AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s a marble.” Marco dropped to his knees. “Oh, man, his marbles,tío.”
He reached for them. Daniel grabbed his arm. “No,m’ijito, let me.”
Using a pen, he tapped them into a small paper bag and sealed the top. For some reason Daniel couldn’t understand, Benny loved those old-fashioned marbles. He had a little bag of them when Daniel had picked up him from the Child Protective Services facility after his mother’s arrest. The only plaything he’d brought with him. Recently, Daniel had bought him more to add to his collection. “These could’ve been out there for days. They don’t have to be Benny’s.”
His face doubtful, Marco touched the dirt where the marbles had rested. Daniel’s voice sounded tepid in his own ears. His immediate family—now Ray’s family, too—included at least a dozen kids who’d traipsed all over the ranch in the weeks leading up to today’s wedding festivities. “Let’s walk down the road. If we don’t find him in five minutes, we’ll call Ray,tíoSamuel, and the others.”
Marco, straightened, the doubt replaced with excitement. “For a search party?”
“Yeah, a search party.” No way someone would snatch a kid in broad daylight at a wedding reception where half the guests were in law enforcement.
No way.
* * *
“Why don’t you like me?”
Deborah looked up to find Alex staring at her, his head tilted, his expression puzzled. He slipped from behind a huge tractor tire in the back of a shed and crowded her. Flecks of gold stood out in his amber eyes under a dark fringe of thick eyelashes.
She forced herself to study the crunchy hay underfoot. “What are you talking about? If you have a cigarette on you right now, I might even love you.” Snapping her gum, she examined a stack of empty crates against the opposite wall. “Benny, Benny, come on, kiddo, wherever you are, come out now.”
“Sorry. I gave up smoking about a year ago. Do I have a disease or something?” If she hadn’t known better, Deborah would’ve said he sounded hurt. When she’d still been drinking, they’d seen each other plenty at parties. He never lacked a date. “I’m not buying the cop excuse. Why won’t you go out with me? Did I do something to offend you?”
“I don’t even know you.”
“Yes, you do.” Alex touched her arm for a split second, then let his hand drop. “I heard you got on the wagon. I’m rooting for you.”
A chill revved up her arm. She swallowed against sudden nausea. As a homicide detective and Ray’s friend, Alex knew all the gory details about what had happened in the past five months. The car dealership bust and Ray almost getting killed in a four-vehicle pileup. Her attempt to get her life straight, once and for all. ““Thanks. One day at a time.”
His full lips pursed, he squinted at her. “We could all use a little clean living.”
“You want to search for Benny or dissect my drinking problem?” Something about the way he stared at her bothered her. Like he sought an answer to an unspoken question
“Look for Benny.” His response was quick, his tone reassuring. “I just wanted you to know that if you ever wanted someone to hang with, no strings attached, I’m available. It doesn’t have to be a date. I promise I won’t bite.”
A grin flitted across his face, disappeared. “Let’s take a look at that last shed out there and then go find Daniel and Marco. They’ve probably rounded up Benny and headed back to the reception.”
Relief coursed through her feeling strangely like dry heaves. Soon she could leave and escape all these churning emotions. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
The closest liquor store was in Helotes.
She needed to call Omar. Her AA sponsor would shake her out of this funk.
Never mind that Alex stood next to her and he’d offered.
Fighting the tall grass, she rushed toward an even older shed with a padlock on the door that had rusted deep red-brown with age. No way Benny had gotten in there. Deborah scanned the horizon. No little boy. She glanced at her watch. Alex was right. They should meet up with Daniel. He’d probably already found Benny, given him a good lecture about wandering off, and gone back for wedding cake.
Her heels sank into some loose clods of dirt.
A skeletal arm stuck up through the dirt. A small, bony hand waved at her.
She jerked back a step. Too late.
She stood on the edge of a shallow grave.
“Alex!”
He moved closer. His gaze followed her pointing finger. The sick look that slid across his features told her when he understood.
