Fire and Rain (2 page)

“A report of someone sleeping in the doorway of Hansen’s Mens Wear” came through his radio from Dispatch.

“I’ll take it,” Kip said, answering the call and making the turn back toward the main street of town. With the weather like this and the fact that the store was one of those old-fashioned ones with the deep display windows, someone was bound to try to take shelter there. Kip made his final turn and came up on the store. He passed by but didn’t see anything, so he went around the block and pulled to a stop. The trees that lined the street cast shadows over the windows. Kip groaned as he pulled on his hat and raincoat before getting out of the car and tugging them tight around him. The cold and wet went right through the coat as the swirling wind blew water in all directions.

He took it slow and placed his hand on his gun as he approached the front of the store. Sure enough, a dark figure lay pressed back against the door of the closed business. It was covered in a dark blanket. As Kip got closer, he heard something he didn’t expect: singing. It barely reached his ears over the noise of the rain and water dripping off eaves and tumbling through drainpipes, but it was there. A lullaby, most definitely.

“I’m sorry. You need to move on,” Kip said as gently as he could. He didn’t want to frighten them. He pulled out his flashlight, shining it around. The blanket lowered, revealing a pair of haunted blue eyes. Kip was careful not to shine the light in his face, but he needed to see the man. “This is private property and you can’t stay here. There’s the Salvation Army a few blocks down. They have a shelter.”

“They’re already full,” the man said, though he sounded like a kid. “We got turned away from there a few hours ago.”

Kip’s suspicion rose. We? What exactly was going on under that blanket? Kip waited, and the man lowered the blanket farther until a small blond head made an appearance. The man—though now that Kip could see him better, he really wasn’t much older than a kid, maybe nineteen or twenty—held the young boy closer.

A pair of eyes that closely matched the older kid’s looked up at him, and then the boy darted back down, hiding under the blanket. Kip stopped the gasp that rose in his throat. That was quickly followed by anger. “The Salvation Army turned you away?” He wondered if they’d seen that he had a child.

“Yeah. It seems everyone in town tried to get in, and they filled up right away. I knocked, but they said they were full without really looking at me.”

Kip stepped back and made a call to Dispatch. “I checked out Hansen’s.”

“Is it clear?”

“Negative,” he answered and waited for a response.

“We’re going,” the kid said as he slowly got to his feet and then lifted the child, who looked about three, into his arms. He wrapped the child in a blue blanket that had been hidden under the darker one and finally pulled the other blanket over them both. “You don’t need to take me in or anything. I wasn’t causing any trouble.” The kid stepped out into the rain and walked down the street toward the square.

“They’ve moved on,” Kip said, watching from the shelter of the overhang. Then he turned and shone the light into the store. Something glinted on the stoop when the beam passed over it. Kip stepped over and bent down, lifting up a gold chain with a coin on it. He didn’t know if it was real gold or not. Kip turned and hurried back to the sidewalk, but the kid was no longer in sight.

Kip got in his car and pulled into traffic. They couldn’t have gone very far. At the square he turned and saw the kid huddled under an overhang with the child in his arms. He pulled into a parking spot so he wouldn’t spook them, scrolled through his phone, and made a call. “Carter, it’s Rogers from work.”

“Hey. What’s going on?”

“I need a favor, or at least….”

“What is it?”

“I got a call about one of the usual homeless hangouts. Hansen’s Mens Wear. When I got there, it was a guy about twenty and a kid, maybe three or four. They were under this blanket and….” He tried not to let his voice break, but it did anyway. “Now I think I know how you felt when you found Alex last year.”

“You can take just about anything, but when it’s kids….”

“It rips your heart out,” Kip finished. “Yeah. I’m hoping you could get in touch with Donald. When I talked to him, the guy said the Salvation Army had turned them away. They need a dry place for the night and probably longer. They’re in a bad way, and the situation on the street is only going to get worse as the weather turns.”

“Let me call him. Can I use this number?”

“Sure. I have them in sight. Right now they’re standing under one of the bank awnings on High Street. They’re dry for now, but the guy looks about ready to collapse, like he’s had about all he can take…. Shit.” Kip saw the guy slide down the wall and end up in a heap on the sidewalk, the youngster still in his arms. The little kid was crying as Kip approached.

