Chapter Three
Two days later, she was still thinking about knights and fairies. It seemed they attracted one another, and it was a bright spot in her day to think about it. Aliana had gone and visited her mother. Today had been a red-letter day. Her mother had recognized her when she was brushing her hair.
“Love,” she said in Czech. “You should wear your hair down, it’s so pretty.”
Aliana had to fight back tears. She’d never told her mother why she’d started wearing her hair up. Now, it was habit. Her mother had hated it up. She loved Aliana’s hair, called it her crowning glory.
“I know it’s pretty, it’s because it’s like yours, Mama.”
“Take it down,” she asked. “I want to see it.”
“Sure.” If doing that little thing would bring a smile to Danica Novak’s face, she would do it. Hell, she’d do cartwheels if her mother asked. She pulled out the bobby pins holding it up, then bent at the waist and ran her fingers through it before swinging her head backward. She had to admit, she always felt better when the weight of her hair wasn’t on her head. It felt good loose.
“You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you, Mama, but you’re biased.” She picked up the brush again and started to softly brush her mother’s fine white hair.
“Can you put lotion on?”
“Sure can.”
She opened up the drawer beside the bed. “What kind, Mama?”
“Rose.”
She took out the rose lotion and was assaulted by the smell. Images flashed in front of her face. So much blood. She shoved it down. Down. She was here with her mother, she needed to concentrate on the here and now.
“That feels so good,” her mother said when she rubbed the moisturizer into her palms and fingers. “I’m tired now, Baby.”
“I love you, Mama.”
“You’re my beautiful girl. Always remember, Love. You’re beautiful.”
Damn, she was going to lose it. Her mother was so kind and good. She didn’t deserve this life.
“Why are you crying, Aliana? Where’s your father? Tell him to come here.”
These were the worst moments when her mother asked for her dead husband. “You rest, Mama, I’ll go get him. Okay?”
Experience told her that these moments of lucidity wouldn’t last long, and when she woke up, she wouldn’t remember their conversation. It was best just to pacify her. It was good that her mom remembered the Lazlo Novak from their younger years together, and not like he was when Aliana was a teenager. Back then he hadn’t been exactly happy, but he’d had dreams. He had his poetry. He hadn’t crashed over the cliff into true bitterness yet.
“Thank you, Baby. I don’t like sleeping alone.”
Aliana choked back a sob, for her mother and herself. She hated thinking of the way her father had left them. She hated the confusion and the pain he caused with his suicide. Mostly, she was dead tired from the sorrow his last words had brought to her life.
“He’s coming,” she lied to her mother. “Can I sing to you until he arrives?”
“That would be wonderful. Get the guitar.”
Aliana knew that when the dark mire of ugly memories poured over her, music was a savior for her. Music had always been important in their house growing up, so there were many lullabies for her to choose from. Her mother had often played her guitar while either she or her grandmother had sung to her. She pulled the guitar out of the cupboard. She had bought it for times just like these. She knew it was in tune because she had played last week.
“What song would you like, Mama?”
“One of yours.”
It took Aliana a moment to think of one she felt like singing. She had to settle her mind. Finally, she thought of the perfect one, something to celebrate life. She had written it six years ago when her mother had first moved in with her. She knew her mother’s mind was starting to go, so she wanted to honor her and the caring woman she had been while raising Aliana. She called it simply, Danica.
My Mother raised me up
Shouldering my burdens
Wiping My Tears
My Mother Loved Me
So, I Stand Strong Today
Danica’s Love Blessed Me
She Raised Me Up High
Danica’s Love Is Clear to See
It Lifts Up To the Sky
Her Arms Gave Comfort
Into them, I ran
Always she provided solace
My Mother Loved Me
So, I Stand Strong Today
Danica’s Love Blessed Me
She Raised Me Up High
Danica’s Love Is Clear to See
It Lifts Up To the Sky
She sang another couple of Czech lullabies and her mother fell asleep.
Shorinda wasn’t working that night, so she said goodnight to the night nurse on duty. She stopped by Trader Joe’s on the way home. It was the first time she’d gotten groceries since she’d been attacked. She waited to get out of her car until one of her neighbors, Lester Nuñez, pulled into the parking lot and gave a sigh of relief. Okay, now she could go to her house.
