The nurse narrowed her gaze. “Blue scrubs?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Dark blue or light blue?”

  “What the hell difference does it make?” Grace snapped.

  The nurse popped her hip out with her fist on it and raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. What difference does the color make?”

  “There are certain floors in the hospital that wear certain color scrubs. Maternity wears pink. We wear black.”

  “So who wears blue?”

  “Unfortunately, a lot of departments.”

  Grace groaned. “Well, that’s not very helpful.”

  “It can be. You know he doesn’t work maternity, ICU, or cardiac.”

  “Great.” Grace’s lips thinned as she sent a longing look toward Amya. She wanted to get out of the hospital. They were never really her thing anyway, but having been there over an hour, she was certainly hitting her limit of patience.

  “I’ll keep my eye out for him and see if he comes by again and then give you a call.”

  “Thanks,” Grace muttered. “That’s at least a little helpful.”

  The nurse scoffed and went back to work. Amya took Grace by the arm and led her out of ICU and down the hall. “You have to be nicer if you want answers.”

  “Don’t talk to me about how to interrogate suspects, Amya. I’m a trained detective. I know what I’m doing.”

  Amya put her hands in the air and stepped away from Grace. “Fine, do it your way. But there are better ways to get answers than trying to push people into it.”

  “I wish I had been able to get his name.”

  “He obviously didn’t want to talk to you.”

  Grace pursed her lips. “No shit, Sherlock.”

  “Maybe stop by again and see if he comes by for a visit.”

  “I think I’m more interested in finding out why my taxi driver has been paying Joseph visits.” Grace held up the visitor log.

  “What?”

  Grace smirked and handed the paper over to Amya. “Your question did come in useful, thank you. See here?” Grace pointed to Diego’s name. “He’s been by twice since I first questioned him. The day after and the day of the last time I interviewed him.”

  “Interesting coincidence.”

  “I think not.” Grace took the paper back.

  “I’m inclined to agree.” Amya smiled and then gripped Grace’s fingers. “This was actually kind of fun.”

  “What was?” Grace stared down at the paper in her hand as she shoved it into her pocket.

  “Going on this interview with you.”

  “We hardly interviewed anyone today.”

  “Grace.”

  Turning to face Amya at the tone in her voice, Grace stopped short. “What?”

  “I’m trying to tell you this was fun.”

  “What was fun?”

  “Playing detective.”

  Narrowing her eyes, Grace cocked her head to the side. “Not thinking of coming back to the dark side of police work, are you?”

  “Oh no.” Amya giggled. “But it was fun to dabble in it again. Come on.”

  Amya dragged Grace by the hand out to the cruiser. As soon as they were near enough the doors, she touched Grace’s waist with her hand and spun Grace into her, pressing a kiss on her lips. “I think today was a good day.”

  “What has got you in such a mood?” Grace asked, her lips thinning as she tried to figure it out.

  “Nothing. Just ignore me. I’m happy.”

  “Happy for what?”

  “Does it matter?”

  Grace paused at that. “Yes. Yes, it matters.”

  “All right then. Our house is full again, and that, Grace, feels damn good.”

  “You’re right. It’ll feel better when I pick Kit up in…” she glanced at the watch on her right hand “…an hour.”

  “It will. Wait…will we need to get her new clothes? Again?” Amya’s tone tensed.

  “No. I’m going to make a stop by her house first. I want my phone back.”

  Amya snorted. “I still have an hour. Want company?”

  “Fuck yes.”

  “Then lead on.” Amya moved her hand out in front of her. Grace got into the cruiser and waited until Amya was buckled in before she drove immediately to the Umptree house. This was going to be one of the best conversations and demands she’d had in a long while.

  ###

  Knowing Diego had been in to visit Joseph twice since Grace had made contact with him set her nerves on fire. There was more to Diego and Joseph than Diego was sharing. She knew it in her gut. The hard part was going to be figuring it out and getting Diego to admit it. She would have to interview him again, no doubt.

  Grace sat at her desk for the last hour of her shift before she was set to go pick up Kit at school. She and Amya had discussed it again briefly after leaving the Umptree house with trash bags of Kit’s things in tow. It would be what was best for Kit in the long run—hopefully. But anything was better than her living on the street at that point.

  Paige sent Grace a look, but Grace ignored her as she booted up her computer and pulled up their reporting system. She ran Diego’s name to see what other types of calls his name came up in, and she hoped it was something she could use to leverage him into telling her more about whatever the hell had happened that night.

  She found nothing on him. He had never been arrested. He had never been given even a speeding ticket. His driving record was spotless. The only call his name came up on was her case. Cursing under her breath, Grace closed her eyes and racked her brain for what to check next. Diego, but all means, was an upstanding citizen, clearly one with his own demons like they typically all had, but a member who contributed to society in some form and fashion.

  Paige sat at the corner of Grace’s desk, her toe holding her up as she leaned over to look at Grace’s computer screen. “Diego?”

  Grace grunted. “He paid a surprise visit—well, two visits—to Joseph in the hospital.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope.”

