Page 77 of Heart of a Hero

“Yes?” She gave him her full attention.

“Let’s not tell Zannie what I’m doing tomorrow, okay? I don’t want her to get upset.”

Karen sucked in a quick breath through her nose before letting it out slowly, her heart full. “Okay, honey. For tonight, we won’t worry about anything other than clean laundry, getting bookbags ready for tomorrow, and having a bedtime snack. Tomorrow, you and I will take care of talking to Mark.”

He smiled, and her heart filled until it was overflowing.

The following morning, Karen was hyped up on caffeine and nerves. She barely slept the night before and forced a happy smile on her face as she got everyone ready for school. She hated not telling Zannie the truth, but she just said she had an appointment for Marty. She had already left the principal and teacher a message that they had an appointment to keep.

Now, with Marty at her side, they walked into the sheriff’s station. Marty was wide-eyed and didn’t appear nervous. He seemed almost excited about a new adventure. Mark met them in reception, then walked them back, pointing out things that a nine-year-old boy would find interesting.

Karen wondered if they would be going into a similar room where she had been interviewed, but instead, he led them into aroom with a sofa, several comfortable chairs, and a table with a few cups. Turning to Marty, he said, “I have orange juice, apple juice, or water.”

Marty looked at Karen. She smiled and said, “You can choose whatever you’d like.”

“Apple juice, please.”

Mark smiled and walked out of the room, quickly returning with a full container of apple juice. Karen realized he must have just bought the selections. He winked at her as he poured. “Karen? A cup of coffee? I can guarantee that it’s better than most police office coffee.”

“Because it’s from my girlfriend,” Brad said, walking into the room with a cardboard drink carrier with four coffees in one hand and a paper sack in the other. “You’ve got to try Bess’s coffee. And there’s muffins from her bakery.”

“Oh my,” she exclaimed with exaggeration while lifting a brow. “Much different from the last couple of timesI’vebeen here.”

Brad had the good grace to blush bright red as he set down the coffee and muffin bag. “Yeah… um… I’m really…”

She barked out a laugh and waved her hand. She looked up as Lisa Berkley walked into the room. Standing, she greeted her with a hug.

Lisa looked down at Marty and smiled warmly. “Hello, Marty. Don’t worry about me being here. I just wanted to hear what was going on.”

Soon, everyone was sitting at the table, their impromptu breakfast in front of them, offering a casual environment for Marty.

Mark began. “Marty, I want to thank you for coming in today. We are recording this session so that we can make sure we don’t forget anything, okay?”

Marty looked at Karen, then nodded.

“Good. For the record, I’m Detective Mark Robbins, and this is Detective Brad Stowe. Next to him is Detective John Sullivan, and then Lisa Berkley from Child Protective Services. And of course, you know Karen Drummond, your foster mother.”

Marty sat up straight and held Mark’s gaze.

“It’s our understanding that you gave some information to Miss Karen yesterday. Can you tell us what it was you talked about?”

Karen smiled encouragingly. “Just tell them what you told me, honey. You can talk to them just like you talk to me.”

Marty nodded, his gaze moving around the table before settling on Mark’s face. “It was when Miss Karen had her wallet out at the store. It reminded me that Alan had a bunch of cards like those. You know… the ones that you use in stores to buy stuff.”

Mark’s gaze jumped to Karen’s face. “He was looking at my credit cards.”

Marty nodded again. “One night, he was fiddling with a bunch of stuff at the table. Me and Zannie were watching TV. He went into the back, and I heard the shower running. Zannie looked at the table and whispered that there was money there. I got up and looked and there was a stack of money. I knew not to touch anything of his, but Zannie picked up the cards that had a bunch of colors on them. She said they were pretty, and she wanted to count to see how many there were.” He grimaced. “I probably should have stopped her, but I couldn’t see how it would hurt. Anyway, she counted thirty-seven.”

Mark’s gentle smile remained steadfast, but his eyes cut to Karen. Her lips were pinched tightly, but she simply nodded.

“Thirty-seven credit cards?” Brad asked.

Marty nodded. “Yeah. When Miss Karen said that most people don’t have that many, I told her they weren’t all his. When Zannie counted, I put them back into the same stack thatAlan had left them. I didn’t want him to know Zannie had played with them.”

“How did you know they weren’t all his?” Mark asked.

“I noticed they had people’s names on them. They weren’t his names. In fact, there were all kinds of different names.”

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