Instead of focusing on the fact that she’d waited in her car for eighteen minutes for someone to show up, she decided to focus on the good. She’d gotten to talk to her mom. She swung her Trader Joe’s shopping bags out of the trunk and thought about Ernie and Lottie. They were quite the pair. Sparks had flown from the second they had sat across from one another at the restaurant.
Fumbling with her lock, she dropped one of her grocery bags. The tomatoes rolled out and she dumped the other bag and started after her fruit when she was catapulted into the air. A dragon roared fire over her head and then something hit her back. Fire. What? Black.
“Can you hear me?”
Leave me alone. Why wouldn’t he leave her alone? She tried to slap his hands away.
Oww. Don’t pull on my eyelids. Hurts. Light hurts.
“Stop that.” Where was her crisp vice principal voice?
“She’s conscious.”
“Course am,” she slurred.
“Pupils look good.”
“That door saved her.”
Tired. “Sleep now,” she said.
Everything went black again.
***
Aliana woke up to the sound of a different Czech lullaby. She couldn’t stop the tears. She was in pain and remembered enough of the conversations around her last night to know her townhome had blown up.
“Mama?” she asked in Czech.
“It’s me, your grandmother, Love,” Her grandmother answered in the same language.
Aliana recognized her voice. She should have from the song.
“Aliana, my darling girl. How are you feeling?” Aliana opened her eyes and saw her grandmother. She looked like a dowager queen in her long black dress, white lace collar, and perfect posture.
She looked around and realized she was in a private hospital room. Sakra. Okay, this deserved worse. Fuck. She ground her teeth and felt pain, a lot, and moaned.
Her grandmother rose from her chair, bent over the bed, and cupped her cheek. “What can I do to make this better for you?”
Aliana placed her hand over her grandmother’s fragile hand. “Just having you here helps.”
“If that is true, why am I not your emergency contact?” Her grandmother arched an eyebrow.
Fuck. Sakra. She was so busted.
“How did you find out I was here?” Lottie had so lost her best friend status.
“Your home blew up. Don’t you think I would have heard about it?” came the spry reply.
“But from who?” Aliana persisted.
“Ultimately, it was Mrs. Lasson who told me, but that was three hours after it happened. Why didn’t the police inform me immediately? Tell me why I’m not your emergency contact. You’re mine.”
“Ah, grandmother, I just never want to worry you,” she said softly. She hated thinking of her wonderful grandmother getting a call in the middle of the night if something happened to her. Better if Lottie contacted her.
“I don’t want to find out you were in the hospital three days after you’re out. Or, God forbid, the day of your funeral.” Her voice sounded like it had been grated through a shredder.
She pressed her grandmother’s warm hand closer to her cheek. “I’m so sorry,” her voice trembled. “Please, forgive me.”
“I’ll only let this slide because you’re hurting, but as soon as you’re on your feet, you have to put me in your phone. In the meantime, tell me what’s going on. Why does somebody want you dead?”
“What are you talking about? It must have been a gas leak.”
“I’ve talked to the detectives in charge of the investigation and Officer Robinson. They say a bomb was planted in your apartment.”
All the blood left her body. How could she be alive if her blood was gone?
“Aliana, what’s wrong? Nurse! Come immediately,” her grandmother cried, switching to English.
A nurse followed by Lottie and Ernie came into the room. The nurse immediately looked up at the monitors. “Your blood pressure has gone up significantly. Can you calm down?”
“Ernie, was my townhome bombed?”
“Yeah, Honey, it was. Do you have any idea who might have wanted to do such a thing?”
She looked down at the blanket and shook her head.
“She’s lying.” Lottie and her grandmother said at the same time.
“Yeah, I got that,” Ernie said wryly. “She does that a lot.”
“No, she doesn’t. My Aliana is a good girl.” Her grandmother slapped Ernie on his arm.
“Tell your good girl to tell the truth then. We need to capture the men who want her dead.”
