Silent Protector
Ian struck off ahead of Liz. For a flash, she wanted to grip Charlie’s hand even tighter and charge back over the causeway again. But as Ian had said, that small town of Northglade was too far away from the forested island, and the sun was too strong. Not a good idea. Instead, Liz pulled Charlie closer and followed Ian. He was soaked, like her, and his gun stuck out of the back of his waistband.
Beside her, Charlie twisted around to peer at the woman following them along the shaded road. Liz stole her own glance, finding the woman looking curiously back at the signpost, or maybe even the water that had swallowed up Liz’s rental. She didn’t know and didn’t care.
Around the next bend, Liz slowed her plodding walk. The closest building bore a faded sign that read Moss Point Rec Center. A small poster on the front door indicated that this past week had been Vacation Bible School. A battered bicycle had been dropped at the corner of the building. Liz stepped into the sunshine again and instantly blinked. Despite a breeze that had picked up, the humid air weighed on her like a wet cloak in a sauna.
All of what had happened lurched over her, and she stumbled over a small rock.
Quickly, Ian was there beside her, taking her free arm. “Let’s get inside. There’s a clinic in the back where you can lie down. I’d say shock is setting in.”
It was, Liz agreed silently. Because everything was wobbling in front of her.
Ian quickly steered her inside where the cool air blasted them. The heat was oppressive today, the worst so far, the forecast had warned. The heat index pushed it up farther. The hot wind from the gulf lingered barely above a breeze. Ian had grown up in the northern part of Virginia where the summers got humid enough to kill. But this weather was nearly unbearable.
“Is there a doctor here?” Liz asked.
Ian shook his head as he let the front door slam behind the four of them. Cool air drenched them. “Just a nurse, who happens to be away this week attending some training seminar. You’re looking at the interim nurse, and I’d say you’re about to faint.”
Now inside, he knew the cool air could easily get Liz Tate shivering. Quickly, with Charlie’s help, he noted, Ian got Liz to the back where the clinic was. He turned when he reached the locked door and noticed Monica hurrying into his office. In the excitement, had he left his door unlocked?
A moment later, Monica raced down with the clinic’s key and let them inside. Ian guided Liz to the plastic-covered exam bed at the far back, and she gratefully lay down and shut her eyes. Charlie stayed at her side.
It took Ian a moment to find where the nurse kept the towels. But when he did, he set one under Liz’s wet hair and another larger one along her frame.
After lying there a moment, Liz sat up and quickly toweled herself off. For all the pale wobbliness of before, she had recovered quickly.
Then he opened the small refrigerator beside the desk and pulled out some bottles. “Orange juice. I think we could all use some. Charlie needs more fluids than the other boys around here because he’s been sweating more, not that he’s asked for any.” He offered a bottle to her and was glad to see her take it with a quiet thank-you. “But then again, he hasn’t refused any liquids, either.”
She frowned at him. “Why would he ask you for anything? You kidnapped him.”
He looked down at Charlie, who’d accepted his own bottle of juice. Ignoring his aunt’s accusation, the boy drank deeply. Patience, Ian told himself. She obviously doesn’t have all the facts.
He opened his bottle and took a long swallow. Liz had finished a third of hers before setting the bottle down on the table beside her.
“I didn’t kidnap him. But before I tell you anything, I need to know one thing. How did you find Charlie? I didn’t tell him where he was.”
With her left arm, Liz pulled the boy close. Charlie returned the hug, setting his head down on her wet lap. “Why should I tell you anything? You say you didn’t kidnap Charlie, but here he is, and when he talked to me, he sure sounded like he didn’t want to be here.”
Ian pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down. “Tell me how you found out he was missing.”
Immediately, Liz glanced down at the boy, all the while pulling him closer.
Then she met Ian’s calm stare with a direct one of her own. “I’d rather not discuss that right now.”
Of course. Ian knew some of the details and guessed the boy wouldn’t want to hear them all again. They did include his father’s death.
He turned to his assistant. She still stood there, hands clasped in front of her. “Monica, please take Charlie down to the kitchen and make us all a snack. Liz and I need to talk.”
