I didn’t think I imagined the dark mask that seemed to wash over her face before she finally smiled. “Because under other circumstances,” she quietly said, “I easily could’ve been your sister.”
* * * *
Casey took me out for lunch at a barbecue place not far from the church. She drove a new Mercedes, the nicest vehicle I’d ever ridden in. I asked her about becoming an attorney, what I’d need to do, the kinds of grades I’d have to earn.
The schools to apply to.
In my mind, I was already thinking about scholarships and grants to chase down, once I was able to go back to public school.
“I like you, Declan,” she said halfway through our meal. “You’ve got a fire burning in you.”
“Promise me you’ll help me get them. If I have to stay quiet right now, give me areasonto stay quiet.”
She slowly nodded. “If you listen to me and do what I say. This is a long game we’re playing. I’m talkingyears.”
I nodded.
“Before I came here,” she said, “I filed the paperwork to have your sister’s body released to the funeral home.”
I remember blinking back a sudden sting of tears. Mom cried all the time when we were in our room. Cried herself to sleep, woke up crying.
I was cried out. Emotionally numb, scorched.
Or so I thought.
I set down my fork and breathed through the sting of tears demanding I shed them. By sheer force of will I blinked them away and maintained my composure.
“Are you okay?” she gently asked.
“Mom’s going to want to bury her, instead of cremation, and we can’t afford it.” I bitterly laughed. “We can’t even afford cremation.”
She sighed. “It’s taken care of.”
“By who?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
She arched that eyebrow at me, an expression I would come to know all too well. “It’stakencare of, Declan,” she quietly said. Except there was something steely in her tone.
A tone that clearly told me she wanted me to drop it.
“Thank you, ma’am,” I finally said.
She nodded. “If you’re serious about going to law school, I meanreallyserious, I’ll help you prep. I can put you in contact with the right people, get you introductions, even get you in on the ground floor with some of the city’s and state’s biggest political juice.”
“How?”
“Are you in?”
I nod. “I want to be able todosomething. Tell me what I have to do, and I’ll do it.”
“Anything?”
“As long as you’re serious about helping me, yes. Anything.”
She smiled. “You’re going to become a wunderkind in state politics. And I’m going to give you your most valuable piece of advice ever right now.”
