Lethal Balance Read online

  “He ate your pumpkins?” JJ stared. “That’s so wrong.”

  Lillian smiled. “No one argues with a moose who feels a bit peckish and wants a pumpkin snack.”

  “I bet.” Not with an animal that was bigger than a car. Uh-uh.

  As Sarah and Lillian chatted, JJ leaned a hip on the stage and enjoyed the town. People were gathering and lining up along the street. Three men talked about their hunting successes. An older couple. Two younger women walked past…whispering and casting glances at her.

  An uncomfortable sensation ran over JJ. But they were followed by several people, who gave her friendly nods and greetings. It seemed “Officer Jenner” had been abandoned for the friendlier-sounding “Officer JJ.”

  She didn’t mind at all.

  Music came from the far end of Main Street where speakers had been set up. Was that Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”?

  Applause greeted the appearance of the children’s parade. The grand marshal was gray-haired Zappa who owned the gas station. He was dressed in a Victorian costume, complete with top hat and tails. Darned if he didn’t look authentic.

  The first child following him was a strutting five-year-old dressed as a brown bear.

  More children followed. Lots more. “Did every single child from the school show up?”

  “Most of them.” Sarah rested her hand on her belly with a smile. “More than you see attending the school. A lot of the homeschoolers are marching.”

  “Ah.” JJ frowned, remembering remote cabins and narrow gravel roads. “I can see where getting to school in the winter might be difficult.”

  “But they come in for these events,” Lillian said. “Homeschooled or not, they’re still part of Rescue.”

  Wasn’t it wonderful how Rescue appreciated its children? “What about the Patriot Zealots?”

  “Homeschooled,” Sarah said. “The children won’t be here. Parrish doesn’t approve.”

  Before JJ could say anything, the music changed to the Ghostbusters movie’s theme music, and cheering broke out.

  The children in the parade were almost dancing down the street.

  There was Regan, dressed as Wonder Woman, long brown hair held back from her face by a gold tiara. JJ smiled, because in the dim light, the long-sleeved, dark brown fleece shirt and double pair of leggings that Caz had insisted on for warmth couldn’t be seen beneath the bright red corset-like top and short blue skirt.

  Each night for the last week, JJ, Lillian, and Audrey had helped Regan with her costume. They’d wrapped her knee-high boots with red aluminum foil and created aluminum-foil bracers. “Regan looks adorable, doesn’t she?”

  “Oh, isn’t she cute!” Sarah grinned. “Trust Caz to give her a sharp, pointy weapon, hmm?”

  “The man’s blade-crazy.” Thankfully, the sword was rubber. If he started arming his daughter with steel, they were going to have words. “Look, there’s your Rachel. She’s the cutest mermaid I’ve ever seen.”

  The kindergartner was dressed as Ariel from Little Mermaid. Sarah rolled her eyes. “She insisted on wearing it to supper every day this week…and singing “Under the Sea” constantly. Disney has a lot to answer for.”

  JJ snickered then patted Lillian’s shoulder. “I’m off to do foot patrol. Good luck with choosing winners.”

  “Oh bugger! I volunteered for this? My wit is bankrupt.” Lillian shook her head—and JJ knew why.

  Because every single child was simply precious.

  * * *

  As Regan walked down the street, she couldn’t stop smiling, cuz people were cheering and some were pointing to her and saying she was cute, and they loved her costume.

  It was even more dope how Delaney had gone for a Captain Marvel costume, and both of them were in the superheroes group of the parade. Delaney had light hair just like Captain Marvel, and Regan had dark hair like Wonder Woman.

  Seeing the people, Delaney’d gotten all shy and grabbed Regan’s hand. But it was okay, cuz they were girl superheroes and supposed to stick together.

  Like Regan, to stay warm, Delaney wore a blue leotard top and tights. Regan had told her how JJ, Audrey, and Miss Lillian had figured out stuff, like how to make her boots shiny and do the arm things—bracers. Yesterday, Regan had taken Delaney up to the library after school, and JJ and Audrey had sewed shiny red fabric and yellow ribbons on the leotard to make it look even more like Captain Marvel’s superhero suit.

  “They’re cheering for us.” Delaney’s eyes got big.

