Nothing to Fear by Karen Rose

gritted her teeth as he obliged her need for bruises, and waited until he made a trip up to the pen.
    A few hours later he was back. Tammy had bought the story and Sue had the telephone number she needed. She and the kid had gotten back on the bus to Chicago and a few hours later met Dana Dupinsky at the bus station. All in all, a smooth operation. Except for Fred. He was a loose end. Loose ends were normally a bad thing. She should have dropped him in his apartment Friday afternoon, except he’d been armed, too.
    “Tell Tammy I’m fine. I have to go.”
    “Not so fast.” His voice hardened. “Now that you’re there, you’ll do a favor for me.”
    “Evie!”
    Sue started at the yell, which had come from right outside the door. “Somebody’s coming,” she whispered. “I have to go.”
    “Just remember, I have the phone number, too, sugar. One phone call from me will expose you and the kid, whoever he is. Call me later.” Damn. She’d have to take care of him and soon. She dropped the butt in the toilet and flushed it.
    “Evie! Where are you?” There was a light knock. “Evie?”
    Shrugging back into character, Sue opened the bathroom door and came face-to-face with a very pregnant woman she hadn’t met yet. Her blond hair was too shiny, her eyes too calm, her face too serenely content to be a “client,” which was what Dupinsky called the women she took in. Blondie must be one of the wardens. The woman’s brows went up in surprise. “I guess Evie’s someplace else,” the woman said with a soft drawl and a kind smile. “You must be Jane. Dana said you arrived just yesterday. I’m Caroline.”
    Sue dropped her eyes, glanced up through her lashes. Managed a trembling nod. “I did,” she murmured. “Me and my son.”
    “Erik, right?” Caroline, still with the soft smile. “Dana says he’s ten.”
    “That’s right.” That’s what she’d told Dupinsky. The kid was so scrawny that Sue was afraid they’d insist on a doctor if she said he was twelve. “You work here?”
    Caroline smiled. “Sometimes. I’m looking for Evie. Have you met her yet?”
    Evie was Scarface, the one who’d run from the kitchen the night before. Sue had been eavesdropping outside the door, heard the little blond cop break the news of the woman’s murder. If the argument between Dupinsky and Evie had provided an earful, the brief peek into the kitchen after Evie’s stormy departure was an eyeful—Dupinsky in the arms of a delicious specimen of man. Even now the thought of him made Sue want to drool.
    “She . . . um . . . she left an hour or so ago.” To go to the funeral Sue had heard Dupinsky and the lady cop expressly forbid. “She said she was going to a funeral.” And from the corner of her eye she watched Caroline’s face go dark for just a moment, then the wrath was smoothed away, serenity restored.
    “Thank you, Jane. Is there anything else you or Erik need?”
    A computer connection for my laptop, Sue thought. It was past time to send another communication to the Vaughns. Two uninterrupted hours with the Adonis that had been in the kitchen with Dupinsky last night . . . She ducked her head. “No. We’re fine.”
    Caroline lightly touched her shoulder and Sue had to fight the urge to knock her hand away. She really hated social workers. Always trying to get into your head.
    “Everything’s going to be okay now, Jane,” Caroline said. “You’re safe here.”
    Sue made her eyes tear, her lips quiver. “Thank you,” she whispered.
    “We’re doing some work on the roof later today. Will the banging bother Erik?”
    An atomic bomb wouldn’t bother Erik. Even if he weren’t drugged, the kid was deafer than a rock. Sue had tried many times to catch him faking his deafness, but he wasn’t. “No, Erik will be fine.” Her brows furrowed. “Who will be working on the roof?”
    Caroline’s smile was a tad too bright and Sue could see anger simmering beneath her calm exterior. She was still pissed