to his feet, Jessie realized their intruder was just a string bean of a disheveled, dark-haired boy with torn jeans and well-worn tennis shoes.
“How old are you?” she asked, and Brandon jerked toward her. “You can’t be more than sixteen.”
“Seventeen,” Danny answered for him, holding up the kid’s wallet.
“Who are you people?” Brandon snapped.
“I’m in charge of the questions,” Danny reminded him. “Tell us what you’re doing here.”
Brandon glared at the worn toe of his old shoe. “The only job I could get is part-time at one of the resorts in town. They put a roof over my head most weekends, but I don’t have any place to stay during the week.”
“So you thought you’d squat here.”
“It’s only for a few more weeks. Until I save enough for first month’s rent on a studio in Fawnskin.”
“Not a few more weeks, buddy,” Danny said. “Not even a few more hours. You can’t just break into somebody’s house and make like you live there.”
“And steal their jewelry,” Jessie added.
“I only took the one necklace,” he reasoned.
Danny lightly smacked the boy’s arm. “Only?”
“I was gonna put it back in a couple of weeks.”
“That necklace is very important to the owner of this home,” Jessie told him. “You need to hand that over right now.”
“I can’t. I hocked it.”
Jessie’s heart dropped. She imagined some greasy guy—not unlike that Chaz Decker who bought her engagement ring—drooling over the amethyst pendant Kaye had described. The difference being it had been given to her by someone precious; not a duplicitous faux husband.
“Where?” Danny’s question catapulted Jessie back to the moment.
“Valley Pawn, down the hill.”
“The one in Yucaipa?”
“Yeah.”
“You got a ticket on it in here?” Danny asked as he opened Brandon’s wallet again. “This it?” he asked, holding up a yellow receipt.
“Yeah. I just did it so I could eat. And gas up the bike.” Danny tucked the receipt into his pocket, and the kid sighed. “You gonna call the cops on me?”
Jessie expected a resounding, “Absolutely!” But Danny hesitated before answering. “No.”
“No?” Brandon yelped. “Are you kidding? That’s cool, man. You’re really cool.”
“But that courtesy is going to cost you,” he qualified. “You’re going to get out of here now—right now, tonight—and you’re not ever coming back. Do you know how I know this? Because I’ve got your information and I won’t hesitate for one L.A. minute to turn you in if I ever get even the slightest scent on the wind that you’ve been within a mile of this place. Do you read me?”
Jessie stifled the grin threatening to break into the seriousness Danny had created in the moment.
“Yes.”
“Which resort are you working at?”
Brandon grimaced. “Ah, come on, man. I need that job bad. There’s a chance I could go full-time when we get closer to the winter season.”
“I’m not gonna mess that up for you, kid. Although I probably ought to. Just tell me where you work.”
“The Summit.”
Danny nodded, and Jessie wondered where he might be going with his line of questioning.
“I know somebody with cabin rentals near The Summit. I’ll call him and see if I can’t put a roof over your head for a month until you can get into your Fawnskin studio.”
Brandon looked from Danny to Jessie and back again. “You serious?”
Danny pulled his cell phone out and gave the kid a nod. “You get this place cleaned up while I call. There’s a broom and dustpan in the garage. But of course you know where everything is around here, don’t you?”
Brandon lowered his head to camouflage a nervous chuckle.
Jessie watched Danny carefully as he spoke into the phone in a hushed tone, reminded again that his kindnesses to her in the beginning of their relationship hadn’t just been a case of isolated pity. Danny was seemingly empathetic to everyone enduring hard times, deserving or not, who crossed his path.
When he disconnected the call and moved back toward her, she touched him on the arm, and he shot her a quick nod with a questioning cock of his eyebrow.
“Sometimes I forget how kind you are,” she admitted.
He dismissed it with a sniff and a lopsided smile, then he shook his head.
“All right,” he directed at Brandon as the kid swept up the last of the mess. “Finish up there and I’ll drive you into town. You’ve got a place to stay, but in return you’ll do some odd jobs that need doing around the place. Before you tell me if you have anything to say about that, let me remind you people are doing you a favor here. So . . . do you have anything to say?”
“Yes,” the boy replied seriously. Jessie could hardly believe his gall.
“Then let’s hear it.”
He lifted his gaze to meet Danny’s and murmured, “Thank you.”
* * *
“Where have you guys been?” Allie exclaimed as Danny and Jessie walked through the door. “We were worried you got murdered and cut up into tiny pieces or something.”
Jessie grinned at her. “Well, thanks for your concern.”
“Did you at least catch the bad guy?”
“We did,” Jessie replied. “And Danny rehabilitated him as well.”
“What’s that mean?” Allie asked, her gaze darting between the two of them.
“Long story,” Danny commented. “Where’s your pops?”
“He’s out building up the fire in the pit while I look for the marshmallows.”
Danny pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “In the pantry. Top shelf.”
“You got any graham crackers? We could make s’mores.”
“Also in the pantry.”
Jessie waited for Allie to disappear around the corner before moving close and facing Danny. “That was really nice what you did for Brandon.”
“Somebody
