with her, full of her family keepsakes and her mother’s good silverware. After carrying them into the house, she set up a folding chair on the front porch and settled in to wait.
A short while later, she got another call from the movers, telling her they were about an hour outside of Jubilee. After verifying the delivery address, they disconnected. As Dani sat watching the activity in the neighborhood, she felt such a sense of peace. The day was clear and the slight breeze kept her cool in the shade.
As she sat, she began hearing a squeaking sound, and then a child’s laughing. She looked up the street and saw a toddler in jean shorts and green T-shirt pedaling toward her on a tricycle. The woman she took to be the mother was walking behind her, talking on her phone as she went. The toddler’s pink bike helmet was sittingsideways on her head, completely covering one eye, but she just kept pedaling away.
Dani grinned. Kids like this were why she loved teaching. Even when things weren’t exactly perfect, they just kept going.
As they approached her house, the mother looked up and waved.
