Page 2 of Having HIs Back
He parked just down the street, away from the police vehicles, and approached a scene of sheer chaos. Phillip was out in the yard, still in his pajamas, screaming at the top of his lungs in absolute agony. Henry held the hand of a lady that Kerry assumed was Karen.
“What the hell is going on?” Kerry asked as he marched over to Phillip and lifted him into his arms. “Remember me? I’m Uncle Kerry.”
Phillip clung to him, tears running down his cheeks. “They said Mommy is dead and then they took Pebbles.” He began crying all over again.
“Is this Miss Karen?” he asked Phillip, trying to give him something to focus on other than his grief, at least for a few seconds. Phillip nodded. “Do you like her?” He nodded again. “Then will you stay with Miss Karen while I see what’s going on? I promise I’ll be right back.” He gently set Phillip down, and Phillip took Karen’s other hand. Then Kerry took a few deep breaths, which only increased his anger, but what the fuck. He marched over to where a number of officers were gathered.
“Sir,” one of them said, but Kerry ignored him.
“I want the man in charge, now!” he snapped, using the voice he’d perfected when he taught high school psychology for a year. After that, he knew he wanted to go back for his masters.
“Detective Morrow is in charge here,” he said after a second. “But I’d…,” he began, though Kerry, under a full head of steam, was already on his way over.
“What is going on here?” Kerry demanded as he approached the officer.
“And you are?” He had the look of someone who was used to being the center of attention and taken seriously.
“Kerry Sutherland, Caroline’s brother, and uncle to two very upset boys. Apparently, one of you took it upon yourselves to tell the boys that their mother was gone.” He looked around at each of them, waiting for the slight incline of a head that would show the guilty party… and he got it. “Smooth move. Are you happy? This sort of news should be delivered by a family member if possible. Not someone the kids don’t know. Secondly, you have two kids who have lost their mom, and you left them traumatized and screaming on the grass… and you took away the dog.” His indignation kept building. “So, detective, I think you have a lot of explaining to do.” Kerry took a moment and got as good look at the man in question. His eyes were piercingly dark, his hair clipped short, and his clothes had to have been made for him, because nobody got that kind of sinful fit by accident.
“Are you done?” he asked, as calm as could be.
“No. These kids are my first priority. So, I expect someone to return the dog now. Unless you did something to Pebbles—then you’ll all be in deep shit. And the officer who spoke to the kids, incorrectly and possibly illegally, will explain to me exactly what he said so I can try to help these kids.”
“And who are you?”
Was he bemused? Kerry wanted to smack that look off his face, but he held himself in check.
He cleared his throat. Clearly he hadn’t been listening. “Dr. Kerry Sutherland, with Randall and Sutherland. We specialize in child psychology. I helped the state write the rules regarding child victims and interactions with law enforcement.” Let Officer Sanctimonious chew on that for a second or two.
“And I’m Brian Morrow, the lead detective on this case. Yes, you can definitely speak to our officer.” He opened his notebook. “We took the dog because we found blood on him, and we need to get it tested as quickly as possible. It could be from the person who killed your sister. As soon as we get the samples we need, I will bring Pebbles back.”
“All right.” At least that was something he could tell the boys.
“We’re still gathering evidence in the house, and I’d like to talk to the boys to find out if they saw anything.”
Kerry shook his head. “Not right now. They have been through too much at the moment, and what I need to do now is to try to explain to them that their mother isn’t coming back.”
“Do they have a guardian?” Detective Morrow asked.
“Yes. Me.” Lord help them all. Caroline had made a will a year earlier because Kerry had told her she had to. She had asked him to raise the boys if she couldn’t. And now it looked as if that unlikely event was coming to pass.
“Good.”
“Can we go into the house?”
“We’re done in the main rooms there, but stay out of the garage. We’ll seal it off when we’re done, so stay out of it for a few days until we know that there isn’t more we need to see.”
Kerry returned to where Karen stood with the boys. He introduced himself and apologized for ignoring her earlier. Then he took Phillip into his arms, and Henry silently wrapped his arms around Kerry’s legs. “We can go inside if you want,” Kerry said. At least they could sleep in their own beds and have their own rooms. Kerry would figure out what he was going to do eventually, but right now, all he could do was look after the kids and try to help them through their grief. He had been trained in things like this, but helping others was one thing. Trying to help your own family was quite another. Still, these kids needed him, and he would be there come hell or high water.
“I’m hungry,” Phillip told him softly, and Kerry led them inside to see what he could find to eat.
The house looked pretty much the same. He could tell that people had been through it, but at least there wasn’t a mess. He went with Phillip to check out his room and then did the same with Henry, who took his hand but didn’t say a word. He just kept looking up at him with his huge blue eyes, seeming adrift and at a loss. It sucked that these boys had to go through this.
Kerry knelt in front of Henry. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you that. You and Phillip are going to stay with me, and I will look after both of you.” He waited for some sort of reaction, but all he got were a few blinks and then a slight nod.
He had worked with traumatized children before, and he’d had some that were nonverbal, at least for a while, so all he could do was give Henry some time and hopefully he’d work things through. If not, then he’d step in and help him as best he could.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. But if there is something you want to tell me, then you can do that too.” Hehugged him, and Henry went into his arms, holding him, but other than a sigh, he didn’t make a sound.
