Frank’s face filled with disbelief before he reminded him, “You’ve been living and breathing her case for months.”
“And I’ll live and breathe not knowin’ who did her but resting easy that my not knowing means Miah can put this serious as fuck shit behind him and move the fuck on,” Chace returned. “Honest to God, Frank, I’m uncertain I ever want you to speak to him about this shit. His grandparents ask me, I’ll tell them not to volunteer him. We’ll find this guy another way. But, he was my kid, he went through that shit, I would not swing his ass out there. Even and especially if it meant protective custody. Even and especially because it might mean, if this guy is part of a bigger operation, witness protection. That kid had three years of his life seriously fuckin’ jacked. You cannot stand there and tell me Misty and Darren are worth jackin’ up the rest of it.”
“A crime has been committed, it doesn’t matter against who,” Frank said softly.
“By my count, lots of ‘em have and only three of ‘em against Darren and Misty. The rest, Miah and Becky endured. They will not endure more,” Chace replied.
“Someone has to stand up for Darren and Misty. And someone has to pay for what was done to them,” Frank shot back.
“I agree. Absolutely. What I don’t agree is that Miah is the one who’s gotta help us do all that,” Chace retorted.
Frank pulled out the heavy artillery. “This isn’t the cop I know you to be.”
But Chace was immune. “I’m not a cop. I’m a man who is also a cop. And I’m the man who bought that kid a sleeping bag when he was sleepin’ in rags, taught him how to play video games and carried his trembling sister through the woods after he rescued her. And I’m content to be that man over bein’ a cop.”
“You’re going to be an excellent father,” Dr. Carruthers cut in at this juncture and Chace looked to her.
“I hope so since mine is a jackass.”
Her lips twitched and she replied, “Well, maybe so but you learned the tools somewhere, though,” she went on to advise, “I’d curtail the swearing.”
Christ, he’d heard that before.
He didn’t respond. He looked at Cap.
“We done?”
Cap nodded then turned his eyes to Frank. “No Jeremiah, son.”
“Cap!” Frank bit out sharply.
“You get antsy, disobey an order, you try to get to that boy or his grandparents to make your attempt to get through Chace you gotta get through me first. Boy’s had enough. We’ll find this asshole another way. As far as we’re concerned in this office, Enid Eglund’s ramblings about what Jeremiah saw are just that. Ramblings. This dies here.”
Frank’s back went up and he returned softly but irately, his meaning veiled but still clear, “That isn’t the way of the law.”
“There’s dirty, Frank,” Cap replied just as softly but not irately. “And there’s compassion. This says not one thing about Misty Keaton or Darren Newcomb and who did them or this office’s determination to find that man. This is this Department deciding to act with compassion for a witness. You sleep on that and you’ll see it clear.”
Frank stared at Cap then Dr. Carruthers then Chace before he walked out.
“You got lasagna to eat, son,” Cap told him then looked at Dr. Carruthers. “You do too.”
“Right,” she whispered, grinning.
They made a move to the door but Cap stopped him, calling, “Chace.”
Chace looked back at him.
“Tragic, definition of it, all that’s happened to those kids. You and your woman, you did right by them. I see you got ties and they’re strong. ‘Spect, what I know of Faye Goodknight and her family, they do too. This job, we see a lotta bad. Can get used to it. Can make you hard. Wear you down. But tonight, son, tonight you get somethin’ not a lot of cops get. You get to witness what those kids’ grandparents are considering a miracle. When they take Jeremiah and Rebecca back to Wyoming, you’ll get to keep that along with the knowledge that you helped make that miracle happen.”
“Right,” Chace muttered.
“Help her deal. Give your woman that head’s up,” Cap advised.
Chace held his Captain’s eyes thinking, fuck, but it was a shitload better working for this man than it was working under Arnie.
Then he nodded.
Then he followed Dr. Carruthers out in order to meet Miah and Becky’s grandparents.
*
Chace opened the door to his truck to get in and get to Faye but stopped when he heard his name called.
He looked to his right to see Marc, one of their interns, moving toward him, his face pale, eyes troubled.
Chace knew immediately why. Marc had run the searches and Marc had heard about Miah and Becky.
Therefore, before Marc stopped and while he was opening his mouth to speak, Chace ordered quietly, “Don’t.”
Marc closed his mouth then opened it again to say in a tight voice, “I set the wrong parameters.”
“Don’t, Marc,” Chace repeated.