There are two notifications on the screen.
One is from Courtney.
The other is from Kelly aka Gina Codd.
KELLY:I’m waiting for you in the hospital lobby. We need to talk. Please. I’m having a really hard time with Shawn.
I grunt. “Yeah. The address is here.”
J adjusts herself in my lap to a more comfortable position. Her body relaxes, and she starts breathing easy again.
Checking to make sure J isn’t looking, I delete the message from Kelly and rub J’s hair like a stress ball until we get to the Codd’s.
Gina Codd’s parents live in a neighborhood that reminds me of Cadence and V’s old apartment.
We pass graffiti-lined walls, homeless people cooped up in alleyways, and stray dogs roaming. Every school has burglar bars, and every grocery store has their shutters drawn, even though it’s barely seven o’clock in the evening.
The Codds live in a ramshackle home that’s part-trailer and part-shed. Whatever material they used to form the addition on their trailer looks like a light gust of wind can blow it over.
“Careful,” I warn J as she moves up three “stairs” that are cement blocks with rough wooden boards on top of them.
The pill effectively calmed her heart rate and cleared the red stain out of her face, but it’s just covering the symptoms, not the root of the issue. I can’t believe she’s here doing something so stupid.
Not only is she poking at what could be an unsolved murder case, but she’s doing it while her heart is probably the weakest it’s ever been.
I want to simultaneously shake her until she gets some sense and stick to her like a shadow because I know she won’t listen even if I bark at her.
Why are you so bothered by this tiny little thing?
It’s the Jinx Paradox at work.
I need J awake and alert enough to go AI hunting with me, and that won’t happen if she conks out for twenty-four hours again.
“J,” I growl.
She looks over her shoulder to where I’m standing on the bottom step outside the trailer. The light from a nearby lamppost illuminates her pale face. I’m not sure if it’s the lighting or how tired she looks, but her eyes are much bigger than usual.
I tap my watch.
She rolls her eyes and knocks on the door. It swings open to reveal a woman with grey hair, deep wrinkles, and light-colored eyes.
“Can I help you?”
“Are you Mrs. Codd? Gina Codd’s mother?”
Mrs. Codd immediately stiffens, and I notice the door inching shut.
“I don’t know no Gina.”
“Mrs. Codd, I’m not here to hurt you or your family. I’m a friend of Gina’s. You can be honest with me.”
Mrs. Codd shakes her head. “I don’t have no daughter by that name. I only have one girl named Elise.”
I see her trying to shut the door, and I slam my hand against it.
Mrs. Codd jumps.
I step forward, my eyes burning through the older woman. “Mrs. Codd, we have limited time. If you want us out of your hair fast, you can answer our questions. If not, I’ll come back with the police.”
