“What’s going on?” Mia asked. “Who’s in the bedroom?”
Nikki’s gaze flitted to the doorway. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“Shut up, Nikki. Don’t tell her anything.” Eddie crossed his arms, but thankfully he remained seated on the worn plaid sofa.
“No, you shut up, Eddie.” Nikki locked gazes with the boy. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Mia will help us.”
“Oh, yeah, she’sallabout helping.” Sarcasm liberally flowed through his tone.
Mia ignored him. “I asked who’s in the bedroom.”
“Jessie Maddox,” Nikki said.
“Jessie? Seriously? Is she okay?”
“Fine,” Nikki said. “No one hurt her. She’s just down there so we could talk without her hearing us.”
Mia turned toward the hallway. “Jessie! It’s Mia. Are you all right?”
The door creaked open, and the slide of small feet sounded on the wood floor. Dressed in teddy bear pj’s, Jessie turned the corner, spotted Mia, and raced ahead. Jessie slammed into Mia and wrapped her arms around her waist as if she’d never let go again.
“You okay?” Mia clutched the little girl, ignoring the residual pain from the gashes in her side, and bent her head to lay it on Jessie’s soft curls.
She nodded. “Eddie saved me.”
Mia looked at Eddie. “If ever there was a time for you to talk to me, it’s now.”
Nikki nudged him. “Do it. You can trust her.”
His gaze raced around the room as if he were looking for any way out other than placing his trust in her. Oh, yeah. Mia knew the feeling. She’d just been in the same spot with Ryan. She hoped Eddie was smarter than she was and made the right decision.
He slapped his palms on his knees just below the hem of his baggy shorts and stared at Mia as if daring her to question him. “I was fighting with Chuck. You saw that. But then when you left, Chuck pinned me down. I calmed down. Got my stuff together and was worried I would get into trouble and get sent back to juvie.”
“So what did you do?” she asked while still holding Jessie close.
He scrubbed his palms down the fabric of his shorts. “I convinced Chuck to let me up. Then I bolted outside. I was gonna take off. Not sure where, but I wasn’t going back to juvie.” He shook his head. “That place is the pits. I’d go anywhere but there. I was about to leave when I saw this dude sneaking up in the dark. I figured it was one of the guys playing a joke. So I kept going until I spotted a car. I thought about stealing it or hiding in the back to get out of there. I opened the front door and found a phone on the seat.”
He stopped to glance at Nikki, who returned his gaze with a nod of encouragement.
Eddie sat up taller. “Nikki gave me her number to use after this program ended. So I called her. She said she’d come talk to me. We decided to meet at the place in the woods where we did the trust exercises. Then I heard this noise in the backseat. Jessie was on the floor. Tied up with tape over her mouth. When she saw me, she started crying.”
Jessie let go of Mia and ran to Eddie. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I was scared. But Eddie said he would help me.”
Eddie didn’t push her away but nodded. “So I picked her up and ran into the woods. We waited for Nikki to get there. Then we came here.”
“You’re a hero, Eddie.” Mia’s voice rang with conviction.
He blinked at her. “You believe me?”
“Of course, and so will the sheriff.” Mia crossed the room and patted him on the back. Then it dawned on her. He probably didn’t have any idea what happened to Chuck. “Did you see the guy who went into the trailer?”
Eddie nodded. “And I saw him come out and drive away too. I don’t think he knew Jessie was gone when he left.”
“Well, he knows now.” A crusty male voice came from the hallway as a gun-toting hand shot around the corner.
Lincoln Pope’s hand.
* * *