Charlie looked up at his aunt, his expression stricken.
“He needs to stay near me,” Liz stated.
“The kitchen is twenty feet away. We’ll leave the door open,” Ian answered. “Charlie, your aunt and I need to talk in private. It’s important, okay? You know why, don’t you?”
Charlie’s gaze dropped, and he nodded. Again, Ian was amazed at how the boy acted. So calmly, as if he’d been simply waiting for his aunt to arrive.
“I won’t leave, I promise. But—” Liz shot Ian a sharp glance “—if it’s important then we need to talk. I’ll be down to the kitchen in a minute, okay?”
Monica held out one hand and took Charlie away. Ian watched them leave. At the middle of the building, the rec center’s kitchen was still well stocked with fruit, raw vegetables, granola bars and juice, all left over from the Vacation Bible School they’d just completed. Having a snack would ease the boy’s uncertainty, he was sure.
Despite Ian’s promise, the door to the clinic clicked shut behind the pair. Ian turned back to face Liz.
“Tell me how you found Charlie.”
She leaned forward. “Tell me why you need to know and why it’s so important.”
Ian glared at Liz, only to receive an equal glare in return. “Because it is, and that’s all I can say.”
Liz straightened. “Then why should I tell you anything? You brought Charlie here against his will, you have someone out there acting like a sentry, ready to shove cars off the road, and then you pull a gun on me after you rescue me. So, explain to me why I should tell you anything at all. And why I shouldn’t be calling the police!”
Ian leaned forward. “First up, your phone, if you had one, is sitting at the bottom of the inlet, so calling anyone will be difficult. Second, I have not authorized anyone to use force to prevent people from coming here. I would never condone that dangerous behavior. Third, Charlie was given into my custody by the police.”
Liz shook her head in confusion. “Do you know what you’ve done to Charlie, bringing him all the way down here without someone he knows? And what right do the police have handing him over to you, some stranger? Just because you’re a pastor doesn’t mean you know what’s best for Charlie. And while I’m at it, what kind of a pastor walks around pointing a gun at people?” She leaned forward. “So why don’t you start talking first? Because as far as I’m concerned, I’m the one who should have custody of Charlie, not you. And be asking all the questions.”
Ian folded his arms. “And where were you while Charlie’s father was dragging him all over the state?”
He knew he surprised her with his knowledge of Charlie’s whereabouts all these months, but with a withering look, she refused to be intimidated. “Jerry moved to Bangor a while back. I’ve been saving my money for a good lawyer. And part of the way through that time, I gave Jerry some of it. I knew he was going to blow it all on something stupid, but at the time, I just wanted to stay in contact with Charlie, and that was my only way. Though I realize now it was a mistake because it set me back months in my savings. The only good it did was it allowed me to see Charlie nearly every Sunday. So I took him to a church in Bangor. And out to supper.”
“Okay,” Ian said with a nod. “I’ll answer your questions, but you have to answer a few more, first. How did you find out about Jerry’s murder?”
“Like I said, I get to visit Charlie regularly. Jerry usually sleeps off a Saturday night binge, anyway. I went to their apartment last Sunday and found the police there.”
“Sunday morning?”
“No, Sunday afternoon. We do something special and go to church Sunday night.”
Abruptly, she pulled in a deep breath and blinked rapidly. Then she bit her lips. Both lips in a way he’d seen Charlie do when he wanted to keep quiet. “I remember telling the police who I was and…” She held her breath a bit while her chin wrinkled. “I was standing in the doorway of the apartment hoping to see Charlie.” She shut her eyes. “All I could smell was…”
Ian guessed what the smell could be. He watched Liz steel herself against the memory. But obviously, her nephew was too important just to relinquish herself to her fears.
“It was awful. Jerry was a drug dealer with high hopes of making a fast million. But the police had never charged him with anything. They were investigating him. Maybe they wanted someone bigger than Jerry. Someone whose conviction would take more than just a few drugs off the street.”
She lay her fingers along her eyebrows and shut her eyes tight. “But all I saw were Charlie’s things splattered with blood. It was terrible.” Liz bit her lips again. Then she rubbed her forehead. “I asked where Charlie was, and they told me he hadn’t survived the gun battle there. I wanted to see his remains….” She swallowed a sob. “But they wouldn’t let me.”
