The Chosen Child. Brenda Mott

Eric’s jaw dropped. “I’ve never hurt an animal before.” But the way his gaze darted to the side made Cody wonder.

      “Good. Let’s make sure you never do it again.” He leaned closer. “What you did to those kittens, even putting them in that pillowcase, was cruel in itself. And what you were about to do was a million times worse. I wonder what your father would say about this….” He rubbed his chin as though pondering. “Or maybe he already knows about it. You said he didn’t really want the kittens around. If that’s the case, he might be charged as an accessory to the crime.”

      Now Eric’s face went pale. “He didn’t know what I was going to do. I swear.”

      “Okay. We’ll see. Should I call the sheriff’s office or would you like to?”

      Eric swallowed visibly. “The sheriff?”

      “Sure. I’ll want to make sure everything is done by the book when you and Dustin are arrested on your separate charges.” He frowned. “Did your mother know anything about this?”

      “Leave my mom out of this,” Eric said. “She likes cats. She’s the one who started feeding the stupid mother cat in the first place. If she hadn’t, it never would’ve had those dumb kittens under our porch.”

      “If I were you,” Cody spoke each word quietly, distinctly, “I’d go home and tell your parents to call me. We’ll talk about what happened here, and see what you can do to make amends. Maybe you can volunteer at the animal shelter.”

      “Man, don’t tell my parents.” Eric slumped in defeat, raking one hand through his short-cropped hair. “They’ll kill me.”

      “You mean like you were going to kill those kittens? I doubt it. However, it’s up to you. I can talk to your folks or I can call the sheriff. What’s it gonna be?”

      Eric scowled at him. “That isn’t fair.” He shot a glare in the direction in which Dustin had disappeared. “Dustin’s a little troublemaker. Everyone at school knows that.”

      “Uh-huh. You’re probably right. I guess the best thing to do, then, is have you both arrested.” Cody patted his pockets. “I don’t have my handcuffs on me. But you’ll come along peacefully, won’t you?”

      “Wait.” Eric held up his hands defensively. “I don’t see any reason to press charges against Dustin. He didn’t hurt me that bad.”

      Cody noted the beginnings of a shiner puffing beneath the kid’s eye. He refused to feel petty for the amount of satisfaction he felt. Eric deserved what Dustin had dished out.

      “I’m glad to hear it. Actually, never mind the phone call. Just tell your parents I’ll come over and talk to them later.” He gave Eric a final piercing stare. “I hope they’ll be home.”

      Cody called out to Max to heel, with the German word that rhymed with moose. “Fuss.” The big dog rushed forward, and Eric took a step back, eyes wide.

      But Max was well-trained and, though retired, kept sharp by the practice search-and-find exercises Cody and Jordan performed with him on a regular basis. The dog fell into place at Cody’s side without so much as another glance in Eric’s direction.

      Cody headed back toward the pickup truck, still feeling bad about having misjudged Dustin.

      NIKKI ROSE from the couch at the knock on the screen door. She’d seen a minivan pull in earlier and, when she’d looked out the window, realized it must have been Dustin’s foster parents, dropping him off. She wondered why Cody hadn’t mentioned that the boy was coming out today and felt annoyed that he’d already fallen into a pattern of doing things without her.

      She made her way to the door and smiled at the sight of the boy standing on the porch. “Dusty? Is that really you?” She held the screen open and he stepped inside. He’d grown and changed so much. It never ceased to amaze and delight her, watching each year’s group of kindergartners mature into bigger children, preteens and finally teenagers.

      He squirmed. “It’s Dustin. Hey, Mrs. Somers. How’re you?”

      “I’m okay.” Her gaze fell on the pillowcase he held out in front of him like a trick-or-treat bag. “What have you got there?”

      “Kittens.”

      “What?” She listened, horrified, as he explained the incident with Eric Vanderhurst. Belatedly, she noticed that Dustin’s lower lip had a small cut on it. Otherwise, she saw no marks on him. Apparently Cody had stopped the fight before it got out of hand.

      A small part of her was sorry. The part that wanted to throttle Eric Vanderhurst herself. “I can’t believe people can be so cruel.” She reached inside the pillowcase and pulled a tiny silver-gray tabby kitten from inside. It hissed and spat at her, making her chuckle in spite of the sad situation. “Look how cute they are. Already full of spit and vinegar.” Cradling the kitten against her chest, she reached for another, this one orange.

      Dustin gently extracted the third and fourth kittens—a calico and a black one. “I wanted to throw Eric in that horse tank.”

      “I’ll bet you did. I don’t normally condone violence, but when it comes to animal cruelty…well, hold me back.”

      He frowned. “I wonder where their mother is.”

      “Did Eric say?”

      Dustin lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug. “I didn’t give him much of a chance.”

      “I see. Where’s Cody?”

      “Talking to Vanderhurst.” He smirked. “I bet he’s giving him he—” He broke off. “Giving him what for.”

      “I’m sure he is.” Her heart gave a little jump. More than likely, Cody would come back to the house when he was finished with Eric. “Well, maybe he’ll know more about the situation. In the meantime, we need to get these poor little kittens someplace safe and secure.” She knelt on the living room carpet near the couch and gently placed the kittens on the rug before reaching for some throw pillows to make a little wall around the tiny cats. “I’ll be right back.”

      Moments later, she returned with a laundry basket lined with towels and a heating pad, an extra towel draped over her arm. In a corner of the room, she placed the heating pad on the rug and plugged it in, then put the towel over it, followed by the laundry basket, positioning half of it over the electric pad. Then she put the kittens in the basket. “This way they can move off the heated area if they get too warm.”

      Dustin reached to stroke the kittens with one index finger. “How will they eat if we don’t find their mother?”

      “They do look hungry.” Nikki pondered. “I’ll go to the feed store and see if they have some pet nursing bottles and a milk substitute. Can you keep an eye on the kittens while I’m gone?”

      He shrugged. “I guess so.”

      Telling herself she wasn’t avoiding Cody, that the kittens needed immediate care, Nikki gathered her purse and headed for the door. “I’ll be right back. When Cody comes to the house, tell him where I went, will you?”

      “Yeah, okay.”

      Nikki paused briefly in the doorway, studying Dustin’s face. He focused intently on the kittens, his jaw set in determination. It was easy to see he wanted them to live as much as she did. His gaze softened as he watched the babies moving around, and he smiled and began to talk in a low voice to them. Reassuring. So different from the boy Cody had described, who had wanted to join a gang and who seemed to look for trouble. This time, trouble had found him, and he’d been right to stop it.

      Nikki turned and headed out the door. She felt partial to Dustin because he’d been one of her kindergarten kids.

      The only kids she had now. The only kids she’d ever have.

      She could and would learn to live with that.

      CODY