Break In by John W. Mefford

Author:John W. Mefford [Mefford, John W.]
Format: epub
Publisher: Sugar Hill Press
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

27

It was Zahera. I ran around the corner and found her standing on the arm of the sofa, her body pressed against a wall. “Mouse.” She jabbed a French-manicured nail across the room. I turned just in time to see a tiny tail slithering into a hole about the size of a quarter.

I looked at Danny. “When you make your offer, you need to ask for a rodent treatment.”

“Don’t ask,” Zahera said, her face still rigid with shock. “Tell.”

“Good point. Put it the way she said.”

He nodded, then tapped a few notes into his phone.

Trying to get Zahera’s mind off the mouse, I took her by the hand and brought her into the meeting room. “So, can you envision it?” I swept my arm across the space.

“I see dust, crappy carpet, and... Crap, is that another damn mouse?”

She practically jumped in my arms.

“Your nails are poking my neck,” I grunted, trying to pry her hands off my body.

“Oh, sorry. Did you see that? This place is infested.”

I walked to the corner of the room, leaned over, and plucked something lifeless off the floor.

Zahera squirmed and shrieked at the same time. “It’s dead, it’s dead, get it away from me.”

I giggled. “Do you need your vision checked? It’s a ball of masking tape with a sliver of carpet stuck to it.”

“Are you shitting me?” With two hands grabbing the frame of the door, she leaned my way.

My giggle morphed into full-on laughter.

“Are you laughing at me or with me?”

“At you. I’m sorry, Z, but I’m not used to seeing you like this.”

A few seconds passed, but Zahera’s lips slowly turned up at the corners. “I guess I was a little overboard.”

“A little?”

“Okay, a lot.”

With Zahera finally engaged in my vision for what could be the future ECHO office, I said, “A classy sign on the door, and then we’ll have my desk in the front room.”

“What about a desk for Cristina?”

“Do you think she’d actually use it?”

“You have a point.”

“On top of that, she’s back in school now, working to get her diploma. I think once she starts to see a real future with an education, she’ll probably move on to the next phase of her life.”

I’d grown fond of Cristina, and thinking of her moving on brought an unexpected wave of sadness over me. We’d both experienced trauma and grief that had nearly shattered our lives, buried us. It had certainly changed us. Yet, in our own individual ways, we’d picked up the pieces and continued marching forward, because, ultimately, there seemed to be no other option. With no family of my own, and her mother on her way to prison, I wondered if I’d subconsciously categorized Cristina as family. A baby sister. The sound of it in my mind warmed my heart. Sisters always kept in touch.

My mind instantly made the leap to the Cooper boys. Two of them had suffered similar traumas in their lives. Their grandfather wouldn’t be around forever to help pick up the pieces, do what he could to keep them united.

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