“I don’t know, ma’am. Vera was pretty closed off about it all. I don’t know what was going on, but she felt like her family life was more messed up than mine, and that’s saying a lot.”

This couldn’t be true. Vera was a happy girl. Had she really said such awful things about her family who would do anything for her? And I mean anything.

I heard her before I saw her, a woman’s voice gravelly from chain-smoking and slurred from alcohol. “What the hell’s goin’ on here? Austin, who you talkin’ to? Better not be someone come to take you back to that group home.”

The woman wore obscenely tight leopard-print leggings and a black sweatshirt with the slogan If the South Woulda Won, We’d Have It Made, which told me everything I needed to know about her. A toddler followed at her heels. I took a couple of cautionary steps backwards as the woman brought the soggy butt of a Virginia Slims to her mouth, took a long drag, and pooched out her bottom lip to expel a jet of smoke over her frowzy head. My nostrils flared, smelling the noxious medley of menthol and Wild Turkey.

“No, Mom, it’s Vera’s mother,” Austin answered.

Her eyes darted to Cody. “And you—I know you! I don’t know why you’re back here, but you need to get the hell off my property.”

“I’m talking to your son about my daughter Vera,” I tried to explain.

But she wasn’t having it. The screen door swung open, banging against the vinyl siding. She poked her nicotine-stained finger against my chest. “I said Get. The. Hell. Off. My. Property.”

Cody stepped between us, pushing her back with his puffed-out chest. “Ma’am, we’re not doing anything but talking.”

The stubby gorgon stood on her tiptoes, her chin nearly resting on Cody’s pecs. “Enough talk! Unless you want to do it with the barrel of my gun pointed at your head.”

“Is that a threat?” Cody spouted. “How about I involve the cops in this conversation?” He pulled out his cell phone, finger ready to dial.

I grabbed his arm, dragging him away before this got out of hand.

“Cody, just stop. Let’s go.” He resisted me as a duel rose between them. “Please, there’s no need to involve the police. We’re leaving.”

“Damn right!” the woman yelled as I fumbled down the last step of the porch. “Your kid is better off dead than having you as family.”