Starting Point (27 page)

“Where’s Sal?” I asked.

“Oh, he’s gone to club with the boys.” She shook her head and threw up her hands. “At least he leave me alone.”

I laughed. “Oh, you love it when he annoys you.”

She scowled at me, then she rolled her eyes and sighed. “All right. But don’t tell him I said that.”

“Wouldn’t dare.”

“I thought I would take Oscar. Just when you both at work, so he not lonely and make a mess in your house.”

“Yumi, you don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. Plus, he be like my only grandchild. I take what I can get.”

Oh.

I pulled her into my side. “Yumi…”

“That’s not a bad thing, Matty,” she said, looking up at me. “I resign for a long time to no grandkids. And that’s okay. You know Gloria from Bridge club? She has to buy her grandkids iPads for birthdays. Can you imagine?” She shook her head again. “Oscar not cost me that much.”

That made me laugh. “No. I’m sure a chew toy and a box of treats will be just fine.”

“I can take Claude too,” Yumi said.

Claude, who had been playing with Oscar, heard and turned to face us. I looked at Yumi. “You don’t have to do that.”

“If I take Oscar to the park, Claude can come, yes?” She looked at me, then at Claude. “We can take care of him for an hour or two together, yes?”

Claude looked to me, not sure what to say. “You can go to the park with Yumi and Oscar if you want, squirt,” I told her. “Yumi can drop you back to the FC later, or I can come get you. It’s no big deal. I have to pick Kira up anyway, then go to Yumi’s to pick up Oscar.”

Yumi nodded, as though it was already a done deal. “We have lunch at the park.”

“And ice cream,” I said, making Claude almost smile.

“Ice cream?” Yumi asked.

“Yep,” I said. “Claude loves it, and Kira tells her she shouldn’t have it.”

“Kira had some ice cream last time,” Claude yelled across the yard.

“Don’t listen to him. We can eat as much ice cream as we want,” Yumi said. “Claude, go grab Oscar’s leash and what he needs. Matty need to go back to work.”

Claude raced inside with Oscar following right behind her, and I smiled at Yumi. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Matty,” she said with a smile. A motherly smile. “It’s what we do.”

Claude raced back out to where we were, still in the backyard, holding the backpack. “I got his leash and the bone thing he was chewin’ on his bed.”

“Don’t let him off his leash in the park. He can’t hear you if you call him, so keep hold of the leash all the time,” I said to Claude.

She nodded diligently. “I will. Promise.”

I gave Yumi a shrug. “There’s a few things to remember with a deaf dog.”

Yumi raised one eyebrow at me. “I know, I know. You have a deaf dog. I have a Sal.”

I burst out laughing and gave her a hug. “You’re the best.”

After grabbing a few other things, like an old plastic lunch container, a bottle of water and his harness—and enduring a lecture from Yumi that Oscar ‘
Is just a dog and doesn’t need the entire contents of Pets-R-Us despite what Kira thinks’
—they were on their way.

I had my appointment with Tamara, and again, I considered mentioning cutting back on my appointments, but didn’t want to ruin the mood. It was a productive meeting—I told her all about Oscar and how the plans for the fundraising day were all going well, and how the mood in the club was one of excitement. We were counting down the days now, and there was a buzz amongst the boys.

When our time was up, Tamara bid me farewell and I pretty much smiled all the way back to work.

I spent a few hours with Boss making sure everything was on track for the fundraising day. He’d had some phone calls from some people citing me as a point of contract, referred by the good Pastor Michael of St Andrews. We scored some free merchandise from one company, and apparently I was doing an interview in the
LA Times
.

“He said he had connections,” I said with a laugh.

“Jesus,” Boss mumbled.

“Yep. Him too.”

Boss glared at me for the bad joke. “Maybe if he’s that well connected, he can organise good weather for us in two weeks.”

“Weather forecasts look good,” I told him. “I’ve been watching them. All blue skies and sunshine.”

Boss exhaled loudly and leant back in his chair. He looked stressed.

“Boss, this will work. There’s clothes stalls, arts and crafts, food stalls, cotton candy, fair rides for the little kids, we’ve got demos and practice sessions. This is going to be massive. It’ll be good for the club, good for the local businesses and good for the community.”

