Page 66 of Through the Fire
Just as she entered the dining area, Courtney stopped, forcing Kit to shift to the side so as not to crash into her back. There was an almost immediate hush, one that Kit recognized from her first trip to the viner. The sight of a stranger in town was apparently a big deal.
Jules turned from where she was clearing an empty table and caught sight of Kit by the door. She started to smile, lighting up with genuine welcome, when her gaze moved to Courtney.
Her face instantly blanched of all color. The tray of dishes in her hands wobbled and fell, hitting the floor with a crash and breaking the frozen silence.
“No!” Jules darted across the room, and Kit tensed, trying to figure out what was happening. It felt like an accident scene, filled with action and chaos and requiring split-second decisions on her part—but she had no idea whose lives were in danger or why.
Jules skidded to a halt in front of a booth where Sam, the twins, and Dee were sitting. All the kids wore horrified expressions that made Kit tense even more. Something was wrong—very wrong—but Kit didn’t know what. All she knew was that Courtney was somehow the cause.
“You!” A tiny, triumphant smile slipped across Courtney’s face before disappearing just as quickly. Raising her arm, Courtney pointed at Jules dramatically. “Officer! Arrest that woman!”
Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and Kit turned her head to see Elena retreating into the kitchen. Kit let her go, her focus switching between Courtney and Jules’s protective stance in front of her family. She wished she’d brought her radio with her, but she had to settle for pulling out her cell phone and calling Theo. As it rang, Courtney charged forward toward Jules.
“Hold up!” Kit grabbed Courtney by the arm and hauled her back a few steps. When the woman started fighting her grip, Kit held her phone to her ear with her shoulder and used both hands to restrain Courtney. “Settle down and just stay here until we get this—whatever it is—worked out. Ms. Young, if you don’t stop fighting me, I’m going to have to use restraints—Theo,” she interrupted herself as Theo answered. “I need backup at the viner. Appears to be just a verbal dispute at the moment, but Jules is involved.” Her voice lowered. “She’s terrified.”
“Five minutes,” Theo clipped out before ending the call.
Courtney’s struggles had stopped, so Kit kept one hand on her arm while using the other to turn on the recording app before dropping her phone into her coat pocket. “Okay, let’s go across the street and figure this out.”
“No!” Courtney twisted out of her hold, and Kit grabbed her again, this time putting the other woman into an arm bar. “You have to arrest her immediately. If we leave her alone, she’ll just steal my children away from me again!”
Startled, Kit blinked before giving Jules a questioning look. A white-faced Jules just stared back, not denying the accusation, and Kit tensed. For now, she was the only cop on scene, so it was up to her to keep things under control.
“Jules, could you take a seat next to Dee?” she asked.
Acting as if she hadn’t heard, Jules continued staring at Courtney as if the older woman had stepped right out of Jules’s nightmares. If Jules tried to run before Theo arrived, Kit was going to have to chase her, which meant either letting Courtney go or dragging her along. Her gut told her that Jules was more trustworthy than Courtney, but she really didn’t want to have to leave either unguarded.
“Jules.” Kit put more force into the command. “Sit down.”
Tearing her gaze from Courtney, Jules met Kit’s eyes before flicking from the entrance behind Kit and Courtney to the kitchen door. Kit’s muscles tightened, preparing to move. She knew what Jules’s look meant. It meant that desperation and panic were warring about which absolutely wrong decision she was about to make.
Kit softened her tone. “Jules, Theo’s going to be here in just a minute. Nothing is going to happen until then. Once he’s here, all of us are going to talk and figure out what’s going on. You trust Theo, right?”
Although she didn’t answer, Jules focused on Kit again. Her panic was still obvious, but she looked as if she was actually listening now. It seemed that Theo’s name was the magic word.
“Why don’t you have a seat,” Kit continued, using the same calm, hopefully soothing tone. “It looks like Dee could use your company. We’ll stay over here, and you sit with your family, and when Theo gets here, we’ll work everything out.” Tensing in Kit’s grip, Courtney took a breath, but Kit squeezed her arm before the woman could say anything. Kit knew for certain that nothing Courtney added to the conversation would help. Even worse, it would likely be the trigger that sent Jules and the kids bolting for the door.
