Page 62 of Heart of a Hero

Mark said, “I want forensics to go over every inch of this dump. Carla would have stashed drugs somewhere Alan wouldn’t get to.” He sucked in a breath that was meant to be calming but didn’t work. Instead, he walked out of the room, desperate for fresh air. “I’m going to talk to Karen, and then we’ll call CPS.”

Karen was peering out of Roscoe’s screen door and hurried out as soon as Mark made it to her. “What’s going on?” she asked, her hands clutching his arms. Her gaze was locked on him, then shifted to look at the mobile home he’d just come from and then back to him.

“It’s a shit show in there. Trash. Stench. The only nice place is the kids’ room because Marty would try to keep it clean, I suppose. And the adults have cleared out. No clothes. No personal items other than the kids.”

“They left?” she squeaked. “They abandoned the kids?”

He nodded, and it hurt to watch her expression fill with agony and then rage. Her jaw was tight, but she steadied her breathing and nodded. “We need to call CPS.”

“Yeah. I can make the call, but I thought you might want to talk to the kids to prepare them.”

She had dropped her chin, and he lost her eyes, unable to tell her thoughts. Suddenly, she lifted her head and said, “Yes, let’s talk to them together, and then we can make the call.”

They stepped back into Roscoe’s home, and he spied the kids sitting side by side on the small sofa, Roscoe near them in his chair. The older man’s face held creases that had deepened. Marty’s face was tense, and Zannie seemed to pick up on her brother’s anxiety. Mark snagged the two kitchen chairs in each hand and placed them in front of the sofa. Once Karen was seated, he sat beside her, wanting to present a united front.

“Okay, guys, we need to talk. Your mom and Alan have left, and they took most things with them, so it doesn’t look like they’re coming back soon. That means we need to make sure you are taken care of.”

Marty’s eyes narrowed as he stared at her. Zannie looked over at Roscoe and grinned. “Can we stay here? Mr. Roscoe can make us sandwiches and let us eat cereal.”

A noise came from Roscoe, and Mark cut his eyes to watch the older man struggle to hold back tears.

“Oh, sweet darlin’, I wish you could stay here, but I’m an old man. I gotta have Ms. Karen and some others help me. I wouldn’t be able to take care of you… not properly.”

“We could help you,” Marty said in a small voice. “I can clean, and I can?—”

“Hang on, you two. Mr. Roscoe will always be your friend, but we want you to be able to stay with someone who can take care of younger children. Mr. Mark will make a call, and a very sweet woman will come here to check things out. I know her… she’s a friend. She has wonderful people who can let you stay with them until we figure out where your mom is.”

“She left, didn’t she?” Marty asked. “Mom just left us. It’s not the first time, you know.”

Karen gasped, her expression ragged. Mark placed his hand on her shoulder, but it seemed she barely registered the comforting gesture. She leaned forward, holding Marty’s gaze. “Honey, we don’t know where she is, but that’s for Mr. Mark to check into. What I want to do is make sure to take care of you.”

Zannie’s eyes brightened, and she bounced her butt on the sofa. “Yay! Miss Karen is going to take care of us! Can we go to your house? You can fix us more yummy food, and you said you had girls. Can I play with your girls?”

The air left Mark’s chest as he witnessed Zannie’s excitement and watched Marty’s eyes flicker with hope.Shit…

“Let Mark call my friend, and she’ll come to talk to all of us. Then we’ll see what happens. But wherever you go, you will be taken care of.” Karen turned to Mark. “Call CPS and talk to Lisa Berkley. Tell her what’s happened and… tell her I’m here.” She leaned closer. “She’ll know that I can assist with a medical assessment and that… well, just tell her I’m here.”

He held her gaze, feeling there was more than what she was saying. He hesitated, hoping more was forthcoming, but Karen’s attention had turned back to the kids. Finally, he smiled toward the kids and walked outside.

By now, the crowd of interested neighbors had grown. Several more deputies arrived, along with those who were already going inside to start checking for forensic evidence. The mobile home park manager was pacing outside, arguing with one of the deputies because he wanted to get inside. It was being explained to him that he would have to wait. Mark thought about the interior of that home and knew it would take a lot more than a security deposit to get it cleaned up.

Walking to the side, where he had a little more privacy, he called CPS. As soon as Lisa Berkley came on the line, he succinctly explained the situation and made sure to mention that Karen Drummond was with him.

“Oh, if Karen is there, that’s good,” Lisa said. “I’ll be right there. It should only take me about fifteen minutes.”

Brad walked over with John, and the detectives filled each other in on what was happening.

“What do you think?” John asked. “Carla just up and left her kids?”

Mark shook his head. “As a parent, I can’t imagine doing that. From what the kids have said, their mom was taking a lot of pills that Alan supplied. If she was strung out most of the time and dependent on him, then who knows what kind of decisions she was making.”

“What about the kids?” Brad asked.

“Karen has talked to them and explained that we’re going to get them somewhere safe. She had me call CPS and specifically speak to Director Lisa Berkley.”

“Lisa is a good person,” Brad said. “She’ll do right by the kids.”

Mark was glad to hear it. He had worked on a number of foster cases in the county, but as a deputy, he had never worked directly with Lisa. Once the call was made, it was taken out of his hands. As a detective, especially in a suspicious case of abandonment, it would now fall to them to piece together what happened.

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