“Okay,” Joshua whispered, but his eyes filled with confused tears. “Okay.”

Adam was regarding Michael levelly while Deacon stood silent in the background, watching everyone. Deacon was good at that.

“You don’t look surprised,” Adam signed.

Michael clenched his jaw. Then looked away and shook his head.

Adam came closer, hunching down a little so that he was at Michael’s eye level. “Why aren’t you surprised, Michael?” he signed, so very gently.

“I didn’t do it,” Michael declared, his desperation clear.

And Dani believed him. She met Diesel’s worried eyes. He did, too.

“We found the gun,” Adam said. “Under your pillow.”

Gun? Shit. This was getting worse by the moment.

Michael swallowed hard. “I didn’t do it.”

Diesel held Michael’s shoulder again, turning him around to face him, then letting him go so that the hand not supporting Joshua was free. “Say nothing,” he signed tersely. “Do not say another word. We’ll get you a lawyer. Do you understand?”

Michael’s eyes widened. Then he nodded, trembling.

Joshua was sobbing, his face buried in Diesel’s shirt.

Maddie Shafer stepped in to join the small circle, the interpreter trailing behind her to sign her words. “He is a minor, Detective Kimble. If you’re going to question him, we’ll do this right. Downtown, recorded, with his lawyer and me.” She looked at Dani. “And his emergency foster parent.” She pulled a folder from her bag. “Sign this, quick.”

Dani scanned the paper in the folder and signed on the dotted line. It was the standard form she’d signed many times before when fostering in an emergency.

“Done.” She handed the folder back to Maddie, then turned to Michael. “I won’t leave you. I promise.”

Chapter Four

Cincinnati, Ohio
Saturday, March 16, 3:35 p.m.

The room had gone still, Adam having stepped back to stand with Deacon, leaving Dani to talk to Michael with as much privacy as they could allow.

Dani knew Adam and Deacon as well as she knew herself. Both her cousin and her brother were good cops. More than that, they were good men with integrity. They wouldn’t have come for Michael if there wasn’t a very good reason.

A dead stepfather and a gun under his pillow were pretty good reasons, but Dani’s gut was telling her to believe Michael’s claims of innocence. She wasn’t sure why, exactly, because her gut had failed her stupendously in the past, and believing the wrong man had done her life-changing harm. Believing her ex-fiancé had left her alone and HIV positive.

But this wasn’t like that. Not at all. Michael was not Adrian. Adrian had been a grown man who’d lied to her about his HIV status. Michael was a scared kid who’d been abused.