It didn’t matter that Rose had been a drug addict. It didn’t matter that she’d willingly abandoned her daughter in a dangerous storm to go get a fix. It didn’t matter that she’d endangered her by exposing her to her supplier and possible trafficking. To Lexie, she was her mother. And she’d never get to talk to her, see her or hug her again. The loss would be hard on her. Not just today, but for the rest of her life.
Then it hit Melissa. This was part of being a parent. The hard conversations. The parting of bad news and then the picking up the pieces to help a child move forward and grow. Courage. That’s what being a mother, father or even a foster parent was about.
She could do this.
“Lexie, sweetie, there’s something we need to talk about before we go see the judge,” she said, then stopped to swallow the raw emotion caught in her throat before continuing. “It’s about your mama.”
“Mama’s going to meet the judge, too?” Lexie asked, raising her face to stare earnestly at Melissa.
She shook her head. “No, sweetie. Remember when we talked about your nana a while back and you told Daniel that she’d died?”
Lexie nodded. “In Florida. Mama said we couldn’t go visit her because she died.”
“That’s right.” Melissa paused again, ratcheting up her courage. “I’m afraid your mama has died, too.”
“In Florida?” Lexie drew her brows down in confusion.
“No, sweetie. She died here in Westen.”
Lexie seemed to consider this. “Can I go see her?”
Melissa shot a panicked look to Daniel. He seemed as bewildered as she did.
He cleared his throat. “In a few days, I think you can see her. Do you understand what happens when someone or something dies, Lexie?”
The little girl twisted her lips in the sideways pucker she made whenever she was thinking about a problem. “Nana told me that their spirit leaves their body and goes up to heaven to live in a happier place. She told me this would happen to Mama someday.” She leaned against Melissa, who wrapped her arm around her slim shoulders.
“Why did she tell you this?” Melissa asked gently.
“She said the medicine was bad for Mama. That it would kill her.” Lexie pressed in tighter against Melissa. “I wanted Mama to be happy. Her medicine made her so sad. Do you think Mama is happy now?”
Melissa didn’t want to lie to Lexie. She wasn’t an expert on religious beliefs and certainly didn’t know what happened to people after death. So, she answered her as honestly as she could. “I think that your mama’s spirt is at peace now.”
Chloe said Wöden is your pet.” Lexie eyed Wes as she rubbed the wolf-dog’s head laying on her tutu-covered lap.
Once they all arrived at the courthouse, Chloe and Libby spoke with the Judge’s clerk. He agreed to meet with them in his chambers, along with Gage, Bobby, Melissa and Daniel. Since Wöden had accompanied him and Chloe to town, it was decided that Wes would remain in the hallway with Lexie, supposedly to keep an eye on the wolf-dog, although Wes was pretty sure Wöden wouldn’t let any stranger within a few feet of the little girl.
“Wöden isn’t really anyone’s pet, not like regular dogs belong to people. He sort of comes and goes as he pleases.” Wes leaned back against the wall behind the bench, extended his legs and crossed them at the ankles, resting his hands loosely in his lap. “I hear he’s been coming to see you every day for lunch. What do you feed him?”
Lexie mimicked his posture, her back slouched against the back of the bench, her legs dangling a few inches off the floor, one hand still in the wolf-dog’s fur, the other clutching a tattered old teddy bear in her lap. “He likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fishy crackers.”
“Good choice.”
“What does he eat at your house?”
“Steaks. But he really likes it when Chloe makes popcorn.”
A man in an expensive suit with his cell phone plastered to his ear, came striding down the hall a little too close to where they sat. Wöden lifted his head and growled loud enough to get the man’s attention. The man jumped to the side, swearing and his eyes bulged as he moved quickly away from them.
“Good boy,” Wes said and winked at Lexie.
She giggled. “He doesn’t like strangers.”
Content that the threat to his new friend was gone, Wöden laid his head back on her lap for more ear scratching joy.
