Desert Valley Day care was quiet now.
Then why did she keep hearing things?
Josie Callahan did one more check, but all of the children and the rest of the staff had gone home. All but one. Once rookie K-9 Officer Dalton West came to pick up his ten-year-old daughter, Maisy, all of the children, ranging from six months to twelve years old, would be home with their parents. Dalton had completed the winter K-9 training session but had decided to stay in town until after the holidays to gain more experience and fill in for some of the senior officers.
Tired, Josie shook off the creepy feeling and went about shutting down the building. She typically didn’t allow any of the staff to stay here alone, including herself, but she’d sent them all ahead tonight. Christmas was only a week and a half away, and everyone needed extra time to shop. But Dalton was running late. Nothing unusual there. The man lived for his work.
A piercing pain stabbed at her heart. She had no one to go home to, anyway.
A noise in the back parking lot sounded like a motor humming near the covered drop-off area. A car door slammed, the sharp sound echoing around the building. Footsteps pounded against the asphalt.
That might be Dalton now.
Wondering why he parked in the back, Josie glanced up the hallway to where Maisy sat reading a book in the big reception room. “Your dad’s on his way, Maisy. I think I heard his car.”
Maisy nodded and tugged at her long dark brown ponytail, her expression stoic. “He works too much.”
“I know, honey. But he’s one of the good guys. He has an important job. He’s been training so hard, and now he’s gaining even more experience helping out the local police.”
“And he has Luna,” Maisy replied, rubbing at her nose. “She makes him smile.”
“You make him smile, too,” Josie said, her heart turning to mush each time she thought of the handsome, no-nonsense widower who’d enrolled his daughter in the after-school program about three months ago. Luna, a brindle black-mouth cur with some chocolate Lab thrown in, was his K-9 partner. Luna was an expert tracker. Dalton and Luna were still considered rookies since they’d been partnered at the Canyon County K-9 Training Center for intensive training, but Josie could tell that Dalton West already knew his stuff. He’d been a detective in another town before he decided to become a K-9 officer. And he’d be going back to Flagstaff soon.
Listening, Josie heard a tap on the kitchen window. Dalton must be in a hurry. Not that she blamed him. He’d want to pick up his daughter and head home for the evening.
Josie hadn’t locked the front door yet, but she’d locked the back one after she’d gone out and secured the playground gate. She headed to the back to let him in, Josie’s thoughts returning to the dedicated police officer.
Dalton West didn’t smile much, but he loved his little girl. And when he did smile at Maisy, Josie couldn’t help but get caught up in seeing that love.
He had a beautiful smile.
Get back into the here and now. She’d have a rare night at home. Since her aunt, Marilyn Carter, who was also her partner in this new venture, had four rambunctious children, Josie always stayed for the late-shift workers if they had kids here after regular hours.
No one tonight, however. Just one girl awaiting her a-little-late father.
When she heard someone moving around outside again, she called out, “Coming, Dalton. Just let me check a few things.”
She peeked into the various rooms, turning off lights and checking cabinets to make sure the supplies were put away properly. Halfway to the back door, she heard heavy footsteps hitting the tiled walkway leading to the playground.
“I’m coming, Dalton,” she called again, her hand on the door.
The door shook with a jarring flurry.
Impatient man! “Just a minute.”
Her hand on the doorknob, Josie inserted the key into the dead bolt. But the front door swung open, causing her pulse to rush into high-speed.
She whirled. “Dalton?”
Maisy ran and hugged her daddy. Josie backed away from the door with a funny feeling. Needles of fear moved down her backbone. She thought she’d heard footsteps running away. Who’d been out there?
“Sorry I’m late,” he said. Taking Maisy by the hand, he strolled toward the kitchen, his alert gaze raking over Josie. “Hey, you okay?”
She forced a nod, glancing toward the playground. “Yes, I’m fine. I thought you were at the back door.”
“No. I parked out front.”
“Someone was there,” she said. “They shook the door handle several times. I’m worried they were trying to break in.”
“Do you have any other kids here?” Dalton asked, his gray eyes darkening as he went on alert.
“No, just Maisy,” Josie replied. “Maybe someone thought their child was still here.”
