Presumption of Guilt

  “At least the kids are safe while the cameras are there.”

  “Yeah. It’s after they leave that I’m worried about. Any word on Jimmy?”

  “Not yet. Lynda and Jake are basket cases. They’ve been out looking for him since he left.”

  “I hope that kid’s all right,” Larry said. “I just wonder what he’s got up his sleeve.”

  “I’m just hoping he left of his own free will, and didn’t get abducted without anyone knowing it.”

  “Well, we know Brandon and Wyatt didn’t get him. I’d say he’s just out there hiding somewhere, trying to figure out who he can trust.”

  “Let’s hope it’s not the wrong person.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Larry’s car was the first thing Jimmy saw when he approached the children’s home from the woods behind the hardware store. Larry must be in there, watching Bill. The fact that they’d put so much effort into watching him—yet couldn’t arrest him—only reinforced the idea that Bill would get off scot-free. Nothing ever happened to Bill Brandon.

  Jimmy stayed back in the shadows of the trees, trying to figure out how to get close to the cottages without Larry seeing him.He peered through the trees at the activity building. Something was going on at the home. It looked like a party. And television vans were outside.

  He crossed the street a block down the road, then stole through the woods, staying in the shadows so Larry wouldn’t see him. He came up on the other side of the building, out of Larry’s sight, and peered through the window of the activities building.

  He saw Stella being interviewed by a local reporter, and across the room, Bill and some of the other employees of SCCH were also talking to reporters, smiling, laughing, gesturing at the balloons, the crepe paper, the happy children.

  But not all the children were happy. Jimmy saw his sister Lisa sitting alone, holding a Raggedy Ann doll that she didn’t seem interested in. She didn’t look good. Near her, Brad sat hugging himself with a pallid, pained expression. Some of the guys around Brad whispered among themselves.

  Jimmy turned from the window and looked across the lawn toward the cottages. The lights were all turned off. Maybe if he went in now and hid in the cottage where Lisa stayed, he could get her out tonight before anyone realized he was around. Brad had said he’d leave Stella’s window open. He hoped he hadn’t forgotten.

  Stealing through the trees, he came up on the back door of Cottage B. He went to Stella’s room and tried the window. It slid open easily. Quietly, he climbed in, shut the window behind him, and headed farther into the house. A strange mixture of sensations overwhelmed him as he walked through the building he had lived in for so long—homesickness and fear, familiarity and terror. Had any of this been worth it? Maybe everyone would have been better off if he had just found a way to get out of that attic and back to Bill . . .

  No, that wasn’t right. Eventually, Bill would have used Lisa in his little schemes, anyway. Eventually, Jimmy would not have been able to protect her. Eventually, Bill would have gone too far and killed one of the children. Eventually, they would have been caught. No, he had done the right thing. And what he was about to do was even more right—he had to save Lisa from Bill Brandon.

  He went into the bedroom where he and Brad and Keith had slept, along with five other boys, in the bunk beds lined against the walls. Going to the bed that used to be his, he looked under it for the box of his belongings. They were gone; now another boy’s shoes were there. Had Bill already replaced him? A sinking feeling began to pull him under. The feeling surprised him. He didn’t live here anymore—didn’t want to. But he didn’t want to be forgotten, either.

  He went to Lisa’s room. He found his box hidden under her bed, and felt relieved that his sister had protected his things. She hadn’t forgotten him.

  He sat down on her bed, feeling so helpless, so dismal, so confused.

  “It’s not fair,” he whispered to the darkness. “It’s just not fair.” He had done little to deserve all of this: the risks, the danger, the sadness. And Lisa had done even less. He closed his eyes and wished he had been able to protect her from the past few days. She was tiny, helpless—just the way Bill liked them.

  Jimmy hoped he was getting to her in time. He knew she would expect him to rescue her, to make all the evil go away, to set everything right. She had always thought he was some kind of superkid, and he hadn’t minded it. She’d looked up to him like he was her father. But he wasn’t—and didn’t have any more idea of how a father acted than she did.

