“No,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry. It’s Maisy. She’s begging to stay in Desert Valley and I think...I think she’s becoming too attached to the day care and...to you.”
Surprised that he’d told her anything regarding his daughter, Josie shifted on the couch. “It’s understandable after what you’ve both been through. She feels safe here, and she knows I will do my best to keep her safe when she’s in my care.”
“But what if you can’t?” he blurted out.
So that was it? Josie’s eyes burned with unshed tears for Maisy. “Are you saying you don’t think the day care is safe now?”
She heard a rush of breath. “No, I’m not saying that. I’m not making any sense. She seems so overprotective of the younger children and I think—”
“She is overprotective,” Josie replied before she could take it back. “She’s afraid, Dalton. Because no one could save her mother.”
“You mean, I couldn’t save my wife,” he said, his words gruff. “Is that what you’re saying? Does Maisy talk to you about that?”
“She’s made a few comments.”
“You should have told me this sooner.”
“I probably should have, but...I didn’t want to upset you.”
“She’s my daughter. You can’t keep things like that from me.”
“No, that’s not it,” she replied, getting up to pace around the den. “Dalton, it’s none of my business. I’m sorry. Look, you’re obviously concerned about Maisy—”
A noise outside stopped her cold.
“But?” he said, as if he needed to hear her reasoning. “Josie?”
Another bump and then footsteps. “I think someone’s in my yard.”
“Listen, hang up and call 911. I can’t leave Maisy, so I’m calling Whitney. She lives right around the corner. Okay?”
“Okay.” She did as he said and listened to the silence of the house. A crash sounded somewhere outside, causing dogs to bark all along the street. A light went out in the backyard. Then she heard more footsteps, fast now. Hurrying. Another crash and the fence gate slamming shut. Were they coming around to the front of the house?
She stayed on the line with 911 and prayed her stalker wouldn’t come inside her home.
EIGHT
Officer Whitney Godwin Evans circled back to the front of Josie’s house, her K-9 partner, Hunter, moving ahead of her with a sure stride as the pointer did his job.
“They’re gone,” Whitney said, her gaze scanning the street.
“But someone was here?” Josie asked, wishing she hadn’t scared the whole neighborhood.
Her uncle stood beside her while her aunt Marilyn stood on the porch of their house to make sure none of her rambunctious boys escaped to investigate on their own.
“Someone was definitely here,” Whitney said, her blue eyes bright underneath the porch light. “Hunter sniffed all around the back fence and followed the trail to the front. They must have gotten in a car down the street.”
“Did they do any damage?” Jack asked, his hand on Josie’s shoulder.
Whitney pushed up her K-9 cap and lifted her blond hair off her neck. “Broke out a security light and...left you a message.”
Josie searched but didn’t see anything in Whitney’s hand. “Where it is? What did it say?”
Whitney gave her an apologetic stare. “They scrawled it on the back fence.”
“What?” Jack moved closer to Josie.
“Can you show me?” she asked Whitney, dreading what she would see.
“Sure, but don’t touch anything. We might find some trace evidence if we dust the fence for fingerprints. Or we could stumble on something in the grass and dirt back there.”
She guided Josie and her uncle around to the backyard. “I’m having flashbacks of when this kind of thing happened to me here,” Whitney said. “I thought I’d secured my yard but...people who want in can always find a way.”
Jack grunted. “I think I’ll sell the place. Too dangerous.”
“I’m sorry,” Josie said, wishing she hadn’t brought this on her aunt and uncle.
“Do not apologize,” Jack said, his tone soft. “You remember how you told us you were stronger now? Well, you have to stay that way, okay?”
She nodded, unable to speak. Whitney held up her flashlight so Josie could see the fence.
Scrawled in red, the message said, You shouldn’t be watching over anyone’s children.
Josie put a hand to her mouth. “They didn’t come to steal from me. They came to shut me down.”
“Who do you think it is?” Whitney asked, her solemn gaze moving over the bold letters and then back to Josie.
“I can’t prove it,” Josie replied, “but I’m beginning to suspect my in-laws. My father-in-law died right after my husband was killed. But my mother-in-law blamed both their deaths on me because my marriage was in trouble. My husband had one brother. Randall.”
“Does he have a beef with you?” Whitney asked, in full interrogation mode now.
Josie cleared her throat. “I didn’t think so, but now I’m wondering how far they’ll go to ruin me. I left Texas to get away from my mother-in-law and her lies. But Randall and I always got along. He didn’t like how I was being treated, but maybe she’s convinced him otherwise. I can’t see Janine physically capable of doing all this on her own.”
“We’ve got help on the way,” Whitney replied. “We’ll do our best to figure it out.”
Josie remembered Dalton’s sharp words to her. He thought she was putting his daughter in danger. “Well, until we do figure it out, I think I should close down the day care.”
“Honey, do you think that’s wise?” Jack asked.
“I don’t see what else I can do,” she replied. “I don’t want to scare the children or put them in danger.”