“But they know to call you on your cell,” he said, well aware of the rules.
“I’m sure it was nothing,” Josie said for Maisy’s benefit, trying to hide the shudder moving down her spine. “Maybe someone got the wrong address.”
Dalton gently shoved Maisy toward Josie. “You two stay here. Luna and I will take a look.”
Josie didn’t argue. They were all still jittery after one of the new kids at the day care, six-year-old Patrick Murphy, had almost been kidnapped by his maternal grandmother.
Josie was still shaken by that episode, which had happened the night of the Christmas pageant at the church, so she was probably overreacting. The grandmother hadn’t come here to snatch Patrick, but Josie couldn’t afford for the parents to think the day care might not be completely safe. Patrick stayed here almost every day, and his dad, Sean, trusted her to take care of Patrick since the boy had special needs.
“Is there a criminal out there?” Maisy asked, her gray-blue eyes full of fear.
“I don’t think so,” Josie replied, her tone steady in spite of her heart’s constant bumping. Maisy knew as much police lingo as anyone, and the girl had a keen awareness that broke Josie’s heart. “Your daddy wants to be sure everything is okay before we go home.”
Maisy held her book tightly to her midsection. “A criminal killed my mom.”
Josie bent, her hands on Maisy’s slender arms. “I know and I’m so sorry. But your daddy is trained to help us with things like that.”
“Then why didn’t he save my mom?” Maisy asked, her solemn expression full of despair.
Josie had a degree in education and a minor in child care administration, but she didn’t know how to answer that question. So she went with her instincts. “Your daddy tried his best to help your mom, Maisy. But sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can’t save the people we love.”
“He’s making up for it,” Maisy said. “He wants to keep us safe. I try to be good all the time so he won’t worry.”
Josie inhaled a breath. Maisy had probably never told her daddy these things. “Yes, he does want to keep you safe.” Touching a finger to Maisy’s nose, she added, “But you, Miss Maisy, don’t need to try to be good. Your daddy knows you are one of a kind. He loves you so much.”
And, yes, he was making up for not getting to his wife in time. She’d heard the horrible story about how a drug dealer had broken into their home looking for Dalton, who’d been an undercover detective in Flagstaff at the time. Instead, they’d found his wife and taken her, leading to a high-speed chase that ended with the car flipping and his wife being killed. Thankfully, Maisy had hidden in a bathroom.
When she heard Dalton coming back inside, Luna with him and in her official K-9 vest, Josie hugged Maisy close. “We’ll be okay, honey.”
Maisy clung tightly to Josie. Then she looked up at Josie and whispered, “I’m the one who has to make sure he’s okay.”
Dalton gave Luna the space to do her job, the leash loose in his hand until they moved toward the back of the house. When they reached Josie and his daughter, Luna immediately let out a low yelp in greeting to her best buddy.
“Hey, Luna,” Maisy said, reaching to pet the dog’s brown-and-gold brindle coat.
“She has to work now,” Dalton explained. Glancing at Josie, he nodded. “Unlock the door and then take Maisy to the front of the house. I’ll need the playground keys, too.”
She nodded, her green eyes full of trust in spite of the frown marring her heart-shaped face. “I’m sure it’s nothing.” Her gaze moved to Maisy in a warning, the curve of her auburn bangs shadowing her expression.
“No, a precaution,” he said to reassure both of them. “Standard procedure, right, Maisy?”
Maisy stared up at her dad with solemn eyes. “If you say so.”
“I say so.” He waited for Josie to turn the lock. “This won’t take long, and then we can order a pizza and call it a day.”
“Can Miss Josie come with us?” Maisy asked in a tone full of hope underlined by demand.
Dalton’s gaze clashed with Josie’s. “Uh...we’ll have to see. Let me take care of this, and then we’ll talk.”
His daughter, the little matchmaker.
Dalton leaned down to Luna. “Search, girl,” he ordered.
Luna took off, her head lifting up, her nostrils flaring. Then she lowered her head to the ground around the door before running toward the chain-link fence that enclosed the playground area across from the drop-off driveway.
Luna turned away from the fence, her nose going back down on the ground now. She followed the driveway all the way to the street and then whined an alert.
