Free The Lawman Returns by Lynette Eason

take the front passenger seat, then climbed in behind her. Lance started the car and backed out of the parking spot. “Now, you let me take care of this.” He glanced in the rearview mirror and caught Clay’s eyes.
    Clay nodded. “I promise.”
    Fifteen minutes later, Lance pulled into the lower-income neighborhood. He maneuvered through the streets until he came to a small ranch-style house with more weeds than grass. A motorcycle and a twenty-year-old Honda sat under the metal carport at the end of the drive.
    Lance parked on the curb.
    The front door opened. A woman Clay knew to be in her early fifties but who looked ten years older stepped out onto the porch. Clay rolled his window down as Lance and Sabrina exited the car.
    The woman’s shoulders softened slightly when she spotted Sabrina. “Is my boy in trouble again? Where are the little ones? He was supposed to be watching out for them.” She wrung her hands.
    Sabrina paused. “They’re in a home right now being cared for. As for Jordan, no, ma’am, at least not the kind of trouble you’re thinking. If he’s in trouble, I don’t think it’s of his making. Is he here?”
    Mrs. Zellis crossed her arms. “No, he ain’t.”
    Sabrina frowned. “He called me yesterday and said he was scared.” She debated whether to mention the fact that someone had taken a shot at her yesterday. She decided not to for the moment.
    “You know he’s not really very happy staying here.” She shrugged. “He’s seventeen years old. Be eighteen next week. I can only do what I can do.”
    Clay figured the woman was right. If a seventeen-year-old boy didn’t want to stay with his grandmother and he had a way to get his hands on some cash and a place to sleep at night, then his grandmother was pretty powerless.
    “I don’t think Jordan’s not here because he doesn’t want to be. I think he’s afraid and is hiding from someone,” Sabrina said.
    “Probably one of those people he hangs out with turned on him. I told him he couldn’t trust them none.”
    Sabrina moved closer but stopped at the bottom of the porch steps. “When was the last time you saw him?”
    The woman sucked her teeth, then pooched her lips out. She let her gaze drop from Sabrina’s. Clay wanted to jump from the car and shake the information from her. Instead he clenched his fingers into fists and waited.
    “Mrs. Zellis?” Sabrina pushed.
    She sighed. “Nigh on two or three days, I reckon. His mama left last week, so it’s just been me and the kids.” She paused. “They all right? I saw you tried to call last night. I didn’t worry too much because I figured they were with Jordan, but you’re saying they’re not.”
    “They’re fine. They’re in a foster home for now.”
    She nodded and tears welled before she blinked them away. “Might be best if they stay there for now.”
    Sabrina nodded. “If Jordan comes home, will you have him call me?”
    “Sure. But you know how he knows these mountains like the back of his hand. If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be. He likes the caves up there.” She gave an absent nod in the direction of the mountains.
    Sabrina looked at Lance. He sighed and shook his head. “I’ll file a report. We’ll get his picture out there and get people looking for him.” He wrote in his little green notebook, then tapped the pencil against his chin. “Do you know if Jordan ever spoke to Deputy Steven Starke a few weeks ago?”
    “Starke?” Her brow wrinkled. “Ain’t that the cop who got hisself killed?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “No. Jordan never said anything about him.” She paused, her forehead still wrinkled. “Wait a second. I think that deputy did come out here and ask to see Jordan. I thought the boy was here, but he never came out when I called to him. That deputy left his number, but I don’t think Jordan ever called him.”
    “Do you know why Deputy Starke wanted to talk to Jordan?” Lance asked.
    “No.” She fidgeted with the hem