  He thought of the few men he knew that he admired. He admired Nick—the way he had gotten Beth out of the fire after her explosion and taken care of her. Nick had rescued Jimmy’s mother, too—although part of Jimmy wished she had died. But then Nick was also the one who had placed him and Lisa in this home.

  Tears came to Jimmy’s eyes, and he wiped them away. Maybe Nick wasn’t the one he wanted to be like. Maybe someone else.Someone like . . .

  Jake Stevens. The name came to him with a warmth that burned in his heart. Jake was someone he could look up to. What would Jake do in this situation? How would he get Lisa out?

  Lynda had told him how Jake had saved her from some murderer while he was still in his wheelchair. Even that hadn’t stopped Jake. And Jimmy didn’t plan to let anything stop him, either.

  He heard car doors closing outside, and he peered through the window. The television crews were loading up, and Bill was standing outside with them, giving one last interview before they packed their equipment and disappeared. The children were still inside the rec room, and Jimmy guessed that Bill had them all doing cleanup detail before they could return to the cottages.

  Just in case someone came back early, he slipped into the closet. He sat down in the corner and closed the door in front of him. It was stifling in there. There was no ventilation, and the hot Florida air was sweltering there where the air conditioner failed to blow. He reached into the waist of his jeans and felt for the pistol.It was there. If he needed it, he would use it. He wouldn’t hesitate.

  Across the street, Larry watched inconspicuously as the party broke up. Bill seemed to be trying to delay the television crew’s departure. It was his last-ditch effort to appear to be a pillar of the community. He wanted to make friends with these people who, tomorrow, would have to condemn him on the news. He was running scared, Larry thought with satisfaction. He only wished he could walk up there right now, while the cameras were rolling, and slap some cuffs on the man’s wrists. He wished he could expose him as a murderer, thief, and child abuser, and drag him away in front of all the children. Now that would be a party they could appreciate.

  He picked up the phone and dialed Tony’s car. Tony picked up. “Yeah?”

  “The party’s breaking up,” Larry said. “Camera crews are going home. Has the judge moved?”

  “Not an inch. He’s tucked safely into his house. Doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere else tonight.”

  “Don’t take your eyes off him, anyway,” Larry said.

  “I won’t. I’m still trying to track the captain down. Call me if anything happens.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Jake pulled his old car into the driveway at Lynda’s house, hoping to see Jimmy sitting beside the door, waiting to be let in. They hadn’t found him, and their only hope now was that he had decided to come back home.

  “He’s not here,” Lynda said, defeated.

  “Maybe he came in through a back door or something. It’s possible. He went out one.”

  Lynda’s dull expression didn’t change. “He couldn’t trust us anymore. I can’t believe we let this happen.”

  “We didn’t let anything happen, Lynda,” Jake said. “It just did. It couldn’t be helped.”

  In the house, Lynda searched every room, hoping, praying that he was there, sitting in the dark, brooding. But he wasn’t.

  “Where could he be?” she asked, fighting tears. “Oh, Jake, he could be in real trouble.”
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  She saw the glow from the computer screen still on in the darkened living room, and went in to shut it off. “If he had just said something—” She realized the computer was still on-line, so she moved the mouse to exit the game. “We could have taken him ourselves, helped him if he needed it . . .”

  When the game window closed, the mail window was still on the screen, and she started to close it, too—then froze when she saw the letter on the screen, from someone with the screen name Drab11. “Jake—Jake, this is e-mail! Jimmy’s been communicating with someone from the home.”

  Jake rushed over and read the letter signed “Brad.” “You’re right. And he didn’t like what he heard.”

  “I don’t think we have to wonder where anymore, do you?”

  “No, I sure don’t. Come on, let’s go. Maybe we can stop him before he does something stupid.”

  “Wait. First we have to call Larry and Tony. Maybe they can get to him before we can.” Lynda ran to the phone and punched out the number to Tony’s car.

