Chapter 8
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Anderson was busy with diapers for the first half hour of the next morning, followed by food, and then sighed with relief as he got the babies down onto the living room floor. Burton had just finished vacuuming so it was clean and safe to put them down.
Burton looked over at him, misery etched on his face.
“Is it bad parenting to put leashes on triplets? The playpen is fine but limited. We need a maze or something that gives them a path to follow with no end. Can we do that? It would contain these active little monsters and entertain them, keep them safe, and wear them out, all at the same time.”
Anderson nodded, as two of the babies headed for two separate exits.
Both men raced over to the doorways to curtail how far the babies went.
The colored ribbons had apparently slipped off their wrists in the night because none of them had them on anymore.
Lisa One and Lisa Two looked up at him, their faces scrunched up as if they would cry.
The men would do anything to avoid that trauma and the cacophony about to come if those unhappy wails were unleashed.
So both men scooped up the babies and then, in a gaming motion, plunked them back down again into the middle of the living room.
What followed was a game of chase, pickup, and retrieval, again and again.
“You checked in with the hospital?” Burton asked Anderson.
Burton saying it was yet another reminder. Anderson realized just how fast the time was going by. He looked down at the very mobile babies and muttered, “Not yet, but I need to do something about this case. I’m not getting anywhere with the police.”
“You won’t get anywhere with the police because they play by a different set of rules, and we knew that from the get-go.”
“I know, but I thought I could at least get a copy of the file. Yet I can’t get anything out of Detective Colt.”
Just then Levi called.
Anderson propped his phone up above the triplets’ reach and put it on Speakerphone. “Hey, Levi. Burton and I are both here.”
“Good, that makes it a little easier.”
“Easier is always good around here,” Anderson quipped, with half a smile. “What have you got?”
“Please tell me you got something,” Burton said, almost begging.
“Suck it up, Burton. Anyway I’m sending somebody to be your legs,” he began. “Obviously two of you are required full-time to handle the kids, considering your inexperience with babies, so it’s probably better if you have a third body to help.”
“You’re not kidding,” Anderson admitted. “We could sure use somebody. Burton sent out a call looking for help as well but no bites yet. If you’ve got anybody available, we would surely appreciate it.”
“He won’t be Johnny on the spot, as he’s delayed a bit. Also I’ve got a copy of the case file.”
“Thank God for that,” Anderson declared. “How the hell did you unlock that very tight gate? I didn’t get anywhere.”
“Don’t ask,” Levi explained, with a half laugh. “Anyway, the file is coming your way. You should have called me in the beginning, and I could have gotten it to you sooner.”
“I’m pissed at myself for not having done it back then too,” he admitted. “My frustration and fury over what happened to my sister has been a little overshadowed by trying to take care of these babies. They take priority.”
“That’s right, but nothing else matters because this is your family and because we don’t compromise when it comes to family.” And, with that, Levi rang off.
Anderson looked down at the triplets, frowning.
Burton said, “You can’t blame yourself.”
“Yet I feel I need to.” He shook his head and muttered, “I should have been on this so much quicker.”
“You were on top of looking after what is most precious here,” Burton pointed out, with a nod toward the babies.
“If you hadn’t, they would already be in the foster care system, sure as hell.
Meanwhile, your sister is safe in the hospital.
” Then he frowned and asked, “She is safe in the hospital, right?”
“I don’t know. God help us, I don’t. I hadn’t thought about whoever did this coming back—not until things started happening with the vehicle and doorbell ringing and hearing Tim’s working as a clerk for an international company. A clerk, my ass.”
“What would be the point of getting to Talia now?”
“The only point would be if her attacker was afraid she would survive.”
“Crap,” Burton muttered. “That in itself will be an issue, but I guess we can always try to spread the duties around. You know, take shifts.”
Anderson frowned as he looked down at the triplets. “I would be happy to help on security,” he offered, “but …” He waved his right arm at Lisa One, Two, and Three.
“Dang it, we lost the color bands again.” Burton shook his head, frustration clearly in his expression.
“Maybe Levi’s right. Maybe I should be calling and asking what the options are for help here. Pamela will have some idea, at least better than I do.”
“Just couch it carefully so she doesn’t know you’re spreading yourself thin, trying to solve your sister’s attack.”
