He thought of the 247 bikes at the station and the difference between being protected by a crowd and being protected by a fair process. He wanted both less often than he wanted a life where he needed neither. The afternoon Hank Dawson was arrested, Leo was working on an electrical diagnosis at Rosa's shop. He had spent the morning helping trace an intermittent fault on a delivery van, the kind of problem that could waste hours if somebody guessed instead of testing carefully.
Rosa was in the office when her phone rang, and she came into the bay a few minutes later carrying an expression Leo had learned to recognize. It was the look she wore when a piece of information deserved to be delivered with care. She asked him to put down his tools and come sit in the waiting area.
Nora was on the phone. Investigators had developed sufficient grounds to arrest Hank on charges connected to abuse and exploitation of children in his care, alongside suspected financial misconduct. The charges would have to be tested in court, and the state had not announced every part of the case. The most important immediate fact was that Hank was no longer in control of the foster home and could not use his old position to demand access to Leo. Nora asked whether he wanted someone with him before hearing the rest.
Leo said he did not know. He had imagined this moment so many times that when it arrived, his body seemed unable to choose a response. He sat with his feet on the floor and stared at his hands, expecting relief to rush through him. Instead he thought about a teenager in another placement who might hear Hank's name and remember an old injury, and about how many adults had signed papers declaring that house suitable. He was glad Hank could not simply open the kitchen door that night, but the gladness came wrapped in something heavier.
"Is Higgins arrested, too?" he asked. Nora told him that the deputy's case was being handled separately, and that he remained under investigation. "We don't have a final outcome on that today," she said. Leo nodded even though she could not see him. He had learned that a partial answer could be honest, and that honest answers were better than confident promises somebody might not keep.
Sully arrived after work with a bag of takeout food. He found Leo sitting in the office with Rosa and an untouched bottle of water. When Rosa told him the news, he closed his eyes for a moment and took a long breath. "Good," he said.
Then he looked at Leo and corrected himself. "Good that somebody's looking at what he did. How are you doing, kid?"
Leo shook his head. "I thought I'd feel different." Sully sat beside him, a large man folding himself awkwardly into an office chair. "Different from what?" he asked.
"From the kid at the station. The one who kept thinking he'd come back." Sully considered that. "Maybe that kid doesn't disappear in one afternoon. Maybe you just get to prove to him, day after day, that he has other places to go."