Wes waited a few minutes before asking, “Have many strangers come over to the Westen House when Wöden’s been there?”
Lexie tilted her head a little and lifted her eyes to study the ceiling as if trying to remember any strangers. “Well, there was Deputy Bobby, but she was just a stranger to me. Wöden knew she was Chloe’s sister. Then there’s the delivery men. He doesn’t like them, so they wave and leave the packages near the mailbox. Wöden and I get them after the trucks leave.”
“Does he bark at anything else?”
“Cars that slow down or stop on the road by the house, always get him growling. Especially when Gary’s car came by the other day.”
Shit. Gary was Rose’s boyfriend and their suspected drug dealer/murderer.
His internal warning bells going off, Wes sat forward, his legs spread and his elbows on his thighs, considering his next question very carefully.
Their efforts to identify this bastard had come to a halt with Rose’s death. Fingerprints landed them nothing. No witnesses, the local addicts were in hiding like cockroaches in daylight. At the moment their only source of information was sitting beside him, dressed in jeans with a pink tutu over them, a pink sweater, pink high-tops and had her blond hair up in pigtails with pink ribbons. She’d just lost her mother and the last thing he wanted to do was scare her.
“What color of car does Gary drive?” he asked, figuring she might not know the makes of cars, but she’d be able to give him a description.
Lexie pushed off the back of the bench to lean forward, once more mimicking his posture, her brows drawn down as she considered his question. “It’s brown. Not brown like the brown crayon. More like the sepia one.”
Wes felt the corners of his lips twitch. He fought to keep from smiling and distracting her from thinking. If Melissa did get custody of her, she was going to have her hands full with this little girl. Nothing got past her.
“Do you know if it has two doors or four?”
“Five.”
“Five?” Maybe she wasn’t as observant as he thought.
“Two in the front. Two in the back. One for the trunk.”
“Ah. Five. I always forget that trunk door.”
“Nana had a car like it, only hers was dark blue.”
“Do you think if you saw some pictures of cars you could pick it out?” he asked pulling his smart phone out of his pocket.
“Yes. Can Wöden look, too?” she asked and scooted closer.
“Sure.” Wes held the phone down between them. He brought up a page of car images and he’d be damned if the wolf-dog didn’t sit, and stare at the images as he slowly flipped them across the screen.
Melissa sat between Daniel and Libby on the leather button-tufted sofa in the private chambers of Judge Terrence Rawlins. She’d never been in a judge’s private office, but she’d seen some on TV. This one had the rich, dark wooden shelves, trim and flooring. What she assumed was an oriental rug covered most of the floor. All the chairs were thickly padded leather. There were some personal touches, mostly fishing awards, one mounted fish that looked to be two feet long and framed pictures of him with his family, particularly his son the town mayor, Tobias. Then there was the judge’s desk, big as the kitchen island back at the Westen House.
Intimidating?
Yes. It worked. She was intimidated.
“So, we are sure there are no living relatives of the little girl?” Judge Terrence Rawlins leaned back in his leather chair. He was dressed to match his office’s grandeur in a blue silk suit, crisp white shirt and deep blue tie. His thick white hair was cut in a styli
sh manner and his skin a rich tan color of someone who enjoyed spending time outdoors.
Libby opened the file on her lap, holding up papers as she spoke. “According to the birth certificate, Lexie’s father is listed as unknown. Rose was an only child and her mother has passed away in Florida.”
The judge nodded, then focused on Sheriff Justice. “You think this Rose Cochran’s death is not a simple overdose?”
“We’re still waiting on the lab results from the postmortem, which could take weeks,” Gage said, looking relaxed as if he’d been in this office more than once. “But my gut is telling me she was killed. After talking to my contacts in the drug unit back in Columbus, we may have more than a heroin problem here.”
