Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“You wanna stay in here you can, this involves you too, but watch yourself.” I let her go and she folded her fists and glared up at me. I lifted my brow and she turned away. “Asshole.” Huh, she’s got balls I’ll give her that. “Right back at ya.”
Ma came back with her Baileys on ice in one hand and the letter in the other. “So, someone did to him what he did to your father, poetic justice if you ask me.” I looked at the kid, and she was barely holding it in.
“Ma, let’s make a deal. You won’t say shit like that in front of her, and I won’t hold your grandkids hostage for another ten years.”
“What grandkids? You’d have to find a mother for them first, and at the rate you’re going, that’s never gonna happen. You get one of these hood rats around here pregnant I’d drown her and it myself.” Geez, this fucking lady.
“Hey kid, give us a minute will ya?”
“My name is Chloe.”
“Uh-huh, step out of the room. Go steal some sweats to go with that shirt you stole.” She gave ma a dirty look before leaving the room.
“Ma, I want you to stop this now. I’ve told that girl she can’t mouth off at you now I’m telling you the same. She’s a female who needs help. Nothing more-nothing less. If you can’t handle that, then you’ll have to leave. I’ll figure this shit out myself.”
I knew how hard this was for her. For years she’s dreamt of revenge against the man she blamed for all our troubles. She’d met and fallen in love with her husband, but she’d never got over my dad and she never pretended to. There wasn’t a day that went by she didn’t mention him in some way. I don’t know how the asshole sheriff, and I say that fondly, handled that shit. But I’d sometimes see him smile at some little tidbit she shared about my dad. I guess that’s what they call true love.
She gave me the mother stare but she knew I was right. I hated this shit just as much as she did. The last thing I wanted was to be caught in the middle of this shit. But there was no turning back from it now. The kid came back into the room wearing a pair of my sweats that she must’ve rolled three times around her middle and they still dragged on the floor.
Ma didn’t give me an answer but the fact that she was still here and my head was still in once piece was answer enough. “Okay, so the three of us are going to put the pieces together and see what we come up with until I learn more this is all we got.”
“Kid, you were the closest to him, you knew him best. Can you tell me anything about your dad and what was going on with him the last few weeks?” She pulled up a chair and folded her arms on the table.
“I was away at school, but there was something. His messages were kind of odd in the last week or so.” She frowned and bit her lip nervously. When she looked like that, with her mouth closed, it was easy to want to help her. She looked lost and scared though she hid it well. It was in her eyes, very beautiful, very expressive eyes.
“He sent you more than the one you showed me?”
“Yes. He kept saying he was sorry that we didn’t have more time. But when I called he’d brush it off like it was nothing. Now I’m beginning to think there was someone else in the room and he couldn’t talk.”
“And when you came home was there anything out of place? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“Not that I noticed but I was upset. I had to plan the funeral and all and I didn’t really have time to think about anything else.”
“What about Sanchez? How did he seem did he say anything to you other than what you overheard?”
“No.” She really had a serious hate on for this guy. I don’t know how the fuck he was planning to navigate the wedding night. This one seemed batty enough to do his ass in while he slept.
“Okay, so basically you don’t know nothing. Figures.”
“Ma!” She sipped her drink and ignored me. I had a lot to do, but I couldn’t leave the kid here alone and I wasn’t about to leave her with Genghis Khan over here. I’m liable to come back and find one or both of them dead.
I looked over the letter again but didn’t get anything more than I got before. “I guess I have to wait for this lawyer whoever he is to get to the bottom of this. Nothing else I can do tonight. Ma you need to be on the road before it gets too dark out and kid you need to go to bed.” She was asleep on her feet, even though she was fighting it. I suspect she hadn’t slept a wink since coming home.