Daddy Protector. Jacqueline Diamond

and she’d vowed never to forget that life was fragile. But she’d never once worried about Hale. A moment before, he’d stood in front of her, tall and cheerful and seemingly indestructible. Now she might lose him, and that possibility scared her more than she would have expected. A lot more.

      She heard footsteps coming through the storage room. A moment’s tension, and then Hale called out, “Tell dispatch to cancel the cavalry. I’m okay.”

      “Hale says everything’s fine,” she informed the woman on the phone.

      “May I speak to him, please?”

      He entered, grinning. The cocky expression gave Connie an urge to slap him for provoking such anxiety.

      Behind him trailed a sheepish Vince Borrego, the town’s former police chief who, since being forced to resign, had worked as a private investigator. His office lay across the alley in the building behind the shop, and he occasionally visited to pick up treats for his daughter and grandchildren.

      She thrust out the phone to Hale. He stepped aside with it, leaving her to face the older man.

      “Sorry for the ruckus.” In his late fifties, Vince had a gravelly voice and deep wrinkles, souvenirs of his former heavy smoking and drinking. “I was leaving my office and noticed your rear door ajar. Decided to make sure nobody’d sneaked inside, but when Hale shouted a warning, it startled me. I’ve been trying to stay out of trouble, given my history in this town, so I skedaddled. Dumb move.”

      “Thanks for your concern. About the open door, I mean.” Connie found it reassuring that the ex-chief had been looking out for her security.

      “Glad to help.”

      In front, a police cruiser halted. Hale concluded his discussion with the dispatcher and went to consult with the officer.

      “Hi, Vince!” Skip high-fived the older man, who lived in the same fourplex as the Laytons. Connie had bumped into him a few weeks earlier when she dropped her student off after a tutoring session, and discovered that she and Vince shared similar concerns about the boy.

      “Good to see you, fella.” To complete the greeting, Vince lightly slapped the little hand down low, as well as on high. “Got to get you together with my grandson. You’re close to the same age.”

      “Cool!” With Connie’s permission, the little boy chose a couple of hard candies and trotted back to the TV.

      “What brings our little man to Connie’s Curios?” Vince asked as he picked out several chocolate bars.

      She explained about Paula’s dropping him off at Hale’s house. “I’m glad she didn’t leave him alone in the apartment,” he responded. “She does that on occasion, although usually for less than an hour.”

      “Even so, that’s disturbing.” When Connie had asked her lawyer about the matter, he’d explained that the law didn’t specify a minimum age at which a child had to be supervised. Once children reached school age, authorities generally didn’t crack down unless harm resulted.

      Fortunately, the fourplex where Skip lived belonged to Yolanda Rios, co-founder of the homework center, and she helped keep an eye on the boy. It was she who’d discovered he was having problems in kindergarten the previous year and brought him in for tutoring.

      “I talked to a lawyer about adopting. If Paula’s not going to make a real home for him, I wish she’d give me a chance,” Connie grumbled.

      “You’d make a great mom,” Vince was agreeing when Hale returned.

      He broke stride, evidently having overheard the end of the conversation. “Did I miss something?”

      “Nothing important.” Vince paid for his purchases. “If things do work out, don’t forget my daughter, Keri, has a home daycare license.”

      “She’s first on my list.” Connie’s friend Rachel, whose step-daughter stayed with Keri after school, sang the woman’s praises.

      With a wary nod to both of them, the ex-chief exited. Hale stared at the man’s retreating back. “What was that about?”

      “Vince rents the apartment across the hall from Skip’s. They’re friends.”

      “Yeah, well, he seems awfully chummy with you. ‘You’d make a great mom,’” Hale mimicked. “You haven’t forgotten the guy’s got wandering hands, have you?” Part of Vince’s problems with the PD had involved his misconduct toward a female officer.

      Connie couldn’t decide whether to laugh or take offense. “He’s never made a pass at me. Besides, he’s too old.”

      “How old is too old to pursue younger women?” Hale scoffed. “Besides, why was he plying you with compliments?”

      She curbed her temper by remembering that her neighbor had risked his neck to investigate the noises. Softly so the boy wouldn’t hear, she replied, “He was responding to my statement that I’d like to adopt Skip.”

      “Gee, I guess you forgot to mention that to me. But of course everybody confides in Villazon’s Grandpa of the Year, don’t they?” Hale muttered.

      How unfair! “You may find this hard to believe, but Vince has changed. He cares about people.”

      “What did he offer to do—plant incriminating evidence on Paula so she’d lose custody?” he cracked.

      The remark undoubtedly reflected deep-seated anger at Vince and the painful impact he’d had on his colleagues. A few years earlier, Officer Elise Masterson had accused the then-chief of sexual harassment and named Joel as a witness—his job as a watch commander put him in a key position to observe departmental goings-on. Joel had also had to testify in a separate investigation into claims that a lieutenant had beaten a prisoner and that Vince had covered for him.

      The department had endured a rough period, its reputation besmirched and the officers’ loyalties divided, with many criticizing Joel for testifying. Hale had stood by him, and after the hiring of a new chief, the whole affair had blown over.

      Vince had taken early retirement and the department fired the lieutenant, Norm Kinsey. Both had left the area until, six months ago, Vince moved back to be near his daughter.

      On his visits to the shop, he seemed affable and courteous. In Connie’s opinion, the ex-chief had learned a hard lesson from the loss of his career and the breakup of his marriage. It wasn’t his fault that, a few months ago, he’d shot and killed a prison escapee who’d targeted his family, and news reports had rehashed the entire original scandal just as it was fading from the public’s memory.

      Plant evidence against Paula! How absurd. “He didn’t offer to do anything of the sort.”

      “Take my advice and watch out for him,” Hale answered dourly.

      How could he be so paranoid? “You’re being unreasonable,” she said.

      “Do me a favor and keep your guard up.” Before she could answer, Hale added, “You’re seriously interested in adopting?”

      She nodded. “Very much so.”

      He checked that Skip remained in his corner before asking, “Why a boy? You’ve got a house full of frilly stuff.”

      She was taken by surprise. “This isn’t about choosing just any child! It’s about Skip. Hale, we don’t choose who we love.”

      He tugged at his tie. Whoever he was dating tonight, he must think highly of her to endure such discomfort. “The boy deserves a father figure.”

      “I grew up without a father, and I’m fine!”

      That she’d grown up fatherless wasn’t entirely true. Although Connie’s parents had divorced when she was ten, Jim Lawson had lived nearby and remained theoretically involved. But Connie had never felt he’d played any meaningful role in her life.

      The incident that stood out