Michael’s shoulders lowered as some of the tension seeped out of him. These people really did care. Marcus and his wife had guarded him and Joshua, sitting by the door. All Dani’s friends had gathered to protect them. And Delores’s boyfriend, Stone, had put Michael’s safety over his own. “Oh.”

Deacon’s smile was warm. “Yeah. Stone likes to pretend he’s a gruff badass, but he’s really a marshmallow inside.”

“Like Coach.”

“Exactly. There’s a good reason those two are friends. Anyway, Greg just told us that he’d noticed an SUV that shouldn’t have been parked in front of one of the neighbors’ houses. He’d been walking the dogs.” Deacon rolled his eyes. “All seven of them. God. How did we get so many dogs?”

“Greg said it was because of Delores and her shelter.”

“It’s because we’re all saps,” Deacon said, but he smiled and Michael suspected the white-haired man was probably as big a marshmallow as the others. “Anyway, we believe he’s out there.”

“Did you call the police?” Michael asked.

“Well, yes,” Deacon said. “But we are the police. Scarlett’s a detective and Kate, Decker, and I are FBI agents. We will protect you.”

“Why don’t you just go out and arrest the guy, then?”

“Another good question. See, we had no evidence that you’d killed your stepfather when we brought you in for questioning on Saturday, but we don’t have any evidence that he did, either, except for your eyewitness account. Now, we believe you, but we can’t prove this guy has actually done anything. Nobody else has seen his face, and it’s not a crime to sit outside on a street.”

Michael stared at the man. “You’re going to let him go free?”

Deacon looked offended. “Of course not. But right now he’d be stupid to break into this house. There are too many of us here. So we’re sending a few of the people away. Stone will be going to the hospital, so Delores, Jeremy, and Keith have gone to be with him.”

“Who are Jeremy and Keith?”

“Oh, they may have arrived after you went to sleep. Jeremy is Marcus and Stone’s dad. Keith is his husband.” Deacon’s brow lifted, almost like he was challenging Michael to say something bad about that. But Michael wouldn’t. He was cool with it. One of his favorite male teachers at school had a husband.

“Okay,” Michael said. “That leaves the cops. And Marcus, Faith, and Greg.”

Deacon nodded. “Marcus is Stone’s brother. He needs to be at the hospital, too. Scarlett will go with him. I’m telling her it’s because Marcus needs her, but it turns out that she’s pregnant and Marcus won’t leave if she stays.”

That made sense. Michael had seen the protective way Marcus had hovered over his wife. “What about Faith and Greg?”

“Greg’s going with Marcus and Scarlett. Faith will stay here so that she can communicate with you if I’m busy. Outside of me, Dani, and Adam, Faith is the best signer of our group.”