What on earth was he doing there?

I turned back to Mr. Pierson who was also looking out the window, undoubtedly at Mitch.

“That’s my, um…neighbor. I think I need to go talk to him,” I said to Mr. Pierson.

His body visibly jolted and his eyes slid to me. “Neighbor?”

“Look!” I heard Billie shout and I turned back to the window. “I’m wearin’ one of the outfits you bought me!” She had let him go and was yanking her t-shirt out at the bottom hem to show him.

I watched Mitch smile at her and he said something I couldn’t hear because unlike Billie he wasn’t shouting.

Then I felt a whoosh surge through my belly at witnessing his smile.

I forced myself to turn back to Mr. Pierson who was now standing with his eyes back at the window.

“Yes, my neighbor. Do you mind…?” I trailed off and he looked at me. Then he looked to the window. Then back at me. Then his eyes quickly darted the length of me.

Then he grinned a grin I’d never seen him grin before and he advised, “Don’t forget to ask him if he needs a bed.”

I nodded knowing there was no way in hell I was going to ask Detective Mitch Lawson if he needed a bed and moved quickly from the office.

The instant I hit the showroom Mitch’s eyes came to me. The instant his eyes came to me, my eyes went to Billy. He was still sprawled on the bed, the video game in his hands but now his gaze was on Mitch and his little face was hard. He didn’t, I noticed, throw himself at Mitch and I wasn’t certain he’d even said hello.

My head swung the other way and I saw Roberta with her customers. She was trying to pay attention to them while at the same time eye up Mitch. It was a name she knew and now that she had a handsome face, fabulous hair, fantastic body and great clothes to put with that name, she was obviously having trouble listening to her customers.

I made myself look back at Mitch just as Billie ran to me, grabbed my hand and tugged me toward Mitch, telling me, “Look, Auntie Mara! Mitch is here!”

“I see that, honey,” I murmured to her as I got closer and closer to Mitch.

She kept tugging at me. “Isn’t it great that he’s here so he can see my outfit?” she asked.

“It’s awesome,” I muttered as we stopped in front of Mitch.

“I know,” she breathed.

“Mara,” Mitch greeted and his face was closed, no warmth, no smile, nothing.

Yep he’d figured it out. Ten Point Fives didn’t give Two Point Fives warmth. Disdain, often. Shared breathing space, yes, but only because everyone needed oxygen. Warmth, no.

That knife that I hadn’t had time to pull out of my heart twisted.

“Mitch,” I replied.

“You got a place we can talk privately?” he asked.

I stared up at him wondering what this was all about. Then I decided my best bet was to find out and get him on his way as fast as I could. So I nodded.

“Break room,” I answered and bent to Billie. “Do me a favor, baby, and go sit with your brother.” She nodded up at me and I added, “And no jumping on beds or racing through the showroom. Just sit quiet with Billy until I come back. Can you do that for me?”

“Sure, Auntie Mara,” Billie chirped, grinned at Mitch then skipped toward Billy who was still staring at Mitch with his hard face. Billie climbed up on the bed then landed full body on her brother.

She was so totally not going to do that favor for me.

I looked back at Mitch to see his eyes were on Billy. “If you’d like to follow me,” I invited and he tore his gaze from Billy to nod at me.

I led the way to the door of the back hall, punched in the code, opened it, moved through the back hall with Mitch following me and then I turned us into the break room.

I flipped on the light and Mitch closed us in.

I sucked in breath when my eyes hit his no longer soulful, now expressionless, still beautiful ones.

Fast. I needed to do this fast.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“We got a problem.”

Oh boy.

He kept talking before I even had time to brace.

“Remember I said that if your cousin was all the kinds of messes you know then he was probably all the kinds of messes I know?”

This wasn’t starting out so great.

“Yeah,” I replied hesitantly.

“Well it’s confirmed. He’s all the kinds of messes I know.”

I felt my body grow solid, my eyes locked on his and I whispered, “Oh shit.”

“That about covers it,” Mitch agreed.

“Tell me.” I was still whispering.

“Bill’s had a bad coupla days. He’s detoxing and it hasn’t been pretty mostly because he’s hooked on smack and he’s hooked on speed and he’s a drunk and there’s likely other shit he’s hooked on. He’s a user and he’s a dealer. He’s real good at the first, sucks at the last. Not popular with the suppliers in Denver mostly because he’s f**ked half of them over and the other half he owes money. He also owes money to a variety of other people, none of them people you wanna owe shit. He’s recently devolved to selling information which makes him even less popular and he was already pretty f**kin’ unpopular. And if that wasn’t enough, when they went through his house they found a shitload of H and E, enough that he’s been charged with intent to distribute. And proving he’s not just an assclown but a serious f**kin’ assclown, they also found stolen property that we reckon he either stole himself, he stole from someone else who stole it or he was gonna fence it for somebody.”

“This doesn’t sound good.” Still I was whispering but now it was because I was more than a little scared for my cousin.

“It isn’t,” Mitch confirmed. “The good news is, you got the kids out in time and we got to him in time.” He hesitated, studied me a moment and then continued, “But you should know, Mara, once he detoxes and goes to lockup, he’s got so many enemies, it isn’t likely he’ll be real safe there. That said, we know this and he’ll be placed in protective custody so at least he’s safer there than he was out on the street. And Billy and Billie are a f**kuva lot safer with you than they were with him because there was a good chance they’d be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their home was the wrong place to be and, until you intervened, they had no way to avoid it.”