“They were in a vehicle,” Dalton noted, his gaze scanning the street that ran along the left back side of the Tudor-style building.
They must have driven up to the drop-off area and gotten out to check the back door. Anyone could have pulled up to the door and touched the handle. Maybe a child had lost something and a parent had come looking, thinking the whole place was locked up. Thankfully, the door had been locked.
“I need something solid,” he said to Luna.
They went back over the entire yard, even the playground area they’d skirted before. Dalton unlocked the gate to the playground, careful to hold Luna’s leash around one wrist. It didn’t look as if the lock had been tampered with. He could dust for prints, but there had to be hundreds on the door handle. He’d need something more isolated and specific.
He followed Luna around the playground, past the swings and climbing gyms. The muscular dog halted at the corner of the fence where an outcrop jutted high enough for someone to make it over the heavy, wooden security fence.
“Parked on the street, came to the door and then managed to sneak around the corner to hop this fence to get into the playground?” Luna moved through the rubber mulch under the various gym sets, castles and curving slides. She stopped short near one of the smaller forts, her nose sniffing at something lying on the mulch inside the miniature enclosure.
A white folded piece of paper, taped together.
Dalton dug in his equipment belt for a pair of plastic gloves. Telling Luna to stay, he let go of the leash and pulled the gloves over his hands before picking up the heavy-grade paper.
It was addressed to Josie Callahan.
Josie sat with Maisy, talking about anything to keep the little girl’s mind off what was going on out in the backyard.
“Yes, this used to be someone’s home,” she explained. “But this whole area was rezoned for commercial use.”
“What does that mean?” Maisy asked, her backpack right by her feet. The child was very precise about her belongings.
“It means that the town allowed this building to be used for a business instead of a home. I moved to Desert Valley to be close to my aunt, and when we found this huge old house for sale, we changed it into an official day care for children.”
“Mrs. Carter,” Maisy supplied. “Your aunt is nice.”
“Yes, she is. And she loves children.” Josie was thankful for her aunt Marilyn and thankful that Desert Valley was a long way from the small Texas town where she’d lived all of her life. A town she’d been forced to leave. “She watched children in her home, and since I’d always wanted to do that, too, we decided to open our own place. This building always reminded me of a gingerbread house, so we thought it would be perfect for children.”
Maisy gave her a rare smile. “I love coming here.”
“Me, too,” Josie admitted with pride. “We worked hard to make it perfect.”
They’d hired a contractor, gutted walls, installed the necessary equipment to bring it up to code and had gone through lots of forms and permits to make their day care a reality.
“I hope my dad’s okay,” Maisy said, craning her neck to see down the hallway.
Before Josie could come up with a reassuring answer, she heard the back door swing open and then the tap, tap of Luna’s nails hitting the tile.
“There they are now,” she said, releasing the breath she’d been holding.
“Daddy, is it okay to go out?” Maisy asked, jumping up.
Josie could hear the tremor of fear in the girl’s question.
“It’s safe,” Dalton said. “But I do need to talk to Miss Josie.”
“Can I hear?”
“Why don’t you read your book for a bit more,” Dalton said in a firm tone. “Then we’ll figure out dinner.”
Josie didn’t like that tone. It meant he needed to speak to her in private.
“A word in the office,” he suggested. Then he turned to Luna. “Stay with Maisy.”
Luna dropped to the floor and stared up at Maisy with adoring brown eyes.
Dalton escorted Josie across to the office through what used to be the living-dining area. They could see Maisy and Luna through the glass window.
“I found this on the playground near one of the slides,” he said.
When she saw her name spelled out in cutout letters on the folded sheet, she inhaled a deep breath. “Someone left this for me?”
“It looks that way,” he said. He handed her a pair of latex gloves. “Put these on and open it.”
Josie did as he asked, her heart pounding so hard the lace on her blouse kept fluttering. When she saw the cutout words pasted against the stark white, her heart took off again.
Who so sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Genesis 9:6 (The wicked shall pay.)
Dalton’s gray-eyed gaze met hers. Josie saw the concern in his expression.
Then he leaned in and lowered his voice. “This is obviously about more than a parent dropping by after hours. This was deliberate. And if I hadn’t arrived when I did, you and Maisy could have been in serious danger.”