Boss ran his stubby fingers through his grey hair. “You right with the interview? Figure you’re better with that shit than me.”

“I’ve done dozens of interviews,” I told him. And that gave me an idea. “When I was a cop, we did interviews all the time. It was always the same journos and photographers. Maybe I can give some of them a call and see if we can do a promo interview on TV. Even as a follow-up to my work here, since I left the force. Any publicity is good publicity, right?”

“Not always, no,” Boss grumbled back at me. “I seem to recall your face in the papers getting hauled out of a cop bar for fighting. That wasn’t great publicity.”

I smiled ruefully. “Actually, that was a show for Tressler. I needed him to see that I was serious about fighting and being thrown out by old partners was the perfect way to do that.”

His eyes hardened. “It was an act?”

“Well, it started out as one,” I admitted. “It was supposed to be harmless, but I lost my shit and wanted to kill someone.”

Boss sighed. “And that’s the part they caught on tape.”

“There’s always someone with a phone these days. Everything and anything can end up online, or on the news, and it usually does. It was a perfect way to be seen by Tressler, the man I came here undercover to take down.” I sighed. “Sorry. I hate that I lied to you, and everyone here. You know I’m sorry, right?”

Boss nodded. “Yeah, you only said it about a thousand times. I know you mean it.”

I stood up. “I’ll go make some phone calls and see if I can line up another interview before the kids come in for class.”

I left a message on Berkman’s phone for him to call me back and got organised for class. Then I called Yumi, who grumbled at me for checking up on her. “I need to let Ruby know when his sister will be back, that’s all,” I told her. “I know you’re capable and wonderful and an exceptional cook.”

Yumi giggled into the phone. “That’s better.” Then she said, “I can drop her off on my way. In an hour or two?”

I looked at my watch. “That’d be perfect.”

I clicked off the call. I knew Ruby would freak out when I told him his sister was with someone he didn’t know, so at least I had a time to tell him she’d be back.

Only he didn’t come back in.

I checked with Arizona—Ruby had left at the end of his session, nothing out of the ordinary, Arizona said. “Just said he’d be back later.”

I’d finished my class with the usual kids that turned up. Yumi dropped Claude off, and the little girl told me excitedly about everything she had done with Yumi and Oscar. She’d obviously had a great time. Yumi was grinning from ear to ear, gave Claude a hug and told her she’d love to take her again.

Not long after that, Ruby walked in. I only saw him from across the gym, but I could tell by the way Claude was using her hands to describe whatever it was she telling him, she was recalling the details of her day.

It wasn’t until I finished packing up the equipment and tidied the mats along the back wall, that I walked over to where they were. What I saw made my stomach drop.

Ruby’s eyes were glassy, and his pupils were dilated.

My blood ran cold and my heart stuttered in my chest at the realisation of what I was seeing. I felt almost physically ill.

Ruby was high.

Chapter Fourteen

“Matt?” Boss called out from the door to his office. “Phone.”

Fuck
.

I knew the call had to be important for Boss to come out and get me, and as much as I wanted to talk to Ruby, I had to choose.

“Elliot!” Boss yelled, this time.

Fuck.

“Ruby you don’t go anywhere, you hear me?” I barked at him as I left to take the call.

It was another one of Father Michael’s connections, who just happened to be a regional manager of a major sports drink company, and this time they wanted to meet with us to discuss a financial donation or sponsorship options. We arranged a time for during the week, I thanked them again and again, and explained the details to Boss once I’d hung up the call.

He shook his head in disbelief. “Just what exactly does that mean?”

“We won’t know what they’re after until we meet with them.”

“What do we tell them?” Boss cried. “Jesus. I dunno what to say to ’em.”

“We see what cards they put on the table, Boss,” I said. “If they want to give us a cash donation, we take it and say thank you. If they want to give us cash for sponsorship, maybe we could suggest a junior’s tournament round with other clubs with them as the major sponsors.”

Boss blinked. “How do you know all this shit?”

I walked over to him and put my hands on his shoulders. “Boss, do me a favour. You need to relax. Stop stressing, please. You’re gonna have a heart attack or a stroke, and quite frankly, I don’t have time right now to visit you in hospital.”