  Regan grinned cuz she could hear Uncle Bull—he could be really loud—and it didn’t even scare her any more. The screechy whistle was JJ, who was going to teach her how to do that. She saw Papá standing by Uncle Gabe, and they were both watching her and clapping.

  Inside her chest, she felt all fuzzy and happy. She didn’t even feel the cold, even though there was still snow on the street.

  Delaney squeezed her fingers. “Did your dad say you could trick-or-treat with me after the parade?”

  “Yeah. But we have to stay together and can’t leave the blocked off area.”

  Delaney’s face fell. “Oh. But what about the haunted house? Gram and Gramps won’t take us—they’re kinda weird about Halloween stuff.”

  The haunted house was where they’d lined up for the parade—and was a block past the sawhorses. Even from outside, it’d looked super-scary. “Papá has to stay in town in case some idiot gets hurt.”

  “Some idiot” is what Uncle Gabe had said when he asked Papá to have the clinic open.

  “Oh.”

  Regan grinned. “But Papá asked Niko’s father to take the three of us. After the parade, Niko’s dad’ll take us through the house with him an’ Niko. And we can go trick-or-treating downtown, and then he’ll drop you off at your grandparents’ place.”

  Delaney’s eyes rounded, and she grinned huge.

  Regan and Delaney had gotten prizes for their costumes—bright mini-flashlights. Regan couldn’t believe it—she’d won a prize!

  After Niko’s dad, who was called Chevy, found them, they collected their coats and headed for the haunted house.

  On the walk, Mr. Chevy scared them worse than any ghost, telling about a grizzly bear—a brown bear—that’d attacked him. He had scars and everything. The bear had chased Niko so far into the woods people had to search for him.

  Regan was shaking even before they entered the haunted house.

  There were ghosts and skeletons. She screamed when something grabbed her from behind, and Niko laughed at her, and she laughed too. Delaney squeaked and squeezed her hand so hard that her fingers went numb.

  Then they were done and out. She and Delaney had to pee so bad they ran for the bathroom in the B&B lobby, leaving Chevy and Niko laughing behind them. In the stalls, Delaney let out a big sigh as she peed, and Regan giggled so hard she couldn’t stop. Then Delaney was laughing, too.

  It was the best night.

  After getting their coats, she and Delaney walked out together and down off the big porch. Chevy stood off in a group of grownups. Crouching on the gravel sidewalk, Niko was shining his flashlight on the stones.

  “Did you lose something?” Delaney asked him

  “Uh-uh. We need rocks for school, remember?” He bent to pick one up.

  “Oh, wow, we do.” Regan pulled out her own flashlight. Mrs. Wilner had said to bring in rocks for some science thing.

  “Check this out.” Niko held up a rock, pushing his brown hair out of his eyes. He needed a haircut, and his jeans had a hole in the knee. Shelby, the blonde fifth-grader, had cast shade about him being poor white trash.

  Regan had managed not to call Shelby a bitch—barely—cuz Papá said the word would get her in trouble. But Niko wasn’t trash; he was nice. When he read stuff out loud during reading time, he acted it out and made everybody laugh.

  Regan took the rock and lit it up with her flashlight. It was clear with gold lines running through it. “That’s pretty.” She showed it to Delaney.

&n
bsp; “I want Dad to take me to Cook Inlet cuz he says we might find agates.” Niko grinned and took his rock back. “Only last time we were at the beach, my dog, Einstein, rolled in a dead fish. I had to wash him, like three times, and he still stunk.”

  Regan laughed. “I wish I had a dog—only I want a cat.”

  “Maybe you’ll find one, and the doc’ll let you keep it.” Niko pocketed his rock. “That’s how I got Einstein. I found him under a car, all skinny and starving, an’ Chief Gabe helped me catch him. And Dad let me keep him.”

  “You’re lucky.” She bit her lip and started walking down the path. “Papá might not like it.”

  “So, your mom might talk him into it?”

  Mom. Regan looked away, remembering the last time she’d seen her mother. Talking all excited and kind of scared, Mom’d gone off with her new creeper boyfriend to rob a store, only she was caught and sent to jail. And then…she hadn’t said goodbye or anything. “My mom’s dead.”

