“YOU’RE REALLY NOT going to tell me why we have to go to your house right this second.” Kelly felt she had displayed an abundance of patience with Donovan today. He seemed to have a lot going on. Between whatever it was that got him put on desk duty and whatever these issues were at home, the man was a mess.
“I need to handle a situation at home. It should take me no more than a couple minutes. I promise.”
Speed limits did not seem to apply to the detective this afternoon and rolling stops were no big deal. Kelly held her breath as they ran a very late yellow light.
“If I drove the way you are, you would probably give me a ticket. Or ten.”
He didn’t slow down. “I’m not a traffic cop. I don’t write tickets.”
“I meant that I would get pulled over by a cop. You’re a cop.” Donovan was so literal it was painful. “You’re also breaking all the traffic laws. Can you ease up just a bit?”
“I need to get home. I promise to get you there safely.”
Kelly’s idea of safe must have been different than his. They crossed the Cumberland River and turned onto a residential street a couple miles east of it.
“You can stay in the truck,” he said, pulling into a driveway and jumping out.
Donovan’s white Craftsman had a bright red door. There was a detached garage in the back and an American flag hanging from the flagpole out front. From the outside, it was kind of cute. It wasn’t where Kelly expected someone like Donovan to live.
A teenage boy sprinted out of the backyard and down the street. Kelly wondered if that was Donovan’s son. No one was chasing after him, so maybe not. The front door opened and a little girl came out.
Two kids.
The little girl waved at Kelly. She couldn’t have been older than seven or eight. Kelly waved back. A smile spread across the girl’s face and she ran up to the truck. Kelly opened her door.
“What’s your name?” the girl asked.
“My name’s Kelly. What’s yours?”
“I’m Avery. Are you friends with my uncle?”
Uncle? That made more sense than Dad. “I am. Your uncle didn’t tell me he had such an adorable niece.”
Close up, Kelly could see that Avery was missing one of her front teeth when she smiled. She had brown pigtails that were tied up with ribbons. It was a fancy do for someone living with her uncle. Donovan didn’t strike her as the pigtail-making type. Maybe there was an aunt inside, as well.
“He didn’t? He likes me better than Graham. Did he tell you about Graham?”
“I heard about Graham this morning. Was that who just...went for a run?” she asked, choosing her words carefully.
“No, that was his friend Davey,” Avery replied. “Uncle Donovan said Graham couldn’t have friends over, but he didn’t listen. Uncle Donovan says Graham’s ears must be broken because he never listens.”
Kelly tried not to laugh. “You both live with your uncle?”
“Yeah, my mom and dad are in heaven, so he takes care of us.”
That wiped the smile right off Kelly’s face. “Oh, I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
Avery didn’t seem bothered by her loss. The resiliency of youth was amazing. “Do you want to come inside? I bet Uncle Donovan is done yelling at Graham.”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should hang out here until your uncle comes outside. We wouldn’t want to get in the middle of whatever is going on in there.”
“Want to jump on my trampoline with me?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
Kelly decided there was no harm in getting out of the truck if she didn’t go in the house. “I can watch you jump on your trampoline. Do you know any tricks?”
“I know lots of tricks! Come on, I’ll show you.” Avery took Kelly by the hand and led her behind the house.
There was a paver patio off the back with a table and chairs for entertaining and outdoor dining. One of the chairs was pulled away from the table and sat right in front of the sliding glass door. The fenced-in yard was well maintained. There were flowering hydrangeas and manicured bushes around the house and in the corners of the lot.
“Watch me do a flip,” Avery said, kicking off her shoes and climbing up on the trampoline that sat in the center of it all.
“Okay, just be careful.” The last thing she needed was for the kid to break her neck on Kelly’s watch.
Avery and her pigtails bounced and bounced. Once she was high enough, she did a somersault in the air and landed on her bottom.
“That wasn’t a good one,” she said, getting to her feet.
“I thought it was pretty good.”
The sliding glass door opened and Donovan stepped out on the patio. “Avery, come on inside.” He didn’t sound angry, but he didn’t sound pleased, either.
“Everything okay in there?” Kelly asked.
“As okay as it’s going to get. Sorry she bothered you. She should have gone to her room like I asked her.”
“You guys were yelling too much. I hate when you yell,” Avery complained as Kelly helped her off the trampoline.
