Chapter 6

Sam was about to find out just how difficult it would be to tame Billy. The kids came home from school a couple days later while Sam was preparing for a stakeout with Jack. Billy stomped up the front steps and stormed through the front door, not stopping for anything until he slammed the office door behind him.

"Espie, where's Samuel?"

"He's coming, Dad. Billy was mean to him. Then he pulled my hair and ran off, and I chased him here."

"You left your brother to walk home alone?" He held her by the arms. "What were you thinking?"

Espie didn't see the terror in her father's eyes very often. She cringed. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'll...I'll go get him."

"You do that." He had a way of saying something so coolly, but with so much more behind it. He released her and she flew out the door, discarding her book bag on the vestibule floor. Fortunately she didn't have to go far, although Sam did send her back on the route to find his pack. She returned slightly out of breath and dropped it next to hers. "He left it where Billy and I had our fight, and he musta ran after us, but he couldn't keep up." She took a breath and added with a contrite look, "I'm sorry, Dad. It was stupid, and I won't let Billy get me riled up like that again."

Sam smiled at her. "At least you'll try not to, am I right? I don't want to have to extend your grounding." He knew his daughter. She didn't back down from confrontation with her peers. Espie gave him a frown.

"Sam, supper is just about ready. Will you go upstairs and see if you can get Billy to come down?"

"Sure. He and I need to have a little talk anyway." Sam climbed the stairs and stepped over to the office door. He knocked firmly. "Billy? May I come in?"

"No! Go away!"

"Come on, I just want to talk. That's all." He tried the door, but it was locked. Sam could pick it in two seconds, but it would only add to the wall of distrust that surrounded Billy. He sighed and said, "Supper is ready. Please, come out and join us."

They waited a few minutes, but he didn't appear. "Okay, we'll start without him, and if he's hungry later, no snacks." He glanced at Yvette to see if she would back him.

She nodded. "I agree. It's a shame about his family situation, but there's no reason to take it out on other people or be rude and not come down when asked. He has to learn."

Before the kids got to their homework, Sam took Esperanza aside and asked, "Do you know what set Billy off today?"

"There were some bigger kids at school giving him a hard time. They followed us for a little while on the way home, calling his dad a stoner and some other mean names." She paused and took a breath. "He wanted to fight them, but I told him it was no use. They were too big. They were like middle school kids, but they're in the sixth grade." She blinked away tears forming in her eyes. "Daddy, I wanted to help him, so I got him away from them. Then he got mad at me for making him look like a sissie."

"It's okay, honey, you did the right thing," Sam spoke tenderly as he held her. "Billy just has to learn that you can't always fight your battles with fists."

She nodded against his shoulder. "He said he was gonna get them back. I'm afraid he's going to get hurt, Daddy."

"You really care about him, don't you." He held her away from himself so he could see her face as she swiped away some tears. He smoothed her hair and smiled when she answered him.

"He's not always a bad boy, Dad. He's just got too much hate inside him."

"I know, punkin. Maybe we can work on that while he's here and hope it'll change him. Can I count on you to help?"

"I'd do anything to make him nicer, Dad. It makes dealing with him in class a whole lot easier!"

Sam laughed and hugged her. "I can imagine it does. You go get your stuff and start doing your homework, okay? I'll see if I can get Billy to come down and work on his assignments too." He knocked on the door, listening for sounds on the other side. It was quiet. "Billy? Billy, are you okay?" He wished he'd thought about disabling the door lock before they settled him into the room, but Sam hadn't given it a thought until now. He pounded on the door, hoping that if he'd gone to sleep, Billy would hear and wake up. Still nothing.

Okay, enough of this. I'm going in. Sam pulled out his tools, and in a matter of seconds had the door unlocked. He stepped into the room and found it dark. He turned on the light, and the stark overhead light showed that the room was empty. The window sash was pushed up and the screen set to the side. A rappelling rope that Sam had stored in the closet hung out of it, tied to a sturdy desk leg. He leaned out the window and saw the end pooling on the ground, but no sign of Billy. Sam glanced toward the street. Where's a cop when you need one? Their protection left the day before when Benny's gang had all been rounded up and the threat to their lives neutralized.

Sam's feet pounded across the room and down the stairs as he got on the phone. "Jack, it's Sam. We need to postpone our stakeout. I need your help finding Billy. He took off!"

He passed the kids at the table, and they gaped at him. Yvette raised her head from Samuel's work and asked, "Sam, what's going on?"

He held up a hand to quiet her. He was on a conference call now. "I'm going to head north from our house, and Jack, you go east. I'll call my dad and see if he can go west. Mike, can you head south?" He nodded. "Alright then, let's find this kid before something happens." He hung up the phone and dialed again. "Dad, it's me. I need your help finding Billy."