“Yeah, plus she would just tell me straight-up to butt out and to let the cops deal with it.”
“If they were dealing with it, you would be fine, but since they seem to have zero information …”
Both their phones chimed with an incoming text. Burton checked his first. “Levi’s sending somebody named Leland. Do you know him?” he asked. “I don’t.”
“Nope.” Anderson shook his head. “If he’s one of Levi’s men, I trust him.”
“Oh, me too. I just don’t like anything about this situation here.”
“Welcome to the club. And it doesn’t really matter now because we don’t have many options, as in none.”
Burton nodded. “That in itself is really shitty, but we won’t be foolish now.”
“No, no, we won’t.”
“Yeah, you say that now, but just remember that we can’t be stupid here. So think about that long and hard, before you go storming the castle without any regard for authority, landing yourself in hot water—which reflects badly on keeping the triplets with you.”
“Fine,” Anderson muttered, with a snort. “I’ll make a call and do another check at the hospital, but this time with security in mind.” He stopped and swore. “God, I really dropped the ball with Talia.”
“Stop it,” Burton snapped. “You put out an SOS, and I came. Now let’s get refocused and figure out what to do next.
This is past the point of just the two of us handling anything here, including these babies, all because we have these babies,” he declared.
“So, we need help, and there’s no shame in asking for help. ”
“Right.” He hadn’t even finished speaking when his phone rang. He looked down at the number and groaned. “Hey, Pamela.”
“Hey, how are you doing?” she asked lightly, a curious note in her tone, something else brewing under the surface.
“We’re fine,” he said, quickly masking his frustration. “However, we are wondering if any services might be available to help with the triplets. I need to get to the hospital.”
“Everything okay with Talia?” she asked.
“I’m a little concerned that Talia might not be entirely safe in the hospital.
Until we figure out what happened and why she was attacked, I feel a need to set up some protection for her.
” Pamela gasped and he added, “I’m not trying to be an alarmist. I just don’t know enough about what transpired here to forecast what Talia’s situation might look like. ”
“No, of course not,” she agreed. “It really could be a concern, and I … It crossed my mind too, but I didn’t bring it up. Yet I should have.”
“I think it crossed all our minds, but we weren’t really in a position to address it because we were focused on the emergency at hand.
In all honesty, I’ve been so overwhelmed with everything that’s happened that I’ve been off my game,” he admitted, taking a deep breath.
“That’ll stop now. I do have somebody else coming to give us a hand with security and the triplets.
I just don’t know how long before he arrives.
A friend of mine is sending a professional. ”
“Oh my, a private detective?” Pamela asked.
“Something like that,” he replied, with a note of humor. “In the meantime, we are concerned about Talia’s safety at the hospital. Burton is more than willing to split up some of the security duty, but that’ll take away from looking after the babies.”
“Of course. … I don’t know of any government plan that you could pull on for this. However, I do have some holiday time coming. I may not be your ideal solution, but I’m more than willing to come and ensure the babies are okay.”
He stared down at the phone in shock, then looked over to see Burton’s huge grin splitting his face. Anderson frowned at his buddy, but Burton just shook his head and said, loud enough for Pamela to hear, “That would be freaking awesome.”
“I presume that was Burton,” she said, laughing.
“Yes, that was Burton. He also hasn’t slept much in the last few days, but then neither has anybody else.”
“Of course not,” she noted. “Everybody is running on empty.”
“Yeah, you could say that,” Anderson acknowledged. “Running on empty isn’t healthy for anyone.”
“It’s not healthy for you two nor the babies,” she agreed. “Look. I’ve got a week, even two, off, so I can come over and give you a hand, if that helps.”
“That would be huge. I mean, we’re willing to pay you.” He frowned as he thought about it, thinking about his bank account. In truth it was healthy enough. In fact it was very healthy, as he had no time to spend it.
“Thanks,” she replied cheerfully, “and I might take you up on it, but we’ll see.”
“Why?” he asked, forcing himself to because he hated being beholden to anybody. “Why would you offer to help?”
After a long silence on the other end, followed by a sigh, Pamela replied, “I guess it’s been a long time since we were friends.”
“As I recall, I was friends with your girlfriend,” he pointed out playfully. “I don’t remember all that much about some of that.”