Chapter 6
SIX
“Bella. What am I going to do with you?” Sam pulled her phone from her turnout pants, pulled up the Renegade Ride app, and looked for a ride back to the station. Estimated wait time—ten minutes.
There was one problem with that—they were stranded at the high school. Bella couldn’t ride back to the station on the engine, and Sam couldn’t leave her here alone.
“Do you know how dumb that was? You wasted time and resources. What if there was another emergency, a real one, and we couldn’t get to it because we’re here dealing with teenage shenanigans?
” Sam stared at her. “And let’s not forget how embarrassed I was when I found out someone pulled the alarm and that someone was my sister. I’m a firefighter, Bella.”
The doors to the school opened, and Liam and his daughter stepped out. He wore a scowl that probably matched Sam’s.
She stopped reading Bella the riot act. Now was not the time or the place to discuss this. She needed to cool down, and they needed privacy.
“Sophia.” Bella stood up straight.
Sophia slowed and opened her mouth.
“Truck, Sophia.” Deputy Marshal Roberts stopped in front of Sam.
The friend Bella had gotten into trouble with was the daughter of a US marshal. Not just any US marshal, their US marshal.
Well, he wasn’t theirs—he was just their handler.
At least she wasn’t the only one to face professional embarrassment. It couldn’t be too fun to have a criminal for a child when you were in law enforcement. But now she knew who the bad influence was between the two teen girls. Things were starting to make sense again.
Sophia rolled her eyes and stomped off to the SUV parked in front of the school.
Liam called after her: “I’ll be there in a minute.” He looked from Bella to Sam, then stuck his hand out. “Liam Roberts.”
Bella stood up straight and gawked at him. “You’re our new marshal?”
Sam shot Bella a look to shut her up. Sam had told Bella about their new handler last night. Most of the WITSEC business was done between Sam and Deputy Marshal Butler, but Bella had needed to know there was a change in case anything happened. She had the emergency number like Sam did.
Sam studied Liam’s hand before she took it. Even though they’d met last night, no one knew that. In a life filled with secrets, she had to keep up pretenses, because anyone could be watching them. “Sam Williams.”
He looked around the parking lot and then down to her turnout pants and the turnout coat next to her. “Do you two need a ride?”
“We’re fine. I’ve called a ride.” Even if she hadn’t, under the circumstances, accepting a ride with him wouldn’t be wise. It would only give the two girls time to conspire and get their stories straight.
Sam already knew exactly what had happened. Sophia was a bad influence.
Liam looked at Bella and then back to her. “May I speak with you? Over there.” He gestured away from Bella.
“Yes.” She turned to Bella. “Do not move.”
Bella grunted.
They walked far enough away that Bella couldn’t overhear their conversation. Liam turned his back to Bella and faced Sam. “I have no idea what’s going on here.” His voice was low.
“This is uncharacteristic for Bella.” Sam leaned a little to the right to keep her sister in line of sight.
“Sophia had been in a little bit of trouble before we moved here, but nothing like this.”
So his daughter was a troublemaker.
As if he could read her mind, he narrowed his eyes at her. “She’s had a rough six months. Her mother just went to prison, and now she’s living with me. Up until this point, it’s all been attitude and back talk. ”
She felt sorry for Sophia, but just because she’d had a rough time didn’t excuse her behavior.
“Bella hasn’t been in trouble at all.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Deputy Marshal Roberts rubbed his hand down his face and sighed.
He pulled his wallet from his pocket and produced a business card.
“I’ll be talking to Sophia and getting to the bottom of this.
I’d appreciate it, if you find anything out from your sister, that you’ll let me know.
My personal cell phone number is on there. ”
She took the business card and looked from it to his face, which was etched with worry—the same worry she felt for Bella every single day. The professional wall between them thinned. “I’ll let you know what I can find out. If your daughter is more forthcoming as well, please let me know.”
He looked to the SUV and then back to Sam. “She’s my niece. Not my daughter.”
Interesting.
“Have a good afternoon.” He walked past her to his SUV.
Sam returned to Bella.
