Page 89 of Broken Halo

When I got here five minutes ago, I was surprised she opened the door for me but that made it easier. As soon as Griffin laid eyes on me, he squealed and crawled for me at a pace that would make any Olympian proud but, for me, it just felt fucking good. I’ve done what I set out to do—and in a short timeframe—win over Ellie’s son with junk food, toys, and my time. Once I settled on this strategy, I cleared the toy section at Target and threw the bags in the back of my car. He gets something new when I see him every night and I’m all of a sudden Santa Claus. Ellie told me I needed to stop, but she did it with a big fucking smile on her face. Like I’d stop anyway.

“Your mom will be here soon, bud. Until then, we’ll have some guy time.”

Griffin yanks at my tie with his sticky fingers and grins with his mouth full, down with my plan as long as I keep feeding him cookies.

I wipe the cookie mush off me and drag my hand down Griffin’s shirt since he’s already a mess and glare at Ellie’s fucking babysitter who just sat her ass back down on the sofa. Her face is streaked with pathetic tears and she’s tried to get out the front door twice.

“I’m sorry,” the chick cries—I can’t even remember her name but I will soon when I start building a file on her, too. “I’m so sorry. I’d never let anything happen to Griffin. I swear!”

“Sit down and shut up,” I repeat.

I’m pissed I didn’t think of it sooner—hell, I even mentioned her in Ellie’s court hearing yesterday. But Ellie loves her, trusts her, and I’ve seen her with Griffin. She’s good with him and there was no reason to question her. She flew under the damn radar—until today.

She fucked up.

The front door flies open and Ellie comes rushing in but as soon as she sees Griffin, she stutters to a stop. Her bright blue eyes become glossy as they shift between her son and me right before she drops her face into her hands.

“Baby,” I call for her and she shakes her head, not looking up at me. “It’s all good now.”

“Ma-ma!” Griffin calls for her and she lifts her tear-stained face to us. I hold my arm out and she moves right to my chest where her relieved tears soak into my already-trashed shirt and tie.

“Ellie!” the babysitter starts and I hold her tighter because I hear sirens as the police pull up to her house. “I can explain!”

Griffin doesn’t care about the shitshow taking place and yanks at his mom’s hair—spreading his cookie love around equally—but Ellie loves it. She looks up at him in my arms and her smile is genuine when she lifts to her toes to kiss his filthy face. “Hey, baby.”

“She’s in here.” Eli enters the room with the three officers on his tail and he points to the lying, sack-of-shit, backstabbing babysitter. “I’ve got photographic proof of Carl and Teresa Ketteman handing over what looks to be illegally-obtained prescription drugs, along with an envelope of cash, about forty-five minutes ago outside of the Hotel Crescent Court. You can start your search, but I’m confident both items will be here.”

“You okay?” I ask and Ellie tilts her face up. I see nothing but horror in her eyes for what’s gone down today. “Eli’s guy said as soon as he saw her with Griffin in the car, he followed so close, there’s no way he could’ve lost them. He needed to let it happen to get the evidence we needed. He was on the phone with Eli the whole time giving him the play-by-play. Eli’s guy was stationed outside until I got here.”

Ellie shakes her head and exhales, looking over her shoulder at the babysitter who we now know was working for Robert’s parents. As soon as they fingerprint her, we should be able to pin her with planting the weed in Ellie’s drawer, since she wasn’t smart enough to wipe down the bag.

“I can’t believe it,” Ellie breathes before turning back to me. “Thank you for getting here when you did. I feel so stupid.”

What I don’t tell her is they also have footage of the Kettemans getting Griffin out of his car seat, passing him back and forth between the two of them as he cried since they were strangers to him. For the simple fact I don’t want to be defending Ellie for assault and battery on her babysitter, I decide to withhold that little bit of information until tonight when we’re alone.

She puts her hands out for Griffin. “Come to Mama and give me kisses.”

Griffin lurches into Ellie’s arms and she couldn’t care less what a mess he is. I, on the other hand, grab a towel and wipe away the goo.

For the next twenty minutes, Ellie, Griffin, Pettit, and I stand out of the way as the police question Chloe on her whereabouts, taking Griffin out of the house, her connection with Robert’s parents, and if she could explain the video taken of her as she accepted money and an unlabeled bottle of prescription drugs from the Kettemans.

They didn’t even need to go good cop, bad cop on her. She folded—more like fell apart—as soon as she saw the evidence mounted against her. They took her down faster than a prize fighter and she dragged the Kettemans with her. She babbled on about how they approached her and she needed the extra money and she didn’t see any harm in it since they seemed like nice enough people.

Stupid bitch.

But if she talks and cooperates, doing all she can to lessen her own charges—which she’d be stupid not to—Dr. Carl Ketteman could be in a shitload of trouble. Even more so than for framing their dead son’s widow with some weed. If the controlled substance the police found in Ellie’s bathroom drawer hidden under a huge stack of towels is traced back to him, the DEA will become involved. And given they aren’t keen on shit like that since it’s really fucking illegal, the man stands to lose his license to practice medicine.

Let’s just say the Kettemans have a lot more to worry about than what their country-clubbing friends will think of them when this is all said and done. They’re fucked.

I stand between the woman who’s back in my bed where she belongs and the babysitter who’s being led out of this house in cuffs. I’m finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. I expect the CPS investigation on Ellie to be dropped and the Kettemans filing for grandparents visitation rights will dissolve into a puff of smoke by the end of business tomorrow, if not today.

Ellie doesn’t have a thing to worry about.

She’s in the clear.

Now that everyone is gone but the three of us, Griffin is crashing his toys into one another in a fashion that would make a demolition derby look like bumper cars, and Ellie flops down on my new favorite sofa.

I can’t lie, I wish she were naked.

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