ChapterOne
As usual,Cindy was pokey. She liked to take her time, smell the smells, and putter along the path. They took the same walk almost every day during Jameson’s lunch hour. It was supposed to be a quick circle through the park so she could do her business and get moving, but it never turned out that way. She loved to smell everything.
“Come on, girl. Let’s keep moving,” he said gently, and tugged on the leash. That adorable head popped up, and Jameson headed forward. She hurried in front of him, doing her little poodle-mix prance, her tail high, as though she were the queen of everything. And as far as Jameson was concerned, she was—or at least a princess.
There was a crash, followed by faint yelling, and then a couple of rough people hurried down the path, clutching a few belongings to their chests. “What the hell?” Jameson asked under his breath. He scooped Cindy into his arms, stepped off the path until he was alone once more, then set Cindy down and turned around. “We should go back home.”
Cindy had other ideas and was already tugging him forward to continue their walk. He went with her, just enough to see around the bend in the path where the wooded area began. Ahead of him, a police officer trudged out of the woods. Cindy grew excited and pulled on the leash even harder. She knew that man in the uniform, and so did Jameson, if he were honest.
It was difficult to mistake Atlas—the man filled out the police uniform like no one else. The good ones were either taken or gay, but Atlas was both. Not that he had designs on Atlas. His partner, Bazel, was wonderful, and those two only had eyes foreach other. Atlas and Bazel made Jameson believe that there was such a thing as true love.
“Hey, Cindy,” Atlas said, and she went nuts. Jameson approached, and Atlas knelt and stroked her ears. In return, Cindy did her hind-leg dance, trying to reach his face. When she got excited, she became all tongue. “You are a sweet girl, aren’t you?” he crooned, and petted her a few more times before standing back up.
“What’s going on? Where’s Evie?” Jameson asked. Atlas’s K-9 partner and Cindy were friends of a sort. At least Cindy didn’t do her Cujo act around Evie. Cindy was sweet, but with most other dogs, she was aggressive as hell. Atlas said it was because she was protecting him. Personally, Jameson figured she was a queen, and everyone was going to know that she was the big dog, even if she only weighed eighteen pounds.
“It’s supposed to be my day off today, but they called me in for this,” he said softly as he turned back toward the wooded area. “Worst job ever.” He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. “We got a complaint of homeless people camping out back here. So I got the plum assignment of getting them to move on. We worked long shifts, so Evie is at home with Bazel. She needed rest time, which is where I was hoping to be.” He checked his watch. “And now that I’m done here….”
Jameson nodded and didn’t say anything else about it. He figured Atlas had probably said more than he meant to. “You have a good day. There’s a show opening at Carlisle Arts this week. I hope to see you and Bazel there.” He waved and continued along the path.
“We’re planning on it.” Atlas looked around once more and then trudged down the path.
Cindy sniffed around and then finally squatted to take care of business. Once she was done, Jameson got a bag from his pocket and cleaned up after her, tying the bag closed. Theycontinued toward the park, away from Atlas, but paused after two steps. Cindy had done the same, listening. Then she took off toward the woods. Jameson held her back and eventually picked her up and went a few steps down the short path back into the trees. “Is anyone there?” he asked, without yelling. He could have sworn that he heard something. The thought crossed his mind to call out for Atlas, but if it was nothing…. Hell, maybe he was hearing things.
Jameson paused and was about to leave when a snap caught his attention. He turned in time to see movement from behind a large tree about ten feet away. “I see you. The police are right down the path, you know.” It would probably be best if he and Cindy simply went on their way and got away from whatever was happening out here. “I’m going to go now and leave you alone.” It was time he got out of there. Jameson returned to the main path and set Cindy down, ready to head down in the direction of the park.
If anyone asked him, he would say he had no idea why he did it, but he turned to look one more time. A man stood next to the tree. He was slender, almost gangly, and Jameson would have just moved on and away if a small head hadn’t peered around the tree as well. Jesus, the guy had a kid with him. Jameson stood still, watching, but what happened next shocked him completely.
“Jameson? Is that you?”
