Shades of Truth

by Sandra Orchard

  Wasn’t that the understatement of the year? With a push of his foot he set the porch swing in motion and let his gaze travel over the quiet street. “In the short time I’ve been at the manor, our routine searches have turned up three stashes of drugs. Clearly, a number of residents have a problem. How are they accessing the drugs?”

  “Visitors sometimes slip them past our searches. It happens. What concerns me more is, the police told Aaron that Greg was selling. Greg came to Hope Manor on mischief charges and he leaves a pusher?” Kim worried the lid of her coffee cup. “I’m afraid that one of the longer-serving residents is setting kids up with outside connections.”

  “Could be.” Encouraged that she’d trusted him enough to voice her suspicions, he ventured a second theory. “Or it could be an employee. Seems to me an employee could get away more easily with slipping drugs inside.”

  “No way,” Kim shot back with an adamancy that made him lift an eyebrow. “All our employees are carefully screened.”

  “The police may see it differently.”

  She released a heavy sigh. “That’s what I’m afraid of. If they’re investigating the manor, the government will never change its mind about funding.”

  Kim’s transparency about what was going on confirmed Ethan’s belief in her noncomplicity.

  Her expression turned suddenly hopeful. “You must have some inside connections. Can you find out if the police are investigating the manor?”

  “I don’t think trawling the police department is a good idea,” he said, hating the disappointment his refusal brought to her eyes. “Questions might spark their curiosity.”

  Ethan finished his coffee in one last gulp. Obviously inactivity didn’t sit any better with Kim than it did with him. And now that he was confident she’d only withheld information to safeguard the manor’s reputation, there was no reason why she couldn’t help. If he could get her to scrutinize the other employees’ actions more closely, she might notice unusual behavior he missed. “We’ll just have to do our own sleuthing.”

  Kim had always considered herself adept at getting residents to open up to her, but by Monday evening, her attempts at sleuthing had amounted to squat. She straightened and re-straightened the shelves in the manor’s cramped library as she waited for Curt to choose a book. Talking wasn’t permitted in the library, and the pervasive silence sucked her thoughts into a downward spiral. Could an employee—not a resident—really be responsible for the drug problem?

  Curt waved a Western novel in front of her face. “I’m ready.”

  He was a voracious reader, not something she saw too often among male teens. She liked to encourage residents to read, to think beyond their narrow world and dream about possibilities, because possibilities gave them hope. And hope was what they desperately needed. “Tell me,” she said, as she escorted him back to the unit. “If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?”

  “The Prairies.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. It’s got lots of wide-open spaces. You can see for miles.”

  “Ah.” Since he’d been locked in this facility for the better part of a year, she could see the appeal.

  Returning to the unit, they found Ethan and Melvin watching the Discovery Channel.

  “Hey, Curt,” Ethan said. “Did you want that rematch in Ping-Pong now?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Curt tossed his book onto the nearest table and waited for Ethan to get the paddles and ball from the locked cupboard.

  Ethan’s attitude toward the kids had done an about-face since last week’s incident with Curt. Ethan had a knack for drawing the teens out of their shells. Kim liked how he made a point of sitting down and talking with each one. The kids reveled in his company, and she couldn’t blame them.

  She did, too.

  When Ethan had shown up on her doorstep Saturday morning and comforted her over Greg’s death, she hadn’t wanted him to let go. The steady beat of his heart beneath her ear and the shelter of his embrace had given her a peace she hadn’t felt in a long time—a sense that everything would truly be okay.

  And his eyes…

  He’d looked at her as if he wished with all his heart he could take away her grief. No one had ever looked at her like that before.

  Curt sliced a return shot, and Ethan missed the ball entirely. His good-natured laughter filled the room and wrapped around her, filling her with a sense of happiness.

  Ooh, boy. She needed to get a grip. She worked with him day in and day out. Not the kind of guy she wanted to entertain dating for one of her infamous two-week stints. Not to mention, Ginny didn’t need any more fodder for her little pep talks.

  The nine o’clock bell dinged. “Okay, guys, time to get ready for bed,” she announced.

  “Three more minutes,” Curt pleaded, whacking the ball across the table. “I’ve almost got him beat.”

  Ethan grinned and tipped the ball over the net, evening the score. “Don’t be so sure.”

  “Aaah,” Curt groaned. “That doesn’t count. Kim distracted me.”

  “You snooze, you lose.”

  The rest of the boys returned from the computer room under the escort of Leon, one of the college part-timers, and the group gathered around the Ping-Pong table.

  “Come on, Curt, clobber him,” Jake yelled.

  “No, nail him, Ethan,” Matt countered. “Or Curt’s head won’t fit through the door.”

  Seeing the camaraderie and enthusiasm of the boys, Kim felt as if her heart might burst.

  “Game point,” Ethan called, serving the ball.

  They rallied the ball back and forth more than a dozen times to the cheers of their spectators. Then Curt sliced one to the corner of the table, and Ethan missed.

  Not that anyone would know from his grin. His gaze met Kim’s across the table, and his wink momentarily jolted her heart out of rhythm. “Good game, Curt. Now time for bed.”

