You are too thin. Your mother would scold me for letting you stay this thin." Elijah's eyes filled. He did not cry. He nodded once sharply and threw his small arms around Mr. Patel's neck and Mr. Patel held him with the careful awkward tenderness of a man who is not used to being someone's last steady person, but has been doing his best at it anyway. The cabin on the lake sat at the end of a half-mile gravel road that turned off the main highway at a faded wooden sign Elena had hand-painted herself the summer after they were married."
The sign said simply Birch Hollow in careful blue letters and the paint had faded, but the sign had not been replaced because Richard had not been able to bring himself to replace anything Elena had touched. It was nearly 9:00 in the evening when they arrived. The lake lay flat and dark beyond the trees holding the last gray light of the sky in long silver strips. A loon called once from somewhere out on the water and then was quiet. The driver pulled the SUV up to the front porch.
Detective Marsh stepped out first and walked the perimeter of the cabin with a flashlight before she signaled the all clear. There is a state trooper coming to sit at the top of the gravel road tonight, Mr. Caldwell, she said when she returned. He'll be in an unmarked car. He will be there until we have Mr. Henley in custody, which we expect to happen tomorrow morning at approximately 7:00. I will call you the moment the arrest is made.
Until then, please stay inside the cabin. Do not light the porch lights. Do not answer the door for anyone except a uniformed officer with a badge you have personally verified. Do you understand?
Yes, Detective. There is also a woman on her way from Child Protective Services. Her name is Mrs. Adame. She is one of our most experienced social workers and a personal friend. She will arrive at approximately 10.
She will conduct a short intake interview with Elijah. She will help us file the temporary emergency placement paperwork tonight so that the boy is legally in your care under the supervision of the agency starting at midnight. None of this is permanent. All of it is reversible. But it gets him safely out of the system's default for tonight, which would be a group home 30 miles from here.
I assumed you would prefer the alternative. "Thank you," Richard said. "Thank the boy," Detective Marsh said.