Breathe and keep calm. Aliana watched dispassionately as the nurse studied her blood pressure. “It’s better.” The nurse proclaimed. “How are you feeling?”
“Do I need to be here?”
“The doctor wants you in here overnight for observation. You have a bad concussion. As long as you have someone that can stay with you, you can probably go home tomorrow.”
“She can stay with me.” Again, Lottie and her grandmother almost spoke in one voice.
“I don’t need to stay with anyone.”
“Really, where do you plan to live?” Ernie asked.
Aliana’s shoulders drooped.
“Look on the bright side Chica, you never got that cat I kept telling you to adopt.”
Aliana swallowed back bile, thinking about the cat she had stroked at the animal shelter. She had never told Lottie, but she had considered getting the beautiful Siamese, but something had held her back. It had seemed like too much of a commitment.
“We just need someone to watch over her for a couple of days. They should stay with her the entire time,” a new voice said.
Aliana looked up to see a man who she assumed was a doctor, walk into her crowded room.
“That would be me,” her grandmother said. “Carlotta has to go to work.”
“I can take time off,” Lottie protested.
“How soon before I can go back to work?” Aliana asked the doctor.
“You should be fine by next week, barring any complications,” he answered.
“What should I be on the lookout for?” her grandmother asked.
“I’ll give you a printout.”
He came over and listened to Aliana’s heart, then looked at her pupils. “You were very lucky you landed in the grass and the door wasn’t the best quality. I would say God was looking over you.”
“Except for the part that someone put a bomb in her house,” Lottie said angrily.
“Aliana, there are two detectives who are going to want to talk to you tomorrow,” Ernie said. “You need to be straight with them.”
She looked at her grandmother, who looked so much like her mother. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t put her mother at risk. It was a miracle Mateo hadn’t targeted her treasured Babička. But she didn’t know what she was going to do. Was she going to have to give up on Nicolas in order to keep her mother safe? God, please help her find an answer she prayed.
“What are you thinking?” Lottie asked.
“What?”
“I don’t like that expression on your face,” her friend said.
“I think it’s time for my patient to get some rest.” The doctor started to usher everyone out.
“What time will she be discharged?” Ernie asked.
“About one o’clock.”
“The detectives will be here about noon.”
“I’ll be here at eleven with some clothes and your grandmother.”
“Babička, how did you get here?” Aliana asked her grandmother.
“I took a cab.” God save her from stubborn women.
“Don’t do that again. Call someone,” Aliana said fiercely. Damn, now her throat and her head hurt.
“Oh, I’ll call someone,” her grandmother assured her. It sounded like a threat.
“Out,” the doctor commanded.
She watched as everyone paraded out of her room. Sakra, she needed a plan and fast.
***
Hunter Diaz was dismantling his rifle when his lieutenant walked over to him.
“That was damn fine shooting. You’ve been getting in extra practice.”
“Maybe.”
“You’ve been pretty quiet since the mission in Cameroon. Is there anything you want to talk about?” Gray asked quietly.
Hunter shook his head, focusing on packing away his equipment.
“Let me phrase this another way. I think you and I should grab a beer.”
Shit. As much as he respected Grayson Tyler, the last thing he needed was for the man to be poking around in his head.
“Gray, I really appreciate the thought, but I’ve dealt with it. Griff and I have talked. I think it hit him harder since he has a baby girl and all.”
“That’s what I would have thought, too. But he’s not the one who’s shut down, you are. It’s either a beer or the shrink. Your choice.”
Fuck.
“A beer sounds great.”
Gray grinned and Hunter grimaced. His phone rang. He pulled it out of his duffel and blanched. He’d missed four calls from his grandmother.
“Grandmother?” he said in Spanish.
“Come home,” his adopted grandmother said without preamble.
“What’s wrong?” he clipped out his question, his gut in knots.
“I need you home now.”
“Answer my question.” He ignored Gray’s intense regard.
“Have some respect, and just do what I say.”
“Mamie,” he growled.
“Fine. It’s Aliana. She’s in big trouble. Someone blew up her home last night. She almost died. The police aren’t helping. But if you don’t care. Don’t come home.” She hung up.