He glared at me, and I laughed. “Boss, we’re gonna be fine. I promise. This meeting for sponsorship is huge. Like really huge. So do me a favour and smile. Please.”

He grimaced what I think was supposed to be a smile.

“Okay, don’t do that. You’ll scare small children.” Then I remembered Ruby. “That reminds me,” I said, walking towards the door. “I need to go talk to Ruby. Remember what I said, Boss. You can’t have a heart attack,” I said as I walked out the door. “This place needs you.”

I went back out onto the main floor area of the gym, and Ruby and Claude were gone.

Fuck.

I went out the front of the FC to look for them, but they were nowhere in sight. I walked the blocks on either side, looking for them in the shadows, and when I was in the car, I drove a few blocks looking for them. But they were gone.

I was a bit late picking Kira up, and when I got there, he was waiting out front. He climbed in and threw his bag in the back. “Hey. You’re a bit late. Everything okay?”

I pulled the car back into traffic. “Today has been…strange.”

“Strange?”

“Good, and bad.”

Kira looked concerned. “What happened?”

“Well, we scored funding and sponsorship for the club. Well,” I amended, “it’s not signed off on yet, but they’re interested and we have to meet with them. It’s promising. I don’t even know what they’re offering yet, but any way we look at it, it’s great.”

“Oh, Matt, that’s fantastic!” Kira said. “But the bad news?”

“Ruby came back into the club this afternoon, just after class.”

“And?”

“And he was high.”

Kira blinked. Then he blinked again. “What?”

I nodded. “His eyes gave him away.”

“Oh, man.”

“I had to take a call about that sponsorship and when I came back out, they were gone. I looked for them, but they were nowhere to be found.”

He slid his hand on my knee. “Babe, I’m sorry.”

“I’m really mad at him,” I told him honestly. “Like seriously pissed. But I know going off on him is the last thing he needs.” I sighed. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow and see what he has to say.”

Kira leant back into the passenger seat and exhaled loudly. “Man, after everything you’ve done for him.”

I covered his hand with mine and gave it a squeeze. “I know. And Arizona. He’ll be devastated.”

Kira shook his head. “Are you sure he was high?”

As soon as he’d said it, he realised. Of course I knew. I was a narcotics detective. I knew the signs. He sighed again. “Godammit.”

“I know.”

“What about Claude?” Kira asked. His concern was clear in his eyes. “Will she be all right with him tonight?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Ruby’s very protective of her and he usually looks after her better than anything, but he’s not himself tonight.”

“I don’t like it, Matt.”

“Neither do I, babe.”

Kira looked at the passing streets. “Why are we going to Mom and Dad’s?”

“They have Oscar.”

Kira raised one eyebrow at me. “They what?”

I snorted. “Your mom wouldn’t take no for an answer. She took him and Claude to the park for a few hours. Said she can look after him on days we’re both at work. Also said she would consider it her grandmotherly duties, because Oscar is like her grandson now. Which is fine, by the way, she’ll take what she can get and because she won’t have to buy him an iPad.”

Kira stared at me and blinked slowly.

I laughed. “I told you today was strange.”

Kira shook his head. “My mother is strange.”

I snorted out a laugh. “Your mom is the best mom. Ever.”

We pulled up out front of his parents’ house then walked up to the front door. “Don’t tell her that. You’re already her favourite.”

I was laughing as we walked inside, and as we took off our shoes, Yumi came into the foyer. “You boys stay for dinner,” she said, an order not an invitation.

I pulled Yumi against me into a big hug. “I was just saying to Kira that you were the best ever. And he said that’s why I’m your favourite.”

Yumi grinned up at me and swatted my chest. “I not have favourites.”

Kira leant down and kissed her cheek. “That’s not what you tell me.”

Yumi pushed her son’s arm. “Oh stop it.”

“Where’s Oscar?” I asked, walking into the kitchen. “Has he been good?”

“He’s such a good boy,” she said, before walking to the stove, where she started stirring something in a pot. “We come home from the park and he sleep all afternoon. Now he in the garden with Sal. Deaf man, deaf dog.” She rolled her eyes. “I had to come inside.”

Kira bit the inside of his lip, but I could tell he was trying hard not to smile. “I better go out and see which one’s more confused.”