Gingerbread Man

girls."
    She narrowed her eyes. "Two years? And that's it? They just let him go after that?"
    "Yep. Even though they knew full well he'd do it again."
    She swallowed hard. "That's not right. Why didn't you know about it? You must have checked for convicted sex offenders in the area."
    "He lived in a different state, used a different name. Local authorities are supposed to be notified when a convicted sex offender moves into their area, but it doesn't always happen. Marty fell through the cracks. A lot of them fall through the cracks." He shook his head. "What's even harder to take is that your cousins, when they were contacted by California State Police to be notified about all of this, said their father had molested them. They told their mother, and she refused to believe them."
    "That's why they left home," Holly said softly. "I kind of pieced that together on my own over the past several hours."
    "They found the gray van he used for the abductions, you know. He kept it in an old barn, outside town," Vince said. "This could have been prevented. All those kids could still be alive, if he had been taken out of society permanently the first time he was convicted. Or if his wife had believed her children and filed charges against him."
    "What about Bethany?" Holly asked.
    Vince shook his head. "Doc says she wasn't raped. You and your sister got to her in time."
    "My sister." She sighed, settling back in the chair. "My sister. God, I like saying those words, hearing them. I just want to hold her for days on end, you know?"
    "Your mother is probably feeling the same way about now."
    "I remember now when all my symptoms started coming back. It was right after that day when Mom was late for lunch, and I had coffee with Amanda—with Ivy—in the cafe. Almost as if something in me knew ... I just wish the families of all those other children could have had the ending we did."
    "So do I." He thought of Kara and Bobby Prague, the lifeless eyes of their mother, and his regret was bitter, despite that justice had finally been served.
    "We should put a marker on that site." Holly said. "Something to honor those children. Something to remind us what can happen."
    "I think it's a good idea." Vince got to his feet. By now he knew his way around Doc's office pretty well. He took cups from the rack, hot cocoa from the canister beside the coffeemaker. Added water, and put the mugs into the little microwave.
    "So, it's over," she said. "You solved the case. You found the owner of that mysterious missing library book."
    "Hell, you haven't seen the fine yet. You're gonna need to mortgage the house." As an effort to lighten the mood, he figured it was lame at best.
    She smiled a little though. Softly, halfheartedly. The timer bell pinged, and he took the cocoa out, gave her cup a good stir, and put it into her hands. She sipped, and seemed to absorb the heat.
    "You did this, you know," Holly said softly. "If you hadn't followed your instincts and that one silly book, and come out here and dug into my personal hell, I might never have known the truth. Marty might have gone on hurting kids for years to come, and I might never have found my sister again. You did this."
    He shook his head. "You're the one who found Marty, rescued Bethany. I was just doing my job."
    She narrowed her eyes. "No, you weren't. You disobeyed orders to come out here. I know you said you didn't want to be anyone's hero, Vince, but there are a lot of people in this town who think you are just that. And even though you didn't want to be, you're a hero to me, too."
    He couldn't look at her when she said that. He didn't doubt that he wanted the job of being Holly Newman's personal hero. Hell, in retrospect, it had never been that he didn't
want
the job. It had been fear that he'd fail at it, and let her down.
    "I've learned something about you in the time I've spent down here, Red," he told her.
    "Really? What?"
    "That you don't need a hero. You do just fine playing that role for yourself."
    She let her lips curl up at the corners. "You know something? You're right, I do."
    He smiled, glad she had reclaimed her power.
    "So I suppose you'll be going back to Syracuse now. Back to the illustrious S.P.D."
    He looked at her. "They'll probably give me a promotion."
    "You deserve a medal."
    "Hey, you get the medal for this one, not me. You and your sister. Hell of a team."
    She shook her head. "Don't try to draft us, Detective. We're gonna stick around here, where life is