Megan’s hands curled into fists.
“Bring him home?” she said. “You haven’t seen him in six weeks because CPS told you not to contact him.”
Travis’s eyes flashed toward her.
Only for half a second.
But Daniel saw it.
So did Claire.
The neighbors did not know what to do with what they were watching. The scene had begun as a woman caught rifling through mail. Now it had become something else: a man too smooth, a woman too frightened, a missing letter, a child’s name hanging in the rain.
Claire came off the porch fully now. “Daniel, maybe we should check the mail.”
Travis looked at her. “There’s no need.”
Claire’s face tightened. “It’s our mailbox.”
Daniel handed her the stack from the grass, then used the bat to pull the mailbox door open wider. He reached inside carefully, feeling along the back and sides.
Nothing.
Megan’s hope collapsed.
Then Claire looked down at the envelopes in her hand and frowned.
“Wait.”
She flipped through them again.
Electric bill.
Insurance.
Catalog.
Postcard.
Then one envelope, thin and pale yellow, stuck to the back of the catalog by a strip of wet glue.
Claire peeled it free.
Megan saw the name before anyone read it.
Megan Ellis.
Superior Court Family Division.
Her knees buckled.
Daniel dropped the bat and caught her by the arm before she fell.
Travis stepped forward. “Give me that.”
Claire pulled the envelope against her chest. “No.”
His polite mask cracked.
“That envelope concerns my son.”
Megan straightened, shaking. “It concerns protecting your son from you.”
Travis turned on her so fast that Daniel reached down and picked the bat back up.
“Careful,” Daniel said.
Travis looked at the bat, then at the neighbors watching, and forced his expression back into something acceptable. “You people have no idea what she’s been telling everyone. My wife was an addict. Megan filled Caleb’s head with lies. She wants my son because she couldn’t have children of her own.”
Megan went pale.
That was not an insult tossed randomly.
That was a knife he knew exactly where to place.
Claire saw Megan’s face and moved closer to her.
Daniel said, “Leave.”
Travis laughed once. “Excuse me?”
“This is my property. You need to leave.”
“I’m here for my legal documents.”
“They’re not yours.”
Travis looked at the envelope again. “Hand it over.”
Claire stepped back. “I’m calling 911.”
“Go ahead,” he said. “Tell them your neighbor committed mail theft. Tell them she’s interfering with a father’s custody rights.”
Megan’s breathing quickened.
Because he was right enough to be dangerous.