“Faith, time to quit playing.”I don’t know why I said that out loud. It wasn’t like Faith could hear anything she said without her cochlear implant. Laura could practically feel everyone’s gazes lasering in on them. “Really, she’s fakingit.”
Melissa’s grip tightened. “Why don’t you let me take her, just incase.”
Great, now she looked like an abusive stepmother from JerrySpringer.
“Ma’am, with all due respect, she thinks this is a game.” Laura returned in her own gentle, yet firm voice. She bent her elbow, forcing Melissa to let go and then lay Faith onto her back on thefloor.
Faith’s feet and arms flopped open in a wide, dramatic flair and her face tilted to the side, mouth open, eyes shut. The performance was obvious to Laura, but gauging from everyone else’s horrified looks, Faith could have won a Golden Globe for thisact.
The girl had skill, she had to give her that. Yelling wouldn’t help any, neither had the shaking. There was only one thing left to do before the other grownups in the room hauled Laura off. She curled her fingers and went straight for Faith’s most sensitive tickle spot. Herribs.
“What are you doing?” Melissa tried to dive over Faith and push Lauraaway.
Faith’s eyes flew open, as did her mouth as she squirmed like a fish on the line trying to get away from thetickles.
Faith scrambled to her feet, laughing loudly. Laura sat back on her heels and watched in relief. Melissa had been ready to pounce and she was outnumbered five to one. Even if the remote possibility of what King hinted at about her brother was to be believed, at least by everyone else in the mansion, she’d have to treadcarefully.
But she wouldn’t be able to do that if Faith got her thrown into a locked room. They were going to have a long discussion just as soon as Laura could get heralone.
She’d have to settle for a quick reprimand for now, that however proved to be impossible as Faith acted out center stage. Everyone in the room stared at the young girl, completely ignoring the unconscious King on the floor and Faith absorbed all the attention like a dry Oreo cookie dropped in a cup full ofmilk.
In much the same way as she had done moments earlier, Faith shoved her arms out straight, this time dropping Kitty to enhance her performance. She teetered and tottered right and left circling around Laura with a renewed energy. On her second round of circling Laura, Faith began her slow front fall, not even trying to catch herself. Having fully rehearsed the same, Laura easily caught her this time. Before Faith could close her eyes and pretend to be dead, Laura cupped her chin gently and mouthed the words, “No moregames.”
Melissa’s intense gaze was boring into her and she glanced up in time to see the doctor studying them intently. She hadn’t decided yet whether to reveal that Faith was deaf, or to reveal anything at all personal about either of them. So for good measure, Laura added out loud, “Time to stopplaying.”
Faith wiggled out of her grip and went in search of Kitty. Laura shrugged, “I guess I shouldn’t have told her we were playing agame.”
Melissa eased to her feet, her face blank and carefully said, “She’s got realtalent.”
That she did. “When she saw King pass out it scaredher.”
“So, you pretended like he was playing?” Melissafrowned.
Bristling, Laura rushed to defend her actions. “Seeing as how she just witnessed him in a gunfight and then our house being blown to bits in an explosion, I’d say her fear wasunderstandable.”
“Explosion?” The words didn’t come out in a soft melodic voice like the female doctor. The gravelly grumble sent ice skating down her shoulder blades. She felt like she was in slow motion, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice that could only be described in her nightmares. It was one of the men who’d taken King from Diggs. He was tall, as tall and thin as King but not as broad. But his eyes were…dead.
Laura fought the urge to retreat back a step and instead latched onto the distraction of Faith, racing after the child before she got more than a foot or twoaway.
Cowardly she avoided the man’s gaze. Then she finally got up the nerve to answer, “Yes. He blew up myhouse.”
“He?” He pinned her with a darkstare.
Laura felt a tremble and pinned Faith to her side. “Him.” She pointed atKing.
Melissa rushed past them, going to her knees on the floor beside him. “We need to get him to the clinic downstairs.Now.”
One of the men bent to pick him up, but the tall man spoke again, and all actions ceased. “We’re not going anywhere until sheexplains.”
Laura shot a pleading look to Diggs, the only other person in the room she could even remotely claim to know slightly. He coughed, put his fist over his mouth and put his arm around the red head. “Um, Reaper, it wasn’t King,exactly.”
Thankfully the man turned his attention to Diggs. “Whothen?”
Diggs planted his feet shoulder-width apart and straightened his spine as if preparing for battle. “JohnDawson.”
There was an audible gasp, and then a silent pall fell over the room with all the subtleness of an atomicbomb.
Reaper shifted about an inch to the right and Laura took one giant step backward, tugging Faith with her. The air of menace surrounding the man couldn’t be denied. And his scarred visage, head to toe armed and clad in black getup, didn’t help the matter all. “He went looking forDawson?”
