Page 146 of Papa's Bébé
“Not everything. Are you close with your sister?”
Ouch. That wasn’t a superficial, easy question.
“I was, once upon a time. She’s still my favorite family member. But we don’t talk like we used to. And I miss her.”
“I’m sorry, Spitfire. And you’re not close with your brother?”
“No, not really.” It wasn’t like they’d kept in touch when he’d left the city.
“No,” he said.
“Huh?”
“I don’t have any siblings. You’re not close with Kathryn’s sons?”
“God, no. I’m not sure I’d even put them out if one of them was on fire.” She was aware of the sharp look he sent her. “I mean, that’s just a saying . . . of course I would.”
“Are they like Vince?”
“Like Vince?” she asked.
“Rotten on the inside while pretending to be a good person on the outside.”
She thought about that for a long moment, about their interactions. “Yeah, I guess they are. It’s scary when you think that two of them are detectives and one is a police officer.”
“Doesn’t seem to be many good officers on the force.”
“There is. Back before my dad was police chief, when my mom was alive, I remember all of his friends would come around for cookouts regularly. They all seemed to be good cops. But I was a kid, so I guess I don’t really know the full truth.”
“I don’t know, they could have been. Are many of them still cops?”
“No, most have retired or they quit. I can’t think of a single one that’s still in the force, actually.”
Was that odd?
No. They were older, of course they’d want a different pace. Except for her father, it seemed.
“I think I might be done with this game,” she said quickly. “Let’s try I Spy.”
“All right.”
“That’s cheating,”he said.
“No, it’s not!” she cried as he pulled into a side road. They’d been driving for about an hour. She wasn’t even sure where exactly they were.
“You said it started with L. R. S.”
“And it did. Little Red Shed. L. R. S. I don’t see how that is cheating,” she told him.
“It should have been just S for shed.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Uh-huh. The color of objects isn’t included and the shed wasn’t exactly,” he informed her.
“They are too!” She turned to him as he parked and turned off the car.
“Maybe in Mayaworld, here in the real world, nope.”