Whitney touched a hand to her arm. “You’ve only got a couple of days next week, and a lot of parents are depending on you to be open—including me. If you stick to your routine, we might be able to nab this person.”
“Or someone might get hurt. Or worse.”
Whitney nodded. “Let me see if I can arrange things where one of us can be there for the two days you’re open before the holidays. How’s that?”
“That’s not routine,” Josie pointed out.
“No, but it might make them slip up,” Whitney said. “Especially if they don’t know we’re there.”
Josie could almost see the wheels turning inside Whitney’s brain. “Well, several of you do have children in my care.”
“That’s right. They’ve probably been well aware of that, so they only strike when they think we’re not around dropping off or picking up kids. We can change that up a bit.”
“Be careful,” Jack said.
“Always,” Whitney replied. “Okay, we’ll go over things here but...honestly, I doubt we’ll get anything solid. From what Dalton’s told us, they’re covering their tracks. I’ll call Dalton and give him a report. He’ll be concerned.”
Josie thanked Whitney and went next door with her uncle.
“You’re staying with us until this is over,” Marilyn insisted. “No arguments.”
Josie didn’t have the energy to argue. “Thank you,” she said.
She wondered if Dalton would go along with Whitney’s idea or if he’d pull Maisy out of the day care for good.
* * *
Dalton paced the floor, his phone in his hand. When it rang, he immediately answered Whitney’s call. “Tell me.”
“She’s fine.”
He listened while Whitney went over the details. Rubbing his forehead in an absentminded massage that wasn’t really helping his developing headache, he said, “Thanks. I’ll read over your incident report in the morning and file it with what I
have so far. Still nothing on fingerprints or any other evidence from the day care, and I agree with you. Probably won’t find anything since this person seems so thorough on covering his tracks.”
“Hey, you might want to call Josie. She’s thinking about shutting down the day care early for the holidays. She’s worried about the kids.”
Then she told him her idea.
“I did suggest that to her if things got worse,” he replied, referring to putting an undercover officer inside the day care. “I can’t be the one. I’m pretty sure whoever’s behind all this has been watching and knows I’ve been on the case.”
“They’ve seen all of us there,” Whitney replied. “Sophie and Ryder, David and me. You. And Zoe and Sean. Actually, it’s probably the best guarded day care in the state.”
Dalton smiled at that. “You could be right. But one of us needs to be there 24/7 for the few days before Christmas. Or maybe all of us. Even if they see us. That kind of presence should scare them off or make them mess up.”
Deciding they’d talk to Chief Hayes in the morning to get the go-ahead, Dalton ended the call.
Should he call Josie? He’d been harsh with her before because he was so upset about Maisy. He thought back to his big talk with Maisy. He’d knocked on his daughter’s door and...she’d run straight into his arms.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“I’m sorry, too, honey. I know this is hard for you, but we have to stick together. You know I’d be lost without you, right?”
“And Luna,” she added on a sniff. “She’s my best friend.”
Luna nudged at Maisy’s hand, waiting for a response.
Maisy let go of Dalton and held tight to Luna.
Dalton agreed with her there. “Luna is the best. She watches over us and protects us and...she’s why we came here.”
“She’s why I don’t want to leave. If you take her to a big city, she might get injured.” Maisy had looked up at him. “Sometimes police dogs get shot.”
“Sometimes they do,” Dalton replied. His job was easy compared to being a father. “Maisy, I can’t promise you much in this life, but God watches over all of us.”
“Was He watching over Mommy?”
Dalton gulped in a breath that bordered on a sob. A sob he’d long held tightly inside his heart. “I think He was. He watched and He cried because God hates evil. And the people who did this to your mother, to our family, they were the worst kind of evil. But God knew that no matter what those people did to your beautiful mother, He’d take care of her. And us. Honey, He took her home because someone evil took her life. And now your mommy is safe in His arms. He’s watching over us and...we have to keep living. We have to hold out hope.”
Maisy’s face crumpled and her eyes filled with tears. “I did the right thing, Daddy. I called 911, but then they chased the car. And Mommy died in that wreck. If I hadn’t called—”
Dalton’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, baby, is that what you think? That this is your fault?”
She bobbed her head, her sobs tearing at Dalton with an agony he didn’t think possible. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to do better now. I help Miss Josie take care of the other children.”
Dalton could see it all now, and his heart tore into pieces for his sweet, smart daughter. “No, baby, I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have realized this. You did the right thing, Maisy. You tried to help your mom. That dangerous man is the one who caused her death. Don’t ever forget that.”
He held her there and explained to her that she did nothing wrong. They’d both done their best. And then he tried to assure her that she didn’t have to be a protector for everyone around her.
“But you are,” Maisy pointed out.
“I guess I am,” he replied, thinking the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Finally Maisy lifted her head up to stare at him. “Miss Josie says God loves all of us. I hope He still loves me.”
