George Martin and his partner Mike live a comfortable life in Jacksonville with their Irish setter, but something's missing. Maybe George, a captain in the sheriff's office, has just been working too hard again. There's been a rash of break-ins in the area, and the homes targeted all seem to belong to older gay men.<br><br>Then when the time finally comes for George and Mike to take their vacation, they pack up and head to their mountain cabin for two weeks-only to find a small boy living in their generator shed. Robbie, who bonds with George right away, has witnessed an unspeakable tragedy, but that is just the beginning of the trouble.<br><br>Alone in the world apart from a very ill maternal grandmother, Robbie stands the very real risk of becoming a ward of the state if George and Mike can't convince a bigoted judge to change his mind. Meanwhile, George still has a job to do: solve the break-ins-and a murder -- and track down who's responsible.

Break and Enter

Outside the house, we thanked Lucinda profusely and drove straight into town to deliver the signed documents to the lawyer’s office. I dropped Mike off there and circled the block until he appeared at the curb, then I picked him up.


“Anybody want to go to McDonald’s?” Mike said.


“Me,” said a small voice from the back seat.


“Okay,” I said. “McDonald’s it is.”


We’d stopped by Walmart earlier and acquired a pair of shorts for Robbie that could serve as a bathing suit. Back at the cabin, we sat in lawn chairs and watched him play in the creek until his legs started to get cold. We took him back up to the cabin and let him have a hot shower in our bathroom, after which we all took a nap. An hour or so after we awakened, Doc Jenkins stopped by to give Robbie a final post-surgery checkup.


“It’s looking good,” he said. “I don’t think I need to see him again unless some sort of problem develops.”


Chapter 19