took a moment to catch their breath. A bluebird swooped down, causing Kandace to leap back and duck her head. But the thing landed easily on the kid’s shoulder and he tilted his head toward it, nuzzling it with his hair. “Hey, Rocky,” he said. “Go on. I’m busy right now.” He gave his shoulder a small shake and the bird flew away, soaring smoothly into the morning sky.
Kandace took a step forward. “What are you? A bird whisperer too?”
He made a small sound of humor. “He fell out of his nest when he was a baby. I fed him and now, he doesn’t know how to be a wild bird. It happens sometimes. I’m not sure why, but it does.”
“Huh,” Kandace said. This kid was interesting to say the least. She glanced around. The door to the shed faced the trees and was hidden from the view of the house. The kid eased the door open, and she followed him inside. Dusty shafts of pearly light floated from the one window high on the wall, and Kandace looked around at the piles of old tools and paint cans. She looked up, noticing that the ceiling was clean of cobwebs and dust, and the floor was swept of dirt and debris. Upon closer inspection, it appeared as though the kid had cleaned it, and then re-piled the junk to make it look unused.
A secret hospital in the midst of a war-torn land, that treated nature’s children.
The kid ducked behind a pile of rusty junk, bending to set the fox down somewhere safe and hidden, and then straightened, joining her near the door.
When they turned, Kandace let out a startled gasp. A young girl stood there, staring icily at her. Kandace blinked, the fact that the girl had a cleft palate registering. “Hi.”
The girl said nothing, her eyes finally sliding to the boy. “Another one?” she asked, her expression warming.
“Yeah. A fox,” he murmured, his gaze moving nervously between Kandace and the girl.
The girl looked back at Kandace. “Can she be trusted?”
Indignation filled Kandace. Who did this little shit think she was? As quickly as the thought came though, her ire slipped. This girl was the abandoned kid of some teenage runaway. And she didn’t have to wonder what this girl’s “damage” was.
“I think so, Georgia.” the kid muttered.
“I can be trusted,” Kandace asserted, a cloud parting and a ray of sun causing her to squint. “I have to go though. Now.” She pushed past the girl. “Bye, Dr. Dreamboat,” she called. She glanced back once to see that the girl—Georgia, was that what he’d said?—had turned to watch her leave, that same frosty stare stuck firmly to her damaged face. And not for the first time, Kandace wondered how a place that demanded sinlessness could mistreat and discard children . . . in any way.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Gravel flew as Camden’s truck skidded to a halt. He yanked the keys from the ignition, jumping from the vehicle and jogging toward the door where he’d installed a new lock a few days before.
Raising his fist, he pounded harshly on the door and a second later, Scarlett pulled it open, her eyes wide, skin pallid. “You okay?” He looked off behind her, searching for something specific he might battle that would result in banishing that look of fear from her face.
“Come in,” she said, stepping aside so he could enter. “Thank you for coming.” She closed the door and wrapped her arms around herself, glancing up at the staircase and then back at him. “I feel kind of silly now. And you’re obviously off duty.” Her gaze flickered down his body, noting, he figured, his lack of uniform. “I thought I heard something . . . well, in the . . . in the walls. I . . .” She shook her head as though embarrassed. “I think maybe I spooked myself. It could have been mice. It probably was, right? I mean, it had to be.”
“What do you mean, in the walls?” he demanded, a sinking feeling in his gut. Damn them to hell.
For a moment she appeared torn, but then she pointed at the wall that curved upward with the staircase. “I heard something there, on the other side of that wall. It was almost like something was . . . climbing. The sound disappeared up there”—she pointed at the ceiling over the staircase—“and then I heard, like, a door closing.”
Camden swore under his breath. They’d promised. “Where’s your daughter?”