Chrissy blinked at him. “Bell, who’s them?”
“Oh, they’re here for a visit. They are going to be gone soon.”
And if they weren’t, God help them, because Ichabod was fixing to blow a gasket.
“Bell, I made puppy.”
He smiled at her and started the bathtub. “Did you make a puppy? Did Daddy put it up to dry in the rack?”
She nodded, seeming perfectly happy and relaxed.
Thank God, because he could get her in the tub in two shakes, and then get her dressed up and cuddly, ready to be adorable for the CPS people.
“Come on, baby girl, we’re gonna go have a little bit of a bath.”
Chrissy mock-frowned and took his face between her tiny hands. “Bell, I working.”
“You were working, baby girl, but now you’re going to be having lunch and maybe watching someBlue’s Clueswith me.”
“Blue’s Clues!” she sang, just about cackling. “Okay. I like lunches.”
“Me too. Let’s have grilled cheeses.” The grilled cheese should be easy, harmless, and Lord, he hoped Ichabod wasn’t going to kill anybody.
She nodded. “I like grilled cheeses.”
“I like them very much.” And hopefully they would get out there and Ichabod would be okay, and?—
The door opened all of a sudden, and Chrissy squealed. “Get out! I’m in da baf!”
Ellis blinked at the woman with the door open. “Pardon me? We’re in the restroom, and she’s having a bath. We’ll be out in a minute.”
Chrissy started to cry. “This my baf. No strangers! Daddy! Daddy, there’s a stranger! Stranger danger!” Now the tears hadbecome a scream, an absolute blood-curdling furious scream. Oh yeah, this wasn’t going to go over well.
In fact, Ichabod came running. “Pardon me? Ellis, would you take Mrs. Halloway into the other room, please, while I get my daughter dressed? Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you? Talk about a violation of privacy. This poor baby was getting a bath!”
“She was alone in there with someone who was not a family member!”
Ellis took the damn woman’s arm and steered her out of the room, closing the door behind them. “That doesn’t give you the right to bust in there, ma’am. She’s a baby! She doesn’t understand about people calling CPS to make things hard for him. Because that has to be why they did it.”
An awful thought occurred to him, and he gritted his teeth. If he found out that Rick had done this, he would murder the man.
“We’re here to help.”
“That’s not helping. That’s a little girl—who is now scared—in the bathtub. That was a violation. Now please come in and have a seat. You can see that this is a decent house. I’m sure you already talked to the children’s teachers, and you know full well that they’re fine.”
“And what about you? Are you fine?” Her lips pressed together in a disapproving way.
“I’m a cowboy. I raise horses, dogs, cattle, and children. So yes—” He nodded, perfectly at ease with his own self. “I am fine.”
Miss Kacey didn’t look near as stressed-out as Mrs. Halloway. “You can tell that they’ve been doing a lot of work here in this house.” She offered him a gentle smile. “I was here for Adult Protective Services at the end of Vic’s life.”
“Oh? I know the house was in flux when they had to move, when the kids moved in. He worked hard toget all the work done on their bedrooms and the kitchen first and foremost. It’s recently pretty much done, as much as any house is done.” He had to wonder how much concern Rick had when his former stepfather was dying. Was it as much as he had now?
“Yeah, Vic was kind of in desperate straits, but from what I understand, he went into a nursing home situation for the very few days that he had left.”
“Yeah, I hadn’t been out in a while.” Ichabod walked in with little Chrissy bundled up and clinging to him. “I wasn’t his caretaker, and I didn’t have his power of attorney, so I didn’t have a whole lot of control over it. My son was having some issues at school, so I was really focusing on that at the time.”
“But then you inherited the house?” Ms. Kacey asked.
