set her down and at once limped off. He could no longer see the boy, but he’d heard a door slam in the distance, in the direction of an outbuilding. Linc supposed he’d find Wolfgang in the bunkhouse. At least, he assumed the low structure was one of the two bunkhouses John said came with the ranch.
Afraid the little hellion might have time to rig some kind of trap at the door, Linc stood well to one side of what appeared to be the only way in. Cautiously, he shoved the door open with a toe. The interior, dark as a cave, smelled of urine and decay. Wrinkling his nose, Linc called, “Wolfie, either turn on a light or come outside so we can talk.”
The silence stretched, but Linc felt the boy’s presence.
“God, this place stinks like a sewer. Please tell me this isn’t where you kids sleep.” He reached inside and felt the wall for a light switch. Finding one, he flipped it on. A single bulb in the center of the room sprang to life, barely illuminating the area directly beneath the fixture. Not so much as a glimmer reached into any of the room’s four corners, but the bulb gave off enough power for Linc to see two sets of bunk beds. A cracked mirror hung over a single dresser with a broken leg. The mirror reflected the filament inside the bare bulb. As his eyes adjusted, Linc made out the boy crouched against the wall between the two sets of beds.
His heart lodged in his chest. “Look, son,” he said, attempting to calm his voice in spite of the fact that it remained rough with emotion. “I can only guess what you’ve put up with in the past. I promise you here and now, for however long you’re in my care, you won’t be hit—and your sleeping conditions will darned well improve.”
Freckles stood out on the boy’s pale cheeks. Wide blue eyes under a shock of sandy red hair warily assessed the man who barred the room’s only door.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Linc tried again to reassure the boy. “I only took over ownership of the ranch today. I can’t make instant changes. But I wouldn’t let a dog sleep in this rat hole. I hope the house is in better shape. If so, we’ll all bunk there tonight.” He shivered and stopped speaking to rub his arms. “What’s the heat in this building set at?”
“Ain’t no heat,” the boy growled. “But even if I gotta take the girls and run away in the dark, ain’t none of us sleeping with you, creep. So get that in your head.”
“God! That’s not what I meant by all of us sleeping in the house.” Shaken, Linc withdrew fractionally. “Did you see the older kids by the road? I simply meant it’s unacceptable to think anyone would have to sleep here with no heat. I trust the main house has a furnace. It’s probably big enough for everyone to stake out a sleeping spot for one night. Tomorrow, we’ll clean this place and locate a hardware store where I can buy baseboard heaters. To say nothing of mattresses that don’t sag or smell.” Linc eyed the definite bow in the beds.
“Why would you go to all that trouble before you get hold of Mrs. Jacobs?”
“Who?” Linc’s ears perked up at a new name tossed in the mix.
“Our social worker. I heard you talkin’ on the phone about her.”
“Jacobs isn’t the name I was given. But I gather Mrs. Bishop is new at the agency. I have no idea when we’ll be able to connect. So while you’re in my care, I want you kids sleeping on clean sheets and mattresses.”
“Hana wets. She don’t do it on purpose. The house mom said she wasn’t washin’ sheets for no brat big ’nuff to get up and go to the outhouse. I used to have a flashlight, but it broke. Hana’s scared to walk the trail by herself. I told her to wake me up, but she says I sleep too hard.”
“You mean…this bunkhouse has no bathroom, either?”
The boy’s stringy red hair slapped his ears as he shook his head.
“Where do you kids shower? Or bathe?” Linc amended his statement when the word shower drew a blank look from the boy.
“Fridays, Lydia used to toss me and Hana in the creek with a bar of soap. Before she took over from Judy Rankin, we got to wash in a dishpan Miz Judy set on the back porch. After the Tuckers came, they only let Cassie use the pan. On account of her not being able to get in the water ’cause of her twisted hip.”
A rough expulsion of breath left Lincoln’s lungs. “The news gets worse by the second. I can’t listen to any more. Except… Wolfie, how often did Mrs. Jacobs come to inspect the place? What agency worker would approve of kids living in such squalor?”
“She ain’t never come that I know. Not since she brung me and Hana here to live. Cassie and some others were already here. One house mister griped to Oasis, and somebody came at night and took the other kids away. That was before Rob Rankin. He said Oasis put them in another group home.” Climbing to his feet, the boy hiked a thin shoulder. “They coulda kilt ’em. That’s what Hana thinks.”
“I doubt that.” Although… Linc swept the room with a scowl. “How any adult could visit this mess and close his or her eyes to conditions here is beyond me. Look, I’m sure you have few reasons to trust anyone, but I wish you’d give me a chance. At least come back to the house and let your sister see that you haven’t run off without her. She was crying her eyes out when I left to find you.”
“Hana bawls a lot, but she’s only four. Don’t hold it against her, okay?”
“No, I wouldn’t hold crying against a child. How old are you, Wolfie?”
“Ten. I had my birthday last month. Lydia Tucker said I was just lying so she’d bake a cake. She never did, so Hana and Cassie think I’m still nine.”
Linc couldn’t even bring himself to comment on the Tuckers’ callous treatment of the children they were supposed to care for. He met the guarded eyes of the shivering boy. “Will you walk with me to the house?”
“O…kay,” Wolfie agreed, a catch in his voice. “But if anybody lays a hand on me or Hana, they’ll wish they hadn’t. I have sharp teeth and I can bite hard.”
“So George Tucker told me.” Linc waited to smile until he turned his back on the ten-year-old. “Biting’s not the way men solve things, Wolfie. Not even if they’re bad things. So before you go biting any of the folks up at the house, I’d like you to promise you’ll talk to me first. Trust me to handle the problem. Will you do that?”
“I ain’t makin’ no promises till I see.”
“I guess that’s fair enough. I’ve never met the older kids. But I suspect life’s been no picnic for them, either. I’ll start by giving them my house rules.”
“Rules?”
“Dos and don’ts. They’re pretty simple.”
“Oh.” The boy tucked his chin against his thin chest and tried to match Linc’s longer stride while leaving plenty of space between them.
Entering the ranch house provided instant respite from the stinging wind. The room was well lit and warm. The little dog dashed up, barking its head off. But otherwise, if Linc expected to walk into a beehive of activity, he was doomed to disappointment. Each teen appeared to have staked out his or her wedge of real estate. The three boys sat on the floor, propped against their possessions, which included backpacks and guitar cases. Randi and the other girl sat on a raised hearth in front of an empty fireplace. Hana and Cassie did their
