“What about her?” he asked again.
Charlotte’s own arms started to quiver and she lowered them a notch. “Temporary insanity? I’m sure she didn’t mean to do it.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “Didn’t mean to do it? How do you accidentally steal a baby?”
He pressed his lips together in a tight, white line, his eyes growing squinty, as if he were trying not to cry.
Charlotte backtracked. “I mean, no, of course it wasn’t an accident. I just meant, she didn’t plan it, right?”
The woman shook her head. “No, I—”
Josh’s gaze shot in his wife’s direction and she slapped her hand over her mouth.
He returned his attention to Charlotte. “Who else knows?”
Crap.
Charlotte hoped he wouldn’t come to the conclusion that killing her would end the lineup of witnesses to their kidnapping. After all, it was possible he and his wife could get away with everything if only she hadn’t popped her head over the fence.
Time for a little hard truth.
“The police are on their way.”
“What?”
“I called them. I’m an off-duty officer.”
And a little lying.
Josh sneered. “No, you didn’t. You’re bluffing.”
“I did. Josh, you don’t want to shoot an officer—”
“Step in here,” he said, beckoning her with the gun. He paled four shades.
Charlotte frowned, her mind racing to find another way to delay things.
If he could just hear the approaching sirens—
Josh motioned from her to the deck in front of him with his gun. “I said get in here!”
“She’s not going in there.”
The voice came from behind Charlotte. She turned as the weight of the opened gate resting against her arm lifted.
Hunter stood behind her with her own weapon raised, the gun pointed at Josh.
“Put down the gun,” she said out loud and then quieter, she said to Charlotte, “Get behind me.”
Charlotte felt bad putting Hunter in harm’s way, but she was the one with the weapon. She moved aside and let Hunter step forward.
Josh swallowed and glanced at his wife.
“She didn’t mean it. She’d never—”
Hunter answered him, her voice and hands steady. “I’m sure that’s true, but I need you to put down the weapon.”
“Are you a cop?”
“Yes.”
“You are?” asked Charlotte, though to her credit she’d managed to say it quietly.
Hunter didn’t answer, her laser focus never leaving Josh.
“Put down the weapon, take a few steps back and sit in that chair.”
Josh glanced back at a plastic patio chair behind him. He looked at his wife, and his shoulders slumped. He lowered the gun to the porch and took a few steps backward to drop into the seat, collapsing like a boneless sack of flesh. Head lolling, his body shook with sobs.
“I’m so sorry,” said his wife, her voice almost a whisper. Tears streamed down her face.
Josh showed no sign of hearing.
“Get the gun,” said Hunter.
Charlotte blinked at her.
Oh right. You mean me.
She hustled around Hunter to retrieve the gun from the porch.
“You, come here,” said Hunter to the woman. She’d lowered her gun and motioned with her opposite hand.
“Can I go to him?” asked the woman, looking at Josh.
“Not right now. Bring me the baby.”
After a hesitation, the woman walked forward with the child. She handed him to Hunter.
“What’s your name?” asked Hunter.
“Kim.”
“Okay, Kim. I need you to stay here against this fence.”
Charlotte returned with the gun. In the distance, sirens wailed.
“Take him,” said Hunter, handing her the baby.
“What?”
Without thinking, Charlotte put out an arm and Hunter tucked the baby into the crook of it. In her other hand she still held Josh’s gun. Josh sat sobbing on the porch, shoulders heaving with growing intensity. Kim had slid to a squat, her back against the fence, saying “I’m sorry” over and over, her hands covering her face.
“Police are here. Don’t let them near each other,” said Hunter pointing from Josh to Kim and back again before walking down the fence line and away from her.
“Wait, where are you—?”
Without stopping, Hunter turned, put her fingers to her lips asking for quiet, smiled, and then disappeared around the fence.
Charlotte stood staring at the space Hunter had occupied, baby in one hand, gun in the other, the air filled with the sound of police sirens and sobbing.
She looked down at Mason.
“What just happened?”
The baby gurgled and tried to shove his own blue-socked toes into his mouth.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“And then she just walked away?” asked Angelina.
Charlotte nodded.
“Why didn’t you tackle her?” asked Croix from her perch behind the desk. She was starting to remind Charlotte of the old guys from The Muppet Show, constantly heckling her from the booth.
She shifted her eyes in Croix’s direction.
“How was I supposed to tackle her with a baby in one hand and a gun in the other?”
Croix shrugged and muttered as she turned away to busy herself with paperwork. “I could have done it.”
“Siofra would have kicked her butt anyway,” said Angelina.
Charlotte sucked her eye tooth with her tongue. “Thank you. Thank you for your confidence and support.”
Though she was sure Angelina was right.
“Anyway, I still don’t know if she was Siofra.”
Angelina held Harley in front of her face and booped the dog’s impossibly tiny nose against her own. “We do. We know it was Aunt Siofra, don’t we, Harley-girl?” she sang in a baby voice. Harley’s tiny butt trembled with happiness, spurred on by her wagging tail. When Angelina set her on the desk her tiny nails tap-danced with joy.
Charlotte sighed. It had been a long night. The police had naturally wanted to talk to her well into the night. She told the truth without sharing
