“Okay. I’ll get you some crackers and cheese.” Marty left the room and came back with a piece of string cheese and a few crackers on a paper towel. Cameron ate them and went back to his Legos.
“So, how did things go?” Marty asked.
Grant lowered his voice. “Other than the person we’re after being dead for the last two years?” He rolled his eyes. “Carter is looking into it to see what could have happened. We might have an imposter, or someone who faked their own demise. We aren’t quite sure yet. But we do have a face, and I suspect that once we’ve figured this out, we will be releasing it to the media. If this man has managed to fake his own death or has taken someone else’s identity, then he’s going to be quite good at hiding.”
“I’d agree with that.” Marty leaned against him and after about thirty seconds began to laugh. “I keep thinking of the shock, to find out you’ve been chasing a dead guy.”
Grant growled.
“Oh, come on. This is funny. You’ve been chasing a ghost.”
“Where’s the ghost?” Cameron ran over and climbed between them. “I don’t want no ghosties to get me.”
“There’s no ghost. I was just teasing Grant.” Who snarled at him playfully and then made ghost noises before tickling Cameron again.
“Yeah, he was just playing. There aren’t any ghosts, so you don’t have to worry.” He hugged Cameron to him. “Now go back and play for a while, because I suspect that after dinner, you’ll need to get ready for bed because you have to go to school tomorrow.”
“Do I have to?” Cameron whined.
“Yes. This is the last week of school, and then you’ll be out all summer,” Marty told him. “So you need to go to bed and get up for school. Thursday is your last day, so I think the next daythat Grant has off, we’ll find something fun for all of us to do. That is, if he wants to.”
“Please, Officer Grant,” Cameron said.
“I don’t even know what you hooligans have in mind. But my next day off is Friday. So you two think of what you’d like to do for fun. Maybe we could go to Hershey Park for the day.”
Cameron jumped to his feet, doing his little butt-wiggling happy dance. “I’m gonna eat some chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate,” he sang over and over.
“Okay, you little chocolate monster. I’m going to get some taquitos for dinner, and then you need to go upstairs and have a bath before bed. Then I’ll read you a story.”
“What about Dexter? Can he sleep in my room?”
“Dexter and I have to go home in a little while. I need to be at the station really early, and I don’t want to wake up all of you when I go. But I’ll bring Dexter in so he can say good night to you. Okay?”
Cameron sighed as though the world just wasn’t fair.
Chapter 17
MARTY WASkept hopping the rest of the week, often up until the wee hours of the morning with issues that weren’t his own making, but it seemed that a change had worked its way into the systems that resulted in tons of bad data that needed to be sorted out. By Thursday, the source had been discovered and fixed, so things calmed down considerably. Still, he was up late just making sure that everything was running smoothly.
Cameron was thrilled that school was over, and Marty figured that Grant was relieved as well. At least with the schools closed, there weren’t huge concentrations of kids to be taken. He sent Grant a message and went to his room, climbed into bed, and tried to go to sleep.
“Everything is okay. I’m still at the station but should be heading home soon.”
“Any luck with the exhumation?” Marty texted back.
“Finally got the order signed yesterday.” Grant had explained that the judge wanted to know the details of the case because they were requesting the exhumation specifically without the family’s consent or knowledge, and that had taken some time. “It will happen Saturday. The coroner will be on hand to perform an identification, and he’s out of town tomorrow. Apparently Bryant had some dental abnormalities that should allow for identification pretty quickly.”
“Keep me posted. I’m trying to go to sleep, but all I do is watch crap on the internet and listen for Cameron. He’s been having nightmares almost every night this week.”
“Do you want company?” Grant texted.
Marty hesitated and then sent his reply. “More than anything.”
“Then I’ll be there.” And just like that, Marty breathed a sigh of relief before jumping out of bed at the scream that pierced the night. He went to Cameron’s room to find him tangled in the blankets, trying to get out.
“It’s okay,” Marty comforted, tugging away the bedding before getting Cameron settled again. “It was just a dream. I’m here, and no one is going to hurt you.” He was realizing that maybe Cameron needed more help than he could provide. “Was it the bad man?”
“Yes. He came and he took you away and I was all alone.”
