Charlene and Tonya watch as Mrs. McDowell inspects the house. She had dropped by unannounced to do a house inspection. Charlene had picked Tonya up from school. When they arrived home, Mrs. McDowell was waiting for them. She wanted to do a surprise inspection of the house.

“As you can see, Mrs. McDowell. The house is cleaned; there’s food in the cabinets, pantry, and in refrigerator. Tonya is doing better in school, and she has clean clothes and toys to play with.” Charlene didn’t like Mrs. McDowell invading her home and questioning her about taking care of Tonya.

Mrs. McDowell looks at Charlene and Tonya and notices that Tonya is standing close to Charlene as if she is scared of her. She sighs. “I’m not going to take you away from Charlene, Tonya. I can see she is doing everything for you.”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Tonya, Mrs. McDowell.” Charlene would do whatever she could to give Tonya a stable and safe life.

“I can see that.” Mrs. McDowell writes her notes about the inspection.

“So, when will be the next time you drop by, Mrs. McDowell?” Charlene wanted to be home when she did.

“I’ll let you know. I know you have a business to run.” Mrs. McDowell has gone over all the financial records from Charlene. She noticed that
Charlene may be part owner of the company. She only took a beginner’s pay.

Both girls watch as Mrs. McDowell leaves the house. Tonya wraps her arms around Charlene “why does she have to check up on us?”

“She is concerned about you, sis.”

Charlene could understand why Tonya felt the way she did. She didn’t like Mrs. McDowell checking up on the two or doing surprised inspections either.

“Come on, let’s go and fix some dinner.”

“Can I cook?” Tonya looks at Charlene when she asks.

“Yes, I’ll let you cook.” Charlene knew Tonya took precautions when she cooked.

“Yea!” Tonya was excited because she liked cooking.

Charlene helped Tonya gather the ingredients she needed to make dinner. The two work together in the kitchen, but Charlene lets Tonya do most of the work. She remembers when her father would let her cook. He would let her do all the work and stand back to watch her cook.

Once dinner is ready. Charlene sets the table, and the two sit down to eat. Since Charlene cleaned up while Tonya cooked, there was very little to clean.

Around one in the morning, Charlene gets a phone call from the security company. She wakes Tonya and rushes downstairs, and gets in her pickup truck. Tonya was right on her heels, still, dress in her Pj’s.

Charlene speeds towards the garage but is careful. When she pulled up to the garage, fire trucks were there, and other emergency vehicles. She spots Henry talking to the fire battalion on site.

Charlene looks at Tonya “stay here in the truck and keep the doors locked.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tonya wonders why the garage was on fire.

Charlene gets out and walks up to Henry and the fire chief. She couldn’t believe the shop had caught fire. It was a good thing her father had installed fire sprinklers years ago when a frayed wire sparked and caught the place on fire.

“How bad is it, Henry?” Charlene was worried.

“Just a few cars in the back storage area. Someone set the dumpster and the used oil tank on fire.” Henry wonders why a person would do that.

“Did the cameras catch anything?”

“I haven’t looked at the security footage yet.” Henry watches as the fire department starts packing their hoses and gear up.

Charlene walks back to her truck and grabs her tablet from her purse. She noticed Tonya was watching everything.

“Is everything okay?” Tonya had a concerned look on her face.

“Everything is okay, Tonya. Just stay here in the truck.”

“Okay.” Charlene shuts the truck and walks over to where Henry is standing.

“You brought your tablet with you?” Henry couldn’t believe Charlene had her tablet.

“I keep it in my purse, so I always have it.” Charlene accesses the security feed and goes through tonight’s footage.

Henry watches as Charlene accesses their secure cloud storage. He watches the footage as it plays “stop there.”

“Okay.” Charlene rewinds the video footage and stops it where Henry said it too.

“Can I?” Henry holds his hand out.

“Sure.” Charlene hands the tablet to Henry.

Henry enlarges the image and notices it was Kevin and some other guy they didn’t know. Henry walks over to the detective there talking to the fire chief.

“Here are the people responsible for the fire.” Henry shows the security footage.

The detective and fire chief watch the security footage. When they are done ‘can you send me a copy of that footage?”

“Yeah, let me get my partner over here so she can do it.” Henry motions to Charlene to come over to him.

Charlene looks towards the truck to check on Tonya before walking over to Henry. The two other men were watching her. She knew the fire chief. He has been to the garage on more than one occasion.

Since Charlene already knew the detective’s email address. She sends a copy to his email address.

“Thanks, Charlene.” Detective Massie looks at Charlene and smiles.

“You’re welcome, detective.” Charlene looks toward Henry.

“Is there anything we can do tonight?”

“Unfortunately, no. Why don’t you head home and put Tonya back to bed?” Henry knew how cranky kids get when they don’t get enough sleep.

“All right, call me if you need me.” Charlene turns and walks back to her truck.

“For a young person, she’s very mature.” Chief Brooklyn has never met someone so mature before.

“Charlene takes her responsibilities seriously.” Henry knew Charlene’s father would be proud of her.

Charlene drives home and tucks Tonya back into bed. Before she could leave Tonya’s bedside, Tonya grabbed her hand “will you sleep with me?”

“Sure, sweetie.” Charlene lays down on the bed and holds Tonya against her body.