“I wasn’t yelling. Graham was yelling. I was talking in my normal voice.”
“Nope, it was your mad voice. I heard it.”
Kelly had known the man for less than twelve hours and even she knew what his mad voice sounded like. It could certainly make someone feel like they were being yelled at.
“Your mad voice is kind of scary,” Kelly said as they joined him on the patio.
He frowned. “I don’t have a mad voice. That’s not even a thing.”
“I’ll point it out the next time you use it, so you can be more self-aware,” Kelly offered.
“Wanna see my room?” Avery asked. Without waiting for an answer, she tugged Kelly toward the door.
Kelly resisted, not wanting to assume that Donovan was fine with her going into his house. “I would love to see your room...if it’s okay with your uncle.”
Avery had obviously been trained at the best adult manipulation school around. Her puppy-dog eyes were in full effect. She clasped her hands together and began to beg. “Pleeeeeeeease, Uncle Donovan. Pleeeeeeease let me show her my room.”
“I’m still working, Avery. I need to get Miss Bonner home.” The man was ice.
“It will only take a minute. I want to show her the mural Graham painted me.”
“Well, now I’m really curious,” Kelly said, waiting to see if he would give in.
“Please,” Avery continued to beg. “I never get to have friends over. I just want to show her for one minute.”
She was breaking Kelly’s heart. Both her parents were in heaven and she never got to have friends over. How could he say no? He couldn’t. He thawed immediately and was a puddle at her feet.
“Fine. Go ahead and show her your room, but I do need to get her home.”
“Yes! Come on, Kelly.”
Kelly smiled at Donovan as she followed the little munchkin inside. It was nice to see that he had a soft spot underneath that tough-guy exterior.
The inside of the house was just as unexpected as the outside. It wasn’t simply a house; it was a home. The open-concept layout made the first floor appear bigger than it was. The couches looked extremely comfortable and there were some of Avery’s art projects hanging on the refrigerator.
A bag of potato chips sat open on the coffee table along with several soda cans. There was no angry teenager, though. Something told Kelly he was probably locked in his room.
“My room is upstairs,” Avery said, leading the way. Her pigtails swished from side to side as she walked.
Avery’s room was magical. Three of the walls were painted a soft blue while the wall her bed sat against had the most beautiful mural of a castle in the sky. The stone castle sat on a pile of clouds. Each one of the four turrets had purple flags flying from the top and there was a large rainbow arching over it. Above that, there were two heart-shaped clouds with halos.
Kelly’s throat tightened and tears threatened to burst from her eyes. Little Avery had her mom and dad watching over her bed every night.
“I asked Graham to add a unicorn but he said he’s not that good at painting animals yet.”
“This is amazing, Avery. It’s so beautiful. Your brother is very talented.”
“Too bad he thinks he can draw on any wall he wants now.” Donovan leaned against the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his chest.
Kelly remembered the call he had taken this morning. Graham had vandalized the library and been suspended. She could only imagine what a difficult time the kid was going through. She was a grown woman who had only lost one parent, and even that was unbearable sometimes.
“And this is my reading corner. Uncle Donovan built me this bookcase and got me this purple beanbag chair. Purple is my favorite color.” Avery plopped down on the chair and pulled a book off the shelf.
“Well, your uncle is full of surprises.”
“Want to read a book with me, Kelly?” Avery asked.
“We have to go, little one,” Donovan said, straightening up and dropping his arms to his sides. “I’ll read one with you after dinner.”
“But I want to read one with Kelly. Can’t she stay for dinner? We’re having spaghetti and meatballs. Uncle Donovan makes giant meatballs as big as my head. Do you like spaghetti and meatballs?” Avery asked Kelly.
“As big as your head?” The man was getting more interesting by the second.
“They are not as big as your head,” Donovan corrected his niece. “Come on and get your shoes on. You and Graham have to come with us because I can’t trust your brother here unsupervised.”
“But she loves spaghetti!”
Kelly giggled at her persistence. Donovan certainly had his hands full with his niece and nephew.
“She never said she loves spaghetti. Please go get your shoes on.”
It was clear that he did not want a dinner guest. No amount of adorable begging was going to get him to change his mind. Not that Kelly wanted to stay. Considering why they were here, dinner was likely to be a bit tense.
“I like spaghetti, but I really need to get home. Maybe we can have dinner another time, okay?”
