Page 97 of Heal
"Calling card?" Parson asked.
"The castrations. The police know it's our work. They don't push to find out who we are, at least not very hard," Kasey explained. "I don't dare think for a minute they wouldn't arrest and charge us, but I think most of them would rather see the kids saved than worry about us."
"That makes sense. I mean I was shocked at first when I put the pieces together, but after I thought about it, what you do makes sense. I couldn't fault you for what you do." Parson rested his hands on the table.
"I'm glad to hear that since I told him to bring you here without the others' approval." Carter walked in, stopping to pour himself a cup of coffee. He leaned against the counter. "Bad news is we had counted up to fifteen kids there yesterday, today there were only thirteen. That means there are two out there still."
"They were moving kids in and out so fast there was no way we could have timed it to get them all." Xander rested his head against Matt's shoulder.
"No, but that doesn't mean we stop looking. This is going to cause an uproar Monday morning at CPS," Matt said.
"Wait, what?" Parson's eyes went wide.
"You didn't know?" Kasey looked at him. "Beau said you knew."
"I know about the families who have been arrested over the last few weeks, but was this one different?"
"This was a current employee of CPS. Lisa looked over a list of employee photos and picked him out, that's how we found him," Matt told him.
"I knew she was going to, but I didn't know she had or that anyone had been named. Who was it?" Parson prayed it wasn't someone he liked.
"Jason Talbert. He's a caseworker in your office." Matt slid off Xander's lap. "Once we started digging, the rabbit hole just got deeper. He's running a sex slave operation, selling the kids to men for an hour or two at a time. He was also the one setting up the sex parties Lisa had talked about. He was the one who was having the pedophiles sign up to foster kids, then have them bring them to the parties."
Parson couldn't believe what he was hearing. The guy had a desk right across from his. He'd known the guy for several years. "Holy shit." He wiped his hand down his face. "It shouldn't surprise me, but it does. He has a wife, kids of his own."
Matt nodded. "From what we can gather, the wife has no clue about his side job, and his kids are safe. We found no evidence of abuse, but now that the police have Jason, they'll make sure the kids are interviewed and examined. We have started looking into all placements he made, making sure those kids haven't been fostered out to other pedophiles. We know of two more cases that we plan on handling in the next few days."
"Faith." Xander stood, going to her, and wrapping his arms around her as she stepped into the room.
She looked exhausted, but not upset, which Parson hoped was good.
"Are you okay?" Matt was at her side, holding her and Xander both in his arms.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. Beau said to tell you Bryon is stable, but will be down for a week or more. He's giving him blood now, and will watch him the rest of the night."
Carter and Trenton walked into the kitchen. "Does he need anything?"
Faith glanced at Parson. "He asked if you'd bring him up a hot cup of coffee."
Parson nodded. "Of course."
"Beau knocked Bryon out so he could fix his neck and shoulder. Said the bullet grazed his neck, nicking an artery and then went through his shoulder. Somehow it missed the bone, but he said the muscle is a mess." Faith leaned against Xander, her back to his front. "He wanted to know if you got the bullet."
Xander nodded. "Dyson has it with him."
"Where is he anyway?" Carter asked.
"Upstairs. Was last to shower, but I'm betting he crashed on the bed after. He worked his ass off making sure we didn't leave any blood evidence behind. I'm still not sure we got it all." Kasey sighed.
"Like always, we'll deal with it if it happens. Until then we don't worry." Trenton rolled his shoulders. "I don't know about you guys, but I need sleep. I'm going to head home."
"Yeah, I think we are too." Xander tightened his arms around Faith.
"Lisa was almost asleep downstairs. I'll let her know you went home and have her call you in the morning." Parson took the cup of coffee and headed upstairs, leaving the others to talk. He needed to make sure Beau was okay. He couldn't begin to imagine the stress he'd been under over the last few hours.
The door was open, so he quietly walked in. On the bed, Bryon was asleep, and beside him, Becca caressed his hand. He smiled at her, wondering if he should have brought a cup of coffee for her.
"Hey." Beau came to his side. "Thanks."
