Page 11 of Having HIs Back

“One of the suspects is trying to sue for custody of one of the kids. We need to get to the bottom of this fast or else a possible murderer is going to put this family through even more hell.”

“Let me check. I can add pressure because this involves family court, and those cases always have tight timelines.” Brian was grateful for her quick thinking. Janine was a smart one, and he was pleased he got to work with her.

“Great. Look. I’m going to need you here.

We are going to see if we can learn anything from the oldest boy.

Can you come? Don’t use sirens and make as little noise or fuss as you can.

Any hope we have of getting information from him relies on Henry feeling unpressured and as safe as possible.

” He wanted more than just himself to witness anything that happened here.

“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Brian explained to Kerry that his partner was coming as well and that she would wait outside the room with him. “How do you see this working?”

“Well, Henry and I are going to have a talk in his room. I’m hoping that I can get a conversation going between us and that he’ll open up.

I don’t know if he will, but if he does, we may get something.

If not, we can keep the appointment we already have and maybe the therapist at the children’s psychological center can help.

I know this is going to be hard on him, so no matter what he says, you and Janine must stay out of the room.

I will record the session because you’ll need it, but that’s all.

No cameras or cell phones,” Kerry cautioned, speaking softly.

“And Phillip?” He wanted to make sure that all of them were safe.

“He’s going next door. Karen will watch him. He likes going over there because Karen is a baker and she makes lots of cookies. She’s aware of what is happening and told me that she will keep Phillip inside with all the doors and windows locked.” Kerry was still nervous.

“Go ahead and take Phillip over to Karen’s and get him settled.

Once Janine arrives, she and I will wait for you.

Then you can relax and get yourself prepared.

” He placed his hands on Kerry’s shoulders, looking into his incredible eyes.

“I know you can do this better than some stranger in an office. He knows you and trusts you. And you have done this before?” He phrased it as a question, but he already knew the answer.

“Many times. I just need to get my head in the game.” He stayed where he was, and Brian held his gaze, trying to give him all the confidence he could. “Let me get Phillip settled and then we’ll do this.”

“What about Pebbles?” Brian asked as the dog rolled onto his back, looking for belly rubs. Brian knelt and gave the happy guy what he wanted.

“He’s going to be part of the session.” Kerry got Phillip from his room, while Henry was in the bathroom, and spoke to him quietly. Then he came out holding Phillip’s hand, a stuffed rabbit under his arm. “Miss Karen will have cookies for you.”

He seemed happy enough as the two of them left the house.

Brian sat quietly on the sofa. Henry came out and sat on the floor in front of the television, totally engrossed in what he was watching. Once the show ended, Henry turned to look at him and went over to sit on the sofa, with Pebbles taking a place on the other side of Henry.

“Did you know my mommy?” Henry asked.

“No. I didn’t,” he answered. “But everyone says that she was really nice and a great mom.”

Henry nodded. “She’s an angel mommy now.” He leaned against him as the show changed, and the two of them watched quietly together.

Kerry returned and stopped when he saw them. “There’s someone outside waiting for you,” Kerry told him before taking Henry by the hand and leading him down to his room. Pebbles followed them, so Brian took the chance to meet Janine outside.

“He’s getting Henry ready.”

“How is he going to get the kid to talk? It’s been apparent that he doesn’t want to.” Janine had thought to dress in casual clothes like Brian.

“I don’t know. He’s the child psychologist, so he should know what he’s doing.

We’re here to listen and keep quiet. No matter what we hear or what Henry says, we can’t react or say anything.

That would kill any chance we have of getting something useful.

” He hoped to hell they got something to go on.

Otherwise, they would be putting a kid through hell for no reason.

“I get it.”

Brian’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he reminded Janine to set hers on silent as well. He answered Kerry’s text, and they quietly entered the house, went down the hall, and paused outside the bedroom.

“She’s an angel mommy now, and I don’t want her to be mad. Making angels mad is really bad,” Henry was saying.

“You aren’t going to get in trouble from me or your angel mommy. I promise you that,” Kerry said, and Brian met Janine’s gaze, wondering what prompted this.

