The Shuffle: A Duffy Mystery by Tom Schreck

Author:Tom Schreck [Schreck, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Down & Out Books
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The two o’clock group filed in and were all in place by 2:26. All had their coffee in place, and they had exchanged greetings. Ky updated everyone on Ali.

“I can’t tell if the girl is all delusional because of the shit or if she’s really in trouble with those men from the treatment place,” he said.

“What’s that mean?” Kay asked.

“She’s on the run and fearin’ for her life, but the girl is high all the time, so I can’t say for sure what is true and what is drug crazy shit,” Ky said.

“I remember I got paranoid as hell, but some of my fears were true. Just because you’re addicted doesn’t mean everything you think of is wrong,” Carl said.

“Word,” Ky said.

“What do you all know about Ali’s mom?” I asked. Ky and I made contact, and for a moment I thought he was afraid I was going to say too much about last night.

“She’s an addict. I know that much,” Kay said.

“What did Ali say about her? Like, did she work?” I said.

“She worked a register at a grocery store. She worked at the nursing home. She mostly got DSS,” Ky said.

“Welfare,” I said. “So, they would know about her.”

“Shit, DSS gets your whole history. I remember that assessment. Damn, they had to know everything about you. Jobs, bank accounts, arrests, drug history.” Kay rolled her eyes.

“Like addicts ever have anything left in a bank account.” Carl laughed.

“So, if she was on welfare and addicted, she would’ve had to be in treatment somewhere,” I said.

“Just like all of us. At least in the beginning,” Juan said.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s right.” A light bulb went off in my head. “So DSS and the whatever clinic she went to would know about her.”

“She probably had a record, too. I don’t know no addict from the ‘hood who never got arrested for somethin,’” Ky said.

The group finished up talking about heading to a NA meeting that night and where they’d be headed. Ky stuck around, and I poured him more coffee.

“Damn, D. I thought you were getting ready to talk about what we saw. Damn, you had me scared,” he said.

“There’s got to be something about Pittsfield, right?”

“Got to,” Ky said.

“We got to find out more about Elaina. We got the cops, the welfare department or the clinics.”

“How we gonna get that info. It’s all protected, right?”

“Supposed to be. There’s always a way.”

“Your cop friend, Detective Kelley, gonna help?”

I laughed.

“He’s barely speaking to me. I can’t ask him now.”

We were quiet for a bit.

“You got any counselin’ connections over there?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Pittsfield DSS?”

“No, definitely not.”

We sat there without saying a word. I didn’t have any ideas.

“D, you hooked up with Trina again, right?”

That stopped me cold.

“How’d you know about that?” I asked.

“Never mind how. Words get around.”

“So, why are you asking?” I said, realizing there was a little annoyance in my tone.

“She still official with the clinic, right? She’d have access to Ali’s records.”

“You’re saying, ask her to make a call and ask?”

Ky shrugged.

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