He looked down at his phone.
“Motherfucker!”
“That’s a lot of anger for a man who just got done talking to his grandmother,” Gray mused.
“Yeah, well, most men don’t have Rosa Diaz as a grandmother.” He stopped folding and started shoving shit into his duffel. Fuck it all.
“Why d’you call her Mamie? Why not Abuelita?”
“She’s only half Mexican. Her mother’s family is Haitian. Mamie is French for grandmother.” He zipped up his bag, slung it over his shoulder, then stared at Gray.
“Well, that explains why you speak French so well,” Gray murmured to himself. He watched Hunter zip up his duffel. “Going somewhere?” Gray asked blandly.
“I’m officially requesting leave.”
“How long?”
“Fuck if I know.”
Gray put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “Can you listen to me a moment? Really listen?”
Hunter looked at his lieutenant. In the six years he’d been under the man’s command, he’d only been this somber outside of a mission four times.
“Yes,” Hunter said solemnly.
“I can tell something serious is going on up in L.A., but I think your response might be a little over the top.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I know I don’t, but hear me out.”
Hunter nodded.
“You were just talking to the woman who you consider your grandmother, then said ‘fuck’ three times. That’s not you. I think this shit with the kidnapped and raped girls in Africa got deep inside your heart, mind, and soul and you haven’t dealt. If you don’t, whatever is going on in L.A. is going to blow up in your face.”
“With all due respect, Gray, you don’t know fuck all what triggered me. And maybe, just maybe, going to L.A. will be just the thing to finally put this to rest.”
Gray stared into his eyes. He must have seen something that reassured him. “Take your time then.”
***
A week at most. Mamie had a washing machine he could use. Hell, at this rate, he’d have space left over in his saddlebags. Too bad his rifle wouldn’t fit, But he had packed plenty of extras. Never hurt to be armed when going into enemy territory, and this was enemy fucking territory with a capital ‘F’.
Hating the idea of any extra space, he packed his body armor. Being a SEAL meant you were a boy scout on steroids. Satisfied, he headed toward the door. He took one last look at his plants. Plants. Who would have guessed it? Thank God for Dex’s cousin, she kept them alive. Of course, the little brat was the reason he had all of them, too. He locked up his apartment and went to his detached garage where his baby was, an Indian Springfield motorcycle, all black and chrome. She’d been needing a long drive. Hell, so had he.
He’d drive Pacific Coast Highway, wherever he could, on his way up to East L.A. It would help put his head on straight. He should have done this three months ago when he’d gotten back from the mission in Africa.
Elise. Her pretty voice, whispering horrific things to him in French, telling him what those fuckers had been doing to her and the other orphan girls. It still pissed him off he hadn’t killed more of the Boko Haram fucks. Hunter took some deep breaths of the fresh ocean air as he pulled out onto PCH. Bike was running so smooth, she purred. It was almost worth a smile. Almost.
Pictures fluttered through his mind. Black girls, abused by adult men, white girls abused by playground bullies, then by teenage bitches—no matter what, they were all hurting. All victims. Each girl evoked the same emotions in him. The need to protect. The need was ingrained at the cellular level, especially when it came to females.
Gray had been right, the mission had chewed him up, but not for the reason he thought. It had stirred long-buried memories. A time when he thought he’d been doing something worthwhile. Hell, his Alia had made him feel like a nine-foot-tall hero instead of a nine-year-old nothing. Then it had all gone wrong. He still didn’t know how it could have changed. She had meant everything to him. She had been the best thing in his life outside of Mamie since the third grade, then it just ended.
A little past Laguna Beach, he waved back to the three kids in the back of the SUV who were impressed by a guy on a bike. Concentrate on the road. But that was the problem, he’d always been able to concentrate on six things at once. It’s why he’d excelled during his time in the Las Nuevas Espadas gang and still managed to graduate school with a high enough grade point to be considered for the SEAL teams when he joined the Navy. Hell, the hardest thing had been making time to go to the community pool at the rec center. Why the hell did one of the toughest of the tough all of a sudden need to learn how to swim?