Henry began to cry. “But I was bad.” He cried some more. “I did what Mommy said not to, and now she’s an angel, and I was bad, and she’ll hate me forever in heaven.” The tears came more strongly, and Brian didn’t dare peek into the room, but he could imagine Kerry hugging him.

“What did you do that Mommy said not to?” Kerry asked. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. You can tell Pebbles. He’s really good at keeping secrets.”

Damn, the guy was fucking smart as hell. Get the kid to talk to the dog. That was darned brilliant and about as non-threatening as possible.”

“I wanted a cookie,” Henry said in a child’s whisper. “And I climbed on the counter to get one. I gave you one too.” He must have been talking to the dog. It was working. “Mommy always said I was supposed to stay in bed except to go potty, but I was hungry.”

Brian snuck a peek into the room in time to see Henry holding Pebbles.

“Did you get the cookie?” Kerry asked, but Henry was silent. “It’s okay. Sometimes, we all wake up hungry. I do, and I want a cookie too.”

Brian backed away and continued listening.

“Pebbles heard something, then I heard it too. In the garage,” Henry said. “It was Mommy, and she was yelling. I was scared, but you were with me, and I knew you would bite anyone who tried to hurt Mama.” Damn, it had been Henry who let Pebbles into the garage. What a smart kid.

Henry cried harder, and Kerry was so patient, talking quietly.

Brian closed his eyes, trying to push away the pain he could feel battering the walls of his professionalism.

He glanced a look at Janine, who seemed almost as affected as he was.

“Pebbles is okay, and I’m sure he was happy to try to defend your mom. Can you tell Pebbles what happened?”

“But he was there. He saw it too,” Henry whispered.

“Yes. But he was busy,” Kerry said softly and with such care.

Kerry was met with silence that went on for quite a while. Brian found himself fidgeting, which was something he didn’t normally do at all. He had to force himself to stay still and quiet.

“You ran out after the bad man, and you tried to stop him. I know you did.” Henry seemed to be talking to the dog. “You were a good boy. But he was hitting Mommy, and he wouldn’t stop. I wanted to help her, but I was scared. You barked and bit him. I saw you.”

Jesus. Brian had to put his hand over his mouth to stifle a gasp. The six-year-old had seen what happened to his mother. His heart ached for both him and Kerry. He dared a peek into the room. Henry sat on the floor with his back to Brian, holding Pebbles in his arms. He seemed surprisingly calm.

“Can you tell Pebbles what he looked like?” Kerry asked. Henry nodded, and Brian was too fascinated to look away as he hung on every word.

“He was mean,” Henry said. “And he had bad eyes, and I was scared. He was hurting Mommy like this.” He put his hands around Pebbles’ neck.

Holy shit, the kid had seen it all. Part of him had hoped that he’d been wrong and that the kids would have been spared this kind of thing.

“I ran back into my room and pulled the covers over my head. I waited for Mommy to come, but she never did.” Henry was crying again. “I want my mommy to come home.”

“Damn,” Brian whispered after making sure he was out of sight.

Then he motioned to Janine, and they quietly left the hallway, went outside, and closed the door while Kerry and Henry continued talking.

He was fairly sure they weren’t going to get anything more from Henry.

What the fuck had he been expecting? Henry to give a detailed description of the attacker?

“That didn’t get us very far,” Janine said.

“Actually, it did help. It confirmed that the genetic material on the dog is from the attacker, and we got a number of samples. So, if we can get good results, we will have something definite.” But other than that, there wasn’t a lot that they could use.

“Okay. But the kid didn’t give us anything to help confirm or rule anyone out.” She seemed as frustrated as Brian felt. But that was how things went sometimes. This job was rarely easy.

“It’s okay. We’ll get the recordings from Kerry and go over them again in case there was something we missed. Every little bit helps.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m going to head back to the station unless you need me here.”

“Go on. I’ll be back just as soon as I finish up here and make sure that Henry is okay.

” He went back inside, a little surprised to find Kerry and Henry still talking.

He returned to his place, but Kerry was reassuring Henry that he wasn’t in trouble and neither was Pebbles.

