James and Madelyn brought Cody over to Celia’s, James promising Bradley he’d go home after he dropped Madelyn back off. It was coming up on midnight now, but thankfully it hadn’t sounded like he’d woken Celia up. 

The kid was quiet as they got into the car. “Cody,” James said as he started driving. “Where are your parents?”

Cody shrugged. “I’m serious,” James said. “Do you know where they are right now?”

“No,” Cody admitted. “They told me they were going out.”

“When?”

“This afternoon.”

“They told you then or they left then?”

Cody was silent. “Hey, I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble,” James said. “But we do need to be sure you’re safe. If you’re twelve years old-”

“I’m eleven.”

Even worse. “If you’re eleven,” James corrected himself, “then you shouldn’t be home alone for hours on end. Is there someone you’re supposed to be checking in with? A neighbor, maybe?”

“No.”

“Did they tell you to talk to anyone?”

“They said to call if there’s an emergency.”

“This is an emergency, bud.”

“I know, but they didn’t pick up.”

They didn’t pick up. Fantastic. “Did you talk to them about what happened last night?”

“They left right after Celia brought me home last night. They didn’t care.”

So he was alone for twenty-four hours. The kid didn’t seem like he was being starved or beaten. But the neglect and the emotional abuse were obvious. Celia would have a better idea of what to do in this situation, James just felt bad tossing something else on her plate. 

“We’re going to get in touch with them,” James said. “If the hat isn’t in your house anymore, hopefully that means it’ll leave you alone. But I can’t promise anything, these things don’t work on specific rules. At least none that any of us know.”

He looked in the rearview mirror to see Cody nodding, glancing fearfully out the back window of James’s car.

Just like before, Celia was waiting for them on the porch when they arrived. She held out her arms and James was relieved to see Cody accept the hug, holding her tightly as he clearly tried not to cry in front of them. “Come on,” she said, bringing them inside. 

Penny was sitting in the living room when they came in. She looked warily at James and didn’t smile back when he smiled at her. “Thanks for bringing him,” Celia said. 

“Thank you,” James said. “It didn’t seem appropriate to keep him at headquarters and his parents didn’t pick up.”

Cody went into the living room with Penny while James and Madelyn followed Celia into the kitchen. “They apparently left after you dropped him off last night and he’s been alone for about twenty-four horus.”

“They’re unbelievable,” Celia said. “I have to report them again now.”

He felt a ridiculous urge to apologize and Celia could clearly see it, because she smiled at Madelyn. “He’s always like this,” she said.

“Tell me about it,” Madelyn replied. “Bradley said he’s going to have a conversation with them too.”

“The fuck he is,” James said. 

“He’s doing it tomorrow morning before he leaves because he’s in charge of dealing with tonight’s situations.”

James tried to calculate a way out of that line of thinking, but couldn’t just yet. “I’ll bring Cody home in the morning,” Celia said. “If they’re there. I’m required to report it anyway, so I’ll see what the best approach is. Of course he can stay here if they don’t suggest bringing him back, though it isn’t going to be much fun. Penny did steal her phone back. And while I’m glad she was able to tell him where to go for help, she didn’t take the phone in order to do that. So she’s even more grounded than she was before and I’m obviously not too thrilled with him either after last night. So if he’s here, he’s safe, but he’s also grounded.”

That seemed fair. “It’s a mess,” Celia said, lowering her voice further. “They were all kicked out of the program and suspended from school for a week. We met with Mr. Lopez this afternoon and he cried. I feel so guilty.” 

She held out a hand as James and Madelyn both began to protest. “I know,” she said. “But she’s my responsibility. We’re still working out the costs, too. But it could have ended so much worse.”

Celia yawned and James could feel the long day settling into his bones, too. He had the morning to sleep, so maybe he’d actually do that. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Celia said. “Thank you for bringing him here.”

“We’ll need to talk to him again in the next couple days,” James said. “But he should get some rest first.”

“They’re going to bed as soon as you leave,” Celia said. “And then I am too. You should too.”

She went toward the linen closet as James and Madelyn headed toward the door. As they passed the living room, James saw Penny sitting with Cody. “How are you doing, Pen?” he asked.

“You didn’t need to tell my mom about my phone!” Penny snapped. 

James should have expected it, but the full force of a furious preteen hit him unexpectedly. “Pen-” he started.

“You could have told her something else,” Penny continued, glaring at James with reddened eyes. “Now I’m in trouble again and it’s your fault.”

It wasn’t and the idea that Penny might be right was ridiculous. But maybe James was just feeling raw and exhausted after the past couple days, because the urge to apologize was almost overwhelming. But he couldn’t do that.

He sighed. “Goodnight, guys,” he said instead, then followed Madelyn out the door.

They were quiet as James started driving toward headquarters to drop Madelyn off. “I can just walk back from your place,” Madelyn offered.

“No,” James said softly. “It’s fine.”

“You…you do know it’s not your fault?”

There was a strong hint of amusement in her gentle tone and James had to laugh a little. “Of course,” he said. “It just sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“I guess I can return my Cool Uncle trophy.”

“I still think you’re a cool uncle.”

They stopped at an empty intersection and James turned to look at Madelyn, who was holding back a laugh in the glow of the red light. “I’m not sure how I feel about hearing that from you,” he said. 

Now she was laughing, but there was still some concern there. “Don’t worry, I’m fine,” James assured her. “I think I’m just overtired. The past few days have been a lot.”

When they got back to headquarters, James came in with her despite her protests. “I want to update Bradley,” he said.

“I can update Bradley.”

She could, but he still felt obligated to do so. Even as Bradley lifted an unimpressed eyebrow when he saw James coming up the stairs. 

“Celia’s a mandatory reporter, she has to contact the authorities,” James said. “So don’t go threaten his parents, even if I want to too.”

“Everything went fine?”

“Yeah.”

“So how come you look like that?”

“Jesus Christ,” James muttered. “Look like what?”

“He lost Cool Uncle status,” Madelyn supplied helpfully.

“You were a cool uncle?”

James ignored him, going into the kitchen for a glass of water. “I’ll talk to the family in the morning before I leave,” Bradley said. 

“No, don’t,” James said. “I’ll be in at noon, I’ll do it.”

His phone buzzed before Bradley could say anything else.

AMELIA

Are you still at work?

She’d better not be in Rhode Island still. 

JAMES

Heading home in a minute. Are you home?

Either way, he was going to go home, finish the last hour or so of those stupid safety modules, and go to bed.