Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (18 page)

“Uh-oh,” Brandon said
.
“It’s Miss Crenshaw.”

“No, please, not her.”
Glory
pleaded to the fates
.
Miss Crenshaw
was
the lady from children’s services who had zealously tried to split them up right after Mom died
.
If it
wasn’t
for
Nana moving in
after Grandpa’s stroke, they’d be in foster care right now.
“I’d
rather tangle with the red-eye
d devil again than ole Crenshaw,” Glory whispered.

“That can’t be,”
s
he heard
Dad
say
.
“
Patrice
babysits the Miller kids down the road on school nights.”

“That’s right,”
Nana
agreed. “
The
m
i
ster
works the late shift and the
m
isses has to be at work by
four
in the morning,
so they pay
Patrice
to sleep there and get their little ones off to school
.”

“
Your daughter
hasn’t babysat the Miller kids for two months,” Miss Crenshaw informed
.
“Seems she’s been babysitting Ted
Filmore
instead
.
One of her teachers grew suspicious when he noticed Ted dropping
her
off at school
in the
morning
.”

Dad
’s voice rose in volume, hands fle
xing
at his side
.
“Why didn’t the school call me
sooner
?”

“They know the situation here,” Miss Crenshaw stated, voice dripping with contempt
.
“So they called me first.”

Dad
’s chest heaved, but he made no reply.

“I don’t understand,”
Nana
said
.
“Did you say she’s been babysitting Ted
Filmore
?
That can’t be right
.
He’s gotta be
t
wenty
by now.”

“
T
wenty-eight
,” Miss Crenshaw corrected.

“
Twenty-eight
, s
urely, he doesn’t need a babysitter
…
” her voice trailed off
.
Suddenly, she
gasped, splaying her fingers over her chest
.
“
Patrice
, no
!
”

Nana
cried.

Patrice
turned her head toward the fields.

This was bad, really bad. Glory twisted a long strand of hair until it felt like it might rip off her scalp.

“Ted
Filmore
.
”
Dad
’s voice was controlled, but he
kept
tightening and untightening his fists
, making
Glory
extra nervous
.
“Where is he?”

An
officer replied
.
“
Jail.
”

The muscles in Dad’s jaw visibly strained.
“
For how long?”

“We can’t hold him for more than
twenty-four
hours without a written complaint
.
To do that you’ll have come to the station and fill out s
o
m
e forms, or for your convenience, if you’d like to come to the patrol car you can sign an electronic form.”

“Consider it done.
”
Dad turned to Patrice and started yelling
.
“W
hat on
Tullah
were you thinking
?
Ted
Filmore
’s
a playboy who
ha
s
never done an honest day’s work in his life, squandering his family’s fortune, using up dumb little girls like you just for kicks
.
Don’t you want to do more with your life than play house with that loser?”

Patrice
screamed like a banshee
through
a river of
tears
.
“Play house there, cook
, clean and
play
mom
here, what’s the difference
?
At least
Ted
buys me things
and tells me I’m pretty!
All I do
here
is work, work, work and
get nothing in return, and
I’m tired of it!
I don’t care if he’s using me as long as it gets me out of this dump and
this
po
h
-
dunk town
where everybody turns their noses up
at the
Alleys
!”

Dad
said nothing
, continuing to curl and uncurl his fists.

Randy whispered, “
S
he wouldn’t dare talk to
Dad
that way if the cops weren’t standing there.”

Danny said, “
He’s
gonna kill her
when they leave
.”

S
ick with worry
, Glory held her hands over
her
face, peaking through fingers
.

“We would like to come in and talk to you
some more
,” Miss Crenshaw said.

“We can talk through the door,”
Dad
replied.

“No, I wou
ld prefer to talk to you inside, see the children.
”

“I’d prefer you didn’t.”

“I expected you to be difficult,” Miss Crenshaw said
.
“I can and
I will
come in.
”

She pressed a piece of paper up to the screen door for
Dad
to read
.
He reluctantly stepped back and Miss Crenshaw entered, followed by the two officers. The
Alley
siblings
slunk back into the kitchen out of view, but angled themselves so they could watch and listen.

Miss Crenshaw frowned as her eyes roamed the surroundings
.
She lingered at the peeling wallpaper in the living room, the battered dingy walls running the length of the hallway, and the muddy trail of footprints down the scuffed hardwood floor.

“It’s not fancy.”
Nana
apologized
.
“But it’s clean
—
e
xcept the footprints, those weren’t there when I woke up, so they must have just happened
.
”

The lady from Child Protective Services was a tall woman,
neither young
n
or old,
with an athletic build and not bad looking
.
Glory
despised her and was in awe of her at the same time
.
She wasn’t afraid of anything, including
Dad
.
Turning on her heel, she
sent
Dad
a stare
that could melt granite.
Crenshaw ignored
Nana
and gave a long drawn out sniff
.

“This house smells like booze and it’s barely morning, M
r.
Alley
. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was called back here.”

Dad
’s
eyes narrowed. His
face
turned pink
.
Nana
pressed the flat of her hand against his chest wordlessly warning him
to
keep his temper
in
check
.

“Where are the rest of the children?
”
Miss Crenshaw demanded to know
.

Glory
froze
—
i
f
Miss Crens
h
aw
saw the fresh welts on h
er
back,
they’d all be taken away,
scattered across
Tullah
, maybe to never to be a family again.

Glory
whispered
urgently
to
her siblings
“Dad whipped me
.
I’m sure it left marks
.
”

The sound of the school bus rumbling down the road
got
their
attention
.

“Hurry,
Glory
,”
Brandon whispered, urging
her toward the back door
.
“
If Crenshaw
sees the rest of us are fine maybe she won’t come looking for you at school.”