Beckett (Robinson Destruction #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,41

either of them understand when they’re afraid. To stand up and hurt the other person.” Tru asked her if she needed anything with them. “Not yet. Conor has expressed a desire to come here and look around, but he’s grounded at the moment. He lied to us about his homework. I hated doing that more than I did anything that I’ve done with them so far.”

“They need that. Just the right amount of balance between getting away with something and going too far. Me? I go too far all the time.” They both laughed, and it felt good. “Don’t second guess yourself with telling them the rules, Allie. Mine are just babies, and I’m laying down rules now too. And seeing you two with older kids is helping the rest of us with raising our kids.”

“You mean how to not make the same mistakes?” Tru told her they were all going to make mistakes. It was what they did about it that showed the kind of people they raised. “I hope we’re doing a good job of this. I’d hate to think we’re raising little monsters that will kill us in our sleep some night.”

“They’d never do that.” Allie didn’t think they would either. But she was worried about them. It seemed like the more she tried to be a good parent to them, the worse she was at it. It made her want to cry all the time. “Beck has picked up on it fast. I saw him with them the other day at the ice cream shop. He doesn’t allow them to eat sweets all the time, does he?”

“No. It was a celebration of sorts. Conor learned how to use the riding mower, and he paid him. That was what he wanted to do with his money. Celebrate with his family.” She asked her where she had been. “I was with them. Maybe you just missed me going to the bathroom. But it was a lot of fun. And his pride in doing a job well done was worth the spoiled dinner.”

Allie got back to work on her projects. The printer pen was working out better than she’d ever thought it would. She now had an array of weapons and other things that could be used as one—knives from a kitchen block. Allie had even figured out blood pools. That had taken a little more time than she’d meant for it to. Finally, she’d made it just a circle with other pieces that could be added to it for running blood.

Looking at the specs she’d been given yesterday, she thought she was ready to tackle it. There were different elements in this one that she’d not worked with before. The weapons had only been a part of it. She now had a flower garden, as well as things like a bicycle that she needed. Laying out the groundwork, she thought of nothing else but putting the scene together just like she’d been told it had been by not just pictures but the officers who had been there. The little van she was using for the car was just put in place when Beck joined her. He asked her what she was doing.

“The neighbor, Mr. Grant, told the police that the man who lives across from him, from the Honeywell family, ran over his child on purpose. That Mr. Honeywell had seen his child there on his bike, as he’d spoken to the child before getting into the car and running over not only the child several times, but the bike too. I’m putting it together to see if the man that made the accusation can really see the face of the man in the van. I’m thinking he can’t, but then I’m not moving anything around to look just yet.” He asked her if the child had died. “Yes. Internal injuries. The coroner said it wasn’t consistent with the child being run over with a car, much less several times, as Mr. Grant stated. So that’s why I’m doing this. Grant said that Honeywell backed over him three times too. The coroner said he can tell from what he is working with that the child had been hit with a force like a car, but not run over. Now, since we know he lied about seeing that, we’re wondering if he could have seen the gleeful look on Mr. Honeywell’s face when he did it.”

“I didn’t think Rogen and you guys did this sort of work.” She told