They were both safe and that he wasn’t going to let the bad man hurt him.

When Brian peeked into the room, Kerry met his gaze, his eyes filled with rage for a few seconds.

“Can I have a cookie?” Henry asked. “Pebbles wants one too.” Henry sniffled.

“How about we give Pebbles a dog biscuit and you a cookie?” he asked.

“I’ll go get both.” Kerry left the bedroom, and Brian joined him in the kitchen.

Kerry set an iPad on the counter, sweat beading on his forehead.

“I’m sorry there wasn’t more I could get you.

I know Henry got a good look at him, but everything is all wrapped up in his fear and worry.

So the descriptions are all emotional. It makes sense. ”

“It was good. It confirmed that what we got from the dog was from the attacker. Once the DNA comes back from the lab, we’ll know one way or another.”

“That’s true.” Kerry reached for the counter and began to shake.

“I hate this part of my job. Working directly with the kids who have been hurt like this is why I got into this field, but it always makes me feel like my legs have been knocked out from under me.” He stared out the window for a while.

“You did really well, and so did Henry. It would have been a shock if he’d have had a full description.”

“True. But he did pick out who attacked his mother.” Kerry slowly turned around.

“I heard you and your fellow officer leave, and I thought you were going to come back. I went through a number of Caroline’s photo albums, as well as her iPad.

The pictures are shared with her phone. Anyway.

” His hands shook, and when he turned, Brian found himself pulled closer, and Kerry clutched onto him tightly.

Brian knew it was most likely just the stress of the moment, but damn, he liked the fact that Kerry wanted his comfort.

“Uncle Kerry?” Henry called, and Kerry backed away.

“I need to get his cookie.” He rummaged in one of the cupboards to find the Oreos and Greenies. Kerry left and then returned.

“I take it I missed something important?” Brian said.

“It’s all on the tape. But I went through Caroline’s pictures from the past few years to see if there were pictures of her with anyone she might have dated.

And I showed those to Henry and Pebbles.

” Kerry picked up the iPad and opened it.

“This is the image he recognized.” He turned the picture to Brian.

He blinked and sighed. It was an image of a man leaning over a picnic table, probably taken in a park. The man’s face was turned toward Caroline. “Henry was right—he does have bad-looking eyes.”

“Yeah. And that is the man who showed up at the viewing the other day. This is Phillip’s father. The one who just filed for custody… and the man who cannot have him under any circumstances.” He paled, and Brian caught him before he could hit the floor.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Brian said as he helped Kerry up and then got him out of the kitchen and over to the sofa. He helped him down and then hurried back to the kitchen to get Kerry a glass of water. He handed it to Kerry, and he drank some.

“Wow. That’s never happened before.”

Brian hadn’t realized how worried he was until Kerry began talking again.

His heart raced, and he closed his eyes, trying to slow it.

Jesus, what the hell was wrong with him?

He was supposed to be professional, a little distant.

But he was finding that harder and harder to do.

“It’s okay. That’s to be expected when you come face to face with the person who killed your sister.

And it’s worse when it’s through Henry.”

Kerry nodded and drank some more water before setting the glass on the coffee table. “What do we do?” Kerry took his hands, and Brian looked at where they touched, knowing he should pull away, but not wanting to.

“Send me the exact picture that Henry identified. At least we have confirmation that we’re on the right track.

Now, I just have to tie everything to him without involving Henry.

” There was no way in hell anyone was going to put a six-year-old on the stand in a murder trial.

It just wouldn’t work, and he didn’t want to involve him anyway. Not like this.

“He’s been through so much.”

“I know, and this has to be the end of it for him. His mother is an angel mommy now. He knows that. The rest of this has to be something that we try to keep away from the kids if at all possible.”

Kerry put his face in his hands. “I know.” His shoulders bounced, and Brian gathered Kerry in his arms before he could give it too much thought about what a bad idea this was. “I hated putting him through that.”

“But it’s over, and we got everything we could need. Now, we just have to catch this guy.”

“And nail his ass so hard that he never sees the light of day again,” Kerry added, and Brian found himself smiling as he rocked Kerry slowly.