Goddamn I’m going to strangle her, I thought.
“Diamond that would derail the plan. Alistair has no idea that we know about this woman. She might not know anything, and she has dementia.”
I heard her take a deep breath, “Okay.”
“Now shut up,” I told her.
She punched me in my arm. “Don’t tell me to shut up.”
A car drove by and parked causing the motion lights on the east side to flare. Whoever it was exited and went in. This was out moment as we ran and hid among more trees on the west side. We finally reached west side of the building; my breathing was filling my ears. My back slammed into the rough scratchy brick; the fabric of my clothes felt as if it were trying to stick to the surface.
Looking over at Diamond, I saw she was wide eyed and breathing hard. I motioned with a hand signal for her to follow me and I began to count the windows. When I was sure that I was at the window, I checked the time on my cellphone.
It was just a few minutes shy of 10 o’clock. A shadow passed by the window, and I nearly lost my mind, slipping down under the frame where I wouldn’t be detected.
“How do we know it’s not locked?”
Diamond’s whisper had made a really good point.
“I’ll break the glass,” I whispered back. “We have to get into this room.”
“I hope she knows something,” Diamond whispered again.
Nodding, I checked the time. It was now three minutes after the hour. Standing up, I peeked inside just in time to see the door closing behind the guard. My fingers moved around the edges of the window and found that it wasn’t open. I shimmied it to get it up before tucking my fingers under and getting it all the way up.
“Hurry,” Diamond whispered.
Once I had gotten myself inside, I helped my wife in. Quiet filled the room except for the sounds outside that were nothing more than a few murmurs of people as they passed by. The room smelled hom like; it smelled like peppermints and gingerbread cookies, instead of the sterile hospital like smell I’d been expecting.
Turning, we found Flavia Barone in bed. Her eyes were wide open and watching both Diamond and I with full knowing.
I came in closer and waved my fingers in front of her face. She smiled widely and Diamond seemed to jump out of her skin.
“Creepy,” my wife said.
“Ali, you are back so soon,” she stated looking directly at me.
I looked at Diamond and then around the room before my gaze returned to her. “I’m not….”
“Ali,” she said. “Have you been naughty again? Have they sent you back to me?”
“You might want to play along,” Diamond suggested.
“I guess,” I murmured.
Flavia set up in the bed trying to get comfortable. Trying to be the dutiful grandson I was pretending to be, I fluffed her pillow. When she was comfortable, she started up again.
“Alistair, you haven’t answered your grandmother.”
“I…I’m sorry grandmother.”
“Did you go off to see them?”
Looking up, I found Diamond nodding. I didn’t want to pressure the old woman but maybe she knew something.
“Grandmother, did I go off to see who?”
“Your brothers, Ali.”
