“Did you hear what she said about her mother?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll see what I can find out.” Cam glanced at the little boy in Sawyer’s arms. “I was about to call you guys when the 911 call came in. Some folks in town reported the kids wandering around asking if they’d seen their dog.”
Cam handed me a handwritten missing poster that had a picture of Apollo taped to it. “One of them told the girl that your guys’ place is where any stray dogs would be sheltered. I guess he didn’t realize the kids were on their own.”
“So they started walking this way,” I said. “Apollo probably picked up their scent which is why he was acting like he was.”
“I’ve got to check Apollo out,” Sawyer said, then asked Cam, “Can Isaac or one of the other guys bring Owen to the hospital to be checked out?”
Cam nodded. “Yeah, I’ll meet you guys there. Someone’s gotta be missing these kids.”
As Cam returned to talk to the driver of the pickup, I turned and leaned in to give Sawyer a hug and a quick kiss. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
Sawyer nodded. Our eyes lingered on one another’s for a minute before I turned and hurried to the waiting ambulance.
The next few hours moved both slow and fast at the same time. The ER doctors determined that Jessie had likely passed out from dehydration and lack of food. Fortunately, she hadn’t hurt herself when she’d fallen. Owen had made it out of the incident unscathed. Isaac and Maddox had brought him in shortly after Jessie and I had gotten to the ER.
The hospital had given us a private room so the kids could stay close to one another. Jessie was currently asleep in the bed, but Owen hadn’t wanted anything to do with his bed and had thrown a healthy tantrum until I’d picked him up. He was currently passed out in my arms. My own eyes were struggling to stay open. I didn’t even realize I’d lost that struggle until a pair of soft lips brushed over mine.
I opened my eyes to see Sawyer standing over me.
“Hey,” he said before he pressed another featherlight kiss over my mouth.
“Hey yourself,” I said. “How’s Apollo?” Things had been so chaotic that I hadn’t had a chance to check in with Sawyer to see if the dog was okay.
“Good. He’s got a hairline fracture in his left front leg and some cuts and bruises but no internal injuries,” Sawyer said as he sat down. “Newt’s taking care of him.”
I smiled at that.
“You look tired,” Sawyer murmured as he linked his fingers with mine.
I nodded because that was exactly what I was. My adrenaline had crashed a long time ago and now I just felt wiped out.
“Do you want me to take him?” Sawyer asked as he motioned to Owen.
“Yeah,” I said as I carefully handed the child over to him. Fortunately, Owen didn’t stir. “Where are Maddox and Isaac?” I asked as I noticed the two empty chairs on the other side of the room.
“They went to get some coffee,” Sawyer said. “I talked to Cam before I came in here. He found out more about the kids.”
I was instantly awake at that. “The mom?”
“Alive,” Sawyer said softly. “But in a medically induced coma at a hospital in Minneapolis. She was airlifted there last week.”
“Jesus, what happened?”
“From what Cam has been able to put together, the woman, I think he said her name was Ava… anyway, she and the kids were passing near Pelican Bay as they were trying to get away from her abusive boyfriend. He caught up to them and forced them off the road. When the guy went after Ava, Apollo attacked him. Cam figures the guy beat Apollo and left him chained somewhere before leaving with Ava and the kids.”
“That was six weeks ago. What happened between now and then?”
“The asshole had them all holed up at some piece-of-shit motel. There was a warrant out for his arrest in the county he lived in, so that’s probably why he didn’t just take them back home. A week ago, the manager hears screams coming from the room and calls the cops. They find the woman beat to hell. Fucker stabbed her seven times,” Sawyer growled though he kept his voice down.
“Jesus.”
“No one saw the kids at the scene and Ava was unconscious.”
“She told Jessie to run,” I murmured. “And by the time Jessie and Owen went back, the place was just a crime scene and nothing more.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer responded solemnly. “The kids had been taken once before after a domestic violence call, so Jessie probably knew what foster care would mean.”
“They’d likely be split up,” I finished for him.
“People who knew the family said Apollo meant everything to her,” Sawyer said as he nodded in Jessie’s direction. “He was all they had left as far as she was concerned.”