Her world had crashed, he could see.
“The police said they would release the body when they were done with it. Then they drove me home.” She set her head into her hands and finished off, “I went home and just cried and cried.”
“When did Charlie call you?”
She looked up to show him watering eyes. “A few hours later, after I’d gone for a walk and stopped in to see my pastor. I couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t say where he was, but he read to me what his boarding pass said and told me he was on an island at the edge of the Everglades.”
“How did he know that?”
“A friend told him about the Everglades—and the mosquitoes—and he said that some woman named Elsie said she went into Northglade for groceries. I used the satellite maps on the Internet and found this place. This had to be the place because it fit Charlie’s description exactly.”
Good deduction. Very good deduction, Ian thought. He hadn’t considered that little Stephen Callahan, Charlie’s new friend, might chatter on about where he lived. Stephen had told Ian that Charlie didn’t talk to him.
Beside him, Liz groaned and lay down again. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I guess I got more of a scare than I thought. That guy was determined to run me off the road.”
“What guy?”
“I told you. The one who came up behind me all of a sudden. It was all I could do just to keep my car on the road. He kept sideswiping me, right on the causeway.”
Of course. She’d already mentioned that. “What kind of vehicle was it? Did you see the driver?”
She sighed and then sat up. “No. It was blue. A big car. I don’t know what kind. An SUV, maybe? It had tinted windows, so I couldn’t see inside.”
Ian went cold. Liz Tate had been run off the road. And the timing of that was just too coincidental to ignore.
It could only mean one thing.
Charlie’s safety had been compromised.
THREE
“Now it’s your turn to talk,” Liz said, coming back up to a sitting position. “When I saw Charlie two Sundays ago, he had long, dark hair. Did you cut his hair? And he never needed glasses before.”
“I did. It was a rat’s nest and far too hot for this weather. I also dyed it. The police offered the glasses. They don’t have prescription lenses in them.”
Liz absorbed what he said. “I don’t understand. Sure, his hair was always a mess. I did my best, but I didn’t want to get on Jerry’s bad side and have him tell me I couldn’t see Charlie again, so I ignored it most of the time. But glasses that aren’t needed? And a dye job? Why?”
“It was necessary.”
Understanding dawned on her. “You didn’t want anyone to recognize him.”
“I was told there was no one who would try to gain custody of him. His mother died years ago, and his father had just been murdered.” He looked at her. “Is there anyone else who might claim him? Grandparents?”
She shifted on the exam table. “As far as I know, Jerry had no contact with his family. My mother lives in Portland, but she’s a widow who’s not well, hardly able to care for a child. Besides, she hasn’t seen Charlie since my sister died. I’ve been trying to get custody.” She shot him a questioning look. “And you simply believed what you were told about his family?”
“I had no reason to suspect that they’d lie.”
“That who would lie? The police? They lied to me!”
“For Charlie’s own safety and well within the law.”
He could see that the local law enforcement officers had been prepping Liz and probably the media for Charlie’s entrance into the Witness Security Program, or WITSEC. People needed to think the boy was dead.
Liz dragged in a hot breath as she sat back. “And I’m left believing he’s been killed! This is not right. I’m going to take Charlie and leave. I know he’d be happy to go with me. And you don’t strike me as the kind of man who’d physically stop us.” She wasn’t sure if that was true or not. She tossed out the threat as quickly as she shot a furtive look his way. He knew right then that she was banking on a hunch. “I won’t fail Charlie like I did when his mother died. He deserves a loving environment, not getting shuffled around like a piece of secondhand furniture.”
Ian bristled at her choice of words. He wasn’t shuffling the boy around like furniture. He would never do that to anyone—not after living like that for years himself. “Don’t be so sure. I told you that Charlie’s safety is my main concern.”
“Mine, too. That’s why I’m here listening to you and not grabbing Charlie and walking to Northglade.”
“Like I said before, I’d advise against that.”
But Liz let her threat stand. “Don’t tempt me,” she snapped. “At least Charlie knows me and would come with me!”