Avery looked absolutely crestfallen. “Fine,” she grumbled as she brushed past him and out the door.
“Sorry about that. She lacks boundaries. I’m not sure how to teach her them without making her think she can’t talk to anyone. She’s at that age where everything is black or white. She never sees gray.”
Kelly shook her head. “She’s adorable. Don’t discourage her from being her sweet self.”
“Sweet until she doesn’t get her way. Lucky for her and unfortunately for me, I have a hard time telling her no. If you hadn’t turned her down, I fear I would have forced you to eat spaghetti with us.”
Had she not met Avery in person, it would have been harder to believe that she ruled this roost with her cuteness. Although that was clear, so much more was not. Kelly was naturally curious and she had about a million and one questions. How did Avery and Graham’s parents die? How did the kids end up with Donovan? Did he cook anything other than spaghetti and meatballs? Did he build other things besides bookcases?
“Well, I really do need to get home.” Kelly knew today was not the day to ask any of them. She walked past him and into the hall. “But you owe me spaghetti and meatballs as big as my head some other day because that I have to see.”
THE LAST THING Donovan imagined happening today was bringing a woman into his home and having to discourage Avery from inviting her over for dinner. One of Jessica’s final requests was that he promise not to bring women in and out of the kids’ lives. To be fair, his sister didn’t specifically ask him to remain single. In fact, Jess had begged him to try harder to let people in, but in his line of work, vulnerability meant death. Donovan understood it was unlikely a woman would kill him if he let her get close, but he was who he was and so far everyone he had ever dated wanted more than he was willing to give. That meant it was better he drop out of the dating game until the kids were grown.
Donovan’s biggest concern was that he’d be responsible for his niece and nephew having to suffer any more losses. A father and a mother were enough. He didn’t want them to get attached to someone only to have them disappear.
He knocked on Graham’s door. “We leave in two minutes. You better be in the back seat of my truck when I’m ready to pull out of the driveway or else.”
Donovan had no idea what the “else” would be but hoped the threat of the mysterious else would be enough to encourage Graham to do as he was told. Why did parenting have to be so hard?
“If it makes you feel any better, I hear that once you get through the teenage years, it’s smooth sailing,” Kelly said as they headed downstairs.
“Considering he’s only fifteen and she’s barely seven, I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad. The light at the end of the tunnel is so far away, it’s a tiny pinprick.”
“Well, maybe she’ll be less trouble. She might learn from some of the trouble he gets in.”
Kelly was quite the optimist. Donovan had lost the ability to see the bright side a long time ago. Since Oliver, Donovan’s best friend and Jessica’s husband, was killed in the line of duty and Jessica was diagnosed with incurable cancer, Donovan only expected the worst. Since his sister died, every day was similar to his time in the military. It was all about survival—his and the kids’. He didn’t have the luxury to hope for more than getting through each day still breathing.
“Can Kelly sit in the back with me?” Avery asked as she came skipping through the house.
“I would love to sit in the back with you, Miss Avery.” Kelly gave one of Avery’s pigtails a gentle tug. “Did you do these pigtails yourself?”
Avery giggled and the sound squeezed Donovan’s heart. His niece’s resiliency was her most amazing quality. She had more experience with tragedy than most adults, yet she could still smile, skip and laugh.
“Uncle Donovan always does my hair in the morning. I wanted a French braid today, but he said there wasn’t enough time.”
Donovan wasn’t surprised by the shocked look on Kelly’s face. Six months ago, no one would have been able to convince him that he would know how to do a little girl’s hair. “Someone was a sleepyhead this morning. If you want a French braid you have to get out of bed earlier.”
“You know how to French braid hair?” Kelly asked.
“Mommy taught him everything before she went to heaven. They had to practice every day because he used to hurt my head when he combed out my knots.”
Kelly pressed her lips together and had that look in her eye that always made him uncomfortable. Avery didn’t understand how talking about her mom might make other people feel and their sympathy was sometimes too much. The sooner he got Kelly back home, the better.
“Let’s get in the truck. It’s late.”
A door slammed upstairs and Graham came stomping down the steps. He had on a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. With his hands in the front pocket, he trudged past all of them and out the front door.
“Kelly might have to sit in the front seat, Avery. I don’t think Graham is going to want to sit in front with me.”
“No!” Avery chased after her brother. “Graham! I’m sitting in the back with Kelly. You have to sit in the front.”