“Yes. You believe someone is killing these addicts and absconding with their children for sex trafficking.” The judge rested his elbows on the arms of his chair and steepled his fingers together in front of him, considering everything he’d been told since the group amassed in his office. “And you believe Lexie Cochran’s life is in jeopardy if we send her into the Child Protective Services care?”
“We do, your honor.” It was Chloe’s turn to take up the ball. “Lexie is thriving in the care of Ms. Davis at the Westen House. It is a small environment where she is carefully monitored and has adult supervision twenty-four-seven. Because of the situation, the abandonment of her mother during the blizzard, that brought Lexie to the Westen House, Libby and the board decided it would be best to home school her, once again making her security top priority.”
Judge Rawlins held up his hand, stopping Chloe. “What of the safety of the other young residents at Westen House? By keeping this little girl there, are we not opening them up to danger?”
Daniel sat forward. “I’ve spent quite a bit of time with the four young men residing at Westen House, Judge. Sadly, because of their backgrounds and troubled lives at home and various other places, they are more mature than the average teen. They are aware of their surroundings and on constant vigilance for danger. They also have bonded with Lexie and treat her as their younger sister. Keeping Lexie at Westen House is by far the safest place for her until we catch whoever is behind this.”
The judge looked at each adult across the room from him, his gaze finally coming to rest on Melissa.
She sat up straighter, meeting his stare eye-to-eye. The last time she’d seen Judge Rawlins was the day she testified to the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband. She’d been timid, intimidated and frankly scared to death this man would force her to return to her tortuous life. Now she was different. She was strong. She was Lexie’s foster mother and she’d fight to the death to protect her from any harm or anyone, including this pillar of the law.
Then the nearly septuagenarian smiled. “It is good to see you again, Ms. Davis. Apparently, being the house mother of four teenaged boys and one little girl has been good for you.”
“Thank you, sir. I like to think we’ve been good for each other.”
“From the reports I’ve been getting, not just from the people in this room,” he glanced around at all the professionals gathered together, “but from the town folks and of course Lorna over at the Peaches ’N Cream, you are doing an excellent job.”
This time Melissa just nodded, her cheeks heating with embarrassment that she was the subject of town gossip, even if it was good.
“So, it would seem that I have two choices. Do the standard thing and have Lexie placed in CPS’s hands, which would move her out of the county and either hide her from the danger or set her up for an easy snatch by this perpetrator. Or I can do what I feel is right.” He leaned forward in his chair, pressing both his elbows into the mahogany of this desk and once again stared intently at Melissa.
“Ms. Davis, you are not a trained social worker, nor a law enforcement officer. However, I think you are something much more qualified to protect this little girl. You’re a fighter. I saw it that day last fall when you fought for your freedom and justice against your abuser. You are also a natural mother to all those souls in your care there at Westen House. In my years as a judge and having had a fierce mother myself, I believe Lexie couldn’t be in more capable hands than someone who would fight to protect her like you will.”
Melissa relaxed, even as the thrill of being granted custody, even temporarily, of Lexie surged through her.
The judge shifted his gaze to Gage. “Sheriff, I assume you are beefing up your presence at the Westen House?”
“We are,” Gage answered. “Hourly drive-by checks by my deputies and around-the-clock guarding on site.”
“Won’t that be a lot of overtime for the county?”
“Not really,” Bobby said with a smile meant to disarm the judge, which worked as he returned it. “I’m mostly on desk duty these days, so I’ll be spending them at the Westen House. Evenings and nights will belong to Deputy Löwe.” She gave a little nod to Daniel.
The judge shifted his gaze to the man seated beside Melissa, whose cheeks heated again as the judge took in their proximity.
Daniel didn’t flinch. “When we became aware of the danger Lexie and the others at Westen House last night, I spent the night on the couch there. It was very comfortable. For the time being, I’ll be camped out there.”
“I see.” The judge glanced around once more. “And where is Lexie at the moment?”