  “When?”

  “Funnily enough, the day after we interviewed him the first time and the day we interviewed him the last time.”

  “Damn.”

  “I know.” Grace rubbed her lips together and ran a credit report on Diego. While her computer whirred and searched for the information. She tapped her toe against the floor and stared at the computer and then at Paige.

  “Why do you think he’d go there?”

  Paige shrugged. “Guilt?”

  Grace puckered her lips before turning back to her computer. Diego’s credit was shit, absolute shit. He was in debt up to his ears; his business was clearly floundering. She could see where he wouldn’t find any hope in surviving or digging himself out of the hole he’d put himself into.

  Paige glanced at her screen then did a double take. “Damn.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t think I’ve seen financials that bad on a business still running.”

  “I doubt it’s running.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Grace drew in a deep breath. “The vehicles on his property don’t run. No one is going to take a ride from a taxi that has broken out windows. There was maybe one working vehicle in the driveway, which I’m betting is mostly his personal vehicle. But he was piss drunk in the middle of the day. He’s not driving anyone like that, especially if he’s not been arrested for a DWI yet.”

  “You’ve got me there. Makes sense.”

  “Yup. But still doesn’t explain why he’s going to visit Joseph.”

  “I’m telling you, guilt.” Paige crossed her arms.

  “Maybe, but I’m thinking there’s more to it than that. And guilt over what?”

  “Survivors guilt, maybe?”

  Grace shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  Paige slapped her hands on her thighs. “Well, you’ll have to figure it out. I’m going back to missing old people.”

  Grace ignored Paige’s blunt comment. Some days Grace couldn’t tell if Paige even liked her job or not. Paige moved to her own desk. Grace printed off the reports she had run and organized them before shoving them into the file she created for Diego. She searched for relatives to see who was supporting him financially, since it was pretty clear to her he didn’t have much of an income.

  She went through his bank records to see transfers in and out, what he spent his money on. No surprise, a hefty amount of it was at the liquor store six blocks from his house. Clearly it was his favorite place to go. Grace wrote down the name of it to make sure she checked it out and inquired after him. She wanted to know if he shared anything with his bartender, or at least his seller of his drug of choice.

  People often confessed random things to cashiers, bartenders, and store clerks. It always surprised her what people would tell random strangers rather than best friends or close family. She would have to go visit them another day because she didn’t have the time to do it that afternoon.

  Checking her watch again, Grace noted the time and that she’d need to leave in twenty minutes. Finishing up her reports for the day, she filed everything away, wrote up a summary of her day to hand in to Humbard, and prepared for the conversation she was about to have with Kit. Amya was going to tackle the conversation with Peter, or they both would most likely, but Amya was going to take point on that one.

  With a plan in place, Grace got ready for the rest of the afternoon and evening. It was going to be a long one, but she knew with her whole heart the decisions they had made were the right ones for everyone involved.

  Parental Rights

  The drive to the school that day seemed longer than normal, but Grace made it just as the bell rung to dismiss the students from class. Peggy was already outside where Grace parked her cruiser. She stepped out of the vehicle and walked around the back of it to stand next to Peggy with her arms crossed as she waited.

  “You didn’t call,” Peggy started.

  Grace grunted. “Got lost in the day, sorry.”

  “I wish you’d really consider being the School Resource Officer. Getting a new one every year doesn’t help the kids, and I think you’d be perfect for it.”

  Snorting, Grace brushed her hand over her face. “Sorry, that’s not funny. I have no desire to do that. I like my job.”

  Peggy sighed. “I guess.”

  “You want to be superintendent?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “See? Now we have an understanding.”

  Peggy shrugged. “So what happened over Spring Break that you haven’t told me about because clearly something happened.”

  “Hmm.” Grace shifted her stance and slid her gaze over Peggy as students filtered out of the front doors. “That’s a long story.”

  “I have time.”

  “Of course you do.” Grace bit her lip, not quite sure how much she wanted to share with Peggy, but they’d also talked to her a lot about their journey with Kit, and she was heavily invested in Kit graduating. “She go to class today?”

  “Every single one of them.”

  “Good. Now to get her grades up.”

  “You’re avoiding.”

  “I am,” Grace admitted. “It’s been a strange and stressful winter. I’m glad spring is here, but summer needs to come faster.”

  “You sound like a teacher.”

  “Or a student,” Grace added.

  Peggy smirked and shook her head as she waved at a student who walked by to their parents’ vehicle. “Tell me what happened.”

  “We picked Kit up Friday before Spring Break, brought her home. Everything was fine until Monday morning. Peter has been…not doing well. I’m hoping we’re at a turning point, but that remains to be seen.”

  “Not doing well?”

  “He’s drinking again.”

  “Oh, Grace.” Peggy turned fully to her, compassion and sorrow written all over her expression.

  Tears sprung unbidden into Grace’s eyes. She tried to blink them back, but one escaped the corner of her eye. She wiped it away as she stared ahead, trying to maintain her tough woman persona. She didn’t want to be weak in any aspect of her life, and crying was for sure a sign of weakness.