From the years of being a marshal and from the few years of being a pastor, Ian knew Liz needed to vent. She didn’t understand what was happening. She was only thinking of the boy’s best interests. So he sat back and let her rant.
Still talking, Liz held out her hands. “How could you just take off with the boy and not consider that others might be concerned, too? The police told me nothing and scared me half to death!”
Actually, he agreed with Liz. The police had allowed her to worry herself sick, and while that was legal, they didn’t tell him that she would do anything to be reunited with Charlie. And vice versa. That was a mistake.
He hated mistakes. It had been a mistake for him to be shuffled about the family after his parents died, and though it wasn’t a mistake to hide Charlie down here, it was for WITSEC not to warn him about the resourceful auntie. It had also been a mistake to underestimate the nephew who could sneak away with Ian’s cell phone when he was at his busiest.
Regardless, what was done was done. And at least the child wasn’t as traumatized as they’d first thought. Thank the Lord for small mercies.
Would that allow Ian to focus more on the other reason he was here—to build a church? To start the social program offered by Nelson Vincenti and his wife, the couple building a resort on the north end of the island?
No. Charlie’s location had been compromised. He needed to call his supervisor immediately.
But Ian couldn’t ignore his parishioners for the sake of one boy, could he? Was that what God wanted him to do? Forsake his job to help Charlie? Surely another marshal could step in.
“What right do you have to take Charlie, anyway?” Liz was still blasting him. “What makes you think that you can give him what he needs when you don’t even know what his needs are? What if Charlie gets sick or needs special education?”
Ian schooled his features. “His needs would be met by the Department of Justice. Or by other programs here at Moss Point. Nelson and Annette Vincenti have started a foundation here called ‘The Shepherd’s Smile.’ It works exclusively with families in vulnerable situations providing medical care, education and Bible classes. I’ve been hired to implement it here. And in case you didn’t notice, the children around here aren’t living in the lap of luxury.”
He had no plans to tell her any more than that.
If Ian was expecting Liz to show any sort of contrition, he wasn’t going to get it. She shook her head, feeling her damp, dark curls bounce around. “I don’t live in the lap of luxury, either. And material wealth isn’t as important to me as you seem to think. But if you’re here to implement a social program, then why bring Charlie here to add to the need? And for that matter, why were you approached to take him in the first place? The police gave him to you, right? It doesn’t make any sense. Who exactly are you that the police trust you and not me to be his guardian? And why would the Department of Justice care about him?”
She knew at a glance that he hadn’t expected her questions. Or that she wasn’t about to be browbeaten. She’d lived on her own long enough to know how to stand up for herself.
“So why were you selected?” she asked, slipping off the exam table.
He sighed. He studied her before answering. “I am—I used to be a U.S. Marshal, specializing in children’s safety.” He noticed her deepening frown, then added, “The U.S. Marshal Service is part of the Department of Justice and handles witness security. In most cases involving juveniles, we have female officers, but some boys respond better to men than women, so a few males were also trained. I was one of them.”
That made sense. Charlie had always been with his father. Relating to a man came more naturally to him.
“I left the U.S. Marshals when I accepted the call from God to be a pastor,” he went on. “Then Annette Vincenti, the woman who created ‘The Shepherd’s Smile,’ heard about me from George and Elsie Wilson and she hired me to administer her new program. It includes planting a church here in Moss Point. Until now, only a few people have been going to the Wilsons’ house for Bible study. It’s too far to travel to the nearest church on the mainland.”
She’d heard of church planters, though the name conjured up silly pastoral images. Church planters started churches in communities that had none. They were as devoted as any missionary might be. They trained lay pastors, built churches and strengthened communities.
This was too confusing. Okay, she could see Ian in the missionary part but as a U.S. Marshal? Protecting Charlie? And yet he wasn’t told about Charlie’s closest relative who visited every week?
“But you retired from the U.S. Marshal Service, you said. Why are you back?”
“I also signed a little-used recall clause, something created after 9/11, I’m told. If they needed me, they could reinstate me. I could have refused because of my work here, but when I read Charlie’s case file I knew I needed to help him.” He lifted his chin. “And I knew I could do both jobs at the same time.”
