“If you mean, are his services for hire? Yes,” he said, “with an ugly side. Like I said, he’s a bit of a screwup.”
“What are his hangouts? Where am I likely to find him?”
The brother hesitated.
“If you don’t help,” he said, “you know perfectly well you’ll go down as an accomplice.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Dennis said.
“For all we know, you gave him that vehicle,” he said. “So that means you aided and abetted a criminal in the act of escaping, after assaulting two police officers and kidnapping a child.”
“God damn it,” he roared. “I didn’t have anything to do with any of it. This is all on my brother.”
“So, I’ll ask you again. Where am I likely to find him?”
“He gave up his apartment a few weeks ago. Told me how he had a big score happening, and, as soon as the job was done, he was leaving the island and was never coming back.”
“Any idea what the score was?”
“He wouldn’t say,” Dennis said.
By the time he finished checking in with Badger and calling the detective for any update on the case, he heard Danny waking up upstairs. Soon enough, the three of them trooped downstairs, Jessica carrying Danny with Kona ever vigilant at Danny’s side.
Danny looked at Greyson and yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Hi,” he said, in a bright little voice.
Greyson hopped to his feet, walked over to the boy, and shook his hand. “Hi back.”
Danny giggled and hung on to Greyson’s finger. Then, in a surprise move, he reached up his arms.
Jessica looked at Greyson in surprise, as he easily slipped the toddler from her arms and walked with him into the kitchen. “Did you have a good nap, young man?”
“Seepy,” he said and dropped his head against Greyson’s shoulder. Greyson looked over at Jessica, who just stared at them in surprise.
“He doesn’t take to strangers normally,” she said.
“Maybe I’m just a comforting presence somehow,” he said.
She walked into the kitchen. “Danny, do you need a bite to eat?”
He looked at her and nodded, reaching out a chubby hand.
“If you could put him in the high chair, I’ll get him a snack before we go out.”
Greyson settled the boy in the high chair, and very quickly she had little crackers with peanut butter, cheese, and apple slices for him. Because they’d had the bacon and eggs earlier, Greyson was fine. Yet she pulled out the materials to make a big sandwich. He looked at her, surprised.
“Oh, I’m hungry,” she said, “so I just assumed that you are also.”
“Well, I can always eat,” he said, “but I could have done without, if need be.”
“No need,” she said with a smile. “There’s plenty of food.”
“Glad to hear that,” he said and watched in amazement as she made a mean sandwich.
She built it up, full of all kinds of vegetables, meats, and cheese.
He could feel his stomach standing up to pay attention. “This looks amazing,” he said.
“It’s just a sandwich,” she said with a smile. “Anybody can make one of those.”
“Well, there are other sandwiches,” he said, “like what I’m used to, with just ham and cheese, or there are real sandwiches that are completely loaded, like this.”
“This is my favorite kind,” she said. She cut the sandwiches, passed him a plate with his, then sat down beside Danny at the island. They all proceeded to eat.
He looked at his watch when they were done and said, “Wow, it’s after one already.”
“I know,” she said. “I’ll fade early tonight for sure, but maybe I can catch up from the lack of sleep last night. I figured that, once we’re done eating, we can go out and do some shopping.” She looked down at Kona, who was sitting nearby, staring at Danny’s food hungrily. “Kona really needs some dog food,” she said with a frown. As soon as she finished her sandwich, she got up, walked over to the refrigerator, and pulled out the last of the fatty ham and cheese and gave it to Kona.
Greyson shook his head. “This dog is getting spoiled,” he said with a smile.
“We have to feed her something,” she said with a smile. “I’d give her a steak for rescuing us if I could afford to. She deserves any treat I’ve got.”
“Well, let’s clean up the kitchen,” he said, “and then we’ll do some shopping.”
“Let’s take my car,” she said. “It’s got the car seat and all. The police delivered it home for me.”
He frowned, looked at Kona, and said, “I wonder if that’ll work with the dog.”
She nodded. “I wondered that too.”
“The only other option,” he said, “is to transfer the car seat to the truck, but then Kona and Danny still have to be together in the back seat, so maybe the car will be okay at that.”
“I’ve got some old blankets,” she said. “I figured I could put them on the seat and maybe Kona could lay on them.”
“Well, let’s give it a try,” he said.
Chapter 11
When Jessica pulled out of the driveway twenty minutes later, she felt an odd sense of family because not only were she and Danny in her car but she also had Greyson and Kona. She chuckled. “It feels like my numbers just doubled.”
“They did,” he said cheerfully. “Kona makes probably two and a half times you guys though, based on her appetite alone.”
“It’s not about the food,” she said with a smile.
“Well, it isn’t until it is,” he said in a cryptic remark.
She just smiled at him. “You can help with the groceries, if it bothers you.”
“I plan on it,” he said, chuckling.
“But that’s another stop,” she warned. “And the number of stops is always somewhat dependent on Danny’s level of patience,” she said.
“Good point,” Greyson said, “so let’s get the dog food first.”
She drove to one of the large name-brand pet stores. “Will this do you?” She looked up at the storefront and chewed on her bottom lip.
“It’ll be just fine,” he said. “I don’t know this company, but Kona won’t know the difference.”
“I
