Page 62 of Indiscretion

“I wish she would take some time off work,” Naomi whispered. “Her job takes a lot out of her. She has to travel all over the tri-state area.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s in sales. Sells restaurant POS systems.”

When we stopped at the light, I glanced back over my shoulder. “She seems pretty weak to be doing much of anything right now.”

“I know. I’m going to try to talk her into going to the hospital once we get home. The chemo has destroyed her strength.”

“What will you tell the kids?”

Naomi sighed. “If I can convince her to go, I guess I’ll tell them she has a stomach bug, that she ate something bad.”

I’d obviously never met her niece and nephew, but kids were smart. I still remembered my mother telling me everything was going to be fine after my dad was arrested—that it was all a big misunderstanding. I’d known that was a lie. Though, it wasn’t like it was Naomi’s decision to make, and sharing my experience of being lied to as a kid would only add to her stress. So I kept my mouth shut and drove.

Frannie was still asleep in the backseat when I pulled up to her apartment downtown. There wasn’t anywhere close by to park, and the less she had to walk, the better. So I pressed the button to put on my hazards and double parked behind a UPS truck.

“I’ll let you guys out here. But I’ll wait to see if you can get her to go to the hospital. I’ll give you a ride, if she agrees.”

“You’ve already done enough. If I can make her go, I’ll call an Uber. You don’t have to stay.”

“And put her in it alone?”

“No. I’ll go with her.”

“What about the kids?”

“Shoot. I wasn’t thinking.” Naomi chewed on her lip. “She’s friendly with the elderly woman who lives across the hall. I’ll see if she can watch them.”

“I’m going to stick around for a while, just in case. I can’t park here, but I’ll circle the block in case you can get her to agree. There’s no rush.”

Naomi put a hand on my shoulder and smiled sadly. “Thank you for everything, Dawson.”

Naomi gently woke her sister, and I watched them disappear into the building, taking slow steps that weighed heavily on my heart. Once they were inside, I looked at my watch. It was 4:15 now, so I figured I’d give her a half hour to talk some sense into her sister. If I didn’t hear from her, maybe I’d shoot off a text before I left.

Though I ended up not having to wait that long. Five minutes later, my phone rang. I answered, half expecting Naomi to tell me to leave. But that wasn’t what she said at all.

“Help! My sister just vomited blood.”

Chapter 17

DAWSON

“So do you know a lot of criminals?”

Too many to count, kid. Though that was probably not the answer I should be giving a ten-year-old currently looking at me like I was a suspect. I couldn’t say I blamed him. His aunt had practically carried his mother out the door, looking like she feared death was imminent, while simultaneously offering a forced smile and telling him his mother had eaten bad sushi.

“I know a few.”

“Did you ever meet Ted Bundy?”

“How old do you think I am, kid?”

“Forty?”

I frowned. “That was a rhetorical question.”

“A what?”

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