  “Yeah?” Tony answered.

  “Tony, this is Lynda,” she blurted. “We’ve figured out where Jimmy is.”

  “Where?”

  “He’s gone back to SCCH to get Lisa out.”

  “No. He wouldn’t do that.”

  “He’s doing it. I’m telling you, that’s where we’re going to find him. We’re headed over there.”

  “No way. Let us take care of it, Lynda.”

  “You said yourself that you aren’t authorized to do anything! Tony, there’s a child’s life at stake here. Somebody has to do something besides sitting around watching!”

  “Lynda, we know what’s at stake! If you get in the way of what we’re doing, I’ll gladly arrest you myself. Now stay out of the way!”

  Lynda’s face reddened. “I’m a lawyer, Tony. You just try and arrest me! I’ll drag you into court for false arrest, police brutality, and anything else I can come up with!”

  “Go ahead,” Tony said, undaunted. “I’ll arrest you anyway. It would keep you out of the way tonight while we’re trying to get to Bill Brandon. After that, you can do anything you want to me.”

  Lynda grew quiet, and she covered her eyes with a trembling hand. “So help me, Tony, if anything happens to that kid . . .”

  “Let us do our job, Lynda. That’s the best way to make sure nothing will.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  It was at least an hour before the children began coming back into the cottage. Jimmy heard their voices as they approached the bedroom. The girls who shared a room with Lisa were laughing and talking about their rag dolls, as if they’d been given some precious gift they’d I never forget. He couldn’t hear Lisa’s voice.

  He heard the sounds of them getting ready for bed, then Stella’s voice barking out orders. He waited until the light went out and everyone had quieted down, then opened the door slightly so that he could see where everyone was. There was Lisa, lying in her bed on her side, still awake, staring dismally into the dark. Her rag doll had been discarded on the floor beside her bed, but she clutched her old teddy bear tightly.

  Why had they gotten presents tonight? What was Bill up to?

  He felt for the gun again, and it gave him courage to wait. He sat there for what seemed an eternity, hoping the others would go to sleep. But it didn’t matter if they didn’t. He had the gun, and that gave him power. He could take Lisa anywhere he wanted to, as long as he had the gun.

  When silence had prevailed for a half hour or more, he opened the door ever so slightly. It creaked, but no one moved.

  He crawled out on his hands and knees, staying down in case anyone’s eyes were still open. But they all seemed to be asleep, which surprised him. In his room, which was an older group, that didn’t happen. They often argued long after lights out, or they were up getting ready to do some dirty deed of Bill’s.

  He crawled to Lisa’s bed, then got to his feet and bent over her. He shook her shoulder, and her eyes came open with a flash of fear, making him wonder if she’d expected Bill.

  He held his finger to his mouth, hushing her, but she couldn’t help the gasp that escaped. “Jimmy!”

  He put his hand over her mouth, but it was too late—a little girl named Jill opened her eyes and sat up. “What are you doing here?” she whispered in surprise.

  “Shhh.” He waved frantically for her to be quiet. “Come on, Lisa,” he whispered. “Come with me.”

  “Can I come, too?” Jill asked.

  “You don’t want to go where we’re going,” Jimmy said.

  “I might.”

  “Just hush. I came to get my sister, that’s all. And if you tell—” He pulled his shirt up, showing the gun.

  She caught her breath and lay back down quickly. “I won’t tell.”

  Lisa shrank back onto her pillow, horrified. “Jimmy, where’d you get that?” she whispered.

  He shook his head and put his fingers over her lips. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.”

  She got up and ran to the shelves where all of their clothes were piled in little cubbyholes. She pulled out a pair of shorts and slipped on her shoes. “Wait,” she whispered. “I’ve got to get the box.”

  “Leave it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. We can’t carry it.”

  “Yes, we can,” she said. “We have to. It has pictures of our mama. I don’t want to forget what she looks like.”

