“Does the name Charlotte Cavanaugh mean anything to you?” The giant dude moved to stand in front of him and lowered his face until it was right in front of Leonard’s. “He told us you sent him out there to kill her last night.”
“Yeah, we gave him the choice between protecting you or his girlfriend, Helene, and he chose her.” The other guy whipped him back around to face him again.
“Nah, no. No way.” He shook his head. “I don’t believe you. You’re lyin’.”
“Tell you what, Everett.” The tall guy wrapped his fingers around Leonard’s elbow and started hauling him toward the door. “We’ll arrange for you to share a cell with him, and you can ask him yourself.”
“Great idea.” His partner opened the front door, grabbed Leonard’s other elbow, and they led him outside.
There was a shitload of cops standing around four cop cars with their lights all flashing. A bunch of his neighbors were gathered at the end of his driveway or in their front yards, watching the spectacle taking place in their neighborhood.
“What the fuck?” Leonard tried to pull back inside, and the two guys tightened their grip to stop him. “Can I at least get some clothes on?”
Neither one of them said another word as they led him down his porch steps and across the front yard. His bare feet got wet as he left footprints in the dew-covered grass. They paraded him down the sidewalk in nothing but his robe, weaving their way through the neighborhood lookie-loos, until they stopped in front of a guy wearing a suit with a gold badge attached to the front of his belt.
“He’s all yours, Detective Westmore,” the tall guy said, then he and his partner released their hold on his arms.
“Thanks.” The detective clamped onto Leonard’s elbow and opened the back door of an unmarked SUV. “Get in.”
Leonard lifted one leg to climb up onto the seat. His robe gaped open, and there was nothing he could do about it. He lifted his other leg in and faced forward while the seat belt was clipped into place across his chest and lap.
If humiliating him was their goal, they’d been successful.
The detective swung the door shut, walked around the back of the car, and climbed in behind the wheel. He started the engine, picked up the radio handset and said something Leonard couldn’t decipher, then they started moving.
Leonard twisted around as far as he could and looked at his house through the caged back window. He stared at it until it, along with all of his big plans, disappeared behind them.
EPILOGUE
“Reelitin,Sweets!”Hawk stood next to her on the bank of the river. “That’s right, keep the line tight.”
“It’s so strong.” Charlotte pulled back on the rod, and the tip curved toward the water. She leaned forward, turning the reel handle as fast as she could, then pulled the rod back again until the fish splashed at the surface. “Oh, my gosh, look how big it is!”
“That’s what he said.” Calliope’s bootsteps on the rocks came from behind them.
“Never gets old, babe.” Lucas jogged alongside her, and they stopped at the water’s edge.
Hawk wanted his folks to meet Charlotte, so after the dust settled on the HRA mess, he’d invited Lucas and Calliope to join them on a road trip to Montana. He’d instructed them to pack their camp gear because he wanted to bring them up to his favorite spot.
His mom fell in love with her right away, as he’d known she would. She even took him aside one afternoon and threatened that if he did anything to screw things up with Charlotte, she would never forgive him. She’d laughed after saying it, but he was pretty sure she’d meant it.
His dad was a bit more reserved, but when she’d asked to see his shop, wanted to know how all of the power tools worked, then asked if he could help her make something, he was a goner. They’d come into the house, and his dad called him into the kitchen.
“Son, she’s special.” He put his arm over Hawk’s shoulders and looked at her across the room. “You treat her right.”
“I will, Dad.” And he would for the rest of his life.
Right after Charlotte’s confrontation with Pennington, three teams were sent out to track the buses. Andi and Cole covered the one from Arizona, Calliope and Lucas the one from Texas, and Eddie and Viking the bus from New Mexico.
Two of the buses made their stops, and all of the kids got off. The third bus, the one that originated at the HRA facility in Nogales, Arizona, stopped, but only twenty-two of the thirty-three children got off. Andi and Cole followed the bus to a house in Mesa Verde, California, where all of the remaining kids were offloaded, crying and scared to death.
The bus drove off, and local cops pulled it over and arrested the driver about a block away. Andi and Cole raided the house, took down the traffickers, and got the kids to safety.
The last update Charlotte got was that most of the children were placed with vetted family members or sponsors. The remaining few were relocated to one of Every Last Child’s wonderful,legitimatecare centers.
They determined that a total of 5,417 kids had been trafficked. The authorities had already managed to locate 2,043 of them. They were still searching for the remaining 3,074 kids.
Unfortunately, the chances of finding them diminished with each day that passed.
