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“Had he built it to be a storm room or a safe room?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that I’m glad we had it. Dad told Mom that the man was armed with enough ammunition to have killed us all ten times over.”
Kaj shuddered. “Jesus.”
“Yeah. But then Dad said he was going to quit the force. That him being a cop wasn’t as important as the safety of his family, and my mom let him have it. She told him that she’d taken care of us, and didn’t he trust her, and had he married a helpless woman?”
Kaj found himself chuckling. “Questions a man answers only one way.”
“Exactly. Dad said of course he trusted her and of course she wasn’t helpless. She told him that he was a good cop and she wouldn’t let him quit. That situations like this one were like plane crashes. Planes fly safely every day, but we only hear about the crashes. Cops do their jobs every day, but it’s only once in a blue moon when their work threatens their family. We’d had our blue moon and survived. So he should shut up about quitting and feeling guilty.”
“Did he?”
Phin shrugged. “He shut up about quitting. I don’t think he ever got over it, though. I’d catch him looking at us with this haunted expression. Which is how you were looking at Elijah.”
“Did your dad quit?”
“No. He kept on being a cop and helped a lot of people. My sister and a few of my brothers followed in his footsteps, and now they’re helping a lot of people. You do good work, Kaj. Burke respects you and that tells me everything I need to know. It’s your call whether you continue being a prosecutor, but you have friends in this town. Friends who aren’t helpless.”
Kaj let Phin’s words sink in. He’d have to process them later. “Did you hate the storm room after that?”
“I looked at it differently, for sure. But I’d look to Mom whenever we had to shelter. I knew that if she locked the door, I needed to be afraid. She’d always meet my eyes when she pulled the door closed, like she knew I was watching her. She only locked it that one time.”
Kaj drew a breath. “Show me the safe room?”
Phin opened the closet door, revealing a rack full of clothes. “His closet’s a lot smaller now, but it seemed like most of his clothes were in his dresser drawers anyway. I hung some of them up here. If he needs to go into the room, he can spread them out before he closes the door. It won’t hide the door forever, but it might buy time for help to come. One of the secrets of having a panic room is that no one knows it’s there.”
He opened the exterior-style door that led into the safe room and followed Kaj inside. The space was unbearably tight with the two of them, but it would be fine for Elijah.
A small fridge was nestled under a shelf stacked with blankets and pillows. And snacks. And a phone and a radio. Even a plastic urine bottle for if he was trapped for a long time, God forbid. There were books and a deck of cards and a Lego model airplane set. And the ceiling was covered with glow-in-the-dark stars.
It was both Phin’s childhood storm room and a hideaway with Elijah’s favorite things.
“There’s a router in here, so he can get Wi-Fi and communicate with you,” Phin said. “Insulin’s in the fridge. I called your sister yesterday to ask about it, since you weren’t here. She told me where in your kitchen to find it and how much he’d need for a day. Just in case. She also had me give her the ex-date so that she could text you when you need to replace it. There’s juice in the fridge, too, in case he has a sugar low.”
Kaj exhaled. “He’ll want to spend time in here even if there’s no threat.”
“I kind of hoped so,” Phin said quietly. “He’s only ten. I didn’t want him to be afraid of this room. I hope he never needs it because of a threat and sees it like his personal space.”
A wave of emotion crashed over Kaj and he had to close his eyes because they were stinging. “Thank you,” he whispered. “This is more than I expected.”
“You’re welcome. Let me show you how the lock works, in case you need to come in here with him.”
Phin demonstrated and Kaj was amazed at how much he’d been able to accomplish in a short time. Phin immediately unlocked the door and stepped out, exhaling on a shudder, vibrating with anxiety.
“Are you okay?”
“Not a fan of small spaces,” Phin explained. “I’m going to get a cake pop now. You should, too, before they’re all gone.”
Recognizing the deflection, Kaj followed him into the hallway and stalled him with a brief touch to the big man’s arm. “Thank you, Phin. For the safe room and for being there for us yesterday. I didn’t realize you were one of Burke’s bodyguards.”
Phin’s shrug was almost bashful. “I’m not. I’m night security and the handyman. Val’s the bodyguard, but she was off her game, worrying about talking to Sandra Springfield. There was enough online chatter about taking you out to delay Doyle’s trial that I figured you might be a target. On a normal day, she’s the perfect bodyguard, but yesterday wasn’t normal. I didn’t want either of you hurt because she was distracted.”
“Well, thank you.”
Phin’s cheeks flushed. “You’re welcome. I need to go.”
“That was nice,” Sylvi said from behind him. She closed the guest room door and stepped into the hall. “Phin seems like a good guy.”
