Watching the child stumble as he tried desperately to catch his balance made Sam grind his teeth. He shot a hard look at the bleached blonde. “What kind of mother stands by and lets a big jerk like that hit her kid?”
She flushed and gave Delbert a frightened look. “We better just go, okay? We don’t want any trouble.”
“Yeah. We’ll finish this when we get home.” The menace in Delbert’s voice made both the woman and the boy quail.
Sam stepped between Delbert and the battered truck. “You lay a hand on that boy tonight, or any other time, and I’ll make sure you never get close enough to touch him again.”
He knew he was being reckless, interfering in a domestic situation that was technically none of his business, but he couldn’t stand the thought that no one was watching out for this boy’s welfare. Somebody had to put Zach first—and it obviously wasn’t going to be his mother.
Delbert took another step toward Sam, until his belly was only inches from Sam’s tightly cinched belt. “I don’t know who you are,” he said, his voice low. “But you’re making an enemy you don’t want.”
“And so are you,” Sam answered smoothly.
“What’s going on here?” Dan Meadows appeared out of the shadows, his hands on his hips, his voice stern. Serena and Marjorie stood close behind him; Sam assumed they had summoned him.
The look Delbert gave Dan indicated there were plenty of hard feelings between the two. “This a friend of yours, Chief?” He emphasized the title with a sneer.
“I know him. What’s the problem?”
“You need to teach your pal not to interfere with people he doesn’t know. We were just minding our own business when he assaulted us.”
Since Dan’s gaze went directly to the miserable looking Zach, Sam figured the chief guessed what had caused the confrontation. “Oh, I doubt Sam assaulted you. More likely he just wanted to introduce himself. He’s new in town, aren’t you, Sam?”
Sam nodded.
Delbert’s scowl intensified as he realized he would get no sympathy from Dan. He pointed a finger at Sam. “You stay away from me and mine,” he muttered.
“It’s a small town,” Sam answered evenly. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
Delbert shot another angry look at Dan, then shouldered past Sam. “Rita, Zach—get in the truck.”
“I’ll be in your neighborhood quite a bit during the next couple of weeks,” Dan said as Sam moved reluctantly out of the way. “I’ll probably stop by a few times to same hello to my buddy Zach.”
In other words, he would be watching for bruises or any signs of abuse. Sam was far from satisfied with the veiled warning. “That’s all you’re going to do?” he asked Dan as Delbert’s truck spat gravel on its departure from the parking lot.
“That’s all I can do,” Dan reminded him tersely. “You didn’t actually see him hit the boy, did you?”
“He shoved him. Twice. Nearly knocked him off his feet both times. And he had his hand raised to hit him when I stepped in.”
Dan glanced at Serena and Marjorie. “Did either of you see Delbert shove the kid?”
Serena shook her head. “I was unlocking my car. I didn’t realize Sam wasn’t behind me until I heard Delbert’s voice raised. That’s when I saw what was going on and started looking for you.”
“I didn’t see it, either,” Marjorie admitted. And then her face brightened. “But I’ll say I did if it will help Zach.”
Dan winced. “Uh, no. We can’t do that.” He turned to Sam again. “Look, I know you’re concerned about the boy. I am, too. I’ll talk to Rita again—though God knows she’s so scared of Delbert, she won’t do much to interfere with him.”
“Then why does she keep the bastard around? They’re not married, right?”
“No. But cases like this are so damned frustrating because of that very thing—the women are more scared of being alone, for some reason, than they are of being knocked around. Or maybe they’re afraid to try to get out of the relationship for fear of reprisal. That’s the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship—when the victim tries to break away.”
“But—”
Dan held up a hand. “I’ll contact the Department of Human Services, ask them to look into the home conditions there again, okay? They’ve gotten involved before, but they haven’t done much. They’re overworked and understaffed, and their efforts have to be primarily focused on the most critical cases, but they’ll send someone to talk to Delbert and Rita and Zach. And I’ll be very visible to all three of them for the next few weeks. For now, that’s all I can do. Or you, either,” he added warningly. “Unless you’ve got some desire to end up in the hospital again.”
Sam scowled. “In other words, until the kid has some broken bones or a concussion or a couple dozen stitches, Delbert’s off the hook.”
“I’m going to do my best to keep it from getting to that point. But in the meantime, you stay out of it, you hear? You’re only going to make the whole situation worse if you set Delbert off again.”