  The sound of her voice was ugly. Mean. Like she was mad at Niko, only she wasn’t. She couldn’t even be mad at Mom—cuz Mom was dead and that wasn’t right. Swallowing hard, she bent and grabbed a rock from the ground.

  “Oh.” Niko stared at her. “That sucks, yeah.”

  Delaney took her hand “Is that why you moved here? To live with your dad?”

  Her throat was all funny. She nodded.

  “That’s hard.” Delaney moved closer. “My daddy left us. He liked his admin better than Mom and didn’t want to be with us anymore.”

  “Oh, look, it’s New Girl and Fat Girl and Trash Boy.” Brayden’s hard shove pushed Regan off the sidewalk and into the piled-up snow.

  “Stop blocking the path, moron.” Sneering, Shelby tossed her braided blonde hair over her shoulder. She was dressed as Princess Elsa and even wore makeup.

  As Regan regained her feet and brushed off the snow, Brayden laughed. “Definitely a moron. And ugly and brown.

  The words hurt. Brown, okay, yeah. Her half-Latina, California-tan skin was darker than theirs. Only, she liked having Papá’s skin and brown eyes and hair. But she sure wasn’t ugly or a moron.

  Her fingers hurt. Right. Fighting would be bad. Slowly, she unclenched her hands. Papá might not want a kid who got into fights.

  Laughing, the two bigger kids walked toward the street.

  “You okay?” Niko asked. He picked up the rock she’d dropped and handed it to her. “Ignore them—they’re resort rejects.”

  “Resort?”

  “Yeah, McNally’s Resort. Big ol’ fancy place for skiing in the winter and vacation stuff in the summer. It’s bringing all sorts of tourists and new people here. Dad hates it cuz of that.”

  Niko had been the first person to smile at her in class. Did he think she was bad because she was new? “Do you hate the resort? New people?”

  “Nah. I like new stuff.” He grinned. “When I’m older, I bet I can get a job there. Teach people how to snowboard or ski, maybe. Delaney’ll help, right?”

  Delaney nodded and told Regan, “Mom works there.”

  “That’s chill.” Snowboarding and skiing sounded like fun. Maybe she could work there, too. Would she still be here when she was older?

  “Niko, come here a minute,” Chevy called.

  Niko ran over.

  “Let’s find some rocks while we’re here,” Regan said.

  Delaney pulled out her flashlight, and they knelt to look for glittery stones.

  Regan had found one when two sets of shoes stopped in front of her. She looked up.

  The two fifth-graders had come back and were staring down at her.

  Brayden shoved his knee into Regan’s shoulder, did it again, then stuck his hand out, fingers waggling. “Gimme the flashlight.”

  She stared at him. Don’t curse. Don’t fight. Papá hadn’t said anything about just saying no. She stood up. “No.”

  Even in the dim light, she could see the big kid’s face turn dark. His lips rose into a snarl like a dog’s would. “You don’t say no to me, spic.”

  “Just did.”

  He shoved her and tried to grab her flashlight.

  Even as she put it in her pocket, out of reach, Shelby took hold of Delaney’s hood. “It’s dark, Fat Girl. I want your flashlight.”

  Standing up, Delaney tightened her grip on the light and shook her head. “No. Leave me alone.”

  “Give it over.” Shelby slapped Delaney and grabbed the flashlight.

  Delaney fell—and Shelby kicked her.

  “Leave her alone!” Rage like a fire in her veins, Regan charged, ramming into Shelby.

  Yelling, Shelby hit at Regan.

  Then, somehow, Regan had her hands in Shelby’s long hair and was yanking it. Slapping her face. They landed on the ground, and Shelby’s fingernails clawed down Regan’s face.

  “Ow!” Regan hit her right in the eye. Really hard.

  Shelby shrieked.

  Something struck Regan’s back so hard she screamed with the pain. Shelby was trying to scratch again and Regan grabbed her arm.

  Brayden was yelling, “Get off me, Trash Boy!”

  “Enough. That. Is. Enough.” A woman’s voice. JJ’s voice. “Boys. Sit right there and don’t move.”

  JJ grabbed Regan’s hood and Shelby’s, and yanked them apart.

  Shelby kicked like a crazy person, and JJ gave her a shake. “Stop that, or I’ll put you in cuffs.”

  “She hit me first,” Shelby burst into tears. “She hurt me.”