The man knew his name. How was that possible? He tried to remember if Atlas had said his name while they had been speaking, but he hadn’t. The only names used were the dogs.
The man came closer, and Jameson recognized him. They had gone to high school together, and they’d been in a community college English class together freshman year, but Jameson hadn’t seen him after that. Their paths seemed to diverge. “Todd? What are you doing here?” He kept his voicesoft and wondered what he was supposed to do in this particular situation. “Is this where you’ve been living?”
The boy reached for Todd’s hand, and all it took was second glance to see that this was his son. They looked alike, with the same eyes and hair that would never be tamed.
“We don’t have any other place to go. There’s a place in the back of one of the other parks, and we were staying there for a while. But it wasn’t safe for Kenny, so I had to leave. I was able to find a place here in the woods, but there isn’t all that much space. The houses start like fifty feet from here.” He came closer. “I thought I had found a spot that was out of sight of everyone. I got a dark green tent, and Kenny and I were staying in there. For about a month or so, we were alone.” The entire time he spoke, he held the boy’s hand. Kenny didn’t say anything at all. In fact, he made no sound. It was like he had been programmed to be silent.
“But others found your place,” Jameson supplied. It was pretty easy to see what had happened. Others moved in, creating noise and a presence, which brought complaints, and the police got involved and moved them on. “How did they not see you?”
“I heard the police and pulled the tent down and under some limbs. Then we hid behind some trees where there’s a place that’s hard to see. But someone took the tent when we left, along with most everything else.” Todd looked exhausted, worn out, and scared as hell.
“Come on. You can’t stay here. The police will be back to make sure everyone is gone, and the neighbors will be keeping a sharp eye on things.” He put his hand on the back of his neck, scratching absently. “You can come with me and Cindy. I have some food at the house, and you can both clean up and stuff.” He wasn’t going to make any promises after that, but it was the least he could do.
Todd stayed where he was for a few seconds, probably wondering if he could trust Jameson, then came out, still holding Kenny’s hand. Jameson turned around, and Cindy jumped toward them, but then settled down and led the way out of the woods and down the path next to the baseball diamond toward Bedford Street. From there, they continued south to the last house on the right.
Jameson unlocked the door and went inside, letting Cindy off her leash, knowing she was good with people, then held the door open. Todd and Kenny went inside as far as the hall, with Kenny standing in front of Todd, who had his arms over his chest. “Come on into the kitchen.” His house was functional, but far from stylish. Still, he thought of it as comfortable.
Kenny looked up at his dad, who nodded, and he came through with Todd behind him. Cindy sniffed both of them and then went to her bowl, munching her kibble and then drinking water, while he threw away her poo bag. Jameson opened a cupboard and found a can of tomato soup. He opened it and put it in a pan on the stove. Then he gathered the stuff for grilled cheese and got them started. He’d always loved this sort of thing and hoped it would agree with Kenny and Todd.
He needn’t have worried. Kenny ate the first sandwich off the stove in almost record time. “Be careful, it’s hot,” Todd cautioned, and that held back Kenny for maybe a minute and then he started eating. Jameson gave them each a bowl of soup, which they both inhaled. Kenny ate half a second sandwich and then his head began to droop. Todd finished the other half and ate another before he sat back with a sigh. Jameson ate a sandwich himself before taking care of other dishes.
“Come with me.” He showed Todd the small downstairs bathroom off the small bedroom he had for guests. “Go ahead and get cleaned up. I’ll find some clothes for you. Then you and I can talk.” He left them in the room and closed the door.
Upstairs in his suite, he searched for some fresh clothes that should fit Todd reasonably well. He looked out the window when he heard the neighbor kids in the yard. After taking the clothes down, he went out and spoke to Andrea. “Is it possible to get a change of clothes for a friend’s boy? He’s about five or so.”
She looked at him for a few seconds as though assessing what he was doing, but bless her heart, she didn’t ask questions. She went inside and returned with a complete set of clothes, folded and clean. “Will these work? They’re a little small for Jimmy, so they don’t need to be returned.” She smiled at him knowingly. “You’re doing a good thing.” Damn, how did she always know everything that was going on?
“I’m helping an old friend from school.”
