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

“Not really,” Barker said, “but I grew up in Tampa, and you can’t help learning things like that when you live there.”


“Do you have any contacts within the Tampa Police Department?” I said.


“I don’t,” Barker said, “but surely someone in my office will.”


“I worked a serial murder case last year,” I said, “involving Orlando, Tampa, and St. Petersburg, in addition to Jacksonville. Lieutenant Ivory with the OPD has at least one contact in the Tampa Police Department.”


Robbie pulled on my sleeve, so I looked at him and said, “What?”


“We’ll go have an early dinner just as soon as I finish talking to the lieutenant,” I said, “okay?”


The lieutenant and I discussed the investigation for a few more minutes, and I gave him the necessary contact information for Janet Sanchez. He thanked us for our help, promised to keep in touch, and left.


“Okay, big guy,” I said to Robbie, “we can go get you fed now.”


Chapter 71