He caught me around the waist, moved me until I was at his side with his hand in mine, and kept talking as if having me there wasn’t a bother to him in the least.
I could tell that it was to the man that’d come here to talk to him, though.
“Who’s this?” he asked carefully, his eyes taking me in.
“This is my wife, and the reason we know about the incident with Annalise Graydon in the first place,” Wake replied, brooking no room for argument. “What’s your name?”
The man stopped, held his hand out to Wake, then to me, before replying with, “Special Agent Sunny Summers.”
Wake didn’t smile, but I did, which Sunny caught.
“I’ll bet you dealt with a lot of crap when you were younger,” I said quietly. “I had a friend that had the last name of Cloud. First name Blue.”
Sunny blinked. Then shook his head.
“Not quite sure what the hell was up with our parents when they did the naming thing, then,” he answered quietly. “But it makes me feel better that I’m not the only one in existence that has that kind of name.”
“You aren’t,” I said. “My name is Dutch Westfield.”
“Dutch.” He nodded his head, then turned to Wake. “Tell me what’s going on. In detail. Everything, from beginning to end.”
So Wake did, ending with how we found Pedro last night at the school.
“You have him working from home,” he said carefully. “You’re sure that he won’t go and try to burn a school down again? Possibly with Annalise Graydon inside of it?”
Wake shook his head in the negative. “No. I have someone on him that’s keeping an eye on him and the grandmother.”
“Oh,” I said quietly. “Who was that?”
“Etienne,” he answered quietly.
“Okay,” Sunny replied. “As long as you have that handled, then we’ll talk about what happens next.”
“And what is that?” I asked. “Do you need proof? We have a few kids in that school—Wake’s daughter for one—that we need to make sure we protect at all costs. I don’t want her taking out anything on them when they’re innocent in all of this.”
“Do they know anything about what’s going on?” Sunny asked.
“No,” Wake and I answered at the same time, but it was Wake who said, “And I’d like to keep it that way.”
His eyes came to me, and I could see the appreciation of me protecting his kid in his eyes.
I winked at him.
Lolo, though I didn’t know her well, would always be protected.
I’d make sure of it.
“So from here, we’re gonna have to get some intel on the teacher. You said that Sheriff Graydon is antagonistic, too? Do you think that he’s involved in this some way?” he asked.
“As of right now, I think that he’s just trying to get a reelection,” Wake answered. “I don’t think he has anything to do with his sister. When my guys followed him around, they certainly didn’t have anything to say about the two of them spending any time together. In fact, the sheriff stays away from her for the most part. They live in the same city, but they don’t do anything together, from what we’ve been able to tell.”
Sunny nodded his head, then pulled out his phone and sent a text.
“I have a couple of people on this already,” he said. “If I can get your guys to send me what they have, we’ll work with what we have. In the meantime… you stand down. I don’t want you anywhere near this.”
“Trust me,” he said, “I don’t want to be anywhere near this, either. If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll keep my daughter home for the next few weeks as well, that way I don’t have to worry about her in the least.”
“I can get that going,” I offered softly. “With Danyetta.”
He squeezed my hand, and I took that as my sign to head out.
I left the two of them alone to speak while heading toward where Danyetta was.
After getting her away from the table, we figured out how to get Lolo, Bowie, and Dayden home for the next few weeks. That way none of our crew was affected by what was going on in the slightest.
Hours later, when I was lying in bed with a book, Wake walked in looking haggard.
“She’s the cleanest person I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Too clean.”
“That means she likely has something to hide,” I said. “Nobody is that clean.”
“True.” He shrugged out of his shirt, revealing his beautiful chest. “I just wish there was something there that was a blatant ‘she’s a child predator’ for us to follow. Now, it’s going to be pretty hard to deal with because there’s really nothing for them to go on.”
“Could one of the kids wear a monitor or something?” I asked. “A hidden camera that they can get something that way?”