Page 38 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

“Thanks, Mama. I love you too. I don’t need anything. Are you taking care of yourself?”

“Yeah. I’ve been eating well and exercising. It’s not like I can cook for you. So I don’t cook much at all. I mainly do frozen dinners. I’ve lost five pounds.”

“You don’t need to lose weight, Mama. You’re not a big woman. Eat a lot of protein. Get the Atkins frozen dinners. They’re actually really good. When I tried one, I didn’t have to add seasoning to it at all.”

“Okay. I’ll check those out, baby. I just miss you.”

“I know you do. Just try not to worry.”

“Kyrie, people are trying to kill my only son. I’m going to naturally be worried.”

“But I’m safe, Ma. Okay? A cop patrols the area every thirty minutes, looking for anything suspicious. As long as I get to talk to you, I’ll be good. You help keep me sane. My host is very gracious and definitely tries to keep me entertained, whether we’re playing dominoes or watching movies.”

“Okay. I’ll try to calm down, but that won’t be an easy feat. I’ll try to call later.”

“Okay.”

We ended the call, and I noticed that the pictures on the wall were in the background.Shit.Hopefully she didn’t notice them. If she did, she would definitely call Ms. Farris to find out where her mother lived. I checked my text messages to see if Genesis had replied, and there was nothing. I let out the breath I seemed to be holding in anticipation, then went to my laptop. I had been piecing some things together on my own that Detective Johnson was sending me.

So far, there were discrepancies with what the DA said in his opening statements. He’d said that Darlene Doll had single-handedly destroyed Beaumont’s infrastructure. That she had come in and brought her theories and illegal activities to adistinguished office of law. He also said that she was padding receipts. While she did most of those things, there were quite a few receipts that weren’t signed off by her.

Upon closer inspection, I could see that her signature looked different on almost every receipt and invoice. Had her defense attorney done his job efficiently, he would have noticed that. Then again, he probably noticed, but Darlene wouldn’t allow it. She was supposed to take the fall had something like this happened. Who was the whistle blower? Someone had dropped the ball. Whether that was intentional or not would be what we had to figure out.

I checked my report about my security and staying with Grandma Jean and noticed there were some similarities with one of Darlene’s signatures and Lieutenant Gamble’s. I frowned slightly and pulled up both documents side by side.Fuck!They were the same. I probably wasn’t safe here at all. I’d have to keep this under wraps until I knew more though. I slid my hand down my face as I continued to search to see just how many documents had a signature that resembled his.

By the time Grandma had gotten back, I’d found nearly ten documents that looked like his handwriting, where he’d forged Darlene Doll’s signature. I couldn’t believe this woman took the ultimate one for the team. This was insane. She was definitely getting a hell of a kickback. I went up front to see what she’d brought back for lunch to see sub sandwiches on the table, along with bags of chips and sodas.

I really didn’t drink soda, but whatever. I’d probably gained fifteen pounds here. I had just started working out a bit, doing sit-ups, pushups, and jumping jacks. I didn’t have weights to lift, so I would just have to work on cardio. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be here too much longer. I almost didn’t understand the point of me being here. I knew they didn’t know who to trust, but it seemed as if one of the people we were trusting was workingfor the opposing team. Something was off, and I wouldn’t stop researching until I found the missing pieces.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, so I pulled it out to see a text from Genesis. It was a generic and simple response.Thank you.

I stared at it for a while. I wanted to say more, but if all she had to say was ‘thank you’ to what I’d already said, then she probably wouldn’t respond to anything else. The crazy part about all of this was that I knew we wouldn’t be together while all of this was going on. I slowly shook my head, then suddenly slammed my phone to the floor.

Grandma Jean came running from the back and saw my phone on the floor. Although my gaze was trained on the table, I could see her in my peripheral. “Baby, is everything okay?”

I took a deep breath and looked up at her. “My life is all screwed up, and there ain’t shit I did to deserve it. So how do I get over it? How do I move on from it?”

“The problem is that you keep running from it, baby. Genesis already knows you’re here. Stop being stubborn and talk to her. Let her know your boundaries, and I’m more than sure she will respect them… if they aren’t outrageous or something that will make her feel like she’s living in the seventies.”

She chuckled, and I smiled slightly. Maybe she was right. Maybe she wasn’t. There was only one way to find out. I glanced at her as I opened the sub sandwich. “Thank you for lunch. I have a question though.”

“Okay.”

“What did you think had happened in here?”

“Well, I just heard the loud crash, so I thought someone had broken in.”

“And just what were you going to do without a weapon, Grandma? Wrestle them?”

She fell out laughing then pushed me in the head. “Hush up! Don’t be underestimating hammer number one and hammer number two,” she said, holding up her fists.

I laughed so hard I choked from my own saliva.

“That’s what you get for messing with me!”

We laughed more as she sat across from me to eat her sandwich. “So what are you going to do about your track meet?”

I frowned for a moment until I figured out what she was talking about. I rolled my eyes as she laughed more. “Ha, ha. Funny, funny. I’m going to use that car they left me for emergencies, and I’m going to that firehouse to see her.”

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