The phone vibrated in my hand. I was oblivious to the fact I’d picked it up in the first place. I hit the green button. Air clogged my throat, making it impossible to talk as I brought it to my ear.

“Boy, you have lost your damn mind.” What sounded like a woman in the background pleaded for him not to get angry. Something about his blood pressure getting too high.

“Kate, let me handle this,” Henry growled.

I picked out the sounds of an engine and knew they were in the car.

“Are you high again?”

My stomach twisted

“Gregor called, said you quit. There you go fucking up a good thing. Everything has been handed to you, and you continue to mess it all up. The fact that the Chief of Police offered you detective was your one moment of luck, and you pissed on it.” He cleared his throat. “Anything to say for yourself?”

I looked up in time to see an old burgundy Cadillac had pulled into the parking lot. As clear as day was Henry Caster with the phone to his ear and a woman beside him, crying.

“You’re doing that shit again, aren’t you?” he growled over the line. “You made your mother cry. We aren’t going through this shit again.”

I said nothing. He hadn’t noticed me yet. I slipped the rest of the way out of the car and gently closed the door. I kept the phone close to my ear, listening to him.

“Nothing to say for yourself? Well, I’m here. If I have to beat it into you, I’ll straighten you out like I should have done when you were a kid.”

“Henry, he’s tired. It was a hard case,” Tex’s mother pleaded.

“You don’t know what it’s like! The boy needs to toughen up. I saw ten times the amount of shit he did.” The door of his car swung open, and he angrily got out. He wobbled with his cane, not finding good purchase on the gravel.

I hung Tex’s phone up. Before Henry could so much as take a single step toward the building, I stepped behind him and caught his gaze in his side mirror.

He had the same blue eyes as Tex, but his were far duller. They widened, and his face went ashen. The passenger side door opened.

“Kate, stay in the car!”

She glanced over at us, wiping at her face. I smiled at her.

“I’m an old acquaintance, and seeing Henry again, I couldn’t help but come over.”

She looked at her husband again. “Oh, um—”

“Kate, get in the car,” Henry said through clenched teeth.

Her face reddened, but she followed his instructions.

“Are you here for my family?” Henry asked.

I closed the car door and walked around him. I made my way toward the back of the small building in case Tex came out earlier. Henry Caster followed behind me, limping as he made his way to the back. He attempted the tough guy act but old age and time off the force made him soft in certain areas. Fear peeked through the cracks, but it wasn’t enough for me.