“Flora saw you and her out to eat a few weeks ago,” she answered. “But she said she hasn’t seen you out and about since. But she did make sure to mention that you were working a case again, and maybe that was why.”
That was the reason.
I felt the need to defend myself.
“That’s exactly why,” I admitted, repeating my earlier thoughts. “I tried to give up the case. But then another girl died and…”
“And you couldn’t help yourself.” She snorted, her voice sounding wobbly. “I don’t want to die after you, Taos. Please be careful.”
I felt my stomach sink. “You’re not dying, Gran.”
“I’m dying, kid. I’m ninety-four years old. I’m dying. There’s no other way around it. Whether or not it’s going to be anytime soon, I don’t know. But it’s probably going to happen sooner rather than later. I can feel it in my bones.”
I snorted.
“Come see me, boy,” she ordered. “Case or not. We can talk about your lady, and when you’re going to bring her to see me.”
I smiled softly as I closed my eyes. “I’ll be there as soon as class is over.”
“Good.” She paused. “Are you still dieting?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not dieting. I’m just eating healthy.”
“That’s dieting, kid. In my day, a man ate a couple of fried pork chops, some mashed taters, gravy, and peas. Then had dessert. All prepared by his woman, and not a restaurant. Trust me when I say our men ate good,” she charged.
I smiled. “I’ll eat a little bad.”
“So you’ll have mashed potatoes?” she teased.
“Yes, ma’am,” I confirmed.
“But I don’t get to make fried pork chops too often…”
In the end, I agreed to all the food.
But, secretly, I wasn’t going to deny that if there was one day that I needed comfort food, today would be it.
“I’ll be there soon.”
Then I hung up, thinking that maybe if I asked Fran to come with me, she would.
Only, when I looked up to ask her if she would want to go, it was to find her dropping down into her car, expertly avoiding talking to me.
Again.
I must’ve looked so sad looking out the windows that Mavis came down from the office.
“You okay?” Mavis asked, taking Vlad from my arms.
Vlad who’d fallen asleep on my shoulder and I hadn’t even noticed.
Who did that?
“Your sister left,” I accused.
Mavis smiled. “You scare the shit out of her.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Why?” I asked.
She tilted her head, pursing her lips and trying to decide how much to tell me, I was sure.
In the end, she gave me a bone.
“My sister has been a different person these last two years,” Mavis started. “Do you know that when it first happened, she wouldn’t even leave the house?”
The thought of Fran, so scared like that, literally tore my heart to shreds. “No.”
“She brought you a present at the police station,” she said. “Did you get it?”
I had. It’d made me happy that the girl was all right.
But I’d had my own struggles with leaving the department. Trying to figure out how to go about doing that while also being able to live. It hadn’t been an easy time in my life, and I felt like a shithead now for not thanking her for the gift.
“Yes.”
“That was the first time that she left the house on her own.”
Now I really felt like shit.
“Yeah?” I rasped.
“Slowly but surely, she’s come out of that protective shell. But this bootcamp? You? This is the first time that I’ve seen the real Francine Pope in a really long time.” She paused. “You probably don’t realize it yet, but Fran could’ve easily stayed holed up and lived in fear the rest of her life. Very comfortably.”
I knew the name Pope was synonymous with money around here. The Popes had founded the fuckin’ town. The matriarch Pope, however, was a bitch. I hadn’t met her but one time, but the one interaction I’d had with her was enough for me to realize two things. One, I was a lowlife because I didn’t have an office job that made me a shit ton of money. Two, I didn’t have a lineage I could track back to aristocracy.
They were rich and powerful.
“Yeah,” I said.
“But my sister hates our grandmother even more than I do. Two stubborn people that think they’re right… and in the end, she was stubborn enough not to let her win,” Mavis continued. “This is something that Fran will share but… we’ve had a rough childhood. We may have the Pope name—at least most of the time—but we definitely don’t have the Pope love.” She inhaled roughly and brushed her lips across Vlad’s head. “The money released each month is like blood money. It reminds us of how much we should have had but don’t. That we’re on a leash when we’d rather be flying free. And that money is what Fran lived on for a year because of me.” Mavis paused. “Before you and CrossFit, she was working with her errands business, trying to make ends meet, but wasn’t really giving it her all. I mean, what’s the point? She’d already been hit hard too many times to count. If anyone deserved to live and do nothing, it’s her. But then you and this bootcamp came along, and I’ve watched her change. Flourish. Turn into the person that I hadn’t seen since before the attack.”