“I’m okay,” the older kid said, and he tried to get up but ended up sitting on the sidewalk with the kid curled in his lap.

“Jos, open your eyes. Don’t go like Mama.” The younger kid began to cry, and Kip lifted him into his arms.

“It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you,” Kip told him as he gently rubbed his back. The guy got to his feet but wobbled and seemed drunk, except there wasn’t the faintest scent of alcohol on him. “I’m not going to hurt you either.” Kip took his arm with his free hand and led him to the car. “Just get inside. It’s warm and we can talk. I’m not arresting you, and I won’t hurt you. I promise.” It took him a few minutes to coax Jos into the car, and once he was seated, Kip placed the boy in his arms. Kip left the door open and popped the trunk, grabbed a large umbrella, and held it over all of them.

A call came in and Kip explained that he was already busy. He heard one of the other patrols take it. Then he opened the front passenger door and grabbed one of his bottles of water. He handed it to Jos, who opened it and gulped like he was dying of thirst.

“When was the last time you ate?”

The guy shrugged at him, eyes blank and a little vacant. Kip got a package of peanut butter cheese crackers that he kept in his bag and handed them to Jos. He looked at the food in disbelief and then opened the package, handing the first two to the kid before eating one himself. The kid nibbled while Jos finished three of the four pieces in three bites.

“Feeling better?” Kip asked, and Jos nodded before sharing the water with the kid, who had finished his crackers and was looking around for more.

“Yes. Thank you. Can we go now?” Jos asked as he finished the bottle of water.

“Just take a few minutes to rest. I’ve called a friend, and he’s seeing if he can help you with a shelter for the night.”

Panic rose in Jos’s eyes. “I need to go,” he said, lifting the kid into his arms. “I’m not letting anyone take Isaac away from me. He’s my brother and I’ll take care of him. Those vultures will only put him with strangers, and I just need a chance to get on my feet.”

“No one is taking anyone,” Kip said. “Donald is a friend of mine, and he’s trying to find you a place to stay. He can help you if you let him.”

Jos shook his head. “I’ve heard the stories. I know what those people do.” He held Isaac tighter and shifted him farther from Kip, probably in case he tried to take him. Kip had no intention of taking anyone anywhere other than to a place that was safe and dry and where they could get food and any help they needed.

“No one is going to take Isaac away from you. I’m just trying to help,” Kip said. His phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.

“Every shelter I called is beyond full,” Donald explained. “I tried to call in favors, but it did no good. I can give them some supplies if you can bring them to the house. I can also give them a good meal.”

“That’s a start,” Kip said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He hung up and then called in to Dispatch to explain what had happened and where he’d be. His call was acknowledged, and he was given permission to do whatever he could.

“Nothing, huh,” Jos said, and he began sliding along the seat to get out of the car. “No one has been willing to help.”

“The shelters are full, but my friend said he’ll help you with supplies. He can also give you a good meal.”

Jos stood and shifted Isaac away from Kip. “And what does your friend want for his help? My mouth? Maybe my ass? No, thanks.”

Jesus, how long had they been on the streets? And what had happened to him? Jos was a combination of bravado and tough guy mixed with the fear that shone in his eyes.

“No,” Kip said. “Donald works with child services, and he can help you. He cares enough to have me bring you by his house and to cook for you and Isaac. So if you want a good meal, then come along with me. If you don’t, then you’re free to go.”

Jos got out of the car and wrapped the mostly wet blanket around him and Isaac. Then, without another word, he began shuffling down the sidewalk. Kip knew there was little he could do and was about to get back into his cruiser when he remembered what he’d found. “Jos, is this yours?” he asked. He grabbed the chain and hurried down the sidewalk. Jos turned and his eyes widened. He set Isaac on his feet and patted his pockets. Then he extended his hand, and Kip placed the chain into it.

“Thanks,” Jos said and lifted Isaac into his arms again before hurrying off down the sidewalk. Kip didn’t know what else to do for them. He picked up the phone once he got back to his car and called Donald.

“They decided to go their own way,” Kip said.

