The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel

children turned up around the same time this woman was found, he's going to put it together. But, as I said, he's a good guy. I don't know what else to do, Sam. We're going to have to trust somebody."
    Sam nodded. Trust had never come easily to him.
    "I promised these kids," he said again. "You'll be hunting me down one day if you ever try to send them back to a man who frightens them."
    "Hey, if that's the way it is, I'll give you a good head start," Joe promised. "Give me a few minutes. I'll see what I can find out."
    The wait seemed interminable, although in truth it was less than a half hour. Joe came back with a man who introduced himself as Sheriff Whit Simmons, and the three men sat down at a booth in the back of the room.
    "Whit thinks we're on to something," Joe said.
    "We had a couple named George and Annie Greene with two kids, a girl about eight named Emily Ann and a little boy who was about two. I don't remember his name. We never got called to the house, but Annie ended up in the emergency room a few times. Never would say what happened. Not the truth, anyway, but I think we all knew. One of my brothers went to school with George, and he always was a nasty little shit. Didn't lose his temper that much, but when he did, somebody got hurt," the sheriff said. "I wish I could have helped that woman, but without her testifying, there really wasn't anything I could do. She took the kids and left him a couple of years ago, I heard. George made some noise about his wife stealing his kids, and wanting me to do something about it. I told him I hadn't done enough while she was here. I sure wasn't going to help him find her now. He didn't like it much, and he could have made something of it. Lucky for us, he let it go. He's taken up with somebody else these days, and I think he probably beats her, too. But she's as scared of him as Annie was."
    "So you don't have any proof he was abusing his wife?"
    "We could probably get the hospital records from before. Show broken bones, reports of injuries. But when you come into a hospital, they ask how you got hurt. They'll likely have records of Annie herself telling them she fell down again," the sheriff said, shaking his head. "I never would have put this woman we found together with Annie. We were guessing she was about ten years older, but I guess life's aged her some. Other than that, she fits the general description of Annie Greene. I would have thought I'd know her, if I saw her again, but this Jane Doe's too much of a mess for that now."
    The sheriff looked troubled. "I know where you two are from, and... Well, I get the bulletins that go out to all the sheriffs in the state. I think I can put together what happened here, and I understand your not wanting to say too much. I don't want to do anything to put those kids in danger."
    "So what can we do?" Sam asked.
    "The way I see it, this Jane Doe is my problem. I need to know who she is. Now that you've given me a lead, I think I'll ask somebody from the hospital to pull the records from the time Annie Greene was there in the past. We'll check the blood types, maybe see that Annie had broken the same bones in the same places in the past as my Jane Doe. If they match, I'd say I have cause to go see what George's been up to in the past couple of weeks. Maybe I can scare him into talking. That woman dies, I'm looking for a murder suspect. I want that man in jail every bit as much as you do," the sheriff explained. "The way I see it, the safety of my town's my first priority. I don't see any need to go looking for Annie's kids right now. Besides, she had two kids. Not three. And her oldest girl had a different name. I don't see the connection. At least not now."
    "Thanks, Whit," Joe said. "We appreciate it."
    The man nodded and got to his feet. "I'll be in touch."
    Sam waited until the sheriff was gone and then looked across the table to Joe, who'd been with the sheriff's office since Sam first came to Baxter. Sam laughed, thinking about the irony of what just happened.
    "What?" Joe asked.
    "I never expected to have a couple of cops helping me with anything."
    Joe smiled, too. "Hey, it's been a long time."
    "Yeah, it has."
    "I never expected you to stick around or to make something of yourself," he admitted. "I think I owe you an apology, too. I think we hauled you in for questioning a few times at least when you really hadn't done anything."
    "Don't worry about it," Sam said. "I think I did a few things you and your boss