Chapter Six #2
When the doorbell rang around five-thirty, I headed for the living room, the squeaky, wooden floors making it hard to pretend I wasn’t home.
When I spied someone dressed in an FBI T-shirt through the peephole, I frowned and opened the door.
The guy who’d pulled Billy and me out of the building stood there, looking like my doorstep was the last place he wanted to be.
“Mr. Calder, I’m here to get your statement about today’s incident and I have something to return to you,” he said, holding up a plastic bag with my wallet inside.
“Oh, shit! You found it!” When we’d been at the grocery store, I’d noticed it missing and just figured I’d forgotten it at home. “Where was it?”
“Can I come in?”
“Yes, of course, please come in, Agent—?”
“Nash Hampstead,” he said, smiling as he held out a hand.
I shook it and then stepped aside as he walked into the house.
I got a good look at him for the first time without the goggles and helmet he’d been wearing this morning.
He was at least four inches taller than me with a handsome face, brown stubble covering lean cheeks, quite a bit lighter than his dark hair.
He had striking eyes, some sort of cross between brown and green, and long eyelashes, the kind of face songwriters wrote about.
“Have a seat,” I said, waving at the couch.
“Who’s at the door, Joshua?” Barbie asked, walking into the living room. “Oh, hi,” she said, looking our guest up and down, pausing when she got to the FBI logo on his black tee.
“Hi there.” He smiled warmly at my sister. The expression made him look kind and approachable, not at all like the jerk he’d been this morning when he’d mocked me for pulling out the pocketknife my grandfather had given me.
“This is my sister, Barbie,” I said.
“Nash Hampstead. Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand.
She smiled, shaking his hand before turning to me. “You didn’t tell me your rescuer was so handsome, Joshua.”
And just like that, I wanted to dig a hole and crawl inside. I nearly groaned. “Barbie—”
The guy smiled even wider, and when he turned to me, I could see sparks of gold fire in his laughing eyes. Shit. My mouth went dry. “My sister was just about to offer Agent Hampstead some iced tea,” I said, glaring at Barbie.
She smirked. “I was just about to offer you some iced tea, unless you’d like something else,” she repeated.
“Iced tea would be great. Thank you.” He turned to me as she left the room. “Nice girl. How old is she?”
I frowned a little, caught off guard. “She’s seventeen, Agent Hampstead.”
He nodded. “Like I said, she seems like a nice girl.” He looked down at the bag in his hand before pulling out the wallet and handing it to me. “Here you go. You left it at the cartel’s apartment.”
I shook my head, looking down at it. “I had no idea. I hadn’t noticed it missing until I was at the grocery store with the kids.
Thank goodness I had my phone and could use Apple Pay.
” I eyed him. “Thank you for bringing it to me but you really didn’t have to do that. I could have come down to the station.”
“I work at the Federal Building in West L.A., not a police station, so it would have been a trek for you. In any case, I need to get your statement about the incident. If you recall, Captain Sorensen told you someone would be following up with you today.” He looked around, frowning as if thinking about something.
“If it wasn’t so urgent, I’d say we could do this at another time when your kids aren’t around.
I understand you probably don’t want to talk about what happened in front of them. ”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t want them to hear, and just to be clear, they’re not my kids. Pete is my five-year-old brother and Meghan is my six-year-old sister. I’m not married.” For some inexplicable reason, I wanted this man to be clear on that.
He nodded. “I see.” He paused as Barbie came back with his iced tea and a sugar bowl. He smiled as she handed it to him and set a coaster on the table.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Barbie looked at me and hooked a thumb in the direction of the hallway. “The kids are playing with the puppy, and I have homework which I’ll be doing in my room so you two can talk alone, Joshua. Nice to meet you, Agent Hampstead.”
“You, too.”
I made a face at her as she shot me a grin before leaving the room. He turned around, cocking his head. “Sorry, you were saying you take care of your younger siblings? I’m sorry but I have to ask—”
“Where our parents are?” I finished for him, feeling my heart squeezing a little. When he nodded, I sighed. “It’s kind of a long story.”
His brows drew together. “I have some time.” He sipped his tea.
I didn’t know why this man’s interest in my family should matter, but he was a government official. Lying to him about anything considering where I’d been found this morning, might just open us up to a whole new CPS case and I couldn’t have that. These kids had been through too much.