  “Oh, please,” Niko muttered. “Lie much?” He and Brayden were sitting on the path with a lot of space between them.

  Regan stood still and, after a second, realized JJ was in her cop uniform. She wore her big belt with the gun and other stuff on it. The badge shone on her black jacket.

  No, no, no. Regan stiffened in dismay. If she got arrested, Papá would send her away for sure.

  * * *

  Oh, honestly, JJ thought. Shouldn’t a Halloween event be fight-free?

  “Regan. You want to tell me why you’re fighting?”

  Regan looked down and shook her head, mouth compressed in a stubborn line.

  JJ looked at the blonde Regan had been tussling with. “What about you? What’s your name?”

  The child’s tears had dried up, probably because JJ hadn’t been impressed. “Shelby Berman. That horrible girl started it. She hit me.”

  “Did not,” Regan muttered.

  What a mess. JJ looked at the big bruiser who’d kicked Regan—from behind, the little shit. “And you? What’s your name?”

  Maybe a year older than Regan, the blond, blue-eyed boy was heavier and taller. His expression was ugly. There was a streak of mean there. From his bull-like scowl, she wouldn’t get any answers from him.

  “I’m Brayden Kearns, and my dad’ll be super-pissed if you don’t let me go.”

  “My boss’ll be super-pissed if I do.” JJ turned to the last two children.

  The slender boy who’d yanked Brayden away from Regan was staring at the ground. Chevy, one of the local handymen stood behind him. From the resemblance, his father.

  Another girl—the one who’d walked beside Regan in the parade—waited off to one side, crying and shaking.

  “Does anyone want to tell me what the fight was about, or should we walk to the police station and call your parents?” No one looked happy with that solution, and JJ almost grinned.

  “Well?” JJ eyed the boy who sat at his father’s feet. He was casting worried looks at Regan. “What’s your name?”

  “Niko, ma’am. Niko Chavdarov.” He straightened his shoulders. Straightforward brown eyes met hers. “I don’t know what it was about. I ran over when I saw Brayden kick Regan.”

  “You’re lying,” Shelby burst out. “That new girl hit me in the face—right in my eye.”

  And a sweet punch it’d been. Okay, then, the station it was. Gabe would expect documentation, and bullies weren’t something that people turned a blind eye to. Not any
longer.

  Regan had some scratches that needed to be cleaned too. JJ studied the people who’d gathered and recognized two. “Guzman, Tucker, could I deputize you two to help escort this lot to the station?”

  Cazador scowled as he finished charting for his last patient. Next town event, he needed to have his assistants working. There’d been a constant flow of people coming into the clinic. Drunks falling down. Two fistfights. A minor car accident outside town.

  Dammit. He’d hoped to spend the evening with Regan, watching her trick-or-treat and enjoy the games.

  His phone rang. Gabe’s name was on the display. “What’s up, ’mano?”

  “Bro, if you’re free, can you join me in the station?”

  Caz blinked. Had there been an accident in the temp lock-up? “On my way.”

  After grabbing his medical bag, he entered the lobby. Two children were being escorted out of the building by their parents. Behind the reception desk in full vampire costume, Regina grinned. “Doc. Go on in.”

  Caz eyed her bloody fangs. “I hope you’re not smiling at children with that mouth.”

  Her grin widened.

  Giving her a wide berth, Caz could only think that Gabe was wise not to allow the receptionist any firearms.

  As he reached the station door, Chevy and his son, Niko, came out with Delaney. “Hey, Doc.”

  Caz stiffened. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the haunted house? Where’s Regan?”

  When both children stepped behind the handyman, Chevy half-grinned. “Regan’s all right. She’s inside with your brother. I’ll let her explain, yeah?”

  Caz eyed the children’s dirt-streaked clothing and muddy hair. Delaney’s face was bruised. Niko had a split lip. Regan—how would Regan look? A cold trickle of worry ran down his spine. Only Chevy’s statement that his girl was all right kept Caz from tearing into the police station. Instead, he crouched and held out both his hands. “Come here, you two.”

  After a second, they both came forward. He gave them a quick visual for blood, ran his hands over legs and arms, pressed on ribs and spines. “Niko’s knee is sore, Chevy. Keep an eye on that, please.”