  She ran to the closet and pulled out a black backpack—which Jimmy recognized immediately as the kind that Bill issued to all the kids who worked under him. His heart sank. So Bill had gotten to her, too. She stuffed the contents of the box into the backpack, along with her teddy bear, and slipped it onto her small shoulders. “I’m ready,” she whispered with a smile. “I knew you’d come to get me, but he told us you were in jail.”

  “He’s the one who’s going to jail,” Jimmy said. “Not me.”

  “But we’ve all broken laws,” she said. “He said if we get caught—”

  “He lied,” Jimmy said. “He’s a liar and a murderer and a thief and you can’t believe a word he says. Especially all that Bible stuff.”

  “He said the sins of the brother are visited on the sister.Jimmy, what does that mean?”

  “It means that if I see him face-to-face, I might just use this gun on him.” He went to the window and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge.

  “It’s nailed shut,” Jill whispered. “Bill did it yesterday.”

  He breathed out a ragged sigh. “Okay, then we’ll have to go up the hall.” He turned with a menacing look toward Jill, who still followed them with her eyes, though she lay quietly. “Jill, if you make one sound or tell anyone Lisa’s gone before morning, so help me, I’ll come back here and get revenge. Got it?”

  “Okay,” she whispered. “Bye, Lisa. Are you coming back?”

  Lisa looked at her brother, and he shook his head no. The little girl’s face changed to an expression of deep sadness, and she lay back down. “Are you sure I can’t come?”

  “Yes,” Jimmy said. “Not right now. Maybe later.”

  He took Lisa’s hand and tiptoed with her up the hall, desperately silent. He heard Stella moving around in her own room, so he knew that he couldn’t go back out the same way he had come in. They were going to have to sneak through the den. He could only hope that no one was there. But he’d been trained in walking through people’s homes while they slept and not getting caught.They cut through the dark kitchen, heading for the den, when the sound of the front door startled him. He heard Stella dash from her room into the den to meet her guest.

  “I think that was a success, don’t you?” It was Bill’s voice, and Jimmy almost panicked. He motioned frantically for Lisa to head back to her room, and he followed.

  “Absolutely. You’ve got them eating out of your hand,” Stella said.

  “Let’s just hope they keep eating out of it,” he said. “Judge Wyatt is fighting hard, but they may find a way to go over his head by tomorr
ow. It might be time for me to get out of town.”

  “And what about me?” Stella asked. “I’ll be implicated, too.

  We all will.”

  “Just say you didn’t know what was going on. That you weren’t actually involved.”

  “But according to the paper, they know that it was a little girl who delivered the package bomb to the post office—and that she was seen with a woman in a pickup truck.”

  “That was me!” Lisa whispered. She and Jimmy were standing in the doorway to her room now, trying to listen. Jimmy put his hand over her mouth to silence her.

  “They can’t prove that woman was you,” Bill told Stella.

  “Bill, I’m not taking the heat for attempted murder. You know I didn’t know what was in that package—”

  “You knew it wasn’t a box of chocolates.”

  “What about Jimmy?” she demanded. “He’s still out there somewhere, telling his story.”

  Jimmy moved his hand from Lisa’s face, and they both listened hard.

  “Don’t worry about Jimmy,” Bill said. “He’s not going to be a factor.”

  “Bill, you’ll never get to him without getting caught.”

  “I won’t have to,” he said. “He’ll come to us, before we know it. Maybe even tonight.”

  Lisa’s eyes rounded with terror. Bill was expecting Jimmy!

  But Jimmy only stared into space, trying to figure out how Bill had known he was coming—and how he and Lisa would get past him now.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  Larry’s phone rang, and he snatched it up.

  “We’ve got a problem,” Tony said before Larry could speak.

  “What?”

  “Lynda and Jake think Jimmy’s headed over L there.”

  “Here? To the home?”

  “That’s what they said. Seen any evidence of it?”

  “No,” Larry said. “Why in the world would he come here?”

  “Apparently, he got a desperate e-mail note from some kid there to come get Lisa out before Bill killed her.”