“I’m going to tell you everything because the last thing I need is for you to think I’m a danger to my family.”
“Why would you say that?” He was frowning.
“Because of where you found me this morning. I want to reiterate that I was there with my friend, not to score drugs for myself. I guess you could say I was watching out for him. Like I told you, I don’t do drugs, so if you want to test me or whatever, that’s fine, but I can’t—” I felt a lump forming in my throat and an unmistakable sting at the back of my eyes.
“I can’t lose those kids to the foster care system again. ”
His eyes were kind as he slowly shook his head. “I’m not going to let that happen and for what it’s worth, I believe you about what happened with Billy.”
The patio door slid open and the sound of running feet followed by the little yip of the dog reached us.
“Joshua!” Pete called, running into the room. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Agent Hampstead. “Oh, who are you?” He walked over as the agent got up from the couch and held out a hand.
“Hi there. I’m Nash.”
“I’m Pete and this is our new puppy, Garbanzo.” He picked up the little black and white puppy and cuddled him close.
“Pete! Where’s Garbanzo?” Meggie came charging into the room, stopping short as she looked up at the tall agent.
As she read the letters on his shirt, the expression of worry on her face was immediate.
I stood and held out my arms and she flew into them, burying her little face in my stomach.
Pete walked over and put a hand on his sister’s back.
“Don’t worry, Meggie. He’s only here to talk to me. You don’t have to worry.”
I squatted in front of her, speaking quietly around the lump in my throat.
Her reaction to anyone who resembled law enforcement was heartbreaking.
She was panting and perspiring from playing in the yard and her eyes were filled with tears, ready to overflow.
“Listen, sweetie, Bruno is going to come over in a little bit with some empanadas. Why don’t you go and take a bath before dinner?
Tell Barbie that your stinky brother needs one too, okay? ”
She nodded, searching my face with wide eyes as her lower lip quivered. “W-what about Garbanzo?”
I smiled at her. “You named him Garbanzo?”
“Pete picked it because calling a puppy Dog is just dumb.”
I laughed. “Why Garbanzo?”
“My friend, Adam, has a lizard called Garbanzo,” Pete said. “He’s little like the puppy.” He twisted back and forth, holding the puppy.
“Well, it’s a very nice name, Pete.” I reached out to ruffle his hair before looking at my hand. “Eww. Look at my hand. You’re all sweaty. Go take a bath and change your clothes before dinner. The puppy can wait for you two in your bedroom if you want him to.”
“Garbanzo! His name is Garbanzo,” Meggie corrected me.
I smiled before leaning in and giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Okay, I won’t forget anymore. Go and take your baths, stinky butts.”
“Okay,” Meggie said. She eyeballed Agent Hampstead. “Are you staying for dinner?”
“Meggie—”
“I understand you’re having empanadas,” he said, grinning at her. “You know those are just about my favorite thing in the whole wide world? I like them better than oatmeal.” He made a horrified face.
She smiled. It was tiny and fleeting, but seeing her thaw with him a little did my heart good. “Well, I guess you can stay then.” She didn’t wait for a reply before charging out of the room, hot on Pete’s heels.
“They’re really adorable,” Agent Hampstead said, glancing at me. I motioned for him to retake his seat and sat on the couch across from him. “Anyway, you were saying something about your family.”
“I finally have sole custody of them, and it hasn’t been easy to get it. I stay away from bad influences because nothing is more important to me than those kids. Keeping our family together is the only thing keeping Barbie and I sane.”
“If you don’t mind my asking…how did they become your responsibility? Where’s your mom?”
“Last I heard, she’s down in Texas, a resident of FDC Houston, serving twenty-five years to life for drug trafficking.”
The agent’s eyes widened. “What?”
“She’s a drug addict with a long string of arrests for everything from possession to prostitution.
” I glanced at the hallway before focusing on him.
“Meggie and Pete have different fathers as you can probably tell. When Meggie was born, she was addicted to coke just like my mother. In fact, she was born while my mother was incarcerated. I had to fight just to be able to keep her. We have no idea who her father is, so getting him to sign off on any kind of adoption was impossible, not that my scumbag of a mother would sign away her rights either. That was a whole other thing. She eventually got her back once she proved to the court that she was clean but by then, she was pregnant with Pete. His father is also unknown, believed to be one of her johns.”
