Chapter Three

Jaime was practically skipping as she approached her front door, following her visit with Cassie – until she saw the slit in the screen door, barely visible, right where the mesh met the wood frame. She looked through her front window, and nothing seemed to be disturbed, but she wasn't in the mood to take chances. Jaime got back in her car, drove to the nearest pay phone, and called Steve.

"You did the right thing, Sweetheart," he assured her. "Why don't you go down to the corner and grab some coffee or something, and I'll meet you there; I don't want you going back to the house alone."

"It's probably nothing..." Jaime hedged.

"Then it's a good excuse to come and see you."

"Like you need one, Austin," Jaime responded, smiling to herself.

Half an hour later, Jaime and Steve made their way up to her house, arm in arm. Steve examined the screen door with a frown. "I don't like it. You hear anything?"

"No," she answered. "I'm going in."

"Wait a minute, Jaime – I'll go in; stay here."

"No deal. The point of your coming over was so I didn't have to go in alone, but I am going in."

Steve had learned over the course of many years that it didn't pay to argue with Jaime when she'd made up her mind. He sighed, and was at least able to reach the doorknob first, to slowly pull the screen door open. The heavy inner door was still locked.

Jaime saw it first. "Steve – look!" Fluttering at their feet was a small, yellow envelope.

"I'll get it," he told her, reaching down before she could grab it. Inside was a single half-sheet of unlined paper with what appeared to be only a partial sentence, in handwriting neither of them recognized:

Mom, two kids, WPP.

- - - - - -

"I've put the family's name through every available database," Oscar told them. "Nothing. There's no trace of them, anywhere. Hospitals, prisons...morgues -"

"Oscar!" Jaime protested, knowing he was right. She settled back into her chair and held Steve's hand. "Thank you."

"The foster family had – has – two kids," Steve puzzled, "so that part fits, but the note doesn't mention the father. Maybe he did something to Cassie, and that's what the second part of the note is trying to say."

"No," Jaime answered. "I just don't think he has it in him to hurt anyone. Besides, like I told you, Cassie's eyes don't look wounded; she's scared to death. I think she saw something...or knows something..."

"I have a possibility for you," Oscar informed them. "I did come up with one hit on 'WPP'."

"Is it a code?" Steve asked.

"The computer kicked it back as an abbreviation – for Witness Protection Program."

"Of course!" Jaime was instantly on her feet. "Did it say where they were?"

"Babe, it didn't even confirm that this family is in the Program; it just 'decoded' the letters for us."

Jaime nodded grimly. It was beginning to make sense. "If the father isn't with them, I'm guessing something happened to him, and Cassie saw it. Someone tried to eliminate the witness." Her voice nearly broke as she thought of what her young friend might've endured.

"But what did she see," Steve wondered, "and who left her outside the hospital?"

"I have to go and see her. Oscar, I know you've already pulled strings, but is there any way you can pull a few more and get Cassie released into my custody?"

Steve frowned. "Jaime, she's in a Psych Ward, and she's catatonic -"

"Not completely. Look, she's not gonna tell me anything with a guard breathing down her neck. If we took her to your ranch, where she feels relaxed, maybe she'll open up. Might take some time, but I think it's our only shot."

The two men looked at each other and shrugged. Jaime had already made her decision.

- - - - - -

No progress was made that day toward finding Cassie's foster family, but that evening, an emergency court order in her hand, Jaime showed up at the place she thought of as a snake pit, eager to get Cassie out. In the meantime, Steve was readying both of his ranch's guest rooms for his two highly anticipated visitors. He also groomed Pumpkin, even though Cassie probably wouldn't be able to ride him for quite some time.

Jaime saw that the same guard who had been at the locked door to the ward during both of her previous visits was there again. Damn – he works longer hours than I do, she thought to herself. She'd spoken to the administrator, checked in at the desk and had finally arrived to give Cassie the good news.

Cassie was still in a chair by the window. For the first time, she looked up when Jaime came in, and very nearly smiled. "Hi, Honey," Jaime said, grinning. "I've got a surprise for you. How'd you like to come and stay with Steve and me at his ranch, until you feel better?"

The little girl flashed the briefest look of happiness before glancing over at the guard and looking back at Jaime with frightened, questioning eyes.

"It's ok, Cassie," Jaime reassured her. "They know all about it. Want me to help you pack?" The girl didn't move. "Or I could pack for you." Jaime looked around, and there didn't appear to be much of anything there that actually belonged to Cassie. "Can we get a wheelchair, please?" she asked the guard.

He glared sullenly at them both for a moment, and when he saw Cassie turn back toward the window he shook his head slowly at Jaime. "Sorry, but I can't let you take her."

"I've already cleared it with your boss in the main office -"

"That's too bad."

Jaime was growing annoyed with this overly-bureaucratic idiot. "Look – I've got a court order, and -"

The guard pulled a very small but very deadly-looking pistol from his pocket. "Well, I have this. And you are not taking the girl!"

- - - - - -