“I know you do. I want her too. But I can’t bring your mama back. I’m going to be here, though.” He had years of training, and yet that was the only answer he could give. Kerry felt helpless. He should be able to do more, but there was nothing. Caroline was gone, and nothing was going to bring her back.
Henry cried on his shoulder, and when Phillip returned, it wasn’t long before Henry’s tears brought some out in his brother. Kerry carried Henry to the sofa and sat down, and Phillip curled up next to him. Kerry did his best to comfort both boys, with Pebbles pressing against Phillip, doing his best to give comfort in a terrible situation.
“Uncle Kerry,the police man is here,” Phillip announced as he turned away from the front window. He ran over toward the front door. Kerry still held Henry. At least he was calmer, and his tears had dried up for now, though he knew there would be more.
“You can let him in if you want,” Kerry said, and Phillip opened the front door. “Is it Detective Brian?”
“Yes.” The voice was definitely not Phillip’s. It was way too deep and rumbly. “I was wondering if this was a good time.” Brian came into the room, took one look, and shook his head. “I can see it isn’t.”
“I don’t think things are going to get much better over the next few days.” Kerry wanted to ask a bunch of questions, but he wasn’t going to do that with the boys listening. “Do you want to watch more cartoons?” he asked Henry softly, and got a nod. He set up both boys in front of the television, with Pebbles joining them. Then Kerry went into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. They were going to need it.
“We haven’t found much. There are a few fingerprints, but they’re really smudged. The cord seemed to have been in the garage. I’m fairly sure it was someone your sister knew. I’m going to be speaking to the neighbors today, and hopefully, someone saw something.”
“I hope so too.” It was bad enough that his sister was dead, but to have her taken this way only made things worse. Whoever did this not only took her life, but changed his and the boys’ lives forever, robbing Henry and Phillip of the mother they should have had. It made him angry, and he closed his eyes, pressing down the urge to punch something. He wanted to lash out, not that it would do any good. Kerry knew the stages of grief very well and understood that his feelings were normal. But he didn’thave time for that. The boys needed him to be calm and there for them, not acting like some kind of out-of-control idiot.
“I’ll do everything I can to find who did this,” Brian said firmly, his eyes hard and determined. “This sort of thing….” He stopped, and Kerry found himself leaning closer. “It just….”
“You’ve lost someone too,” Kerry supplied. He had worked with enough children and families to know the signs. It didn’t matter if the person was a police officer or a janitor—a death like this left a mark, and all you had to do was know what to look for.
“My sister, when I was seventeen,” Brian told him, then cleared his throat. “Anyway. I’m going to speak to people and see what I can find. Please talk to the boys and see if you think either of them might have seen something. I don’t want to traumatize them further, but I need to know.”
Kerry nodded. “I’ll do what I can.” He wanted to solve his sister’s murder more than anything, except hurting those boys. They had already been through enough and were going to have to endure even more. “Please let me know when the body can be released so that I can arrange for a memorial service. Caroline wanted cremation, and under the circumstances, I think that’s probably best. Let the boys remember her the way she was.”
Brian nodded slowly. “I’ll be sure to let you know.” He thanked Kerry and then left the house before Kerry could offer him some coffee. He wished he knew why, but he liked having Brian here. It made him feel safer. But he had a job to do and so did Kerry. He poured himself a mug of coffee, then checked on the boys before hurrying to the bathroom to clean up and dress in fresh clothes.
The boys were still watching TV when he returned. Kerry turned off the show and got them ready to go outside. He figured he could take them to the park near the house to get them out for a while. Staying indoors wasn’t going to do them any good, yet he still wondered if he was doing the right thing even as heheld their hands as they walked down the block and over to the play area. Thankfully, it was empty, so the boys had the place to themselves. For a little while they could be like they always were. Whenever Kerry came to town, he brought them here, and it felt normal for the three of them to play. Like the tragedy from yesterday hadn’t happened.