Hunter grinned. The look on Red Blade’s face when he said he was planning on surfing to impress the ladies had been a sight to behold. The gang leader and his lieutenants thought he was so funny, they just let it pass that he was going to the pool three days a week. Nobody, not Mamie, nobody in the gang, none of the teachers at school, not even his Alia had an inkling of his plan. Nobody except the man who had guided him toward it.
When he had to get on the Ten freeway to head toward downtown. Hunter decided to reward himself with a double-double burger and fries from In-and-Out Burger. The place he stopped wasn’t a bad neighborhood, but he still gave everyone a stare as he got off his bike to go in to place his order. His bike was in the same pristine shape he’d left it. He sat down at a cement table under a red and white umbrella and chewed his food. He still wasn’t in the right head space to face home. Hell, would he ever be?
He thought about how he last saw Aliana. It was three days after her father had committed suicide. She had been so distant, and all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and tell her everything would be okay.
He’d stayed at Mamie’s for three days and only had a chance to see her twice. The first time had been at her grandmother’s house after the service at the cemetery. Mamie was with him. Both of them went and paid their respects to Mrs. Novak and Mrs. Jancovik, and standing between them was Aliana. She wouldn’t look at him. Eventually, he found her in the backyard alone on the swing.
He touched her hand, and she jerked it away. She stumbled out of the swing as she stood up to stand over him. She told him to go away. She didn’t want to see him anymore. She said that she was relieving him of all responsibility. She was never going to be a burden to him again. It had made no fucking sense. Before he could even figure out how to respond, her grandmother rushed out, put her arm around Aliana, and told him to leave.
He hadn’t left it at that, he had snuck into her bedroom the following night. She was sitting up in bed with her Bible when he climbed through her unlocked window. She watched him do it without saying a word.
“Talk to me Alia, you have to talk to me. We’ve been writing letters for a year. I’ve told you things I’ve never told another living soul. How can you just tell me to go away?”
She stared through him.
She was wearing a pink flannel nightgown with lace at the throat. Her hair was down like it used to be in grade school, flowing around her face. Her skin was like porcelain. She looked at him with sky blue eyes, devoid of emotion.
“You should leave.”
“What is that shit about ‘relieving me of responsibility?’ You weren’t making any kind of sense yesterday, Chaquita.”
“Please leave,” she said politely. She was scaring him.
He sat down beside her on the bed and pulled her hand into his.
“You’re not a burden,” he said quietly. “I’ve never seen you as a burden.”
“Then you’re stupid.”
He winced. Aliana had never said that, not ever. She looked up at him and bit her lip.
“I’m sorry Hunter, I didn’t mean it.”
“Then say what you mean.”
“You should go on with your life, I’m nothing more than an anchor. You’re getting what you’ve always wanted. I’m your past.”
“You’re not my past, you’re right in front of me.”
“You’re a SEAL now. It’s what you wanted. I’m letting you go so you can be happy.” Her voice trembled on the last word.
“Cut the shit, Alia. I am happy. Being your friend makes me happy.”
“I thought so. But I know better now.” She started to shut her Bible, but the yellow caught his eye.
“That’s the sunflower. Why were you looking at it? I mean something to you? Don’t I? If I do, why are you throwing me away?”
“I’m not Hunter,” she wailed softly. “I’m saving you. You have to go now.”
“Not until you make me understand.”
She gave the harshest laugh he’d ever heard. It sounded like something out of a horror movie.
“You never want to understand this, Hunter. It’s too ugly. I’m too ugly. I’m a burden. Having me around will cause you to die.”
“That’s bullshit. Where did you hear that bullshit? Are those bitches at school feeding you some kind of line again? What have they said?”
She got up on her knees and hurled her Bible against the wall. He watched as the dried sunflower and his letter fluttered to the ground.
“Get out! I want you gone. We’re done.”
The light turned on, and it was Mrs. Novak. She saw him and screamed. He jumped out the window. That was the last time he saw Aliana Novak.
He sent her letter after letter for six months. They all came back return to sender. Even he caught a clue after that long.
