Keeping Watch by King Laurie R

Author:King, Laurie R. [King, Laurie R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, thriller, Suspense, Crime, Historical, Adult, Adventure
ISBN: 9780553897265
Amazon: 0553897268
Goodreads: 10031686
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 2003-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Back at the farmhouse, Rachel was putting lunch on the table. Jamie responded little to the family’s conversation, but Allen thought it was more his habitual shyness than because his rescuer was abandoning him. When the table was cleared, Allen got out the cheap paper and pen he’d brought for the purpose, both bought in Miami, and had Jamie write his runaway letter to his father. Not that the man would be appeased by it—indeed, Allen thought it would make him angrier than the outright theft of the child would—but it was a means of distracting the police, who were sure to be closely involved.

Allen went upstairs to fetch his things, followed by Rachel. While he packed, he told her what Jamie had said on their walk, the boy’s startling reaction to the crop duster, his conviction of his father’s omnipotence, and his doubts about the summer ahead. Rachel nodded at each piece of information. Allen went on.

“Two more things, and then I’ll stop telling you your business. First is, Jim wants to correspond with me. I should have asked you first, I know, but it seemed important to him, so I told him that a card once or twice a year wouldn’t be too much of a risk. You’ll have to read them to make sure he’s not accidentally giving anything away, and then send them through Alice.”

“I shouldn’t think that’s a problem,” Rachel said. “He’s young enough, you’ll probably soon fade into the role of some mythic being. A knight errant.”

“In a dented Ford pickup.”

“Of course, when he gets older, he may want to see you, so he can see how much was real and how much he imagined.”

“When he gets older, we won’t have to worry so much about his father.”

“What was the other thing?”

“The other . . . ? Oh yeah. I remembered something else that happened on our drive here. Jim spotted a man walking one of those Jack Russell terriers, you know, little white shorthair with brown spots, and he talked about it solidly for the next ten miles. I know you already have a dog, but if you and Pete are ever thinking about getting another, you might look around for one like that.”

“Allen, you’re the most softhearted scoundrel I’ve ever met,” Rachel told him.

“He’s a good kid,” he retorted, then undermined it by adding, “basically. Although some of the things he says make me nervous. The glorification of violence has already started, and the equation of power with right. And it concerns me, how quickly he’s able to shift off one emotion and seize on another that might be more useful at the moment. Another year of that man’s regimen, the boy would’ve been lost for good.”

“Instead of which, he’s been found for good.”

He looked at her placid face and felt a twinge of concern. “Rachel, this is a boy with more problems than three solid meals a day are going to solve.”

“Allen, give me a little credit. We’ll give him three solid meals, and along with that, the solid concern of a loving family.

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