MAD DOG AND ANNIE by Virginia Kantra Page B

I'm a police officer." He started down the bank, feeling his way along the rocks and ferns, and pulled a sample bag from his belt. "Here."
    Grudgingly, the boy took the bag and reached for one of the yellow tubes lying on the ground. "That doesn't make it right," he whispered.
    There was a kicker. This kid had a lifetime of somebody bigger and older and in authority throwing his weight around.
    Maddox pushed back his hat with one hand. "So, you figure this shouldn't be my call?"
    Mitchell stooped for another firecracker. "I wasn't doing anything wrong."
    "You weren't doing anything smart, either." He regarded the boy's bent back for a minute. "Let's say I didn't come along. Let's say you got to choose. Don't you figure your mother's got enough to deal with right now without worrying about taking you to the emergency room?"
    Mitchell's small hands clenched the evidence bag. Satisfied he'd made his point, Maddox turned his attention to the cleanup. They worked in silence and in the heat until the last bright yellow wrapper was retrieved from the rocks. Maddox took back the bag.
    "Thanks." When the kid made no move to run, Maddox lifted an eyebrow. "What?"
    Mitchell swallowed. "Are you going to tell her?"
    "Hey, I'm a cop, not a snitch." But the boy didn't smile, just stood there, shifting from foot to foot, a desperate earnestness in his eyes. Maddox thought back to age nine, when everything he did was a disappointment to the grown-ups in his life.
    "No," he said gently. "We don't want to worry your mom, remember? Just don't set off any more rockets, okay?"
    The boy's head nodded jerkily. "We were supposed to go," be said.
    "Go where?"
    "To see the fireworks. At the fairgrounds in Raleigh ? Dad said we'd go."
    "So, are you?" Maddox asked, already feeling the answer in his gut.
    "No. I told Mom I didn't want to. We wouldn't get back till late, and she has to be at work in the morning."
    "That was real considerate of you."
    Mitchell looked at his shoes.
    Maddox tried again. "You're taking good care of your mother."
    It was a damn shame there was no one around to take care of the pair of them.
    * * *
    Ann sat in her backyard, watching the stars and the flames of the citronella candles she'd set around the porch, wishing she could coax Mitchell from his room. He was reading Droid Zone 12: The Undefended. It was a lousy end to a disappointing day, but her son insisted he was fine.
    Fine. She sighed. She wanted better than "fine" for Mitchell. She wanted better for herself. She felt itchy and restless in her own skin tonight, and it was more than the humidity or the mosquitoes.
    She raised her wet glass of tea to the broken moon. "Happy Independence Day," she whispered.
    The doorbell clunked from the front of the house, and her hand jerked and the tea jumped in the glass. Maybe Rob had changed his mind? But it was late, too late for the promised trip to Raleigh .
    She hurried through the back door and down the hall before Mitchell could come down from his room. She flipped on the porch light, glanced through the peephole, and felt her heart slam into her ribs.
    Maddox.
    She had watched him that afternoon at the park, looking hot and dark and competent in his uniform. He was showered now, and wearing a plain-necked T-shirt and shorts. His calves were thicker and hairier than they had been in high school. No socks. She felt a little prick inside her and looked away.
    Unhooking the chain, she opened the door. "What are you doing here?"
    His half smile faded at her abrupt tone. He held up a paper sack. "I brought something for Mitchell. Can I see him?"
    "He's upstairs. Reading ."
    "Can you call him?"
    Ann frowned. It was late. She felt vulnerable in her quiet house, in her restless skin. But maybe a distraction was just what Mitchell needed.
    "All right." She moved to the bottom of the stairs. "Mitchell! You have a visitor."
    She stepped back awkwardly to admit him, feeling the narrow hall close around them. She was very conscious of his