***
“Lottie, what is this? I could barely zip up these jeans, and you know I would never wear a t-shirt like this. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking you needed to loosen up.”
Hunter recognized the husky voice with the Czech accent. He turned the corner and came face-to-face with his past. She was scowling at a curvy Hispanic woman. Aliana’s hair was still incredibly long. He watched as she gathered it up and started to pile it on her head.
“Look at her, she’s all bruised. I told you she needed your help. The poor baby,” his grandmother said in Spanish.
The two women in the hospital room turned to stare at them.
“Do you just collect hot men?” the cute woman asked as she turned to look at Aliana.
Aliana was frozen, her hair falling from her hands, a golden mass shimmering all around her. He saw her mouth open and silently form his name. She took a stuttering step forward, her hand out, as tears welled in her beautiful blue eyes.
He felt a wrenching in his soul, something shook loose, and he smiled as he moved toward her. But then she stepped backward and brought both her fists to her gut and pressed in like she was in pain. She shook her head at him, and he stopped.
“Alia?”
“No. Please, no.”
He stopped.
“Who is this?” Aliana’s friend asked gently. She could tell how upset Alia was.
A toilet flushed, the door to the bathroom opened and out walked Mrs. Jankovic.
“Hunter, you came.”
“Babička, what’s going on?” Aliana asked hoarsely. It killed Hunter to see how much pain Aliana was in. She looked like she had been run over by a Mac truck, and it was clear his presence was adding to it.
Her friend did what he wanted to, put her arm around Alia’s shoulders and whispered something in her ear. Then she turned to Aliana’s grandmother.
“Mrs. Jankovic, who is this?”
“Allow me to introduce.” Mrs. Jankovic swept into the middle of the room and kissed his grandmother on the cheek. “Rosa, thank you for bringing your pretty grandson.” She looked up at him. “Bend down. You too tall for me to climb you.”
Hunter suppressed a grin. He’d forgotten Mrs. J’s ability to butcher the English language. He bent so the noble woman could touch her cheek to his.
“Make this better,” she whispered into his ear. “I’m depending on you.”
How was he supposed to do that when Aliana was looking at him like he’d killed her puppy? Before he could say anything, Aliana beat him to the punch.
“Lottie, Babička, we need to go. It was good seeing you, Mrs. Diaz.” She was squeezing his grandmother’s hand and giving her a sad, loving smile and totally ignoring him.
“Aliana?”
“I can’t, Hunter.” She stared at the floor. “I don’t feel well, I need to go.”
Lottie cleared her throat. “Uhm, Aliana, you need to wait for the wheelchair.” Aliana gave her friend a panicked look. “I’m sorry honey, I don’t know who he is to you. Maybe he can leave until the doctor gets here.”
“No, he’s not leaving,” her grandmother decreed. “Carlotta, this is Mrs. Diaz and her grandson Hunter Diaz. He’s a sailor.”
“SEAL,” his grandmother corrected.
“But that sounds like a cute little creature of marine life. Sailor sounds more like a man,” Mrs. Jankovic said.
Hunter closed his eyes, praying for patience.
“Holy hell, you have a Navy SEAL on tap? No wonder you didn’t tell the cops anything,” Lottie tried to tease Aliana.
“Please, Lottie, it’s not funny.” She turned to Hunter. “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but can you go?”
“He’s here to help,” her grandmother said.
As much as her anxiety concerned him, one thing bothered him a hell of a lot more.
“Why aren’t you cooperating with the police?” Hunter asked Aliana.
She stiffened, then looked down at the floor, “I can’t talk about it.” She turned and limped toward the bed. “I’m going to phone for the wheelchair.”
“You are dirtying this up,” Mrs. Jankovic hissed softly at him so that Aliana couldn’t hear.
“I’ll take care of it,” he smiled.
“Good.”
She watched the two of them as she made the phone call. “What are you talking about?” she asked as she hung up the phone.
“Aliana, your grandmother called my grandmother. I came to help you.”
She bit her lip, then hissed, and brought her hand up to her already swollen mouth.
“Please Alia, let me help you.”
