Page 28 of SEAL's Angel
“I’m sure you didn’t. You’re not in trouble, but going somewhere without telling your mom is a bad idea. You won’t do that again, will you?”
“No, sir. I promise.” Chase sat up a little straighter and shook his head.
“That’s good. Can you tell me what made you run away?” Spencer held his pen above the open pad while he waited for Chase to answer. He’d said he was good with children, and he’d been right. Chase seemed a lot calmer now.
“I had a fight with my friend, Joey.”
“A word fight, or did you hit each other?”
“Words. I don’t fight unless I have to defend myself. My dad taught me that.”
Spencer nodded as he took notes. “Okay. What did you fight about?”
Chase gulped and then looked at Dawn. She thought she knew everything, but maybe he’d held something back.
“About camping. That I couldn’t go with them anymore because my dad was dead, and I was going to be a pussy now. I’m sorry, Mom. I know that’s a bad word.”
Dawn squeezed his hand but bit her tongue to keep from saying anything. She was furious. Where had Joey learned that word? Wasn’t eleven too young for that? Anne was going to get a phone call later about this, that was for sure.
Spencer met her gaze, but she couldn’t read his expression. “It’s okay, Chase. We know you’re just answering the questions. Do you know why he said that?”
“No. I’ve gone camping with Joey and Mr. Barlow a few times since my dad died. I thought we had fun.” Tears slid down Chase’s face, and Dawn pulled him into her side.
“It’s okay, buddy,” she whispered.
“Did you say anything to Joey?” Spencer made more notes.
“I told him he was a jerk, and that I hated him.”
“Was this before or after you saw Janey and Cindy?”
“After. We were going to play some basketball on the way home. That’s when it happened. He told me they were going camping this weekend.”
“I see. Then what?” Spencer prodded.
“I was so mad and sad I didn’t know what to do. But I didn’t want to go home, so I went walking and ended up in the woods. I didn’t pay attention to where I was going and got lost. It was getting dark, and I fell over a log and hurt my foot. It was so scary, and I didn’t think anyone would find me. I was so happy when I heard Uncle Rafe and Jake shouting my name.”
“I’m glad they found you, too. Is there anything else you want to tell me about yesterday?” Spencer asked.
“No, sir. That’s it.” The color returned to Chase’s face, and he looked relieved it was over.
“Thank you again for all you did yesterday,” Dawn said. “We were lucky my brother and his team leader found Chase when they did. But you made it easy by narrowing down the search.”
“Yes, you were lucky. I don’t know when we would have checked those woods. It wasn’t on our radar.”
“It wasn’t on mine, either. But Rafe remembered it from when we were kids.”
The cop nodded and stood up.
Dawn got up, too. “Are we done then, Officer Spencer?”
“Yes. Be good, Chase.”
“I will.” Chase hadn’t moved from where he’d been sitting.
Dawn walked Spencer over to the door. “Thank you again.”
“Just doing my job. We were lucky, though. If he’d been in the woods with the temperatures dropping, it could have been a much different outcome.”