“So…he’s hot.” Bella all but drooled at the retreating marshal.
Sam would not give Bella the satisfaction of being distracted. No matter how handsome the marshal was. And he was, but that was hardly the point here. Her sister had messed up in a major way, disrupting everything and putting them on the Marshals’ radar in a way they shouldn’t be.
“The fire alarm, Bella. Really?” She gestured at her turnout pants and coat on the ground. “You wasted the department’s time today. For what?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
Sam’s eye twitched. Bella was pushing it with this tactic of not telling her that she’d been peer-pressured into doing it by her new friend.
A car turned into the parking lot, and Sam’s phone beeped. “Our ride is here. I want you to think about today long and hard on the way home. We are going to talk about this.” She picked up her turnout coat and stormed off to the waiting car.
Bella didn’t say a word the entire time. Not in the Renegade Rides car. Not at the station. Not on the car ride home. She went straight into the house and to her room.
Sam grabbed a couple bottles of water and gave Bella a few moments to get settled. They were going to sit down and talk about this. She just hoped her sister would be forthcoming.
She knocked on Bella’s door.
“Come in.” Bella’s voice was muffled.
Sam opened the door and found Bella curled up on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. Tear stains on her cheeks.
“May I?” Sam gestured to the bed.
Bella sat up and moved over.
Sam handed her a bottle of water and took a seat. “We need to talk about the fire alarm.”
“I’m not going to change my story.” Bella took a drink from her water and put it on the nightstand.
“Is whoever you’re protecting worth it?”
Bella glanced at Sam and then hugged the pillow back to her chest. “I’m not protecting anyone. I wanted to see what would happen if we pulled it.”
“You know there are cameras all over the school, right?”
“So?” Bella scoffed.
“Principal Duncan knows who you talked to before pulling the alarm. The same girls that were vaping in the bathroom yesterday. Did they tell Sophia to do it?”
“No. We did it because we wanted to.” She fell back onto the bed, her legs dangling off.
The water bottle crackled in Sam’s squeezed hand. “You’re not doing yourself any favors with this. Sophia and these girls aren’t your friends. They’re only using you.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are they blackmailing you?” Sam’s gut tightened. “Because whatever it is, we can deal with it.”
Bella sat up straight. “What are you even talking about?”
“If they have incriminating photos or details about you and are threatening to release them, we can figure it out.”
Bella huffed. “That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
Bella opened her mouth, closed it, then hugged her pillow tighter. “I have nothing else to say.”
Sam sighed and held out her hand. “Well, until you decide you want to tell me the truth, you’re grounded. Hand over your phone and laptop.”
Bella groaned. She pulled her phone from her pocket and then retrieved her laptop from the small desk in the corner.
“You’re grounded to your room. You can only go to school and back. When you can go back to school.” Sam went to the door. “Tonight, you can have your computer back. For homework only.”
Bella remained silent.
If she could just get her sister back on track, things would be fine. Sam wished there was an instruction book on raising teenagers, but she knew one thing: Bella was done hanging out with that bad influence.
“Sit on the couch. We’re going to talk.” Liam opened the door, and Sophia stomped inside.
The teen flung herself down onto the couch. Blossom came running into the room and jumped up into Sophia’s lap.
Liam lowered himself to the coffee table in front of Sophia, leaned forward, and rested his forearms on his thighs. “I know what you told Principal Duncan and what Principal Duncan told me. Now you tell me what happened.”
Sophia’s face hardened as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I wanted to see what would happen, so I pulled the alarm.”
Liam clenched his jaw. “You and I both know that’s not the truth.”
“The truth is subjective.”
Liam took a deep breath. “Why are you protecting these people?”
“I’m not protecting anyone.”
“It’s on video, Soph. You talked to a group of students, then you and your friend Isabella pulled the alarm.”
“They asked for directions to science class.”
Liam closed his eyes and counted to ten. “From the new girl, who’s been at school less than a week?” This was not going as planned. “I can’t help you if you won’t help yourself.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“You think you’re grown, but you’re not. You’re fourteen, Sophia. If you keep going like this, you’re going to end up like your mother. Is that what you want?”