Jules stayed frozen for several moments—long enough that Kit thought that her persuasive monologue hadn’t helped—but then she glanced quickly at a terrified-looking Dee, who was staring at Courtney with huge eyes. “Oh, sweetie,” Jules said softly, sounding heartbreakingly sad as she stiffly eased down on the bench next to her sister. Her voice was so quiet that the only reason Kit could hear her words was because everyone else in the viner remained completely silent.
On the other side of the booth from Jules and Dee, Sam started to slide out of the seat, but Kit caught his eye and shook her head. His expression looked just as frantic as Jules’s. Normally, he was so good at hiding his emotions, and Kit knew that he must be completely panicked if his guard was down like that. Ignoring her silent signal, Sam stood.
“Please sit down, Sam,” Kit ordered. Sam’s gaze flickered over to her for only a brief second before returning to glare at Courtney. Kit braced herself, anticipating that Sam would rush at them. If she was occupied with Sam, she wouldn’t be able to restrain Courtney or watch Jules and the other kids. It would be chaos.
His gaze flicked to Jules, and they exchanged a quick, telling look before Sam faced Kit and Courtney again. Dread filled Kit’s belly as she read his expression, a mixture of determination and resignation that told Kit he was going to throw himself to the lions in order to save his family. He knew that she wouldn’t be able to stop Jules and the other kids from running if he charged them—and as much as Kit was on their side, as a cop, she had to be a neutral party. She couldn’t just let them run. Kit glanced briefly around the diners for someone who could help, but the average age was approximately eighty. She was on her own.
Hurry up and get here, Theo!
“Wh-wh-why are y-you h-here?” Sam demanded. His fists clenched at his sides, but he stayed by the table…for now.
“How can you ask that, Sebastian?” Courtney sounded choked up, but a quick glance showed that her face was as smooth and expressionless as ever. It was a discomforting juxtaposition. “I’ve been heartbroken since you were stolen away from me by that…that…bitch.” She paused to glare at Jules, who stood up to stand next to Sam. “Your poor father…” Her voice broke, but it was eerily empty of emotion. This woman didn’t love these children. Kit knew it deep in her gut, but she couldn’t let her feelings affect how she handled the scene. It was one of the hardest things she’d ever done, to see Jules, the twins, Dee, and—worst of all—Sam, her sweet training buddy, stare at her as if Kit was a betrayer, a monster. She couldn’t let the family just run out of the diner, though. It went against all of her instincts as a cop. “It took away his will to live.” Her tone changed from sorrow to fury. “You killed him, you ungrateful bitch!” Jules flinched at that, turning chalk white, and Sam’s face went blank with what Kit guessed was shock.
“Dad’s dead?” Dee asked, sounding bewildered, and Jules reached behind her to grab the little girl’s hand. The twins both stared at Courtney from their positions in the booth, silent and still for the first time since Kit had met them.
Courtney pressed her fingers to her lips as she let out a sob, but her smooth cheeks remained dry. Kit eyed the woman, her brain working through the information that had just been revealed. Courtney was either Jules’s mother or stepmother—stepmother would be Kit’s guess—and she was accusing Jules of kidnapping her siblings. Pieces clicked into place—Jules’s mistrust and paranoia during the training session, the clear signs that Sam had been abused, even Theo’s overprotectiveness. He’d known that Jules had committed a crime, and the entire K9 unit had been trying to hide it from Kit. It felt like a repeat of what had happened at her last department, only worse, since it seemed Jules had a very good reason to commit her crime.
Kit’s gaze turned to Courtney, and a bone-deep loathing filled her. This woman had hurt those kids, hurt them badly enough that Jules had felt the need to commit a serious crime to get them away from her. Her thoughts filled with every domestic violence case that Kit had tried to intervene in. So many times, she’d been forced to stand by, watching as the system failed the victims, as abusers walked free, as children were returned to homes where Kit knew they weren’t safe. The maddening frustration of each of those situations hit her in a wave, the memory of every time justice had failed because there hadn’t been enough evidence or someone had screwed up.
This couldn’t be one of those times. She couldn’t be the person who sent these kids—these sweet, wonderful kids—back to their abuser.
