Damon by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online

want to know that. I thought you wanted to know about that woman and her little boy.”
    He counted to ten, then on to twent y. He tried to figure out when he’d lost the train of the con versation and couldn’t find it. The woman had said she was visiting her family, th at her sister had gotten hurt. He rubbed the point in hi s forehead just over his nose. The tension was growing and he mentally added another thing to beat Ch arlotte for when he found her. Tension was a killer.
    “Where the fuck did you see the woman and kid? I don’t want any kind of elaborate stories or sidetracks. Just tell me which bus you were on and where it was headed.”
    “There is no need f or you to get rude, young man. Well, if I didn’t think it was my Christian duty to keep a family toge ther, I’d just hang up on you . Y ou are a very nasty man. Washington D.C. And there’s another thing I think—”
    He disco nnected the call. He didn’t care how many other things sh e could think of at this point. He had a starting point and it wa s more than he’d had all week. Getting out of the cruiser, he walked up to the school just hoping some punk would give him lip. And if he or she did, then he’d see that someone left today with a fat one.
    ~~~
    Cait walked up to the house and took a deep breath. She’d been back on duty for three weeks now and this was her first job that didn’t involve pushing a pencil or typing up some report. She missed her son and dau ghter, but needed to work too. If she had to stay at home much longer, Grant might have found her in the corner with her thumb in her mouth humming nursery rhymes to herself.
    “H e did it again, Captain Grant. I ain’t gonna p ut up with his crap much more. Might have to take a stick to his hi de if he does it or leave him. Can’t say that he’d notice none unless his dinner was late.”
    Cait smiled . Y eah, this was a good reason to leave her children with a sitter. A woman half naked meeting her at the door with a shotgun.
    “Mrs. Peabody, you need to put the gun down or I can’t come in the house. I told you that the last time I was here . Y ou need to stop waving it around before it goes off and you hurt someone.”
    “I’m gonna hurt that damned boy if h e don’t straighten up his act. Do you know how much he ra n my phone bill up last month? Eig ht hundred and twelve dollars! That’s more than I get working do wn at the IGA every two weeks. How am I supposed to pay that? He can’t hold down a job and he damn sure ain’t gonna share if he does.”
    “Just tell me what he did this time and le t’s see if I can help you out . Y ou say he’s not here? Where is he, do you know?” Cait was beginning to feel like she spent more time fixing family pro blems than anything. Di dn’t people want to get along? Now she sounded like one of th ose greeting card commercials.
    “I think he’s making that dope in his room. I can smell all kind of nasty st uff going on behind that door. And the people he has coming here a ll hours of the day and night. It’s making my nerves act up. He’s trying to kill me so that he can live off my insurance and live here scot free.”
    Cait let Mrs. P eabody lead her down the hall. She was still a good four feet from it when Cait smel led it. Dann y Peabody was dealing in meth. Cait grabbed Mrs. Peabody’s shoulder, held her back, and motioned for her to go back to the kitchen. Cait followed, pulling out her cell as she went.
    “Mrs. Peabody , is there anyone in that room? That you know of?” Her heart was pumping and she coul d feel the adrenaline running.
    “No, he went out ‘bout an hour ago. Won’t be back until night, if he follows his usual pattern . Y ou calling in the SWAT team, Captain Grant?”
    With a wink at her, Cait identified he rself to Commander Tucker. They’d both been promoted recently and were still having trouble remembering their new title.
    “I’ll need some back up at the Peabody place. I think little