In Hope's Shadow by Janice Kay Johnson

Author:Janice Kay Johnson [Johnson, Janice Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460385883
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

BEN SAW EVE’S car when he was still a block away from the Santoses’ house and cursed.

Seth, who was in the passenger seat, said, “You didn’t expect her?”

“How’d she know we were going to serve the warrant now?”

Intelligent guesswork, that’s how. She’d undoubtedly spoken to the couple who ran the receiving home, and learned no search had yet taken place.

It wasn’t that he was avoiding her. He had intended to call her or even go hammer on her apartment door later. But this wasn’t ideal for a first chat about Joel.

He’d damn well better not find her just putting a load of Joel’s clothes in the dryer, he thought.

Nah, she wouldn’t do that.

You so sure?

He said another obscenity, just because, and pulled up to the curb.

When he rang, the door was opened by a short, stocky Hispanic man, younger than Ben had expected. The guy’s gaze dropped to Ben’s waist where his badge showed.

“I’m Detective Kemper, and this is Detective Chandler. We have a warrant to search your home.”

“May I see it?”

Ben handed it over.

The guy perused it, finally handing it back. “You know I’ll be watching to be sure you don’t search any of the other boys’ possessions.”

“We are interested only in specific areas of your home.” Ben stepped into a shabby living room, where a plump, brown-haired woman and Eve stood with crossed arms and matching glares.

“I assume you’re the Santoses?” Ben said.

“Yes. I’m Tony, and this is my wife, Laura.”

Ben nodded. “Eve.” Seth’s echoing greeting came from behind him.

“Detectives.”

Her voice singed his skin. Ben didn’t look to see how Seth had taken it.

He asked to be taken to Joel’s bedroom. Seth went for the laundry room, which turned out to be a glassed-in back porch.

Glancing into other bedrooms upstairs, he saw that each held a pair of twin beds. No kid would have his own room in this kind of setup. Tony stood in the doorway, never taking his eyes off Ben as he crouched to look under the bed, then went through the closet and the dresser drawers on Joel’s side. He closely examined the pair of high-tops and some slightly dressier leather shoes that sat side by side on the closet floor. Size thirteen. Neither pair looked as if they’d even been worn recently, much less cleaned.

Finding nothing but the expected clothes and school books, Ben looked at Santos. “Where are the dirty clothes that haven’t made it to the utility room?”

“Hamper in the bathroom.” He led Ben there.

Red plastic, the kind parents bought for their kid to have in a college dorm room, it was getting pretty full. Ben dumped it out. Santos narrowed his eyes at a sweatshirt that reeked of beer, but said nothing. Ben wouldn’t have expected a kid to put clothes saturated with blood in the hamper, but had had to look. He replaced all the clothes.

“Do you look through the boys’ drawers or closets on a regular basis?”

Santos’s eyes flickered. “Yes. I warn them I will be.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.