As much as Graham hated Donovan, he loved Avery more. He didn’t even argue; he just got into the passenger’s seat. He might be trouble, but that boy would take care of his sister until the day he died.
He apologized to Kelly again. “Today has been kind of a nightmare. I promise it won’t always be like this.”
“It’s okay,” she said, placing a hand on his arm. The contact made him suck in a breath. “Don’t apologize for being a good uncle.”
He didn’t feel like a good uncle. He felt like he was barely cutting it. Maybe she was just being nice, maybe she saw something he didn’t. Either way, he appreciated the compliment.
They all got inside the truck and Donovan headed back to the city. Graham stared out the window and didn’t say a word. Avery, on the other hand, talked nonstop. Kelly patiently listened to her go on and on in excruciating detail about her day at school. She even described everything she ate for lunch.
“At recess, we played tag and I was only it one time because I am super fast. I had my fast shoes on.”
“You have fast shoes?” Kelly asked, making Donovan chuckle. Avery had a pair of sneakers that he told her would make her run faster. He had to be careful what he said around Avery because she did not doubt anything he told her.
“They’re pink with silver sparkles. I wanted purple ones, but Uncle Donovan said they were fast shoes and I would run faster in them and he was right.”
“I think I might need him to buy me some of those shoes,” Kelly said, making eye contact with him in the rearview mirror. Those blue eyes were mesmerizing. “At the gym, I run on the treadmill and I can never go as fast as the guy who works out next to me. He always teases me.”
“Uncle Donovan, do they make the fast shoes for grown-ups?”
“I don’t know, Avery. I’m guessing not the same exact ones.”
“Shoes don’t make you fast, Avery,” Graham said from under his hood. “You’re fast because you’re fast. You don’t need stupid shoes.”
“They are too fast shoes and they’re not stupid!” Avery asserted. “Uncle Donovan said they are, so they are.”
“Uncle Donovan lied.”
“That’s enough, Graham,” Donovan warned. “Don’t make your sister upset because you’re mad at me.”
Graham pushed back his hood and glared at his uncle. “Do the shoes really make her fast? Are they magic shoes or did you tell her that because you were tired of shopping and you couldn’t find any purple shoes like she wanted?”
Donovan gave him a pointed look. “I said that’s enough.”
“You’re such a hypocrite.” The hood went back up. “You punish me for every little thing I do, but you lie to my sister every day.”
Donovan had no rebuttal. He was wrong and he was right. They drove in silence for a full minute.
“They are fast shoes, Graham. They are,” Avery said in her tiny voice. No one said anything after that until they pulled up in front of Kelly’s building.
“Do you want me to check your apartment?” he offered. Her building wasn’t one of the most secure places to live. Someone could sneak their way in with a little patience.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, opening her door. “If I see anything suspicious, I’ll text you.”
She gave Avery a hug and promised to eat dinner with them next time she came over. That was a good answer. As long as they never ended up back at his house, they could avoid spending an awkward meal together.
“See ya tomorrow,” Donovan said before she shut the door. He waited until she was safely inside before putting on his blinker so he could pull out into traffic.
“I think she’s my new best friend,” Avery said.
It made perfect sense why he had decided not to bring people into the kids’ lives. Avery got attached so quickly. He had thought this would be easier since he had no intention of getting into a relationship with anyone. But Avery could bond with a complete stranger in five seconds flat, and Kelly wasn’t a girlfriend. She wasn’t even a friend. She was a job assignment.
“Who was that? Why did you offer to check her apartment? Why are you going to see her tomorrow?” Graham asked. Donovan was surprised he was curious enough to say something.
“That’s my boss’s niece. She works at a radio station and someone was...being mean to her. I have to help keep her safe until we can find that person.”
“Why would someone be mean to Kelly?” Avery asked. “She’s so nice.”
“It’s hard to explain, sweetie.”
“Is someone trying to kill her?” Graham asked.
“Someone is going to kill her?” Avery screeched and then burst into tears.
“Are you serious right now?” he said to Graham. Donovan was ready to tape the kid’s mouth shut. Did he not understand how saying something like that could scare his sister? He tried to console Avery. “No one is going to kill Kelly. She’s totally safe.”
His phone chimed with a text. Don’t leave! was all it said.
Adrenaline flooded Donovan’s body. He hoped he hadn’t told Avery another lie.