3 Timothy by Bailey Bradford

Author:Bailey Bradford
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing
Published: 2012-05-12T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Otto nudged Tim as Steve, Lona and Dane walked into the waiting room. He didn’t know how Tim could sleep in the shitty plastic chairs provided by the hospital, but he was glad he could. Hopefully he wasn’t dreaming of fire and loss, and of an abused child. Otto was afraid he’d be seeing all of those hellacious things and more hellish visions if he closed his eyes.

“What? Did Naran come back?” Tim asked, swiping at his mouth and muffling his words. He looked towards the door and grunted. “Cavalry’s here.”

“Yeah,” Otto agreed. He stood up and didn’t flinch as Dane bore holes in him with an angry glare.

“What kind of crap have you dragged Tim into?” Dane stopped almost toe to toe with Otto. “Because Tim would never piss someone off so bad they’d torch his place, and damned sure never known anyone who’d hurt a kid.”

Otto wasn’t in the mood to handle Dane’s not entirely misplaced anger, but fortunately Tim stepped in.

“Stop snarking at him, Dane.” Tim grabbed his friend’s hand and pulled him to the chair on his other side. “Otto has been trying to find a poacher who is after snow leopards. That’s what started all this, some sick fuck killing off endangered animals, not Otto.”

“They know the fire was set, not accidental?” Lona enquired as she brushed Otto’s hair back. She dropped her voice down to a bare whisper. “Not that I’m doubting you. When you called you said you were sure it was started by the man you’d been looking for.”

“It was,” Otto confirmed. He glanced at Tim, who nodded, then took his mother’s arm and walked her to the entrance. His dad followed. The early morning air was particularly frigid this morning, and Otto had to tense his muscles to keep from shivering. His eyes watered from the stinging cold. “Tim and I smelt the same man at the same time we smelt the gas. The fire investigator said it seemed like the fire had many starting points instead of just one, and he isn’t sure how the arsonist managed to do that.”

“Our fire investigator barely graduated from high school,” Lona griped. “If his daddy wasn’t mayor, he wouldn’t have his job. He doesn’t know jack shit about fire!”

Otto didn’t entirely disagree, but his mother was being a bit harsh. Still, it’d been a very bad night.

“Anyone who would hurt a child like that,” Lona continued, swiping at her cheeks. “The poor boy. If he has no one, no one decent to take care of him, we’ll take him home with us. I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt him!”

“There is the fierce leopardess I know and love.” Otto kissed his mother’s cheek. “Naran has plans to take Ochir home and keep him safe.”

“But the guy who did this, who beat him, he knows where Naran works. He probably even knows where she lives.” Lona held up a hand when Otto started to speak. “He knew where you lived. He found you, and you didn’t know it until it was almost too late.

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