  “Yeah, anyway, so he was drinking and apparently Kit wanted in on it, so they went out together to get drunk.”

  “He bought her alcohol?”

  “Yeah.” Grace scoffed. “We haven’t gotten to that part of the conversation yet, but it’s happening tonight.”

  “Why tonight?”

  Letting out a long slow breath, Grace lowered her voice and stepped in closer to Peggy. “They were in a car accident. At the hospital, Kit had to go home with her parents, who were…well, they’re her parents. I’ll just say that.”

  “I’ve met them. They were decently pleasant until this last year.”

  “Yeah. Anyway, Kit went home, and we didn’t hear from her again. Annabelle called this morning. They found her phone we gave her, presumably found some texts, and kicked her out again. I found her sleeping outside the library.”

  “And you brought her to school?”

  “Kid needs an education whether she wants one or not. I’ve been on the other side of that, remember? I dropped out. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Way easier to just stick through four years and graduate and then do whatever the fuck you want.”

  “Grace.”

  She shrugged at the admonition for cussing and barreled straight ahead. “Amya and I went to grab Kit’s stuff from the house and had an oh-so-lovely chat with her parents. Kit will be staying with us until she’s at least eighteen.”

  “You think you’re up for this?”

  Grace turned sharply and stiffly to Peggy. She raised a singular eyebrow in Peggy’s direction as she mulled through the question. No one had asked her that. Not the social worker last December, not even Amya. When Kit came out the front doors with her backpack slung over one shoulder and a scowl to scare even the kindest person off, Grace laughed.

  “Yeah, I think I’m up for it. Kit’s not as walled off as she thinks she is, and she just wants someone there who actually gives a shit. Now she’s got three of us.”

  “Three?”

  “Peter.”

  “Right.”

  Grace waved at Kit, ready for the full force of attitude that was about to hit her. Surprisingly, Kit didn’t say anything as she came to stand in front of Peggy and Grace. Grace stared down at Kit.

  “Ready, kid?”

  “I guess,” Kit muttered.

  “Get in the car then.”

  Kit moved around the two of them. Grace turned to Peggy and raised her eyebrows in excitement. She had never thought she would be this excited about having a kid come and live with them, but something about the adventure of parenting sent a thrill down her spine in a way it never had before. Perhaps it was just Kit and the impact she had already made in her life, but Grace was more than ready to take on the challenge of a sixteen-year-old girl who was kicked out for being a lesbian.

  “I’ll see you Friday,” Grace said to Peggy as a way of dismissal of their conversation.

  “See you then. Let me know if I should make an addendum to the contact on her file.”

  Grace smiled. “I’ll let you know tomorrow after we talk to her.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Waving to Peggy, Grace stepped around the front of the cruiser and slipped into the driver’s seat. Letting out a breath, she turned to Kit and smiled. “Heard you went to every single class today.”

  “So what.”

  “Good for you.”

  Kit rolled her eyes. “I’m not a dog.”

  “Nope, but you still have to be trained to be an adult and showing up is step number one.”

  “Whatever.”

  Chuckling to herself, Grace put the car in drive and moved out of the pickup line. She had no idea where she was going to park, but she did know the conversation they were going to have should not be happening at their house and should be happening some place a little more neutral. Kit remained stoically silent as Grace drove through the streets and found a nearby park to pull the cruiser up at.

  “I wanted to talk.”

  “I figured,” Kit grumbled. “Where are you going to send me?”

  Grace drew in a sharp breath and shook her head. “Nowhere, kid. Where do you want to go?”

  “Not home.”

  Snorting, Grace smiled. “I figured as much.”

  “I’m sorry about your phone.”

  “It’s yours.” Grace pulled open the glove compartment in front of Kit and handed over the cheap phone they had purchased for her earlier in the year. “Here.”

  Kit grasped it tightly in her fingers and stared down at it in awe.

  “We won’t turn it off until you tell us to.”

  “You sure?”

  “Absolutely, kid. If you need something, I want you to be able to get hold of us.”

  Kit’s jaw clenched, and Grace knew she was holding back as much emotion as she could. In some ways they were way too similar, and Grace knew Kit needed Amya’s influence to not fall into the same stupid habits Grace had.

  “Here’s the other part of the deal,” Grace started, staring out the front windshield because she didn’t want to see Kit’s reaction. She turned, finally convincing herself she needed to. “I’m not going to call Doreen unless you want me to.”

  “You’re not?” Kit’s eyes widened, but there was a touch of hope in them.

  Grace shook her head. “That didn’t really work in your favor last time. You’re sixteen, almost seventeen at this point, and Amya and I agree you should have some say in where you end up and what you want for your life.”

  Kit nodded, not saying anything in response. Grace waited her out, wanting to make sure Kit had the space to speak. Amya would once again be proud of her for using silence to her advantage in the entire situation. As the car idled, Grace waited.

  “What are my options?” Kit finally whispered.

  Grace drew in a deep breath. “Well, there’s always the option of calling Doreen and you going back into the system.”