Diesel looked at Deacon. “Did we bring any books?”

“I did.” Michael dug in his backpack and pulled out five children’s books.

Joshua leaned over, still in Diesel’s arms, to take the books. “This one!”

Diesel laughed when he saw the title. “No, David! I like this book.”

Dani stared at him. “You’ve read No, David!?”

“Of course.” Diesel righted Joshua on his hip. “Sometimes when the weather is bad or if a parent is late picking up a kid, we read. Right, Joshua?”

Joshua grinned. “Right, Coach.”

Dani guessed that Diesel would be tucking Joshua in tonight, and that sent a nice shiver down her spine. Like a family. She patted the little boy’s back as he and Diesel passed by. “Good night, sweetheart.”

“Good night,” Joshua said. “Even though it’s almost morning.”

Dani motioned Michael into the room that would be his and showed him the adjoining bathroom. “You and Joshua will share this bathroom. Both bedrooms have doors that lead into it. There are no strobe lights for the smoke detector, but I’ll ask Coach Diesel if he can install them tomorrow. He’s good with stuff like that.”

Michael nodded numbly and let his backpack slide off his shoulder and onto the bed. “I’m tired.” He spared a weary stroke for Hawkeye, who was practically sitting on Michael’s feet, leaning his body into the teenager’s leg.

“You should be. It’s been a long night.” She sat in the chair next to the bed. “Did Deacon tell you what happened?”

Michael’s eyes were haunted. “Those men got hurt because of me. Stone and Decker. They’re in the hospital because of me.”

“No, honey. They got hurt because a killer wants to get away with murder.”

“And I can identify him.”

“Yes. I won’t lie to you. You are a thorn in this killer’s side. But Decker was doing his job. And Stone was . . .” She shook her head. “Well, he should have called for help before he went after the guy on his own. He should have called for help as soon as he realized he was being followed. I’m sure his father, his brother, Delores, and everyone else is telling him that, now that he’s awake.”

“Joshua still doesn’t know what happened. He thinks there was just a fire, but not the shooter. We tried to make it fun for him. Deacon and Faith were really nice.”

Dani smiled. “They are nice. And you must have been successful because he doesn’t look scared at all. Just hyped up on sugar.”

Michael’s laugh was weak, but there. “Yeah, well, I think Faith was running out of ideas to keep him busy after we kept driving around and switching vans. The last switch, she went to the hospital, and we came here.”