Sophia’s face reddened. “Then I guess I’m just like my mother. Why did you even bother to take me in? You should have just sent me to juvie and saved yourself the trouble.” She grabbed Blossom, stood up, then raced to her bedroom.
Lord, help me. I have no idea what I’m doing. Give me guidance.
He stood up, then walked to Sophia’s door and knocked. “Soph, that’s not what I meant. Open the door and let’s talk.”
“I don’t want to talk right now.” Her voice cracked.
Liam grabbed the door handle and started to turn it.
But stopped. She didn’t need him barging in on her and forcing her to talk.
That wasn’t going to do anything but make the situation worse.
She needed time to calm down. And honestly, he needed time to figure out how to approach this.
He’d give her some more time. But eventually, they were going to talk.
He thought about calling Tom and asking him for advice, but he didn’t need to burden his friend with any more of his troubles.
What he needed to do was see what kind of help he could get here in Renegade.
He pulled the list of counselors from his pocket and stationed himself on the couch with the laptop.
An hour later, he had researched all of the suggestions and narrowed them down to a few prospects. He’d let Sophia make the final decision. She was the one who would interact with them.
He knocked on her door. “Sophia.”
Silence.
He knocked again.
The door opened. Sophia stood on the other side, wrinkles pressed into her face where she must have slept on something.
“Can we talk?”
“I don’t have anything else to say.”
“Well, I do.” He jerked his head to the front room. “Five minutes.”
She sighed and disappeared into her en suite bathroom.
He sat on the couch and waited for her to join him.
Exactly five minutes later, she plopped down next to him.
He stared straight ahead. “I’m sorry about earlier.
I do not think you are your mom. I’m sorry if that’s what you thought I meant.
I don’t want to see you end up like her.
Soph, you’re smart, and you have a bright future ahead of you.
Don’t let some loyalty to people you barely know get in the way of that. ”
She looked so much like her mother at the same age. The age when she’d first gotten into trouble. And it hadn’t even been her fault. She’d taken the blame for something she hadn’t done, and that had set her on a path that’d led to her current predicament.
He looked at her. “You’ve been through a lot for someone your age. I’m worried about you, and I don’t know how to help you. It has been suggested that you see a counselor.”
She chewed her bottom lip.
He handed the list to her. “All I ask is that you look it over and think about it.”
She gingerly took the paper from him.
“I know you’re not telling me the complete truth about what happened at the school. But you did pull the lever, and you’ve been suspended from school. And for that, you’re in trouble here as well.”
She sighed.
“No electronics except for schoolwork. I’m home for the rest of the day today, but tomorrow, your phone will stay on the kitchen counter and be used only for emergencies.” He narrowed his eyes. “Real emergencies.”
She pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to him.
Unfortunately, they lived in a day and age where landlines were almost nonexistent. Since he hadn’t had one installed yet, he didn’t want to leave her without a means of communication.
“You can use your laptop right now to look at those suggestions.” He nodded to the list lying on the couch next to her. “Then you can write apology letters to Ms. Duncan and the fire department for wasting time and resources.”
He stood and headed toward the kitchen, giving Sophia some space. When he looked back, her jaw was clenched and she was fidgeting with the list of names. He kept going. Hopefully, she’d come to him if she wanted to talk.
Were there any books or articles that detailed the cost of running on a false alarm call? If he could sit Sophia down and show her exactly how much it would cost the citizens of Renegade for her dumb stunt, that would be something he could use to teach her about the consequences of her actions.
Maybe Samantha Williams could answer those questions.
Their lives had crossed in an unofficial capacity thanks to two teenage girls acting out. No, despite the fact he’d given her his personal cell number, she was still his witness, and he should limit contact to official business.
This wasn’t covered in his training.
God, why did You bring me here?
He prayed silently for wisdom and guidance.
Because if he failed, if this spiraled out of control…the safety of Sophia and his two witnesses was at risk.
He couldn’t let that happen. Not on his watch.