It took only a few minutes to organize the search party, but they had a lot of real estate to cover. The neighborhood had a lot of alleys choked with overhanging vegetation that made easy hiding places, or he could duck into a yard and wait out his pursuers.

"I'll be back when we find Billy." Without another word, he was gone, leaving behind two wide eyed kids and a wife with worry etched into her brow.

He was on his way to his car when the phone rang. "Sam, it's me."

"Mike. Any luck?"

"No. I went to the school, but he's not here. Not that I really expected him to be, but it's a place he knows. Where else would he be likely to go?"

"Oh...home. Maybe he went home, Mike. I'll head there and see if I find him along the way."

"That's a bit of a hike for a kid," Michael said.

"Yeah, I know, and in the dark. Mike, he was wearing dark clothes, so he'll be hard to see." Sam searched along the street as he drove slowly. "I'd be surprised if he made it there, but I'll try it and see if he shows up. Maybe I'll find him along the way."

"I hope so, Sam. That part of town is not a good place for a kid to be all alone in the dark."

"You don't have to remind me. I'll talk to you later." He wanted to keep his concentration on the area around him as he drove his car at a crawl up the street. He spotted a squad car and flagged down the officer driving. "Hey, have you seen a kid running around here, about ten years old, blonde hair, wearing dark clothes?"

"Nope, haven't seen a thing. It's been pretty quiet tonight. Is he your kid?"

Sam shook his head. "Foster kid. He ran away and now my friends and I are trying to find him."

"What's his name?"

"Billy Fuller."

Sam could see that the last name rang a bell with the officers as they looked at him. "We'll keep an eye out for the kid. Do you have a way we can contact you?"

"Sure." He reached into the glove compartment and handed him a business card. "Thanks for the assistance. If you find him, we just want to take him home, okay? He's just a frightened kid, his parents are in dire straits, and we're trying to help him. No need to report this to DSS." He gave the cop a meaningful glance. He was pleased when the man nodded in understanding. "Great. You have a safe night."

"Thanks. You too!"

As Sam neared Billy's apartment, the street got seedier and seedier. Scantily clad women hung out on the corners with men who looked as if they spent their days sleeping and their nights partying. They gave the guy in the sedan a long wary glance as he passed by slowly. Some of them thought he might be business; others thought he was game. Sam was ready for them. He arrived at Billy's and didn't see any sign of him. The apartment was dark, but that didn't mean the kid wasn't there. He had to get out of the car and look, so he did a u-turn, came back, and parked in front.

"Mike, I'm at Billy's apartment and I'm going in. I didn't see him anywhere on the streets."

"Be careful, Sam."
"I will."

He got out, locked up the car, and carried a handgun at his side. The glint of metal caused one curious fellow to back off and stare at Sam. He climbed the stairs to the second floor without interruption and made it to the door. It was closed, locked, and police tape had been across the threshold, but someone broke it. He picked the lock quietly, not wanting to spook Billy if he was there. Locking the door behind him, Sam checked the apartment and found Billy's room empty, as well as Nicki's, but when he entered the parents' room, he found Billy crashed on the bed sound asleep. His body was curled around a pillow like a security blanket. In the dim light coming from the street, the boy looked so vulnerable and sad, his heart went out to him and he carefully sat beside him and stroked his hair.

Billy sat up quickly, breath heaving as if he'd run a mile full speed, his head swiveling around to Sam. "What...what are you doing here!"

"We were worried about you. My dad and my friends, we're all out looking for you."

Billy shook his head. "You didn't have to bother."

"Yes, we did. I know you don't get the idea, but people really do care about you, Billy. In the short time you've been with us, we've even started to love you. So when you took off tonight without telling anybody, we got really scared."

"I didn't ask for you to love me, so just let me be!" He buried himself under the covers, as if that would make Sam go away. It didn't work.

Sam just sat there and touched his back through the covers. Billy squirmed away, but he ran into the edge of the narrow bed. Sam touched the button on his earpiece and said, "Mike, I found him. He's at home. Yeah, thanks for the help. I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay? Uh huh. No, I'm good. 'Bye." He sighed when he realized that Billy was asleep. The kid wore himself out getting there, and no amount of stubborn could keep him awake.

His earpiece beeped, and Sam answered. "Yeah, Jack. I'm at Billy's apartment. I should have known he'd come right here. Sorry to have bothered you with this. But now I guess you're on your own tonight at the stakeout. I'm going to call Eve and tell her I'm staying here with him, since he seems to be sleeping so well, I don't really want to move him." While he talked to Jack, he had moved out of the room so he didn't disturb Billy. He was unaware that Billy was really awake and heard every word from Sam's side of the conversation. "Yeah, I know it's not the best neighborhood and I might wake up to find my car gone, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. The kid needs a little self security, and if being here one night gives him that, I'm all for it. I might not get any sleep, but well, that's life. I can sleep tomorrow when he's at school." Sam laughed at something Jack said and wished him a good night.