Mrs. Griggs sat on her porch swing. Instead of her usual bathrobe, she wore a flowery dress. Must be putting on airs because of her guest. The whole time Lucky had lived next door she’d seemingly lived in bathrobes. She waved. Lucky waved back.
Ty sat down the lapful of orange tabby he held, picked up his backpack and the gym bag he’d borrowed from Bo, and slumped down the sidewalk. He opened the car door, threw up his hand to the woman on the porch, and shoved his bags into the back seat.
He still waved when they rounded the corner away from the house. Maybe staying with Mrs. Griggs hadn’t been so bad after all.
Not a word. Not one single word. How mad was the kid?
After a mile of nerve-wracking silence, Lucky ventured, “I’m sorry you had to stay with someone you barely knew.”
Abuse starting in three, two one… Three, two, one…
After a small eternity, Ty spoke up. “She’s not bad. I like all her cats. She told me you got Cat Lucky from her.”
No anger? No accusations? “Yeah, he came over to the house one day and wouldn’t leave.”
Voice whisper-quiet, Ty asked, “Is it true he adopted you after a little girl died?”
Telling his nephew all about the sad parts of his job wasn’t in the cards. Then again, lying wasn’t either. “Yes.” Without quite knowing why, Lucky opened his mouth and out fell the story. “Bo and me were investigating a children’s hospital that brought in shady drugs.” And fell victim to gray market opportunists, but the entire incident might take too much time to tell. “She told me she had a tuxedo cat named Lucky.” If he closed his eyes, he could see the little girl again, her bright smile, her bald head. His heart clenched.
“She died because of those drugs, didn’t she?”
“Yes.” Lucky’s voice came out choked.
“You caught who killed her, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” Even though Lucky’d had to quit the SNB to do so. Or rather, he would have quit if Walter had let him instead of pretending he didn’t get Lucky’s resignation letter.
“I’m glad.” Ty squirmed in his seat, half-turned Lucky’s way.
Lucky stopped at a red light and regarded his nephew. “I couldn’t let the no-account ass—” He bit off the word.
“You can sayasshole, you know. Like Mom says, sometimes no other word works.”
“Smart woman.” Ty wasn’t mad at him? Dare Lucky hope?
“Uncle Lucky?”
“Yes?” The light turned green and Lucky refocused his attention on the road.
“Why did you leave me here? I could’ve stayed with you.”
“Sometimes my job gets dangerous. You were better off nowhere near me.” He wouldn’t scare his nephew by mentioning someone tried to kill him. Better for Ty to think him lame than know the truth.
“Mom told me stories about you, I thought they were just stories.”
Lucky glanced from the corner of his eye and caught Ty staring. “What kind of stories?”
“About your job. How you put drug dealers in jail.”
No questions were asked requiring an answer. Lucky remained silent.
“That’s why you didn’t come to Spokane, isn’t it? Because you didn’t want the people mad at you coming after us.”
“In part.” To be honest, sometimes Lucky himself didn’t understand all the reasons he’d stayed away. Mostly because he didn’t deserve his sister’s devotion or his nephews’ attention.
“What’s the other part?”
Lucky sucked in a breath, buying himself time to find the right words. Or rather, words that weren’t totally wrong and pissed Ty off. “Facing the three people who meant the most to me, knowing I’d let them down.” There. He’d said it.
