all that attitude radiating from him like heat waves off a sidewalk.
“What’s for din—” he started to ask, then his gaze landed on Jess. For one brief instant, pure panic flickered across his expression, but he quickly hid it behind belligerence. “I didn’t do nothin’.”
Interesting. Now, why would the kid suddenly break a sweat just at the sight of a cop when he’d always been a cocky little wise guy, even when Jesse or one of the five officers in his department caught him red-handed up to something?
What was he messed up in now that had him so jumpy? Whatever it was, Jesse had a bad feeling about it. He obviously needed to keep a better eye on the kid.
He raised an eyebrow. “What makes you so sure you’re in trouble?”
“I’m not?” Corey’s voice cracked on the second word.
“Should you be?”
“No. I told you, I ain’t done nothin’.”
“Haven’t done anything,” Ginny corrected quietly.
“Whatever.”
“Good,” Jesse said, thinking fast. “Because I need your help.”
All three of them stared at him. To Ginny and Seth, he sent a reassuring smile. He’d been a cop a long time and the one thing he’d learned was to trust his instincts. He could start interrogating the boy about his injuries—the black eyes, the cut, whatever bruises the schoolteacher had seen that afternoon.
But judging by his experiences with Corey, he was sure the kid wouldn’t tell them a thing. He would turn closemouthed and uncooperative and give Jesse the same bull he’d been giving everybody else about his injuries.
On the other hand, if he could spend a little time with Corey—convince the kid to trust him—maybe Jesse could get to the bottom of this.
“I’m in need of a partner for a couple days. You interested?”
The boy looked baffled. “A partner?”
“Yeah. I’m coming to school next month to talk about crime prevention.” That much was true, at least. The annual visit had been scheduled for weeks. The rest he was making up as he went along.
“I was thinking I could use somebody who knows his way around to help me out,” Jesse went on. “Give the other kids some pointers about how to stay safe and out of trouble.”
“Me? You want me to help you?”
“Why not?”
The boy looked as if he could think of a million reasons why not, but there was also an unmistakable curious light in his eyes.
Jesse decided to play on that. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but I could really use your help. If you agree to help me, you’ll need to come to the station a few times so we can figure out what we’re going to do. What do you think?”
“Sounds lame.”
“Maybe. That’s why I need your help. You can make me sound cool enough that the kids will listen to me.”
“You want me to help you be cool?”
He had to fight a triumphant grin at the unwilling fascination in the boy’s eyes at the idea. “Yeah. Think you can handle it?”
“I don’t know, Chief.” The kid sent him a sidelong look. “Could be a pretty tough job.”
Jesse laughed. “I think you’re man enough to handle it.”
Corey chewed his lip, and Jesse could just about see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out all the angles. He held his breath, waiting for the boy’s answer. After a few beats, Corey shrugged his bony shoulders. “Sure. Why not?”
“Great. Meet me at my office tomorrow after school.”
“Whatever. Can I go now?” he asked his mother.
Ginny nodded. As soon as they heard footsteps pounding up the stairs, both of the Garretts turned to him.
“What was that all about?” Seth asked.
“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I figured maybe if I have a chance to talk one-on-one with him, he might open up a little and tell me what’s going on.”
“Are you sure Corey would be willing to do this?” Ginny asked with a frown. “And even if he does, how do you know he’ll talk to you?”
“Well, even if he doesn’t open up and talk to me about whatever’s going on with him, maybe he’ll learn something himself about staying out of trouble.”
A strident cry echoed through the house suddenly. “There’s Maddie.” Ginny rose from the couch.
Jesse stood, as well. “I’ll get out of your hair, then.”
“Would you like to stay for supper? We’re having fried chicken and mashed potatoes.”
The offer of some decent home cooking for a change had his mouth watering.
He used to drop by the family ranch two or three nights a week when Cassie lived there with Matt and Lucy. She was divine in the kitchen. But after Matt’s wedding, Cassie had surprised them all by taking a job at a dude ranch north of town and moving out. Since Jesse didn’t want to bug the newlyweds while they were busy setting up house, for the past month he’d had to make do with his own pitiful attempts at cooking.
As much as he wouldn’t mind staying for supper, he suddenly decided he’d much rather stop in to see Sarah McKenzie again. She was probably wondering what had happened with Corey.
And he had a powerful hankering to see if he could figure out what had put those shadows in her pretty green eyes.
Every muscle in her body ached.
That would teach her to spend two solid hours yanking weeds and hauling compost. Sarah winced at the burn in her arms as she tried to comb the snarls out of her hair. Even after a long, pounding shower with water as hot as she could stand, her muscles still cried out in protest.
She was so out of shape, it was pathetic. After the attack, she had become almost manic about trying to rebuild the damage that had been done to her body. Maybe on some subconscious level she had thought if she were stronger or faster she could protect herself. She had followed her physical therapy routine religiously, working for hours each day to regain strength.
Eventually, though, she had become so frustrated at the reality of her new, permanent limitations that she had eased off.
After she came to Salt River, it had been so exhausting at first just keeping up with her students she hadn’t had energy to exercise. Eventually, she fell into a busy routine that didn’t leave much time for anything but school.
Still, she should have made time. Working out in the yard shouldn’t leave her knee on fire and the rest of her throbbing muscles jumbled into one big ache.
It
