Liam handed Maya over to the closest deputy, stood on a chair, and said loudly, “Everyone shut the hell up!”
As Clive Matthews’s mouth gaped open amid the suddenly quiet room, Liam added, “Please. We have a traumatized child and his parents here, and the last thing they need to deal with is all this shouting and confusion.” He dismounted and nodded at the Turners.
“Okay, folks, here’s what we know so far,” he said, addressing the entire room. He clearly wasn’t going to be able to finish booking Maya or talking to the Turners until he gave everyone there some kind of basic rundown.
“I caught Maya Freeman a little while ago, grabbing little Davy while he was outside chasing his dog. She hasn’t admitted to anything yet or told me where we can find the other children, but I assure you, those are only a few of the many questions she will be asked over the next couple of hours.”
He looked at the distraught parents, huddled together with each other for moral support, like bean plants wrapped around corn stalks in a field. “As soon as I have any information on your children, I promise you I’ll let you know. For now, there is nothing useful you can do here, so I need you to go home, please, and let me do my job.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of black leather walking in the door and breathed a silent sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure how Baba being here would make any difference; he just knew he felt better now that she was.
“This is an outrage!” Callahan stuttered. “I’m calling my attorney right this minute.”
For a change, Clive Matthews seemed to be on Liam’s side. “Peter, if the sheriff caught her in the act, well, you know, the children did start disappearing right after she arrived . . . maybe she really is guilty.” He winced as one of his biggest campaign contributors shot him a dirty look and backpedaled rapidly. “Although, naturally, a lawyer is a good idea, no matter what.”
Maya wrenched herself away from the deputy who’d been holding on to her arm—not very tightly, since she appeared so slight and harmless—and threw herself down at Callahan’s feet in a theatrical move guaranteed to draw all eyes.
“Please, Peter, you can’t believe him! I’m innocent! I was passing by the Turners’ house and saw the sheriff’s car hidden halfway up a vacant driveway. When I spotted him hiding up in a tree, I went in closer to see what he was doing, and then,” she paused dramatically, “I looked through the fence and saw him climb down into the yard and grab poor little Davy!”
There was a unified gasp from the gathered crowd, although Molly, and Nina behind her, just rolled their eyes and most of the deputies seemed unimpressed by her story.
Callahan helped Maya up from the floor. “What happened then?”
She fluttered her lashes, blinking back tears that only served to magnify the beauty of her stormy gray eyes. “I didn’t even think of my own safety, I just ran back there to try and stop him. I was going to yell for help, but he Tasered me, and threw me down into the mud! If Mrs. Turner hadn’t come out and seen us, I just don’t know what would have happened to me.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Liam said. He turned to Davy, getting down on one knee so he was the same height as the child, and speaking gently. “Honey, can you tell these people what happened to you? It’s okay, you’re safe now.”
The little boy peered shyly out from behind his mother’s leg and shook his head. “I don’t ’member,” he whispered. “Trevor was being a bad dog and I had to go outside in the rain and get him, so Mommy wouldn’t yell.” His mother squeezed him even tighter, sobbing quietly. “I saw a shiny light in a puddle. And then Mommy was holding me and crying. I don’t ’member anything else.”
Liam wasn’t surprised, although the boy’s lack of recollection might complicate things. Even a few seconds under the influence of whatever that ball of light was had scrambled his brains. He couldn’t imagine what it would do to a small boy at full force.
“That’s okay, Davy,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. You did just fine.”
He turned to Callahan, and said, “You are welcome to call Ms. Freeman a lawyer, but in the meanwhile, she’s going to sit in a cell where she belongs, and she is going to tell us what she did with those other children.”