Sylvie no come home from school, her great-aunt Lupe replied quietly, as though apologizing for the news.
What? Where is she?
Javi said he saw her riding with that boyfriend of hers we dont like.
Seriously? Anger and concern flooded Ginas cheeks with heat. The boyfriend they didnt like had too much money to have gotten it in the old neighborhood by any legal means. But Bobby Estess flashy cars and devilish good looks were too much for Ginas dreamy, dissatisfied baby sister to resist. And if Bobby was a teenager, as he claimed, then Gina was Santa Claus. Clearly, her last conversation with Sylvie, about the definition of statutory rape and learning to act like an adult if she wanted to be treated like one, had not made a memorable impact. Im going to have to ground her. Thats all there is to it.
But dealing with her sisters rash choices didnt get Tio Papi to the doctors office. Gina slipped her fingers beneath the base of her wavy brunette ponytail to massage the tension gathering at the nape of her neck.
Derek nudged her with his elbow. Need a ride home tonight?
Missing the point! Although, in his defense, Derek was only hearing half the conversation. Gina summoned a smile for the friend shed been riding a squad car with for almost two years now. Its okay. Just a miscommunication at home.
Gotta love our families, right? Derek teased. She knew he had a strained relationship with his father. And there was no love lost for Dereks mother, whod divorced his father and moved away, leaving her teenage son behind to be raised by an aging hippie who had trouble keeping a job and staying out of jail.
A difficult upbringing was part of the common ground they shared, and had helped solidify their working relationship and understanding of each other. Gina gave the sarcasm right back, whispering so her great-aunt couldnt hear. Do we really have to?
Derek grinned and directed her back to her phone. Tell Aunt Lupe hi for me, okay?
I will. Tia Mami, Derek says hi.
You teach that young man to say hola, and bring him to dinner sometime.
Im working on it. Gina continued the conversation with appropriate responses while her great-aunt rattled on about other concerns shed have to deal with once she got home. While Lupe talked, Gina concentrated on the scenery as they drove past, partly because it was her job to observe the neighborhood and take note of anything that looked suspicious or unsafe, and partly because shed already heard the same worried speech too many times before about fast cars and traffic accidents, young men who didnt come to the door to pick up a date and Uncle Rollos deteriorating health.
Now there was something different. Gina lifted her chin for a better look. A tall man in silver and black running gear came around the corner off Pennsylvania Avenue and ran down the narrow side street. A jogger in this neighborhood was unusual. Maybe he was one of those yuppie business owners whod opened an office in this part of town for a song, or hed bought a loft in one of the areas abandoned warehouses, thinking he could revitalize a little part of Kansas City. Not for the first time, she considered the irony of people with money moving into this part of the city, while the natives like her were doing all they could to raise enough money to move out.
But irony quickly gave way to other thoughts. The runner was tall, lean and muscular. Although the stocking cap and wraparound sunglasses he wore masked the top half of his head, the well-trimmed scruff of brown beard on his golden skin was like catnip to her. Plus, she could tell he was fit by the rhythmic clouds of his breath in the cold air. He wasnt struggling to maintain that pace and, for a woman who worked hard to stay physically fit, she appreciated his athleticism.
As they passed each other, he offered her a polite wave, and Gina nodded in return. Since he already knew shed been staring, she shifted her gaze to the side mirror to watch him run another block. Long legs and a tight butt. Ginas lips curved into a smile. They probably had a lot of scenery like that in the suburbs. A relationship was one thing she didnt have time for at this point in her life. And no way did she want to tie herself to anyone from the neighborhood who might want her to stay. But there was no harm in looking and getting her blood circulating a little faster. After all, it was only twenty-two degrees out, and a woman had to do whatever was necessary to stay warm.
Gina glanced over at her partner. Derek was handsome in his own way. He, too, had brown hair, but his smooth baby face was doing nary a thing for her circulation.
Do we need to take a detour to your house and have a conversation with your sister? Id be happy to um, have a word, with that boyfriend of hers. He took his hands off the steering wheel to make air quotes around have a word, as if he had ideas about roughing up Bobby on her behalf. As if she couldnt take care of her familys issues herself.
Since the car was moving, Gina guided one hand back to the steering wheel and changed the subject. She covered the speaker on her phone and whispered, Hey, since things are quiet right now, why dont you swing by a coffee shop and get us something hot to drink. I havent been able to shake this chill since that first snow back in October.
Although the remembered impression of Sexy Jogger Guy made that last sentence a lie, her request had the desired effect of diverting Dereks interest in her family problems.
That I can do. One skinny mocha latte coming up.
Distracted with his new mission, Derek turned the squad car onto a cross street, plowing through a dip filled with dirty slush as they continued their daily patrol through the aging neighborhood. With houses and duplexes so close together that a person could barely walk between them, vehicles parked bumper-to-bumper against the curb and junk piling on porches and spilling into yards, this was a part of the city she knew far too well. Add in the branches of tall, denuded maple trees heavy with three months worth of snow arching over the yards and narrow streets, and Gina felt claustrophobic. As much as she loved Kansas City and her job as a police officer, she secretly wondered if she was the reincarnation of some Central American ancestor and was meant for living on the high, arid plains of her people with plenty of blue sky and wide-open space, without a single snowflake in sight.
Setting aside her own restless need to escape, Gina turned toward the passenger door to find some privacy for this personal conversation. Did you call Sylvie? she asked her great-aunt, once the older womans need to vent had subsided.
She dont answer.
What about Javi? Her brother, Javier, was twenty-one, although that didnt necessarily mean he was making better choices than Sylvie. She kept hoping for the day when he would step up as the man of the family and allow their great-uncle to truly enjoy his retirement. Can he drive you?
Hes already gone. Hes picking up some extra hours at work.
Well, that was one plus in the ongoing drama that was Ginas life. Maybe so long as Javi was intent on saving up to buy a truck, he would focus on this job and avoid the influence of his former friends whod made some less productive choices with their lives, like stealing cars, selling drugs and running with gangs. Good.
Papi says he can drive, Lupe Molina offered in a hushed, uncertain tone.
Gina sat up as straight as her seat belt and protective vest allowed. No. Absolutely not. The whole reason hes going for these checkups is because he passed out the last time his blood pressure spiked. He cant be behind the wheel.