“Inside. I just was hot and forgot it,” he says. He gives me a wave and hurries off, but Liam stares after him.
“What?” I ask.
“I don’t like that family.”
“What? My neighbors? They’re fine. And Cole is sweet. How do you even know them?”
“It’s my job to know the people in your world.”
“Are you stalking my neighbors?”
“No. The kid’s father clearly dislikes our relationship and showed it when he watched me get out of your car a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I’ve caught him watching us. That right there is a kid who has been kicked out of the house and wasn’t allowed to take his coat.”
“What if he just forgot his coat?” I ask, although I know that Liam is rarely wrong… if ever. Liam slips into the house and shuts the door before going over to the window. Cole looks up at my house and sees that we’re no longer standing in the open door before he starts back toward his house, but he doesn’t go inside. Instead, he walks onto the porch and sinks into the dark corner as he pulls himself up tight.
“What if he’s locked out and too shy to ask to wait over here?” I wonder. “I’ll go ask him.”
Liam shakes his head. “His father’s home; I saw him walk by a minute or two ago.”
“Fuck. I’ll bring him a coat and talk with his father.”
“You don’t think that’ll make it worse?”
“Then what do you expect me to do? Sit back and relax? You’ve literally informed me that my neighbor’s being abusive to his teenager and expect me to think it’s okay?”
“You can call it in, but if the kid won’t admit to it, he’ll be left in a more toxic situation.”
I eye the spot where Cole sits even though I can’t see him any longer. “What would you do?”
Liam stares at the house for a long moment. “Nothing at all.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s not a lie. Tossing your kid out in the cold is a dick move for sure, but it’s not enough to entice me into killing him.”
What he says makes me hesitate. “I didn’t mean… to have youkillhim.”
“Put a call in to CPS if you’d like, but he’s going to back up his father because he’s the only person in his life. I looked into him yesterday. A teacher called CPS a few weeks ago after suspecting something but the kid denied everything. He’s nearly an adult; he’s had many years to think that this life is perfectly fine. You need to show him it’s not so when CPS is called again, he doesn’t protect his father.”
“I’m taking him a coat and checking things out. If you think something’s going on, I’m calling CPS.”
“Just be prepared for him to withdraw from you when you try to help him again,” he says a minute before I see the door open and watch as Cole scurries inside.
“Then I’ll make sure nobody lets them know I was the one who called.”
“Keep an eye on him but don’t engage until you know something that’ll help him,” Liam suggests. “If he refuses help again, talk to the kid and make sure he’ll go to your side before you get involved further. The moment he’s willing to rely on you, do more. But first you need to get him to trust you so he runs toyour side. Somehow you got that cat to adore you. A human child can’t be as hard.”
I put a call in to someone who works at CPS who we’ve interacted with in the past on a few cases. I explain that we currently don’t have any proof of the situation but will keep an eye on him. Hopefully, something positive will come from it, but Liam’s likely right. I’ll need better proof, as well as getting Cole to trust me.
When I return to the living room with Lucille in my hands, Liam reaches out, but the cat yowls the second he tries to even hold a hand out to her. It’s like she’s disgusted by his very presence, but honestly, I think he’s gotten closer to her than anyone else ever has. She should be sitting on his lap before long.
“She already likes you more than anyone but me,” I assure him.
Liam just laughs like that’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard as Lucille bats at him,buther claws are only partway out, which I would consider a win.
My phone rings before I even have a moment to sit down, and I see that it’s our boss, Sgt. Michaels, calling. “This is Hyde,” I say.
“Paige with you?”
