“I’m gonna walk them home,” Alex said to Kyle. “I’ll meet you at the station to explain what happened and help with the report.”
“This will definitely take some explaining,” Kyle said.
“I’ll make sure all the blame falls my way too.” He slapped Kyle on the back. “Thanks for your help.”
Alex walked Julia and Calvin back to their building. Rudy was pacing frantically and rushed over when they entered.
“Oh, my God. What happened?”
“Long story,” Alex said. “Later.” He shifted his eyes toward Calvin as if to say, “Not in front of the kid.”
Once upstairs, they tried to push “normal,” so Calvin wouldn’t be upset. Julia turned on cartoons and set Cal on the couch so they could talk in the kitchen.
“I hear kids are resilient,” Alex said. “I hope that’s true.”
A tear slid down Julia’s face.
“Hey, hey,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. He’ll be fine. Areyouokay?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m a terrible mother. What if this happens again? How am I supposed to keep him safe?”
He wrapped his arms around her. “It’ll be all right.”
“I can’t believe he shot you.”
“Don’t worry about me. It’s just a scratch.”
“You should have seen Kenneth’s place. He had tons of pictures of me and this whole shrine thing going on. I have absolutely no clue where he got the idea I was in love with him. He said he ‘got my message’ and moved here from California to be with me. It was very creepy.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through this. But it’s over now.”
“Thank you for saving us.” More tears fell.
“Speaking of that…” he said. “I’ve got to head into work to see about saving my own ass. Explain everything. How ’bout I grab a pizza on my way home, and we’ll talk more.”
“Okay.” She pulled his phone out of her back pocket. “Here, you might need this. Genius idea, by the way.”
“Thanks. I figured there weren’t many places to take you, but it did come in handy to confirm my hunch.”
“Can you find out what’s going to happen to Kenneth?”
“I’ll try.”
He said goodbye to Calvin and stopped by his place to change before heading to the station.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Youseta fire,” Ray said.
Alex had hoped to talk to anyone but Ray. He was already risking another suspension—that is, if they didn’t fire him outright—and having to explain himself to his self-proclaimed nemesis hurt worse than his damn arm.
“I had to get them out of the apartment before someone got hurt,” Alex said. “I’ll pay for the damages.”
“It doesn’t work like that, MacDonald. Setting a fire—even to save someone—puts the department at risk. You’ve put us all in a bind now. The police want a statement too. They’ll be here soon.”
“Fine.”
“I know this isn’t the time, but you’ve been avoiding me since I got here, and we should address the elephant.”
