Free A Certain Kind of Hero by Kathleen Eagle Page A

come with me?” Officer Sam asked, as gently as he might have petitioned a much younger child. “We’re just goin’ over to see Judge Half, over to the court.”
    â€œI didn’t do anything,” the boy said quietly.
    â€œNobody says you did, Peter. The judge will explain.” Officer Sam nodded to Raina and spoke just as quietly. “You can sure come, too, ma’am.”
    But Raina’s voice was on the rise. “Gideon Defender is Peter’s uncle. He’ll straighten this whole thing out as soon as he hears—”
    â€œMaybe he will, Mrs. Defender. But the court is separate from the chairman, so I’ve got to do like the judge told me.” He gestured toward the paper, which was still in Raina’s hand. “Gideon’s office is right across the street, though, so you cango right on over there and see what he has to say. I mean, it’s not like anybody wants to do any—”
    â€œI’m interested in hearing what this judge has to say.” She perused the document again, but the words wouldn’t stay in focus, and the paper seemed to burn her fingers. “This is ridiculous. Peter has nothing to do with welfare, or whatever that act is supposed to mean.”
    She stared at the man, hoping to convince him, searching for the magic words that would make such perfect sense that he would take his paper and go back where he’d come from. “I’m the one who’s raised him. I’m his mother. ”
    â€œYes, ma’am.” The officer turned to Peter again. “Nobody is going to hurt you, son. You’re not in any trouble. The judge just wants to see you in his office. He’ll explain everything.”
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    She was doing all right until the judge asked her to wait outside his office while he talked with Peter. “I have no jurisdiction over you,” the portly man with bulldog jowls explained. “Only the boy.”
    Over her objections, Cletus Sam directed her to a chair, but it was on the other side of the door to the room she ought to be in. The room where Peter was. This was not defensible. She definitely had parental rights. Legal rights.
    Gideon’s blue pickup was parked across the street. Right across the street! Surely he could see what was going on here. Why wasn’t he doing something about this? Raina fumed to herself. Getting herself in a huff expanded her confidence as she marched past his assistant and through the door labeled Chairman’s Office.
    Taken off guard, the assistant was a little late in sliding her chair back from her desk. “You can’t walk in without—”
    Standing next to his desk with a handful of papers, Gideon turned in surprise. Dressed in a T-shirt and cutoffs, he clearlyhadn’t planned to spend the morning on official business. He looked poised, in fact, to set the rest aside.
    â€œGideon, thank God,” she breathed.
    He smiled sheepishly as he selected one paper and put the rest in a desk tray. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Raina. I think that phone has eyes. I ought to know better than to—”
    â€œGideon, what in heaven’s name is going on?” She closed the door and approached him tentatively. “Did you know that your judge sent a policeman over to the lodge to arrest Peter this morning?”
    Gideon’s eyes widened incredulously. “ Arrest …Peter?”
    â€œYes.” She nodded once, then shook her head in confusion. “Well, take him into custody because of some child welfare law that says he can just take my son into his custody. I don’t understand how—”
    â€œWhere is he now? Where is Peter?”
    She gestured with an unsteady hand. “Right across the street.” In two strides he was at her side, turning her toward the door while she was still sputtering, “You have to do something, Gideon.”
    On his way past his assistant’s desk he tossed a