“Are you ready to go home for lunch?” Kerry called later, the boys still running and playing, though without as much energy and laughter as usual. They hurried over, and Kerry walked them home, keeping an eye out in case someone was watching them. He didn’t see any signs of it, but figured it was best to be careful.
Pebbles greeted them at the door, and the boys rushed inside. They turned on the television while Kerry let the dog outside to do his business.
He foundhimself looking out the windows every now and then and kept telling himself he wasn’t trying to see if Brian was there or maybe catching sight of him as he went from house to house. There had to be a rule somewhere about being attracted to the police officer who was investigating your sister’s death. Actually, as soon as he said the words in his head, he knew there was, because he should not be having those kinds of thoughts.
“Uncle Kerry… can we have cookies?” Phillip asked.
“Sure. Do you know where they are?” Kerry asked, knowing boys this age always knew where the cookies were.
Phillip ran to the kitchen, and when Kerry followed him, he found him climbing on a chair. “Not like that, you little scamp. Show me.” Phillip pointed to the cupboard, and Kerry got out the package of Oreos, giving Phillip one for him and one for Henry. Once he put him down, Phillip ran back in the other room, and Kerry put the package away after taking a cookie for himself.
After finishing his cookie, he looked in on the boys and checked out the front window. The police car was gone, and for a second, he was curious if Brian had found anything, but then he saw a man standing across the street, next to a beat-up blue car. He was clearly watching the house, so Kerry went to the door and opened it. He stepped outside, the summer wind picking up as clouds began rolling in. Kerry looked across the street the man got in the blue car and pulled away, back tires spinning. He wondered what all that was about. The man had clearly been staring at the house. Maybe he knew something about what happened, or…. Kerry hurried into the house, closing and locking the door as the possibility dawned on him that the man across the street might be the guy who killed his sister.
Kerry grabbed his phone and dialed the number that Brian had given him. “There was a man across the street, watching the house. Blue Toyota, something or other. It was medium blue and kind of old and beat up. I didn’t get the license plate, but he drove away as soon as I came out.” All of it tumbled out as soon as Brian answered.
“Can you tell me what he looked like?” Brian asked.
“Maybe six foot, brown hair, not too long. He was rough-complected, like he worked outside a lot. His clothes were old and kind of weathered and stained.” He wished he had thought to try to get the license plate, but he hadn’t been quick enough.
“Okay. I’ll add what you told me to the information about the case. If you see him again, call me right away, and I’ll try to get there as quickly as I can. It could be something as simple as a real estate agent. We get people who show up when people pass away. I know it’s morbid, but it happens.”
“You don’t think they’re the killer?” He had no idea about this sort of thing, and maybe he was seeing danger everywhere.
“I don’t know. But at this point, I’m treating everyone with suspicion, and I’m not ruling it out. There are some people wholike to see the results of their actions, like arsonists who show up at fire scenes or bombers who meld into the crowd outside of the scene of the disaster they caused. So, we’ll see what we can find. You keep an eye out and let me know right away if anything else happens.”
Kerry found himself nodding and thanked Brian before disconnecting. Then he went on Amazon and bought a doorbell camera, put it in his cart, and paid for overnight shipping. If this guy showed up again, he was going to have an image of him. Once he was done, he put his phone away and found the boys still watching television.
Part of him wondered if he should be doing something. The boys had lost their mother, and he just had to…. God, he kept wondering if he should be doing more. But then he knew that the boys would have good moments and bad ones, and the boys being quiet at the moment was good for as long as it lasted, which was exactly another ten minutes. Then Phillip raced over to him, his arms around his legs, just holding on. Henry watched them from across the room. Kerry held out his arms, and Henry slowly got up and joined them. Kerry lifted Phillip, and with his other arm, held Henry to him, doing his best to protect both of them from the hurt that he knew was coming… and would stick around for a long time.
“I want Mama,” Phillip said.