“Okay,” Donald said with resignation.

“It doesn’t surprise you?”

“No. Many of the people on the streets are suspicious of everyone. They’ve been hurt too much. Some of them have mental issues that, if treated, would allow them to function more fully, but they don’t get it and fall further and further from the rest of society. You helped them and that’s all you can do short of bringing them in, which would have been even more traumatic.”

“What about Isaac, the kid?”

Donald sighed. “That’s the tough point. You could turn them in, and then child services could put him in foster care. Truthfully, there’s no easy answer there. You end up taking the child away from the family, and then the path for reconnection can be nearly impossible. You made a decision, and I’d say you might have made the best one for now. I don’t know.”

“Well, thanks for being there,” Kip said and disconnected the call. Then he pulled out into traffic and back on patrol. But Jos and Isaac weren’t far from his thoughts as he continued his shift.

After answering another call that turned out to be an older lady scared that someone was in her garage, Kip ended up chasing away a feral cat and helping close up a hole in her garage door to keep it from coming back. She thanked him profusely and even offered him coffee, which he declined.

The rain had stopped by the time he left, and Kip was looking forward to the end of his shift. He called in to tell them he was free and decided to make another pass through town. He drove down Hanover and turned west on High in the square. After going a block, he turned left onto Pitt and cruised slowly, watching the sides of the street for anything unusual.

The last house on the first block had been empty for a while, so when Kip saw activity outside, he slowed to a stop. A small figure stood at the side of the porch. Kip recognized him as Isaac and pulled the cruiser to a stop. He got out, forgetting his hat, and hurried up to the porch. Isaac stepped back until he was pressed to the wall of the house, holding his blanket, panic in his eyes, a thumb in his mouth.

“It’s okay. Where’s Jos?” Kip asked.

Isaac blinked at him a few times and then pointed to the side of the house.

Kip was about to walk around the side when he heard a scuffle of some sort. He called in for backup and then turned to Isaac. “Can you sit over there and make yourself really small?”

Isaac nodded and backed away in the corner of the porch, practically curling into a ball. The scuffing sound came again, followed by a muffled cry. Kip pulled his gun, slowly making his way around the corner.

Two figures were beside the house, and one had the other pressed to the wall.

“Stop right there!” Kip shouted and raised his gun.

“There’s nothing to see here,” a gruff voice growled back.

“Police. Step back and get on the ground,” Kip said.

“It’s nothing, officer. My boy and I were just having a conversation.”

Kip wished he could pull his flashlight, but he didn’t want to break his concentration. “Then let him speak for himself. Is that you, Jos?” He heard a mumble, but that was all. “Let him go. Now!”

“He and I were just having a little fun.” The voice was softer now, but Kip wasn’t buying it.

“I said back off. I can hit a fly at this distance, so I’ll have no problem putting a bullet in your ear. Get on the ground, arms and legs out where I can see them. Now!” Sirens sounded in the distance, and Kip was relieved that backup was on the way. He saw the guy looking in various directions. He was starting to panic now. Kip knew the signs; he was looking for a way out. “You move, you die.”

The man released Jos and slowly got down on the ground. Kip saw Jos reach down and realized he was pulling up his pants. Jesus Christ, he hoped like hell he’d gotten there in time. The other man’s pants were in place, so he prayed he had. Other cars pulled up, and Kip saw that Jos looked about ready to spook.

“Isaac,” Jos said softly.

“He’s fine. He’s up on the porch. He told me where to find you.” Kip got his cuffs and clasped them on the man. “Stay there.”

“But it’s wet,” he grumbled.

“Get up and it’s resisting arrest. I’ll start by tasing you. That should be a delight.” Other officers came into view, and Kip holstered his gun. Thank God one was Red. He told them what was going on and asked them to lead the suspect to the car. Red was reading him his rights clearly and carefully just before they put him in the car.

“Good thing you got here fast,” Kip said to Red.

“What about the other one? Did you know there’s a kid on the porch too?”

“Yeah. I encountered them during that homeless call I had earlier at Hansen’s.” Kip looked over at Jos, who was doing his best to comfort Isaac, who held on to him and whimpered.