Joe puffed out his chest. “If my word isn’t good enough for you—”
“Mr. Gilroy?” Holly wedged her way between Neal and Nugent and came to stand in front of Joe. Her voice was soft, controlled, that of a mediator. “If this is only a misunderstanding, why not defuse the situation before your granddaughter notices the police cars and becomes frightened?”
“If she’s frightened, it’ll be his fault, not mine.”
“Then you can take the higher ground.”
His eyes narrowed on her. “You’ve got nothing to do with this anymore. I’m beginning to wonder why you recused yourself. Has he won you over to his side?”
“I’m on Georgia’s side.” She let that resonate, then said, “Please?”
Joe’s eyes glinted with hostility and pride, but when Neal extended him his palm, he slapped his phone into it. “Your security code, please, Mr. Gilroy?” Neal accessed the text file and then checked his photo library. “It’s not on here.”
Holly, who’d also been watching the phone screen, looked up at Crawford and shook her head.
By now other policemen were converging on the group. Neal said to Nugent, “Tell them it was a false alarm. Send them away.”
“This wasn’t a false alarm,” Crawford said. “You saw the video.” Looking at Joe, he added, “He was on his phone when I got here. He could have deleted it.”
Joe ignored him and addressed Neal. “I didn’t shoot any video.”
“Somebody did.” Beside himself, Crawford plowed the fingers of both hands through his hair and held it back. “It was sent as a warning. If it wasn’t you…” Recalling the angle from which the video had been shot, he scanned the surrounding woods. “He would have been over there.”
He struck off, but one of the deputies pulled him back. “We got it, Crawford. You deal with this.” He and his partner hurried away.
Neal asked Joe, “How long have you been here?”
“Close to an hour. We’ve had the playground to ourselves the entire time. Until he arrived.” He gave a brusque tilt of his head in Crawford’s direction. “He was driving and behaving like a maniac. He attacked me. Do your job, Sergeant Lester, and lock him up.”
“Daddy!”
Georgia’s glad cry stunned them all. They turned her see her running toward him, arms outstretched. Instinctually Crawford started toward her, but Neal stepped in front of him and planted his hand in the center of his chest. “Stop there.”
“Screw that.”
“If you go near her, I’ll have to arrest you.”
Crawford shoved Neal’s hand away. “No, you’ll have to shoot me.”
Chapter 21
Crawford pushed Neal aside and rushed to meet Georgia halfway. She tackled him around the knees. He lifted her up, his arms enclosing her tightly.
Her skin was hot and sticky from her recent exertions on the playground. He could feel her heart beating against his chest. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled her scent.
“Daddy, you’re squashing me.”
“I’m sorry.” He allowed her to lean back but kissed her rosy face several times, and his kisses were enthusiastically returned. He stroked a few ringlets away from her damp hairline. “Have you been having fun?”
Grace gave him wide berth as she hurried past them, moving in the direction of the others. Crawford didn’t care what was playing out behind him. Georgia was alive, untouched, unafraid, and that was all that mattered to him.
He carried her back to the merry-go-round, sat down on the metal disk, and held her on his lap as he idly pushed them around by digging his boot heels into the hard-packed groove encircling it.
While she chattered, he conducted an inventory of her parts and features to assure himself that all were intact and unharmed. He silently thanked God, whose existence he questioned but whom he strove to appease in exchange for Georgia’s safety, health, and longevity.
“Are you listening, Daddy?”
“To every word.”
“Who’s that lady?”
He turned to see Holly walking toward them. “Her name is Judge Spencer.”
“Like Judge Judy?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Nothing like Judge Judy.”
He stopped the slow spinning so she could join them on the merry-go-round. As she sat down next to him, she said under her breath, “I got you five minutes.” Then, “You must be Georgia. I’m Holly.”
She extended her hand. Timidly, Georgia shook it.
Crawford whispered near her ear. “What do you say?”
“Pleased to meet you.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, too. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“You have?”
“Is it true that pink is your favorite color?”
Georgia’s initial shyness evaporated. Having someone new to talk with unleashed an unbroken stream of conversation. “Do you like the slide or the swings the best?” she asked Holly.
“Oh, the swings by far.”