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A strand of auburn hair fell across her face. I reached out to tuck it behind her ear, but she pulled back. Again.
I clenched my jaw. She never used to avoid my touch.
“We need to talk.”
“No. I gotta go and see my sister and then figure out this whole mess with my mother.” She opened the car door before I could get it for her.
I unbuckled and went to grab her suitcases from the back.
“I’ve got it,” Whitney intercepted me, hefting the heavier case on her own.
“Dammit, Whit, what is going on with you?” I muttered to myself as I watched her make her way to the front door. Within seconds of knocking, her sister opened the door, pulling Whitney into a bear hug. I watched as they made their way inside.
Having lingered too long, I started up the car and drove away.
It wasn’t hard to find a spot in the Haver’s Creek police department parking lot. My shift had ended, but I needed to get a few things done before I could call it quits.
Kurt staffed the front desk most days and waved in greeting as I entered the precinct, taking off my sunglasses.
“What’s new, Kurt?” The rookie cop had a mop of blond hair and an earnest expression that made him look like someone out of a 1950s advertisement for chewing gum. He was a good kid, but a little green. I ran my hand through my growing scruff, mind focused solely on Whitney and her mother.
“Just got off the phone with the hospital. I guess Ellen Rose is almost ready to be released into our custody.”
That captured my attention.
“You know what that’s about?” Kurt asked.
I nodded. “Ellen was driving with a BAC well over the legal limit and got into a nasty fender bender.” I shared the details with him as he listened with rapt attention, his chin in his palm and his eyes widening at all the appropriate parts of the story.
Kurt smiled a dreamy smile. “You love this Whitney Rose.”
I dragged my hand through my hair. “Don’t go starting rumors now. You know how this town is.” My voice was harsher than it probably needed to be, so I changed the subject. “Is Darrell in?” I nodded in the direction behind Kurt.
All humor and romantic notions left Kurt’s face. “Yep, he’s back there.”
“Thanks.”
Pushing through the swinging saloon doors, I headed towards the epicenter of the precinct, which held our offices, the interrogation room, and a holding cell.
With a closed fist, I knocked on Darrell’s door.
Darrell had been the chief of the Haver’s Creek police force since I was a kid. He knew all about Ellen’s history and would be more unbiased than me about what to do with her.
If it were up to me, I’d keep the woman in the holding cell until she sobered up, and then not let her leave her cell until she agreed to check herself into a treatment facility. She’d tried treatment once or twice before, but she needed to keep trying until it took. Her behavior had threatened to take the light from Whitney’s eyes, and I didn’t want to see her hurt by this woman again. There was only so much a person could take.
I shook my head in disgust.
A lifetime of cleaning up Ellen Rose’s mess was a tough pill to swallow.
Chapter 3
Jack – Age 5
The First Dayof Kindergarten
My mom walked me to the classroom door, kissed me goodbye and said she’d be by in a few hours to take me home from school. I nodded, even though I was nervous. I waved to her as she left but stayed in the doorway waiting for my best friend Ian to arrive, bouncing on my feet, hoping he’d get there soon.
I noticedherright away. The girl with the pigtails had gotten out of the front seat of the old brown car.