Liz walked around the clinic, stopping at the glass cabinet that held various medical supplies. “Why Charlie? He’s just a little boy. He’s not some snitch from the mafia.”
“He’s in danger.”
“Of what?”
“Of being killed by the same man who killed his father.”
She gasped. The man who shot Jerry would come after Charlie?
She pressed through her fear. “How? Why? I don’t understand. He’s just a kid.”
“Charlie is a witness, Liz. He has seen his father’s killer. We need him to identify Jerry’s murderer.”
“You need him?” She tightened her lips before speaking again. “What about his needs? Hasn’t he suffered enough without being dragged from everything he’s known to come down here in this heat, to live with strangers? He needs to feel safe—not scared out of his wits.”
Ian had stood when she started talking but now sat down at the nurse’s desk. After a thought, he pulled out his gun and began to disassemble it. He was obviously a patient man, though to try guilt on her meant he didn’t know her very well. But he was patient enough to try reaching her with other tactics. “If Charlie testifies against his father’s killer, he can bring down that man. But if that man stays free, he could destroy many lives—more than you know. And destroy any chance Charlie has for a normal life.”
“Charlie’s only ten years old! How can his testimony even be accepted in court?” She rubbed her forehead, trying to keep straight everything Ian was firing at her.
“Children younger than Charlie have testified successfully. It depends on the child, on what they saw and how it’s presented in court. We’re hopeful that he can help us bring his father’s killer to justice.”
Liz went cold, feeling the air conditioner much more. So that was it. They had stolen Charlie, hoping he’d give a statement they could use in court, without a smidgen of care for his emotional well-being.
No, that wasn’t completely true. They needed to keep the boy safe physically first. It was reasonable to put Charlie into some kind of protective custody, and if he was emotionally secure, he’d be more likely to talk. They’d do their best to reassure him.
“Why couldn’t the police in Maine just tell me that he was in protective custody?” she asked. “That he was safe? And why did they lie to you and say there was no one who would miss him?”
Ian’s expression softened slightly as he took some cotton wipes from a box on the desk. “We don’t tell people, relatives, friends, anything. Most of the time, it’s assumed that the person in protective custody has been killed or else the person we’re trying to prosecute may find the witness.” He inhaled. “As for someone lying to me, that’s an issue I need to deal with. And believe me, I will deal with it.”
She leaned back against the wall next to the glass cabinet, feeling the cement wall press against her damp shirt. Despite the chill running through her, perspiration broke out on her skin. A cold sweat.
“It’s not his safety you’re worried about, is it?” she whispered, shaking her head. “He’s your prime witness. As long as you can carefully guide what he says, and how he’s going to say it in court, you’ll get your killer.” Her voice rose. “Without a smidgen of care for what’s best for him!”
Sighing, he shook his head. “That’s not true. His safety means more to me than his testimony.”
“Really? Look around you, Ian. His father has just been killed in front of him. He’s with strangers. He’s lonely and scared. And who’s here to look after him properly? Just you? You’re busy planting a church and creating some antipoverty program. You don’t have time to be a guardian or a bodyguard.”
“That’s why he’s staying with the Wilsons. They’re both retired from the U.S. Marshal Service and can help.”
“More strangers!”
She turned her head away, feeling the hot sting of tears. Out the window across from where she stood, all she could see was thick forest, vines and the occasional glimpse of shimmering water through the green tangle. The beach must not be far through the trees.
Ian rubbed his jaw and then rubbed the back of his neck. He looked as disturbed as she did. “I know this is how it seems to you, but we’re doing what’s best for the boy. Now, we both need to shower. The water isn’t safe to swim in this time of year.”
She nodded. As part of her job ensuring waterfowl safety, she’d once read about certain beaches on the gulf side becoming unsafe to swim in during the month of July. Something about a bacteria.
Oh, goodie, another reason to be concerned for Charlie. She stood. “Charlie shouldn’t be here.”
Ian continued to wipe down the disassembled pieces of his weapon. “There’s an old African proverb that says it takes a community to raise a child.”