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Elijah sobered. “I know.”
Kaj returned his gaze to Val Sorensen, who sat patiently waiting, carefully watching. “You’ve protected children in the past?”
Val nodded once. “Four times in the past three years.” She pursed her lips, as if remembering. “All are safe today.”
But they hadn’t been. He could see it in her eyes. Something had happened to one of her charges.
“What happened?” Elijah called over. “Which time did you have to use your gun to keep a child safe from grabby hands?”
Val’s smile was rueful. “Why are you so smart, kid?” she called back.
“It’s my cross to bear,” Elijah said dryly, and Kaj’s chest tightened. Heather used to say that. In that same dry tone. Damn, but he missed her.
Val coughed, hiding a laugh. “How old are you, Elijah? Twenty-five?”
“Only ten,” he said with a put-upon sigh.
She huffed. “I’m gonna need to see a birth certificate.” She eyed Kaj. “You might as well have your son sitting here with us, Mr.Cardozo. We’re not hiding anything from him.”
Kaj sighed. “I know. He really is too smart for my own good. C’mon over, Elijah. This is all about you, so you might as well be involved.”
“Which is what I told you when we got here,” Elijah muttered, dragging his chair from the small conference table over to Burke’s desk. He dropped into the chair, crossing his arms. “Well? Grabby hands?”
Val glanced at Burke, who shrugged. “Okay,” she said, her accent also New Orleans, Kaj noted, but not Cajun—and not very strong. It made him wonder how long she’d been in the city. “I was protecting a teenage girl and her brother, who was nine. I’m only telling you because it’s public record. It was covered by the media. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to share this.”
Elijah nodded very seriously. “I understand.”
“Good. The girl’s father had been threatened because of an upcoming corporate merger. Lots of people were losing their jobs and tempers were high. His children had been specifically targeted in the threats, so he hired me. The nine-year-old did everything I asked, but the teenager... not so much. She didn’t think all the fuss was necessary and had a boyfriend.” She looked at Elijah sadly. “She’s a smart young woman. She figured out how to disengage the alarm system and climbed out her window and shimmied down a tree to see her beau.”
“But she’s still alive?” Elijah asked, eyes wide.
“Yes. But her boyfriend is not. I was able to shield her, but the boyfriend got caught in the line of fire. He...” She sighed. “He’d been approached by one of the disgruntled employees to lure the young woman away from the house. He’d taken money to deliver her into the hands of those who would have harmed her to get back at her father. He was only seventeen.”
“And you feel guilty,” Elijah murmured.
My perceptive son. It was exactly what Kaj had been thinking because the emotion was clear on Val’s face.
“I do. I would have saved him, too, but he ran back to the kidnappers, thinking they’d protect him, that they’d take him with them when they ran away. But he was a loose end and they killed him.”
“I’m sorry,” Elijah said quietly. “That it happened, and that I made you talk about it.”
“You’re fine,” she said firmly. “If I’d been nearly kidnapped yesterday, I’d want to know that my bodyguard had the experience to keep me safe, too. You have every right to ask questions. If I can’t answer them, I’ll tell you so. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll find out. If I can’t answer because I’m protecting someone else’s confidentiality, I’ll tell you that, too. Just like I’ll keep your circumstances confidential when we’re finished and you’re safe again.”
Elijah bowed his head. “Thank you.”
Val ran a hand over his son’s hair, her touch sweet, her expression fond. Which wasn’t a surprise. Elijah elicited that response in nearly everyone who met him. Except for the bastards who’d tried to kidnap him.
“It’s my job, but you’re welcome,” she said. “I need you to promise that you’ll follow any rules that I set. If you want to know why, then ask. If I have time to explain, I will. But don’t just disregard what I tell you to do. It could mean your life, Elijah.” Her eyes softened. “I know that this isn’t fair, but it’s the way it is—for now anyway.”
Elijah looked up, determined. “I promise.”
“Thank you.” She turned to Kaj. “Do you know who was responsible?”
“He does,” Burke said, and there was something in his tone that had Val studying her boss. It was almost as if Burke were warning her.
Kaj would come back to that later. “Aaron Gates,” he stated baldly.
Her brow furrowed in confusion. “He’s in jail. I’ve been out of town on a job, so I’m behind on the news, but I caught a clip. He murdered a doctor last week, right?”
