My 6-year-old granddaughter phoned me in panic just after midnight. “Mommy says the baby is coming! Help!” I asked, “Where’s daddy?” She answered, “He k!cked mommy’s tummy and left.”…..

“Take all the time you need,” Martha said quietly, her weathered hands gentle on Lydia’s shoulders. “And Harry, whatever you’re planning, be smart about it.” Harry’s first stop was Pike’s Auto Repair, a grease stained garage on the outskirts of town, where honest work got done by men who understood the value of keeping their mouths shut.

Delmare Pike was under the hood of a rusted Ford when Harry walked in. His wiry frame bent over the engine like a man performing surgery. Delmare. Delmare straightened, wiping his hands on a rag that had seen better decades. He was 53. All senu and scars with pale blue eyes that missed nothing. Harry heard about Cassidy on the scanner. How is she? She’ll live.

Baby, too. Harry leaned against the workbench, but Trent Huxley put them both in the hospital. Delmar’s expression didn’t change, but something dangerous flickered behind his eyes. That so beat her so bad she nearly bled out. Deputy Timonss thinks it was just a domestic dispute that got out of hand. Timonss is a bot man.