Kate's timing couldn't have been worse. It was she who walked in and caught Sass and I with Jack. Obviously, we'd been so wrapped up in his story we'd failed to hear the family come home. And because of the muffling shields, I hadn't felt them, either.
Poor Kate looked very confused as her eyes traveled from me to Jack to Sassafras and back to me again.
"Whatever is going on?" Her voice trembled slightly, whole body shivering as she realized something was terribly wrong.
I opened my mouth, struggling to come up with a viable story while all the while knowing there was nothing I could say, when her gaze lit on Jack again and recognition flooded her face.
"I know you," she said, pointing. "You were the boy. In the alley. The one Burdie went after." Kate backed up a step as I reached towa