She opened her mouth to ask a question, then looked around at the audience they had and shut her mouth. In three steps he was in front of her.
“What?” he asked.
Her pretty face had a unique expression on it. “You’re not supposed to be here. You were supposed to stay away.”
“I stayed away far too long.” Now that he was here, he was thinking he should have been here a damn sight sooner. He realized the look on her face was hope. He knew it as he watched it slip away.
“No, you should never have come back. It’s for your own good.”
There was a knock behind him.
“Somebody call for a ride?” an orderly with a wheelchair asked.
“That’s for me,” Aliana said. He walked with her as she gingerly sat down in the chair.
Mrs. Jankovic patted his arm. She leaned in to say something to his grandmother that he couldn’t quite make out. Then she and Lottie followed Aliana out of the room.
“Mamie?”
“We’ll talk about it in the car. Let’s give them a chance to go out first. You’re upsetting your Alia,” she said in Spanish.
“She hasn’t been mine for a long time.”
“She’s always been yours. And she needs you now.”
Maybe. He thought about that first moment when she had seen him. Despite everything, her instinct had been to come to him. It was like the clouds parted for just a moment and the sun burst through, shining directly on him. He savored it. But now, he needed to focus on matters at hand.
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“I have our book club looking into things.”
He stepped back so he could look down at the small woman he called grandmother.
“I did not just hear you say that your book club is trying to figure out who planted a bomb in Aliana’s house.”
“The twelve of us are very well-connected here in the neighborhood. We’re meeting on Saturday. Velma is bringing German chocolate cake, and her aunt is bringing apple pie. I’ll have ice cream. We want to bring you up to speed.”
“I don’t want you involved,” he commanded.
“Too late, we’re involved. You’re coming and listening. I had Velma bake your favorite cake. Don’t give me any shit, boy.”
Hunter burst out laughing. He hadn’t actually been up to visit his grandmother in over a year, and they hadn’t argued like this in forever. It was fun. He wrapped her up in a hug.
“I love you Mamie, but I’m not letting you and your crazy cronies get involved with street gangs.”
“Some of those women were in the original gangs back in the day. They know what’s up. Granted, anyone truly loyal to that way of life has long since dropped out of the book club.”
He looked down at her. “You’re not hearing me. I’m serious, you’re not involved. Today you’re going to give me the information I need, then you’re taking down your Miss Marple Detective Agency shingle. Tell me what I need to know.”
“We’ll tell you on Saturday.”
“I want to know why Aliana hasn’t talked to the cops.”
Rosa brightened. “She’s better now, you know.”
“What do you mean better?”
“After her father killed himself, she went into a shell. But it wasn’t until six months later that she seemed to disappear.”
Six months later would have been when he stopped sending letters. “What do you mean, disappear?”
“It was the beginning of her senior year. Her mother and her grandmother didn’t notice.”
The back of his neck tingled. “Go on.”
“She fainted in school.”
“What was wrong with her?”
“She hadn’t been eating. She’d lost weight, but she was wearing so many layers of clothes, nobody noticed. They had to hospitalize her.”
“Ah shit, Mamie.”
“According to Magda, it just made her more of a target at school. But there is good news, mi hijo, she won a big poetry award and got a scholarship. She got to go to Arizona I think. Anyway, she got out. She came back because her mom got sick. She’s a good girl. She takes care of her mama.”
“Her mom’s sick?”
“Alzheimer’s. Aliana had to eventually put her in a home. For a long time, though, she was living with Aliana, but now that she is a vice principal, she can afford a place.”
“She’s a vice principal?”
“Yes, at Bertrum High School.”
His Alia had come a long way. But then he thought about her having to take care of a mother who was slowly losing herself and his heart ached all over again for her.
“Why isn’t she talking to the cops?” he asked.
“This is the first I heard about it. You need to find out. In the meantime, I’ll tell the girls in the club about the latest developments.”
Holy hell. “Mamie, stop with the book club already. I’m going to take care of everything. What gang is after her? Is it Las Nuevas Espadas?”
“Velma doesn’t think so. She’ll know more on Saturday when you get your cake.”
God, there was no stopping his grandmother.