looked back at Darcy, who’d stepped out of the conference room carrying a folder with the photos inside. “Good luck,” he mouthed.
Reluctantly, Thad started toward Wade’s office. Once he reached it, Wade let him in and then closed the door.
“What’s with the background on Cameo Harmon?” Wade asked.
He had found out. Thad stopped before Wade’s desk as the chief of police walked around to his chair. “How—”
“Don’t ask me how I know.” Wade sat down. “Answer the damn question.”
Thad knew he’d have no choice, given the sound of his tone. He explained about Lucy and her date Cam, leaving out his hunch that Cam may be connected to his mother’s shooting.
Wade scrutinized him like the hardened chief he was. “Is she your girlfriend or something?”
“No.” Why did everyone keep making references to that?
“Who is she to you?”
“My mother’s nurse. She’s an acquaintance.”
Thad suffered more scrutiny. “Why are you involving yourself in her affairs? She’s an adult. Nothing’s been reported yet. If she decides to report something about this man she met, she can do so on her own.”
“I can’t stand aside and do nothing. The man nearly assaulted her in the hospital parking lot.”
“Then let her report it.”
There was no reasoning with him, so Thad stopped trying.
“Taking matters into your own hands?” Wade asked.
“No, sir.”
After another lengthy scrutiny, Wade pointed his finger at Thad. “I don’t like how sneaky you’ve been lately.”
“It’s not intentional. It’s a personal matter. My mother’s been shot and her nurse was attacked. I want to protect them, that’s all.”
Wade seemed marginally placated by that.
“Maybe I should take a leave of absence,” Thad offered. “My mother is going to be released from the hospital soon and I’d like to be home with her while she recovers.”
Wade didn’t believe him. He thought Thad would run his own investigation on his mother’s shooter. He was, but that didn’t have to be confessed.
“I need you here,” Wade said.
Where he could keep an eye on him. “I need to be with my mother. She’s got a long recovery ahead of her. She needs me.”
He watched Wade consider it. Would he really stop him from being with his mother—especially when she was almost murdered? Employees were entitled to take time off. Wade could find a way to get rid of him for it, cover up the true reason with other documented infractions, but Thad didn’t think he’d take on that fight. And fight Thad would.
“You have one month. You start snooping around on the Kate Winston investigation, I’ll find out about it.”
Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t. Thad decided it didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter was putting the shooter behind bars.
* * *
Thad picked Lucy up five minutes early. Punctual. Lucy liked that. She liked too many things about him, a man who didn’t agree with marriage. Not that she meant to set out to marry him. He was disqualified from the start. And that’s what ruined all of the fun. Cam had looked good on paper but in person he’d done nothing for her. Thad was different. He’d probably look good on paper and he definitely did something for her in person.
Thad parked in front of the Westside Library, an old, two-story building on a quiet street corner. After performing his job to make sure Cam wasn’t following them, he lifted the box of children’s books Lucy brought along out of the backseat of his car.
Walking beside him toward the library, she was so glad he was here. Last night, she’d been afraid Cam would find out where she lived and come to her house. She hadn’t slept very well.
She opened the library door for Thad, who easily carried the box of books inside. This was her favorite part about volunteering for a literacy program. She’d gotten the books from a local festival that had gathered donations for tonight’s event. Lucy was supposed to read a short story to the kids, but she had her own idea. Besides, she wanted them to do the reading. That’s how they learned.
Inside, she led Thad to one of the meeting rooms. She could hear the kids already. It was playtime until her program began.
She checked on Thad, who looked ahead to where the noise was coming from, his brow low with dread.
“Kids aren’t complicated,” she said. “Just go with it. Be a kid again yourself if that helps.”
“I’m okay.”
She smiled at his false bravado and then led him into the room. It wasn’t a large room. There were four round tables and a small platform where she was supposed to sit on a stool and read while they followed in their own copies.
Thad put the box down on the nearest table, and Edith noticed their arrival.
“All right, everybody,” Edith said, an older, plump woman in a pink dress who was in charge of this event. She clapped her hands. “Take a seat.” Parents sat talking at one of the tables in the back. Some of them dropped their kids off and picked them up after the two-hour session was over.
Edith was a retired schoolteacher who inherited a comfortable sum from her mother and who wasn’t ready to stop teaching.
The yelling and running around slowly calmed. Boys and girls scurried for seats at the tables, swinging feet and fiddling with the books in front of them.
Lucy had to stop a quick laugh when she saw how Thad stiffened and watched out for small torpedoes with feet.
Lucy spotted seven-year-old Sophie charging toward her. She crouched for the impact of the girl’s hug.
“Lucy! Lucy!”
Lucy’s heart soared with affection. Why this youngster had taken to her so tightly, Lucy couldn’t guess, but it warmed her to the nth degree.
“Hey there, Sophie.” Sophie Cambridge was a special little girl. Recently orphaned after her mother was killed in a car accident and her father hadn’t stepped forward to take responsibility for her, she’d been thrust into the hands of the state. Her studies in school had rapidly declined, as anyone would expect.
She ruffled the child’s thick head of shoulder-length light brown hair. “How’s my girl?”
“I read a book!” Her golden-brown eyes were alight with innocent pride.
“You did? Which one?” Sophie reached out for approval whenever she could.
“A red dog.”
“A