Chloe spoke up. “We felt it best for her not to be present while we discussed the problems of the case and the details of her mother’s death. Currently, she’s in the hallway with Deputy Strong and Wöden.”
The judge lifted his brows and tilted his head to Lexie’s court appointed advocate. “Your shadow is helping guard her?”
Chloe grinned. “He has taken a liking to her, much as he has me, your honor.”
“Then her safety is in very good hands, or paws, as it were.”
Everyone chuckled.
19
Those two look very studious,” Lorna said to Melissa as she slid two bowls of macaroni and cheese and one plate of spring mix salad onto the table.
After the meeting with Judge Rawlins ended, Wes had informed them of his conversation with Lexie about the car and its appearance outside Westen House. Explaining how she and he had tried using his phone to locate the right type of car, without success, he suggested they have her look on the internet for older vehicles that might match the one she said Gary drove.
Gage had squatted down next to Lexie and asked if she thought she could pick Gary out of pictures if she looked at them. She’d nodded and they’d taken her to the sheriff’s office to look through mug shots from the State’s criminal data base. After two hours, and thousands of images, they’d given up on finding their suspect in the bunch. Daniel had speculated that he might never have been in the data base to begin with.
Lexie had started fidgeting about thirty minutes before Gage had called a halt to the process. When it was suggested she look for cars, Melissa insisted Lexie needed to eat. She’d been around the little girl long enough to recognize that her agitation was due to hunger more than boredom.
Since they were already in town near the Peaches ’N Cream, they decided to treat Lexie to her favorite lunch place for being so patient with all the morning’s proceedings. Daniel brought his tablet to the café with them, so he and Lexie could look at cars while they ate. They were seated on the opposite side of the booth from Melissa, taking advantage of the café’s Wi-Fi connection to search the internet for pictures.
“Thanks, Lorna. We’re starving, aren’t we?” Daniel winked at Lexie as he pulled his bowl to him and ate a healthy spoonful.
“They’re looking at cars,” Melissa said, pulling the salad closer, and making sure Lexie’s mac and cheese was within easy reach, but didn’t block her from getting to her glass of strawberry lemonade. “Lexie, you need to eat.”
Matching Daniel, Lexie scooped up a big spoonful of the creamy noodles and held it in front of her mouth as she fixed a very serious look on Lorna. “We’r
e doing official sheriff work.”
“You are?” Lorna said, just as earnestly. “Then I’d best let you to it, huh?”
Nodding, Lexie shoved the spoon into her mouth and leaned back towards Daniel, nearly hidden behind his extra-large tablet.
Lorna turned slightly to face Melissa and resting her hip against the tabletop. “I heard Terrence Rawlins had the good sense to give you custody of our little friend.”
“It’s temporary, but yes, he did.” Melissa said as she poured dressing onto her salad from the little ramekin.
“And well, he should,” Lorna said, with a pat to her shoulder. “He ought to make it permanent. You’ve done a great job with her and all the others. If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”
“Lorna,” Melissa said, leaning in closer. “There is something you can do for us.”
“Whatever you need.”
Melissa considered how to tactfully approach the café owner with a sensitive topic. “Lexie’s life is going to be hard enough over the next days and even months. She needs all the protection we can give her while she adjusts to things. If there was any way to keep the gossip about her mother’s death to a minimum…” She let the sentence drift off.
“Don’t you worry. I’ll nip anything about it in the bud inside these walls,” Lorna said with a brisk nod and another pat to her shoulder before turning to see who’d just come in the café. “Best get on with my work.”
“Nice move,” Daniel said, with a nod towards Lorna’s retreating form.
Melissa gave a little shrug as she pierced salad greens and a halved strawberry onto her fork. “She knows everything that goes on in this town. Better to have her defending our girl than feeding the gossip mill.”
“The judge was right.”
Her mouth full of food, she drew her brows down in what-are-you-talking-about look.
Close To The Heart (Westen Series Book 5) Page 20
