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“Love you, too, sis.”
* * *
Jim was sitting in the study, listening to Alex tell him all he’d been doing, which was basically the same things the police had been doing, and feeling more and more restless. Where the hell was Kara? It just wasn’t like her not to be there helping, supporting, giving everything she had to help everyone else get through this thing. With every minute that passed he was more and more certain something was terribly wrong.
And this his cell phone chimed, startling him so much that he damn near dropped it. Jim pulled it out to look at the text message. “Kara and Selene tracked them to a motel east of here. She says Tyler’s okay, but to hurry. Let’s go.”
Then he raced to his pickup and took off, dialing his cell phone on the way.
One by one, motors roared to life, headlights flashed on, and Brands sped into action behind him.
* * *
“Look at this,” Angela said, staring at Tyler. “You’ve got pizza sauce all over you.” She wasn’t seeing the pizza sauce on his face, though. She was seeing the light in his eyes, the way they crinkled at the corners when he smiled, the deep dimples in his cheeks. He really was a beautiful little boy. She wondered why she’d never noticed before. “You should take a bath.”
Vinnie frowned at her. She met his eyes, careful to keep her own from showing even a hint of emotion. “He should be clean, Vinnie. I don’t want him going... home... with a dirty face. No one should go out like that.”
He smiled a little. “Sure. Sure, a bath is a good idea. Why not? We’ve got time yet. Go ahead, kid. Take a bath.”
Tyler pouted, but he didn’t argue. Angela picked him up and carried him into the bathroom. She set him on the toilet seat, then leaned in close to him. “I want you to sit right here. I want you to be very quiet, okay? Your friends are coming to get you, but we can’t let Vinnie know. So you have to be quiet.”
“Is it a s’prise?” he asked, whispering back at her. His eyes got big and the twinkle in them made something knot up in her chest.
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s a surprise. Now you sit here and be very quiet. Not a peep, okay?”
“Okay,” he whispered. “Does this mean I don’t really have to take a bath?”
She smiled at him. “Not till you get home anyway.” On impulse, she snatched a washcloth from the sink, dampened it and wiped the pizza sauce from his face. Then she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him awkwardly, knowing it would be the last time she would ever have the chance. “I love you, Tyler.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Really.” Releasing him, she stepped back. Then she went to the window and slid it open and didn’t look at Tyler again when she walked out of the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind her.
Vinnie looked up. “He gonna be okay all by himself?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’ll check on him in a minute or two. He’s a little shy. Hell, we’re strangers to him, right?”
He looked at the door, frowning.
“I wanted a minute alone with you, Vinnie. I wanted to ask... how you’re gonna do it.”
His brows went up. “He won’t feel a thing, I promise.”
“How?” she asked again.
He sighed, maybe sensing her hesitation. “I got some sleeping pills. We tell him it’s a vitamin or something, get it down him. Hell, we can dissolve a couple in that grape soda he keeps guzzling, for that matter. Make it even easier on the kid. Once he’s out, he isn’t gonna feel anything.”
She blinked. “And then what? Once he’s out, I mean?”
“C’mon, Angie, you don’t need to know this stuff. I’ll send you out to the car. You don’t have to see it. Okay?”
She nodded slowly. “Okay.”
He looked at the bathroom door again. “He’s bein’ awful quiet in there.”
“I’ll go back in,” she said, getting up quickly.
Vinnie put a hand on her shoulder. “No. I’ll do it.”