“Wow.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it wasn’t until she was busted crossing the Mexican border with a tweaker boyfriend and a carload of drugs, that she finally gave up custody of the kids to me.
I’m also Barbie’s legal guardian, and it wasn’t easy getting custody for her either.
I was barely out of college and Barbie was just entering middle school.
“I had to prove where I worked, and Barbie homeschools so she can be here to watch them when I’m at work.
Thankfully, I inherited this house from my grandparents, so there’s no mortgage on it.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have all the other bills to pay.
We don’t qualify for food stamps because the state says I make too much money.
I work two jobs.” I wrung my hands. “And we’re constantly under threat that CPS can swoop in and take them. ”
I leaned forward. “That’s why it’s so important that the FBI understands I really didn’t know anything about those awful cartel guys.
We never would have gone there. I just didn’t know what to do about Billy.
He was going alone, and I didn’t trust him to drive.
” I felt tears pricking the back of my eyes and forcibly swallowed as I stared at him. “Please don’t take away my family.”
He shook his head. “That won’t happen, Joshua.
I’m not with child services.” He looked around before returning his gaze to me.
“Your house is clean. The kids are happy and deeply loved, which is easy to see. Barbie clearly adores you. I don’t think you were there to score drugs.
Nor am I going to call anyone at CPS. The FBI doesn’t separate families unless there’s a clear case of child abuse or endangerment while we’re investigating a case. ”
I blinked back tears, nodding.
“Can I ask one more thing?” His voice softened and sounded measured.
“Yeah.”
“Your father’s not in the picture? You haven’t mentioned him.”
I pushed away memories of the fights between my parents and the beatings my mother endured as I looked him straight in the eye. “He was a mean drunk who died in a bar fight when I was ten. Barbie was a newborn at the time. I can honestly say I don’t have a single good memory of him.”
He was silent for a long time as he stared at me. I could see him working up to something in his head and it was scary as hell. When he finally did speak, he sounded very hesitant. “I have something to tell you and after hearing all about your family, I can already tell, this is going to be hard.”
I felt my stomach turning as an icy chill ran over me. I swallowed hard. “What is it?”
“The FBI needs you to go into protective custody.”
I shook my head, sure I hadn’t heard him right. “What?”
He pointed to my wallet, still on the coffee table. “We found your wallet with your ID in the cartel’s apartment, Mr. Calder. There’s an outside chance that they might know where you live.”
“But they’re all dead. You guys killed them all.”
“We think we did, and chances are you’re right. Clean up is ongoing. We know that the man we were sent there to apprehend is dead, but he escaped the apartment during the raid. If someone else managed to get out and we don’t know about it, then it could mean you’re in danger.”
My eyes darted to the front door before I turned back, narrowing my eyes. “Is that why a cop car has been parked in front of the house all day?”
He nodded. “Yes, Mr. Calder. We’re dealing with a cartel here. These aren’t typical drug dealers. We can’t know if someone saw your ID and sent a picture to someone on the outside.”
“But I had it with me the whole time,” I said.
He shook his head. “We found it in the apartment, so no, I’m sorry, you didn’t.” He had very kind eyes and while talking with him, I realized I’d misjudged him back at the cartel’s apartment.
“I shouldn’t have called you an asshole,” I blurted before thinking. I wanted to roll the words back onto my tongue. I spoke more slowly. “What I mean is…that I’m really sorry about calling you that.”
He grinned and the smile tugged at my heart. He really was a beautiful man, the kind of guy I sought out when looking for a man to date, even though hook ups were rare. The well had been dry for a while now. “I shouldn’t have made fun of your knife.”
I nodded. “My grandfather gave it to me when I was little. I keep it with me always.”
He smiled. “That’s really nice.”
We both turned toward the door when someone rang the bell. I eyed him. “That’d be my boss with dinner.” I stood. “We should talk some more after. You’re staying, right?”
He nodded as he got off the couch. “We need to discuss your protection and what that means, so yes, I’m staying. Thank you.”
I bobbed my head as he followed me to the door without another word, not wanting to hear anything more about what was about to happen because the very thought of it…was terrifying.