  A chorus of groans met the news, but the boys dutifully made their way to their lockers. Forty-five minutes later, they were locked in their bedrooms, and Leon checked out for the night.

  Kim collapsed into a chair in the staff station.

  Ethan tossed her a can of pop from the fridge. “Gotta like the night shift. Play hard for a few hours then ship them off to bed.”

  “We’re not done yet. We still have to fill in the logs. Then, if we’re lucky, we won’t get a string of requests for the bathroom, and we’ll have a chance to finish reviewing the files before the first perimeter check.”

  “Curt is the next resident scheduled for parole,” Ethan said. “I’m hoping to win his trust enough that he’ll open up to me if someone approaches him with a proposition.”

  Kim cringed at how calculated that sounded. “He seems to really like you, and that’s saying something. Kids come here hardened and defensive. They typically resist trusting because life has taught them that it’s safer to keep their distance.”

  “According to his file, his mother took the beatings likely intended for him.” He studied the condensation dripping down the side of his pop can. “My guess is that he’s got a whole lot of guilt pent up inside of him.”

  “That, and the assault that landed him here was the result of finally defending his mom. But afterward, his mom sided with her husband’s version of events.”

  He grimaced. “Yeah, I saw the same thing as a cop all the time. The victim doesn’t trust the system to protect them, so they protect their abuser to avoid further punishment.”

  Kim let out a weary sigh. “His mom’s lie must’ve felt like the ultimate betrayal.”

  “The way I see it, unless Curt admits that he blames himself for his dad’s attacks and for not doing more to protect his mom, we can’t help him confront them for the lies they are.”


  “You sound like you’ve had some personal experience with this.”

  Ethan’s gaze shuttered.

  He’d reacted the same way when she had happened upon him with Joy at the hospital. “Why don’t you like to talk about yourself?”

  The hum of the overhead fluorescents grew deafening.

  Ethan set down his pop can and snagged a resident’s file from the shelf. “There are far more interesting topics, and we have more important things to do if we’re going to figure out who’s luring these kids into the drug world.”

  Okay, so he didn’t even want to talk about why he didn’t want to talk about himself. She could take a hint. She jittered her pen between two fingers and pretended to scan the log. “Darryl got upset when I told him what we think is going on.”

  Ethan spun toward her, crushing the file folder in his tightening fist. “You told him what we’re doing?”

  “Of course.”

  He slapped the folder on the desk and paced the room. “Have you told anyone else?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Don’t. The last thing we want to do is drive the guy underground.”

  “You can’t think that my brother would be involved in such a thing!”

  He stopped and faced her. “Rule number one in an investigation is no one is above suspicion.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Not even me?”

  He gripped the armrests of her chair, his gaze dark and brooding.

  She instinctively drew back, and then caught herself. No, she refused to be intimidated. She tilted her head at a defiant angle. “Is that the best you got?”

  Amusement flickered in his eyes, and then…something else.

  Oh. Her stomach turned flips. Pathetic-crush flips. His lips were awfully close....

  For a frozen instant, neither of them moved. Then a smile whispered across those lips. Time seemed to stop. The room grew so quiet, she could’ve heard herself breathe if she hadn’t been holding her breath.

  A thousand emotions swirled in Ethan’s eyes—a chaos of shouldn’ts and want-tos that made her wonder if her little crush wasn’t so very pathetic after all.

  He straightened, and she fought back disappointment at his abrupt withdrawal.

  “No,” he said, answering the question she’d forgotten she asked. “I believe you are as innocent as they come.”

  Not as innocent as he thought if the crazy skipping of her pulse was anything to go by.

  She’d wanted him to kiss her.

  So why didn’t you kiss him?

  Coward.

  Yeah, he’d messed up, Ethan thought for the umpteenth time in the past four days.

  Ethan unlocked the unit’s laundry room door. What had he been thinking?

  He might as well have written I want to kiss you across his forehead. Or better yet, Idiot.

  Only, he could’ve sworn he’d seen the same interest flare in her eyes as had flashed over him. Good thing he hadn’t acted on it or he would’ve really gotten burned.

  He could handle the crazy shifts he’d been banished to since that night. Ethan glanced at the afternoon sun slanting through the bars on the windows and stifled a yawn. Shifts that never overlapped Kim’s. One guess who’d made that request.

  Ethan headed back to the common area.

  “You have to stand at the door of the laundry room until Matt’s done,” Darryl barked. “Inmates tend to chug down anything for a high they can get their hands on, including detergent.”

  Yuck. Ethan took up his post, keeping one eye on Matt and the other on Darryl. Maybe Kim hadn’t been the one who’d requested the schedule changes. Her brother clearly didn’t appreciate his interest in her. Sure, he’d claimed that Aaron always changed up the schedule on the new guys to familiarize them with the different routines, but after four shifts that “happened” to be during Kim’s off hours, Ethan knew someone had ulterior motives.

  At least he’d made some headway in earning the confidence of a few of the boys, Curt included. Not that he was any closer to narrowing in on a prime suspect. Tony watched him like a hawk. But nothing in Tony’s actions suggested he wanted to lure the boys into joining a drug ring. Aaron was harder to figure out.

