Page 5 of Having HIs Back

After finishing his cookie, he looked in on the boys and checked out the front window.

The police car was gone, and for a second, he was curious if Brian had found anything, but then he saw a man standing across the street, next to a beat-up blue car.

He was clearly watching the house, so Kerry went to the door and opened it.

He stepped outside, the summer wind picking up as clouds began rolling in.

Kerry looked across the street the man got in the blue car and pulled away, back tires spinning.

He wondered what all that was about. The man had clearly been staring at the house.

Maybe he knew something about what happened, or…

. Kerry hurried into the house, closing and locking the door as the possibility dawned on him that the man across the street might be the guy who killed his sister.

Kerry grabbed his phone and dialed the number that Brian had given him.

“There was a man across the street, watching the house. Blue Toyota, something or other. It was medium blue and kind of old and beat up. I didn’t get the license plate, but he drove away as soon as I came out.

” All of it tumbled out as soon as Brian answered.

“Can you tell me what he looked like?” Brian asked.

“Maybe six foot, brown hair, not too long. He was rough-complected, like he worked outside a lot. His clothes were old and kind of weathered and stained.” He wished he had thought to try to get the license plate, but he hadn’t been quick enough.

“Okay. I’ll add what you told me to the information about the case. If you see him again, call me right away, and I’ll try to get there as quickly as I can. It could be something as simple as a real estate agent. We get people who show up when people pass away. I know it’s morbid, but it happens.”

“You don’t think they’re the killer?” He had no idea about this sort of thing, and maybe he was seeing danger everywhere.

“I don’t know. But at this point, I’m treating everyone with suspicion, and I’m not ruling it out.

There are some people who like to see the results of their actions, like arsonists who show up at fire scenes or bombers who meld into the crowd outside of the scene of the disaster they caused.

So, we’ll see what we can find. You keep an eye out and let me know right away if anything else happens. ”

Kerry found himself nodding and thanked Brian before disconnecting.

Then he went on Amazon and bought a doorbell camera, put it in his cart, and paid for overnight shipping.

If this guy showed up again, he was going to have an image of him.

Once he was done, he put his phone away and found the boys still watching television.

Part of him wondered if he should be doing something.

The boys had lost their mother, and he just had to…

. God, he kept wondering if he should be doing more.

But then he knew that the boys would have good moments and bad ones, and the boys being quiet at the moment was good for as long as it lasted, which was exactly another ten minutes.

Then Phillip raced over to him, his arms around his legs, just holding on.

Henry watched them from across the room.

Kerry held out his arms, and Henry slowly got up and joined them.

Kerry lifted Phillip, and with his other arm, held Henry to him, doing his best to protect both of them from the hurt that he knew was coming… and would stick around for a long time.

“I want Mama,” Phillip said.

“Me too,” Henry told him. “When will she be back?”

Kerry guided them to the sofa and sat down, taking them along with him.

“Do you know what angels are?” he asked, and both of them nodded.

“Okay, so your mom went to join them. She’s with the angels, and they are watching over her, and your mom is going to be looking over you from heaven from now on. ”

Phillip watched him with huge eyes. “But I want her here.”

“Me too,” Henry added. At least he was talking more.

“I know you do. I do too. But sometimes, there are things we can’t control, and we don’t always get what we want. But I’m going to be here for both of you.”

Henry blinked up at him with Caroline’s eyes. “But what if you become an angel like Mommy?”

“I’m going to stay here with you for a long time.

Your mommy is going to watch over me too.

” He hugged both of them. Kerry didn’t have any delusions that this would be the last of their questions; there were bound to be months of them.

All he could do was be there for them and answer their questions as best he could.

Phillip burrowed next to him, holding him tightly as he hugged Henry.

“I still want Mommy.” He wasn’t going to give up, and frankly, Kerry couldn’t blame either of them.

They sat still for a while, but eventually Phillip slipped out of his arms, wandered down to his room, and returned with a bag of toys that he dumped on the living room floor.

Henry joined him, while Pebbles stayed on the sofa, curling up to go to sleep.

Kerry let them play for a while. “Did either of you see anyone in the garage yesterday?” he asked, as though the question wasn’t important.

Phillip shook his head and continued playing, while Henry seemed to ignore the question, running trucks along the floor.

Kerry wondered if that meant that Henry was avoiding the issue or just hadn’t heard him.

Still, he didn’t want to make a big issue out of it right now.

But in the back of his mind, he wondered if it was possible that Henry was suppressing something.

Phillip jabbered on about this and that, while Henry had grown very quiet.

On his previous visits, Henry was always an active, normal kid, but now he was the opposite. Different people acted differently when it came to grief, but they usually behaved along their own personalities, just more or less intensely. Henry being silent was out of character.

“I’ll make you dinner in a little while.”

“Pizza,” Phillip said, piping up.

“Sure.” He used his phone to find a local place that delivered and got a pizza with half cheese and half pepperoni. Then he set the table for when it arrived and made a call to Brian, explaining what little he had found out from the boys.

“What do you think we should do?” Brian asked. “The neighbors saw no one.”

“Well, give it a few days, and once we’re through the funeral and all that, I’ll contact a colleague and see about setting up a session with her so we can try to get Henry to open up. He may have seen something, but I’m not sure. If we push, it could hurt him, so I want to take a gentle approach.”

“Okay. We are working through the evidence collected, but there isn’t much. Your sister did scratch her assailant, and we have his DNA, but we need someone to match it to, and right now, we’re coming up empty.”

“Sorry.” He wished he could be more helpful. “I need to be able to go into the garage. I need to get into Caroline’s car so I can get the boys car seats. Is that okay?”

“Yes, but I should be there in case something is disturbed. Give me twenty minutes.”

“All right.” He ended the call and returned to where the boys were playing.

The pizza arrived a little while later, and he got the boys in their seats at the table as Brian arrived. He smiled at the handsome officer and offered him a slice before sitting down to dinner. “You need to eat the same as the rest of us.”