Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Not a question I care to contemplate, so I move on.
“Mister—”
My phone buzzes in my purse. I pull it out.
Grady.
“Sorry. If you’ll excuse me, I have to take this.”
“Don’t bother coming back, lady,” he says into the phone. “I don’t have any info for you.”
“Oh, I’ll be back.” I nod to one of the guards. “I have to take a phone call.”
The guard escorts me out of the visitation area to a hallway, and I quickly call Grady back.
“Hey, Mom,” he says before the second ring.
“Hey, baby. Sorry I missed the call. I was in a meeting. You okay?” I wonder. He stays with my mother when I have to work, but this trip away is longer than most.
“Not really.”
My heart drops. “What?”
“No. I mean I’m fine. Grandma made me call you. I got sent home from school today.”
“Are you sick?”
“No. I’m fine. I’ve been…suspended.”
For God’s sake. Just what I need while I’m out of town on assignment. Investigating Grady’s biological father, no less.
Grady’s a good kid. He gets good grades, excels at sports, and volunteers with the homeless veterans during the summers. Why would my sweet son get suspended?
Whatever happened can’t possibly be his fault. My frustration and anger from the quick talk with Hopkins is pushed onto whomever has messed with my son.
“Why?” I ask.
“I… Jeez, Mom, it was the first time. I swear.”
My mind races. He’s fine. He’s not hurt. Nothing can be that bad. The first time for what? He’s way too young to be thinking about…
Oh, God…
“Just tell me what you did, Grady.” I try to keep my voice even.
“I had a joint in my backpack. It fell out during Algebra class, and the teacher saw it before I could grab it.”
Pot? Okay.
I can handle pot.
He’s not having sex at fourteen. It’s okay. Since I was a teenage mother, I’ve always made subtle yet important statements about safe sex, using condoms and doing all the things in life before having a kid. Being stable. Having a job. A partner in life. Everything I didn’t do.
“Where the hell did you get pot?” I yell. “You know how I feel about drugs. How Grandma feels about drugs.”
“I told you,” he replies. “It was the first time. I didn’t even get a chance to smoke it.”
“Why would you even have it?” I demand. “Drugs at school? Seriously?”
“It was stupid. Monty got three joints from his older brother, and he gave one to Luke and one to me.”
“So you didn’t smoke it.”
“I swear to God, Mom.”
“Were you going to?”
Silence.
Of course he was going to. He’s fourteen, and he’s curious. Fuck it all.
“Fine. So you’re suspended, but that’s just your school punishment. When I get home, we’ll discuss your home punishment. And I hope they took the thing.”
“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure Mr. Harvey is getting stoned right now.”
I sigh. Grady’s probably not wrong. His principal, Jonas Harvey, was a classmate of mine in college. He was a huge pothead. I never told Grady, but apparently it’s not a secret.
“How long is the suspension?” I ask.
“Two days, including today.”
“All right. Let me talk to Grandma, please. And Grady?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom. And thanks for not going ballistic.”
“Oh, I’m going ballistic,” I tell him. “I’m just too far away for you to notice.”
He doesn’t reply and I hear some fumbling through the phone.
“Avery,” my mother’s voice comes soft and clear.
“Hey, Mom. I’m sorry you had to deal with this while I’m not there.”
“He’s a good boy,” she says. “I feel certain this is a one-time thing.”
“I hope you’re right. I knew that Monty had a bad streak. I don’t know why Grady and Luke took up with him. Imagine, giving week to someone who’s only fourteen.”
“It’s just growing pains, sweetie. He’ll be all right.”
“God, I hope so. He’s everything to me, Mom.”
“I know he is. To me as well.”
I draw in a breath. “Mom, I need you to do me a favor.”
“Of course.”
“Go into Grady’s room and find his comb and hairbrush. See if there are any hairs on them that have a viable root. It’s that tiny white part at the end of the hair.”
She’s quiet for a moment. “Avery, what are you doing?”
“You know why I’m here,” I tell her. “You’re a smart woman. You know what I’m looking for. If you find what I need, overnight it to me at the hotel. The sooner the better.”
“And how am I supposed to snoop through your son’s things when he’s home on suspension?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. I suppose I could just have him do a cheek swab, but he’ll ask why, and I made a promise to him long ago never to lie to him.”
“Except you haven’t kept that promise. You told him his father was dead.”
“That’s the one thing I lied about,” I say. “And he was dead to me, Mom.”