“Why don’t you?” He frowned. “And wait, are you friends with Skylar now?”
“Maybe.” I drummed the surface of the island for a few seconds, then let him in on what I knew. “Rowdy’s worried about this one kid. Actually, it’s a mother-son duo, and they’re in a spot of trouble. I’ve been asking around, and I think the situation is even worse than Rowdy knows.”
“Tell me.”
“You remember that shitty trailer park over by the old high school they had to redo because of the asbestos?”
He closed one eye. “Vaguely. It’s the kind of place that you go a little faster when you’re passing it, right?”
“Exactly. Which probably means more people should pay attention.”
“Damn. And this mom and kid live there?”
“Yep. Worse, if someone doesn’t show up at her job, she gets called in to work and has to leave the kid alone.”
“What a nightmare for her,” he said, instantly understanding the problem.
“And Rowdy is trying to figure out a way to get them out of that place.”
“Really?” Emery asked as I took a sip of tea.
“Yeah.” I set the cup on the island, wishing I could find an answer in its depths. “There’s a shady situation with the guy who runs the park. I don’t think anything’s happened, butthey’re worried he’s gearing up to...I dunno. Rope them into something?”
“In what way?”
“He’s being overly nice.” I shuddered just thinking about it. “Like a kidnapper with a puppy.”
Emery’s jaw tensed and he fisted his hands. I’d witnessed some of the conversations he’d had with Stevie about stranger danger, and that shit was terrifying to contemplate.
“What’s Rowdy’s plan?”
I sucked in a breath. I still felt weird about giving up Rowdy’s secrets, but this was serious.
“You remember that crazy bastard who lives next door to Rebel Sky?”
“If you’re talking about the Bash family, you’re gonna hafta be more specific. Ain’t no one in that gene pool known for their sanity.”
“Exactly,” I said, shaking my head. “And he was going to call in a favor to see ifAnders,of all people, could help.”
Emery’s eyes widened. “Oh...shit. He has no idea what Anders is about.”
“Hell, I don’t think we do, either.”
“No, but I can guarantee it’d be like calling in a Bradley to bomb a cockroach.”
“Even if all the stories about that bastard are half myth, half overexaggeration, I still don’t want him anywhere near Rowdy.”
“Neither do I.”
I bared my teeth. “Which is why I said I’d check into what we can do for this kid and his mom.”
Emery gave me a look that rivaled his daughter’s. “Bjørn Maria Kessler, what the fuck are you doing?”
I shot him the finger. “First and middle name, eh?”
I was named after both of my grandfathers, which...yeah.
“Seriously, Kess. You don’t know these people.”