  Kim had shown zero awareness of Aaron’s illegal activities, if accepting drugs from a group of youths and tossing them into a Dumpster could be considered illegal. The guy’s record was squeaky-clean. But his latent interest in Kim…

  Ethan didn’t want to think about why that irked him so much. Instead, he once again let the image of Kim’s expression after he’d caught hold of her chair play across his mind. It had been bad enough when the startled look in her eyes changed to one of teasing challenge, but when her gaze had dropped to his lips and her strawberry scent had wafted up to him, he’d been hard-pressed to remember where he was and why it would be a colossally stupid move to kiss her.

  “Hey, man, you hear me?”

  Ethan shook the thought from his head and turned his attention to the kid trying to elbow his way past with an armload of laundry. Ethan checked the pile for contraband and locked the laundry room behind them. Next, he unlocked the kid’s personal locker, so he could store his stuff out of reach of the other residents.

  Ethan checked his watch. Ten minutes to changeover. He’d finally coaxed Kim to interview a few ex-residents with him. She’d sounded almost eager.

  “I said—” Matt’s voice rose as if he were talking to a hard-of-hearing grandfather “—you can lock it.”

  Ethan’s attention snapped to the kid. He locked the box and escorted Matt back to the common area. He should be grateful he’d spooked Kim into avoiding him most of the week. Just thinking about her seriously affected his concentration.

  Twenty minutes later Ethan emerged from the building to find Kim waiting for him.

  He couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face, but he quickly reined it in.

  Then Aaron eyed them from his office window, and Ethan threw restraint to the wind, placing his hand at the small of Kim’s back.

  He felt a surge of satisfaction as the other man turned away.

  NINE

  Kim tensed at Ethan’s touch. Not because the warm pressure bothered her, quite the opposite. His touch uncorked a cascade of bubbly, bursty feelings in her stomach. A lighter-than-air, walk-on-clouds feeling. The kind of feeling that had once whisked her to fairy-tale dreams of happily ever afters.

  And that was the rub. If she’d felt this way toward Nate—the two-timing lowlife who’d duped her for months—clearly, her feelings couldn’t be trusted.

  “You okay?” Ethan asked, guiding her toward his car.

  “Yes. Sorry. My mind went somewhere else for a second.”

  “Hey, Kim, hold up,” Aaron called from behind them.

  Kim turned, causing Ethan’s hand to drop away. The cool air that rushed into its place made her shiver. Or maybe it was the icy glare Aaron speared at Ethan as he turned.

  “Ginny mentioned you were giving a talk to the youth group Thursday night,” Aaron said, focusing a warmer gaze on her. “I’d be happy to help.”

  Kim swallowed her surprise. “Yeah, sure, that would be great.”

  “I thought we might get together tonight to discuss ideas.”

  Kim snuck a peek at Ethan’s face. “Um, I can’t tonight.” In addition to interviewing former residents, she hoped to coax Ethan into talking about himself. If her heart was so determined to trip over him, she should know more about the guy. Sure, he was caring, attentive, protective, not to mention great with the kids, but everyone had a skeleton in their closet.

  “What’s the topic of the presentation?” Ethan asked.

  Aaron looked him up and down. “Saying no
to drugs.”

  “Our youth pastor asked if I’d talk about the dangers of drug use,” Kim explained, recounting his concerns about a couple of the kids.

  “Sounds important,” Ethan said. “Why doesn’t Aaron join us for a quick bite now, and the two of you can work out your presentation before we tackle those interviews?”

  Kim looked at him, dumbfounded. She’d obviously read more into his gentle hand at her back than he’d intended.

  But Aaron held up his palms. “That’s okay. It can wait until tomorrow.”

  “Yes, let’s plan on tomorrow,” Kim said.

  Aaron shot Ethan a smirk and then sauntered to his car, whistling a tune.

  Ethan snorted. “The guy’s falling all over himself to get you to go out with him.”

  “You think?” Who could trust what men seemed to want? After all, Nate had seemed to want her right up until he ran off with her roommate.

  Ethan ignored her flippant question. “Is Ginny in the habit of mentioning your plans to Aaron?”

  Kim shrugged, then gave her ponytail a toss and climbed into the car. “Maybe she thinks Aaron would be a good catch.”

  “You think?” Ethan mimicked, sliding into the driver’s seat. “How well do you know him? Has he ever used drugs?”

  “Aaron?” Kim laughed. “He’s as by-the-book as they come. He’s so honest he once drove twenty kilometers to return money to a scrap-metal recycler who overpaid him.”

  “He told you that?”

  “No, one of the kids who helped him collect the scrap told me.”

  “Does Aaron hang out with them a lot?”

  She turned to face him. “Aaron’s not recruiting kids into a drug ring, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “We have to consider all the possibilities.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Right.” She pulled out the sheet of paper with the names and addresses of the three former residents who’d agreed to talk to her.

  Ethan glanced at the first address and started his car. “Do you think some of the church teens might be using?”