He dropped them off at the shelter. She paid him and rushed Tad inside the building and up to their room. She locked it. She leaned back against the door with a long, heavy sigh.

“I thought he might kill you,” she said miserably.

“Me, too,” he confessed. “But all he did was lock me in Ben’s old bedroom. He just forgot to lock the windows,” he added. He hugged her for comfort. It had been a scary experience. “I heard him stumbling around in the hall, talking to one of his friends.”

“Could you hear what he said?”

“He was bragging about how smart he was. He said he’d killed a man with an old gun that wasn’t even registered, and nobody would ever know where it was.” He grimaced. “I think he meant Granddaddy, Clancey.”

Her heart stopped and then started again. “Did he say anything else?”

“Just that he was going to make you pay for putting him in prison. He said you’d never see me again. But that didn’t work out the way he planned.” He drew in a breath. “I’m just glad he didn’t lock that window. I was so scared...”

She gathered him close. “I tried to trade myself for you. I’d have done anything to save you!”

He hugged her back. “Me, too,” he said. “He was so high he didn’t know where he was half the time. He put on a good act for Mrs. Marvin, at my school, but she didn’t know him. She was so sweet. She believed what he said about Cal sending him to pick me up, and he looked cold sober when he said it. Mrs. Marvin was new and she didn’t know any better. I was afraid to say anything. Morris gave me that look he used to have...and when we got in the cab, he said he already had you. I didn’t dare try to get away then.” He paused. “Poor Mrs. Marvin. She’s nice. I hope they don’t fire her,” he added worriedly.

She didn’t echo his sentiments. Tad could have died because a new worker didn’t check out the man who’d claimed he was a friend of Cal’s. She swallowed, hard. “I’ve never been so scared. Not since that night,” she confessed brokenly.

“I’m okay,” he repeated. He drew back and looked up at her. “But if he could find me at school, he could find us here. What are we going to do? He’s going to be real mad because I got away. You know how he is, even when he’s not using drugs.”

“I do, indeed.” She let him go and paced, while she tried to think of ways and means to save them. She paused and looked at her little brother, at the light of her life. “I’ll find a way. I promise.”