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He’d turned his HR papers in, too—clerk had raised her eyebrows when she’d seen who was listed there. But she hadn’t questioned. Too well trained for that, he supposed. They hadn’t been important to him at all, especially after what he’d found when he’d dug a little deeper.
What those bastards had buried... No. Sol hadn’t been able to forget. He never would.
He kept seeing the photos. Bruises like that. The lighting had just emphasized the marks on that sweet kid’s face. There shouldn’t have had bruises like that on that girl. Ever.
Those photos kept reminding him of the night he’d IDed his baby girl in the morgue like that. There hadn’t been bruises—but those freckles had stood out in the cold light. He’d always remember those freckles.
Little Hope had those freckles, too.
He’d heard through the grapevine Heather and Hope had taken Rodriguez’s kids back to their house. Were taking care of those kids for him. He’d heard they’d taken Rodriguez home with them when he got out, too.
Probably a good thing, that. All those nurses and doctors in Heather’s family—they could take care of him. Make him feel like he was one of the family, or something. Maybe eventually Heather and Rodriguez would get together. Raise those babies as one big family.
Sol stayed where he was and imagined it.
He hoped something good like that did happen for those two. They deserved it. They were some of the best around this place, that was for damned sure.
Some guy would be sniffing around little Hope, too, eventually. It was inevitable. She was a beautiful girl. Probably been a bit eclipsed by her big sister, but she still would draw the men once she got away from Heather a bit. Probably a guy at the TSP or something. Made sense, since she spent so much time there and there were a lot of guys around her and all.
Hell, he hoped not. He didn’t want the cop’s wife life for his Hope. There weren’t that many around the place that would be good enough for her, in his opinion. Not as sweet as she was. As good.
Sol sat there in the damned moonlight, next to the entrance of the parking lot, in a lawn chair the TSP had so helpfully provided for the task, and thought about that for a while. Chief had apologized for the lack of real accommodations, but this was a temporary thing, Marshall had said. They didn’t have more in the budget for a long term guard on the employee parking lot. They just didn’t. As soon as the shooter was caught, things would go back to normal.
One of those Naylor boys would be good enough for little Hope eventually, maybe. If they stopped playing the field so much. He didn’t think they were bad guys with ladies, not really. Just hadn’t found what they’d been looking for yet.
Hope deserved better than a cop. She just did. She deserved one of those rich guys, like the Barratts. Supposedly they were good guys and everything. She deserved one of them guys—to take care of her, or something.
So she didn’t have to worry about the darkness out there. Before it consumed her, too. She was still so young. Had a chance at finding the light.
She could get married, have a couple of kids. Sol would like to see that. She’d probably teach them to skateboard. Like Maribeth would have his own grandchildren if he’d gotten them someday.
If Maribeth had wanted to date a cop, Sol would have told her hell no. But a rich guy who was sincere? Yeah. He’d have liked that. He was thinking about his girl and little Hope when someone said something behind him. He turned.
There were two girls there, on their way to the TSP parking lot, through the employee lot. He tensed. It was damned late for them to be going out—but that was the nature of their job. A lot of the truly evil happened after dark. He’d learned that lesson a long time ago. “Girls, what are you doing out here?”
“Grabbing the spare van, Detective Kimball. I get to drive and assist. They are letting me out of the kennel.” Hope grinned at him, almost wiggling. Excited. Sol fought a smile. She lived up to her name, this one. Gave him hope that there wouldn’t be darkness forever. Maybe someday, he’d feel like living again.
Maybe he’d feel that way, and would just keep an eye on this one while he did it. Make sure she was okay, and that the darkness didn’t end up in little Hope’s eyes someday, too.
“Hope doesn’t do too well lab bound. We’re here to get the extra van. There was an abandoned car out near the turn off to the reservoir. Down Boethe Highway about five or six miles, they said. Blood on the doors and windows,” little Madison said more quietly. She was timider than she used to be. No damned wonder. Guilt for his part in that weighed on him instantly. “We’re going to meet the patrol car out there. I think it’s Detective Naylor—I’m not sure which Naylor, though. We’re going to see if there are indications of foul play. Our other team is at FCU, dealing with a DB. Possible overdose on OPJ.”
“I’m on guard duty tonight. Just using the time to look at the stars, like I haven’t since my girl was a baby.” He didn’t like the idea of them girls out there this late. “You girls…watch your backs out there.”
“We will.” Hope patted him on the arm, all sweet and everything. “Don’t smoke too many while you are out here, okay? Those things are seriously bad for you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Can’t impress the ladies if you are coughing on them, you know.” Little Hope shot him that grin. The one that reminded him…of what he had lost. Damn, it hurt.
Sol just watched the two of them get in the van and drive away.
Hell, there should have at least been a patrol car assigned to accompany them. There used to be. Until about a month ago—since that ambush a while back right before the choir hall shooting. He had not been a part of that ambush, and didn’t even know who was. After that, the lab crew got a uniformed escort to every scene.
Until a month ago.
Funding had been slashed again. Everyone knew Marshall was in an uproar about that. Even having the governor in his family tree wasn’t fixing everything for that man.
It just wasn’t. Not with the bastards out of Wichita Falls having a problem with Marshall and everything. Toying with Marshall that way. The guy would figure it out eventually. Sol couldn’t wait until Wichita Falls came toppling down.
