Page 72 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

I thought about the busts I had made. I prided myself on putting people away that deserved to be there. The streets were safer because of the work I did. “No.”

“You’ve never arrested anybody you loved?”

“I don’t usually hang out with criminals, Zeke.”

“Hmm.” He turned to look out the window. For a second I thought he was going to stop asking questions. But then he turned back to me. “But what if someone you loved did something really bad? Would you arrest them?”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure. It wasn't something I never thought about before I’d found Violet’s gun. But I hadn’t turned her in. Technically I was a criminal too. Nothing felt as black and white as it had a few weeks ago. “I think it depends on what they did.”

“Do you love my mom?”

Shit. Violet had specifically asked me not to talk about this with him. I should have known he’d ask a question that would lead me into a hole just like his mom always seemed to. I cleared my throat. “We’re just friends.”

“Is that why you had a sleepover last night?”

“Why would you think that?”

“I heard her talking to you last night in her bedroom. She kept comparing you to God.”

Oh, God, Tucker. I had loved when she moaned that. Now? Not so much. Zeke had rendered me speechless.

“It’s okay. None of the kids invite me to sleepovers either.”

“That’s not…” my voice trailed off. How the hell could I turn this around? “It was a grown-up sleepover or else I would have invited you, little dude.” I realized it might be weird that I just called him that. It was what Violet always called him. It felt like I was crossing some kind of line and making the whole situation worse. Please don’t ask me what we were doing in her bedroom.

“It’s okay. I was glad she didn’t wake up in the middle of the night though.”

It was something a mother might say about her kid. Not the other way around. I wanted to just be relieved that he didn’t know what Violet and I had been doing. He didn’t know anything about the progression of my relationship with his mother. That was what Violet wanted. But I couldn’t just ignore what he’d said. I was too curious. “What do you mean?”

“She has lots of bad dreams. She screams a lot in her sleep. It always wakes me up and sometimes she comes and snuggles with me to stop crying. But she didn’t do that last night.”

“Oh.” His words were troubling. Was she having constant nightmares? Or maybe she was reliving something bad that happened to her. Horrible memories. “Well, maybe she was just more relaxed last night. Has she ever told you what makes her upset when she’s sleeping?”

“No.” He kicked his heels some more. “But I think someone was probably mean to her. Or else she did something really bad. I usually only cry when the other kids pick on me or I’m bad and I know it.”

My fingers tightened on the steering wheel. I had witnessed the catty women around town. People were awful to Violet. And I had my suspicions that her home life growing up wasn’t exactly a great atmosphere. But I wanted to know if Zeke knew anything else about it. “Have you ever seen her do anything bad?”

He shrugged. “She’s bad a lot. She counts things. And forgets things because she can’t stop counting.”

“That’s not bad. She can’t help the counting.”

“Yes she can. Whenever I tell her she’s doing it she stops. Always.”

“But she needs you to remind her.”

He nodded. “That’s why I think maybe she did something else bad before I was here to remind her to stop.”

I pulled into the drop-off lane at his school. The line of cars inched forward as Zeke's words echoed around in my head. I was going to have a conversation with Violet later about all of this. I didn’t have to question her kid about it too. But it didn’t mean I didn’t want to. I glanced at him out of the corner or my eye. “What do you think she did?” I couldn’t help it. The words just poured out.

“Promise not to put her in jail? She’s the bestest mommy in the whole world. And she’s my only friend.”

“We’re friends, Zeke.” It was the only thing I could think of to say in response. His words broke my heart.

“You have to promise.” He put his fist out in front of him, his pinky extended. “Pinky promise.”

When we had first started driving he had asked me whether or not I’d arrest someone I loved. And he wanted to know if I loved his mom. The kid knew something. “Pinky promise.” I wrapped my pinky around his.

A car behind us beeped. We had reached the front of the drop-off lane.

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