Dalton swallowed back the raw-edged emotion clogging his throat. “He does. He loves you and me and Luna, too. He even loved the people who hurt Mommy. But it’s important that you and I always talk and work things out between us. God gives us that grace. He wants to help us, but He expects us to work hard on our own.”
“He wants us to pray?”
“Yes,” Dalton said, giving her a weak smile. “Prayer is how we talk to God.”
“I talk to Mommy that way, too.”
“That’s good. So do I.”
Then his amazing daughter said something he’d never expected. “I think Mommy would like Miss Josie.”
Was that her way of asking for approval? Did his daughter want him to get involved with Josie Callahan? Maybe Maisy felt the same kind of guilt he did whenever he thought of having a woman like Josie in his life.
Or was she searching for someone to fill that deep void inside her heart, same as him?
After settling Maisy into bed with Luna in her own bed in the corner of Maisy’s room, Dalton waited to hear from Josie.
He stopped pacing now. He and Maisy had crossed a threshold tonight, talking about her mother and God. He understood what his little girl was going through.
Thanking the Lord for that precious conversation, he found Josie’s number on his phone. Time for another important conversation.
* * *
Josie hit at the pillow and turned over again. It was still early, but she’d told her aunt and uncle she was tired. Now she was in the attic room they’d converted into a nice guest bedroom complete with a small bath. Cozy and comfortable. She’d stayed in this room when she’d first arrived here. Aunt Marilyn kept it off-limits. This was the room she’d shown Maisy last night.
But in spite of the romantic, Victorian-inspired surroundings, Josie couldn’t get comfortable.
Would she have to run again? Go somewhere else, far away. Why would Douglas’s mother or brother come after her? Had she really been wrong not to hand over the insurance money her husband had left her?
Am I greedy, Lord? Josie prayed for clarity and guidance. She’d used the money to make a new start, and she’d given some to her church back home and the church here in Desert Valley. Other than the little bit she’d given to Janine, the rest was tucked away for a rainy day.
But someone wanted her destroyed.
Who could be that vindictive?
Her phone buzzed against the nightstand wood.
Dalton’s number came up.
“Hello,” she said. “How are you?”
“I’m okay. I just wanted to check on you and tell you I’m sorry about earlier.”
Letting that go, she said, “I can’t sleep. Everything is such a mess, Dalton.”
“I can’t sleep, either,” he said. And then he told her about his conversation with Maisy. After that, they talked for well over an hour about a lot of things, but Josie still wasn’t sure if Dalton wanted Maisy around her right now. Or ever.
* * *
Dalton had just said good-night to Josie when a message from Chief Hayes flashed across his phone screen.
Possible lead on the day care case. Call me first thing tomorrow morning.
NINE
Bright and early the next morning, Dalton sat at his kitchen table reading the report about the car he’d discovered at the old run-down house not far from the day care. He’d asked the chief if one of the crime scene techs could check it out.
The chief had sent him the results after they’d talked on the phone this morning.
“So, I was right about that abandoned car?” he said after the chief told him what they’d found.
“Looks that way,” Chief Hayes replied. “We didn’t find any insurance or registration information on it. But one of the techs did find an old bill of sale underneath the seat. It was definitely purchased a
month or so ago from a used-car lot off I-20 W near Lubbock, Texas. Cash.”
“Texas.” Dalton’s gut burned. “Josie’s from a small town near Waco. Pine Cone.”
“Well, I think that’s a pretty good lead,” the chief replied. “That’s about all we have, but if someone bought an old used car in a hurry and drove it from Texas to Arizona and then abandoned it, I’d say that person might be on a mission.”
Dalton told the chief about Josie’s in-laws. “Sounds like we might be on to something. Luna knew it, too. She alerted near the car, but I didn’t find anything that was helpful. I’ll do some digging around and maybe call the police in Pine Cone. I have a list of other possible suspects from that area, too.”
“Careful with that,” Chief Hayes warned. “If it’s a small town and her in-laws were prominent, the locals won’t want to divulge a lot of information.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dalton replied.
“We can’t locate the owner of the abandoned house,” the chief said. “And you didn’t find anything?”
“No,” Dalton replied. “Just dust and empty rooms. If anyone has been squatting there, they cleaned up after themselves.”
“And left a car behind,” Chief Hayes said before ending the call.
Dalton intended to do some work this morning. Being a rookie on short-time until after the holidays, he didn’t have a desk to work from. He had to borrow from the department or work from home. Today was Saturday, and after his talk with Maisy last night, he wanted to stick close to her. Maybe do something fun.
But it was early and she was still asleep, so right now he’d see what he could dig up on the Callahan family from Pine Cone, Texas. Including the friends from Douglas Callahan’s work place.
And he’d try to call Josie again.
But he wasn’t quite sure what he’d say to her.
* * *
Josie stumbled downstairs and was greeted by her four wide-awake cousins. The boys ranged in age from five to ten and had more energy than a roadrunner on steroids.
“We want you to live with us forever,” the youngest shouted as he launched himself against her. “We love you.”
Rookie K-9 Unit Christmas Page 16