Protect and Serve. Gwyneth Bolton

      “You just won’t stop, will you? If you can’t cut Penny some slack on the day she buried Big Mama, then you need to leave.”

      Terrill’s irritatingly calm and reasonable voice sent an angry chill through Jason’s nerves. And watching Penny strut away from him didn’t help the steady boiling in his guts.

      Why had he even bothered to show up at the house after the interment? What was this sick, masochistic need he had to be in her presence, even when she had shown him exactly who she was?

      He had work he could be doing, cases he could be investigating. He’d taken a few days off when he found out Penny was going to be in town. Now he didn’t know why he’d done it. What did he really hope to gain?

      He had no idea. It wasn’t as if she wanted him around. He could be at the lab now working through the evidence on the newest addition to his cold-case files. He could be interviewing old witnesses to see if time had caused alliances to shift enough for friends or relatives to give up their knowledge about a crime.

      A new case had just come up. A man accused of the murder of two community activists and all-around Good Samaritans over thirty years ago had gotten off based on DNA evidence. The real murderer was still out there. As part of the cold-case team, Jason should be out there finding the person who had killed the popular married couple, instead of running behind Penny and begging her to talk to him.

      But something didn’t seem right. And this time he was determined to find out what it was.

      “You need to mind your business, Terrill.”

      “Penny is my friend. And you used to…” Terrill paused before hissing in disgust. “Jason, this just isn’t the time or the place. You should leave if you can’t see that.”

      Jason could literally feel his shoulders rising and his chest bulking up with each word falling out of Terrill’s mouth. Spoiling for a fight, he taunted, “You gonna make me?”

      Terrill shook his head and turned up his lips. “We’re grown men. I’m not going to resort to fisticuffs here.”

      Pansy. Pretty boy. How did I ever hang out with this guy?

      “Why? You scared I’ll kick your ass?” Jason leaned forward a little; the urge to give Terrill a physical shove was almost too compelling to hold back.

      “No. I don’t want to give any more stress to Penny than she has at this time.”

      “Well, aren’t you the perfect little boyfriend?”

      “Just lay off, Jason,” Terrill hissed.

      “Mind your business, Terrill.”

      Carla came sneaking up on them. “You boys aren’t going to start fighting in here, are you?”

      Terrill turned toward Penny’s mom and answered, “No. We aren’t.”

      Jason felt Terrill might just be wrong about that. Because he needed very badly to lash out at someone, and from where he stood, Terrill, with his I’m-Mr.-Perfect aura, was the ideal candidate.

      Turning to face Carla, Jason took a deep breath. Even though she had a thirty-three-year-old daughter, Carla was only forty-seven years old herself. In fact, the entire time he’d known Penny, they’d always thought of Carla as more of an older sister. She’d certainly never acted like a parent, especially not when she was hooked on drugs.

      Looking at her now, Jason could see that all those years of addiction had caught up with her a little bit. While she was still a striking woman, she no longer possessed the wholesome beauty she’d had when she was younger. Her once soft looks had a hard and rough edge to them now. Her honey complexion had a dull yellow appearance in spots. Her naturally wavy hair was a tad brittle and had lost its shine. She had a lot of gray hairs mixed in with the black. Her eyes still held the same youthful, wholesome appeal, however. They danced and shimmered with mischief.

      Carla opened her mouth in a wide grin, and it became apparent that one of her front teeth was badly chipped. That might have made less brazen women too shy to smile, but not Carla.

      “I always wondered what Brat had that made the two of you follow her around like little puppies. Whatever it was, I guess she’s still got it. Ha!”

      Knowing how much hearing the woman who gave birth to her call her Brat had hurt Penny, Jason felt a strange need to stand up for her that he quickly squelched. He wasn’t about to champion her cause. She had Terrill for that. But he reckoned he wouldn’t add any more stress to her day. She probably had enough stress, dealing with Carla.

      “We were just best friends, Carla. If anything, Penny was stuck to us like glue. We just realized she wasn’t going to go anywhere until we let her join the crew.” Terrill had an almost wistful sound to his voice.

      Jason raised his eyebrow and looked at his ex-best friend. No one would have been able to tell him way back then, when they were all eleven-year-olds riding their bikes and skates without a care in the world, that things would come to this. But then, no one would have been able to tell him he would fall madly in love with the scrawny, snaggle-toothed girl either.

      He still remembered the first time they had all played together in the small attic apartment on Warren Street where Terrill and his mother lived. Big Mama had had to rush off for some emergency with Carla. She’d had no choice but to leave Penny with Terrill’s mom. Jason had come over to play with Terrill, and had been thoroughly disgusted that a girl was there during their playtime. The horror!

      But Penny wouldn’t let them brush her off. He still remembered the way she had snatched his Rubik’s Cube and snapped, “Let me show you how to do it.” She had finished the complicated box that had had he and Terrill stumped for months in no time flat. He wasn’t even going to go into all the times she had beaten them in some race or another. She had gone from an icky girl to the coolest girl he had ever met to his second best friend by the end of the day.

      “Whatever. A girl could do worse than having two strong, strapping young men such as y’all to look out for her.” Carla let out a hooting laugh, and her eyes took in Jason. “I guess you don’t really look out for her anymore, since she stomped on your heart. But you’re here anyway, huh? You can’t stay away, now that she’s back. Ha!” Carla laughed so hard she started to cough as she opened the fridge and pulled out a can of grape soda.

      Ouch. “I’m just here to pay my respects, Carla.”

      “Yeah, right. And I can take a hit of crack today and not have to worry about getting hooked. Somebody is swimming in the river of de-ni-al.” Carla sang the word denial like a song.

      “We’re all just here to pay our respects. Big Mama always opened her doors to us and made us feel like family,” Terrill offered lightly. “We wouldn’t want to do anything that would take away from this time of mourning for your family, for Penny.” Terrill gave Jason a pointed stare.

      Fine.

      He would cut Penny and Terrill some slack today. But Penny wasn’t leaving town this time until she gave him the closure he needed. She owed him. He had waited fifteen years, but the wait was going to be over.

      “I’ve got to go. Please accept my condolences, Carla. And please, tell Penny I will be back by later to talk with her.” Jason thought about saying goodbye to Terrill, but he wasn’t feeling that amicable. It would take a lot more than conversation for him to reach a point where he could reach out to his old friend again.