“Your mommy was hurt very badly, Haley. Do you remember when that happened? You were hurt and so was your mommy.”

“The bad daddy came,” she said, soberly. “Bad Daddy hurt my mommy.”

“Yes. Your mommy was hurt too badly, and the doctors couldn’t fix her, and she died.”

“But when will she come back?”

“She can’t, sweetheart. She can’t come back.”

Anne watched the little girl try to process the information. How could Mommy not come for her? Mommy had been there for her every day of her life.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” Anne said, her own tears brimming over the barrier of her eyelashes.

She had been an adult when she had to accept the truth of her mother’s death. And even though logically she had known that death meant an end to the terrible suffering cancer had brought her mother, Anne’s own pain and grief had still been overwhelming. It still was overwhelming at times.

“But I want my mommy,” Haley said, two big tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You don’t have to be afraid, Haley,” Vince said softly. “You’re here with us, and you’re safe, and we won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

“Bad Daddy hurt my mommy,” she said, and she started to cry softly, going into Anne’s arms for comfort.

Anne held her close and rocked her. She had always been protective of the children in her care when she was a teacher. Mendez had called her a tigress with cubs. But that paled in comparison to what she was feeling now for Haley.

Maybe it was because she had so much in common with the little girl—having been a victim, having lost her mother. Or maybe it was just the time of her life or the fact that she had been thinking so much about becoming a mother. But as she held Haley Fordham and promised to keep her safe, Anne felt a bond forming inside her like nothing she had ever felt before.

She wasn’t going to let anyone harm a hair on this child’s head. If the bad daddy or anyone else wanted to get to Haley, he was going to have to come through Anne first.

And no tigress would have anything on her.

Chapter 52

52

“You’re a lucky bastard,” Campbell commented.

With the exceptions of Vince and Hicks, the guys had gone back to their desks after the brainstorming session to try to put a dent in their paperwork and check messages that had come in during the day regarding other cases they were working.

“How so?” Mendez asked.

“You don’t have to hear it from a wife how you’re never home, you work too much, or you pretend to work too much but you’ve probably got a girlfriend on the side.”