Page 49 of Out Of A Fix

“And yet the document in question allowed me to help your son.”

“I’m not debating that, I’m just––”

“It boils down to this, my boss is a scary man, and he has even scarier lawyers on retainer, so our paperwork did what it was designed to do in this instance. Of course normally there would be family services involved and intervention from the police, but since the police were, in fact, the problem in Griff’s case… we went around them.”

“I get it.”

“And Eena has no child protective anything as far as I know.”

“You’re right. That’s all done in Newcastle.”

“I’m sorry that––”

“No,” he murmured. “Without you, God knows what would have happened to Griff.”

He sounded so sad and hurt. My heart ached for him. I wanted to make it all better but I wasn’t sure how. “Well the good news is, I was able to get Griff––”

“Sprung from the big house,” Tatum threw out.

“Yes, correct,” I said, shaking my head at her. “And because other arrangements had to be made, like securing a therapist—which I understand you approved of? Is that right?”

“What?”

“You wanted the kids to see a therapist, did you not?”

“I did. I do. Yes.”

“Great. That’s great,” I said, pleased with him. We were on the same page, which was excellent. “So yeah, we will amend the guardianship paperwork tomorrow. All we need to do is call the lawyer and have him file⁠—”

“Just…wait,” he husked, raking a hand through his thick dirty-blond hair. “Please.”

I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me. Maybe the best thing was if I gave him some space to breathe. “Perhaps I should let you––”

“No don’t go,” he rasped.

Still unsure, I glanced at Tatum.

“Tell him something else,” she suggested, smiling at me.

“Okay, well, so you know, Griff chose not to sue the city of Eena, but they are paying for his therapy until he turns eighteen,” I explained, “and he did receive a small cash settlement that is in a trust for college.”

His eyes welled with tears, but none spilled over. “How bad was he hurt?”

“I have pictures. I can show you. But keep in mind, Gerald Wilson has been removed as chief of police of Eena. Wilson has relocated to Seattle, and I have no concerns that he will return, as his wife and daughter are no longer here in town. Now, because of all that, I told Chief Higheagle in Newcastle that we no longer need the police officer patrol she originally provided.”

Griff chimed in, “We don’t need it because you hit Wilson so hard, he flew off the fuckin’ porch like⁠—”

“I noticed you didn’t change your number on the board to zero, and now, with the swearing, you’re at negative one.”

“Oh, man,” Griff grumbled, walking over to the dry-erase board above the new hooks to the left of the sliding glass door.

“I see their backpacks hanging out here now. Why not keep them in the mudroom?” Luke asked me.

“Because that’s the place for wet coats, boots, etcetera. The kids normally need to get back into their bags, and we don’t want them to get musty or wet from hanging under a wet rain poncho. Am I right?”

He nodded.

“That was all Griff,” I let him know, then pulled up the pictures, flipped my phone around, and slid it across the table to him.