Free Longing for Kayla by Lauren Fraser Page A

down the block, indicating backup was on the way. Chris took one last look at the children and booked it after his partner.
    Unable to take the time to follow protocol, Chris pushed open the front door of the house. A woman lay huddled on the floor in the fetal position, a man kicking her exposed back and ribs. The sick sound of breaking bones filled the air.
    “Police. Put your hands up,” Granger called out.
    The man raised his head. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
    Itching for a fight, Chris stepped forward. “Not going to happen, son.” He allowed all his anger and disgust to leach into that one statement. “You need to step back and put your hands where I can see them.”
    The man kicked the prone woman in the ribs. “Fucking bitch.”
    That was all Chris needed to step in and subdue the man. He pressed his knee into the man’s spine and secured his hands behind his back. “Stay down.”
    The man slumped beneath him. “Smart move,” Chris told him.
    Officers Wheeler and Michaels walked in as Chris was pulling the man to his feet. Chris passed off the scumbag. “Take him downtown and throw him in lockup until we get there. He was kicking her when we walked in.”
    With the suspect secured and being taken in by the other two officers, Chris bent down beside his partner to help assess the woman.
    “We’ve got a bus on the way,” Wheeler told them.
    The roaring sirens barreling toward them made Chris tense. He really hoped Jesse wasn’t working overtime. He didn’t feel up to having a confrontation with him tonight.
    Footsteps sounded on the staircase outside moments before two paramedics swept into the room. Chris breathed a sigh of relief when Jesse wasn’t one of them.
    With the woman loaded on the bus, Chris and Granger followed them to the hospital to take the woman’s statement and hopefully get her to agree to go to Transition House. He knew if Kayla had a chance to work with the woman, she’d have a good chance of breaking the ties to her relationship and saving those kids from growing up in that environment.
    Granger set a cup of vending machine coffee beside him while they waited for the doctor to finish up with the woman they had brought in. Finally, the doctor stepped out and gave them the okay to talk to the victim.
    Chris pushed aside the curtain. Jesus, the guy had worked her over good. Bruises covered most of her face and her eye was almost swollen shut.
    “Mrs. Jacobs? I’m Officer Hanson. We were at the house.”
    “I remember you and just call me Eileen, please.” Her broken voice was barely a whisper. “Where are my kids?”
    “They’re in the cafeteria with one of the candy-stripers, getting some ice cream.”
    “Oh good.” A sob racked her chest and she covered her face with her hands. “What kind of mother am I to let my kids see that?”
    Granger shifted uncomfortably on his heels, looking anywhere but at the crying woman. They’d been through this kind of thing before. Knowing how uneasy crying women made his partner, Chris took the lead. He stepped toward the edge of the bed. “Eileen, your husband is in lockup right now. But we can’t hold him for very long without a sworn statement from you.”
    Her bottom lip quivered. “What do you need?”
    Chris pulled back, stunned. He’d expected to have to do the whole big song and dance about why she should leave. He never expected her to be ready. “Um, I just need to take a statement from you so we can press formal charges.”
    Her head bobbed weakly, the only indication she had heard him.
    “Do you have anywhere you can stay?”
    Without speaking, Eileen shook her head.
    “We can take you to a woman’s shelter and get you settled after we get your statement.”
    “My kids will be with me, right?”
    “Of course.”
    She studied Chris as if she expected him to be lying. “I can’t lose my kids,” she whispered.
    “You won’t.”
    She titled her head toward the nurses’ station. “I overheard them saying