A brief flood of jealous rage mixed with worry washed through him at the strange voice. “Who is this?” Maddox demanded.
“Sir, this is Deputy Allen Greer, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. To whom am I speaking?”
His jealousy evaporated and converted immediately to full-on worry. “Maddox Orosco. What happened? Are Hank and JJ okay?”
“They’re safe…” Maddox sat up, horror filling him as the deputy told him what happened. “Mr. Webster indicated you’re a family friend. Would you be willing to come and—”
“Please tell him I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Or less.” Maddox was already up and moving even before he ended the call. As he got dressed, he had a thought and called Eliza.
“Oh, shit!” she said when he quickly explained. “We’re on the way. We’ll call some people. Maybe we can get them to let us move as much of their stuff out as we can salvage. I’ll call Bryce, too. I have his number. Maybe he can help convince them to let us do it.”
“Thank you!”
He was in the car two minutes later, his heart still pounding from the adrenaline dump the phone call triggered.
Damn right he’d be there for Hank and JJ.
Just try and stop me.
* * * *
At first, Maddox thought a deputy who was keeping the street blocked off wouldn’t let him in, until he explained who he was.
“Also, there are friends of ours coming to help,” he said, giving him Eliza’s and Rusty’s names.
“Okay, I’ll make sure they get through.”
Maddox slowly wove his car down the street and around fire rescue vehicles, until he got as far as they’d let him drive and he parked on the street three houses down from Hank’s. Then he got out and ran the rest of the way, finally spotting Hank sitting on his neighbor’s front porch, JJ in his lap and clinging to him like a koala.
Poor Hank looked lost, in shock. Before Maddox could say anything to him though, JJ realized he was there and she flung herself at him. He caught her and held her.
“Uncle Dox! All our stuff’s inside.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Stuff can be replaced. You two are safe—that’s all that matters.”
There was a haphazard pile of clothes and boxes stacked on the porch. From what he could see, half of the driveway, Hank’s truck, and the roll-up door had dropped into a large cavity. That corner of the house looked like it was already starting to sag, in danger of fully caving in.
He carefully sat next to Hank, still holding JJ, and draped his arm around Hank. “Hey, buddy.”
“I have to get the boxes from the back of the living room,” he said, sounding stunned. “Mom and Dad and Lois are in there. And all our pictures and stuff.”
Eliza and Rusty came running up, Bryce on their heels. “Are you guys okay?” Eliza asked.
Hank slumped against Maddox. “What am I going to do?” he hoarsely asked.
Maddox handed JJ back to Hank. “We need to get their stuff out.” If he had to risk arrest himself, he’d at least go get the boxes holding their urns and pictures. Those were the top four boxes in the pile, clearly labelled in marker. He’d seen them plenty of times during his visits, practically had them memorized.
Marcia and Derrick hurried up, followed by several others. As the attorney, Bryce took over. Within five minutes, they were consulting with the senior sheriff’s commander who’d taken control of the scene. Walking around the back of the house, they surveyed the situation.
“I’ll give you fifteen minutes,” he finally said. “Or if it looks like it’s getting worse, I’ll call you out.”
“That’s all we need,” Bryce said. “Let’s go.”
Working fast, they formed several human chains, one group taking the living room, and two groups taking the bedrooms. It only took them ten minutes to empty as much as they could, avoiding the kitchen, because it was too close to the garage and too unstable.
Derrick and Marcia had driven both their vehicles, as had Eliza and Rusty, and Bryce had his car. Some of the others they’d called in had pickup trucks. As Hank and JJ sat on the porch and watched, Maddox and Bryce coordinated loading their belongings into vehicles for the trip over to Maddox’s house.
“I-I don’t have a car seat for her,” Hank hoarsely said. “Hers was in my truck.”
