2. Finding The Truth
FINDING THE TRUTH
“Did you get the story, Skye?”
“I’ll get it to you in thirty minutes or less,” she said to her editor, Kyle. “Coming from me first.”
“Facts or speculation?”
“Facts,” she said. With a touch of speculation, but she’d word it just right. They wouldn’t know the difference.
“Good. Get it to me before anyone else and we’ll run yours. You know how it works,” Kyle said.
Yep, she did.
It wasn’t exactly the career in writing she wanted, but it was an addition to her full-time job. Again, not what she really wanted.
But she’d made a promise to herself years ago. A goal she’d always had.
One she’d made once her new adoptive parents showed her what a family really was.
What caring looked like. How it felt.
She’d put that and so many other things off for too long.
“You’ll get it soon to run and I’ll get my money.”
The laughter on the other end came as she expected. “Always looking for the dollar.”
“It’s how you get ahead.”
She disconnected her call and got to work. It really wasn’t about the money, but if Kyle thought she felt that way, that she was eager as much as others, it’d give her that little edge.
Tate had introduced her to the captain and fire inspector and she got more than she’d thought, but not enough just yet to confirm it was the same MO as the car fire last week.
Her fingers moved across the keyboard, the words coming out fast and exact.
Then she read it again, cut some words out, gave them a punch, added some drama to it and left enough in there to make people wonder if it was done yet without causing too much panic.
She’d ended it with an implication that she’d be following up.
Once she had read it one more time, she sent it off to Kyle and waited for the money to hit her account in a few hours.
There was no doubt she was first, and even if she wasn’t, she was better.
With that done, she switched over and went back to her full-time job. The one that paid the bills and gave her the freedom to return home, even though she’d said she’d never come back.
She went to her inbox to see her next task, saw the user manual and rolled her eyes.
Ugh, she really hated healthcare products, but it was part of her job as a technical writer.
Especially for a company who contracted out nationwide. Anything could land in her box and had.
Before she could start, she picked her phone up, scrolled through her recent calls and saw it’d been two weeks since she’d talked to Carrie Lancaster.
Her mom now. Well, she’d been her mother for eleven years.
Skye was adopted right before her eighteenth birthday, but it’d taken another few years for her to call them Mom and Dad.
“Hi, Skye. I was going to check in and see how you were doing. Are you all settled into your new place?”
“I am.”
She always appreciated the space and time they gave her.
Never forcing her to bend to their rules, just follow and be respectful to the best of her ability.
It wasn’t hard to do, even as uncomfortable as it all felt living in the same house with someone she went to school with.
Someone who knew her background, or what she’d chosen to share, which wasn’t much.
But moving in with them, she knew the Lancasters would be privy to more.
“I haven’t wanted to bother you too much, but was wondering if you’d be around for dinner sometime this weekend? I’m trying to get everyone together.”
“Which isn’t always possible,” Skye said. “I can make it, as long as nothing happens that I have to run out and report.”
Her mother laughed on the other line. Soft but understanding. “You still need to take time for yourself. You’re okay financially here?”
She smiled and leaned back in the chair.
“I’m doing well. It’s not about money.” Even though she’d just told Kyle otherwise.
That had been a lie. This was about experience.
Finding the answers. Finding the truth.
The last two no one knew about.
And she wasn’t so sure when she’d tell them. Or if there was much to even say.
“Well, you made it in New York City on your own, so I’m assuming being back here is easier, even if Glens Falls costs a bit more than Warrensburg.”
“I’m not that far and you know it. And I saw Tate today.”
She’d keep the fact about seeing Ash out of the conversation for now.
“Where did you see him?”
“At a car fire. He was keeping people back. I heard it go off over the scanner and went to check it out and get a story. I was the first one there, and with my connection to my big bro, he got me an interview with the fire captain and inspector.”
“Don’t use your brother like that,” her mother said, humor riding high. She did miss their conversations, even if they texted a few times a week. But texting was less intrusive and she could get back to people when she chose.
“I let him hug me,” she said. “He’d do anything after that.”
Because her brothers all were super protective of her, even when she didn’t give that much emotion back.
And when she did, it almost melted them every single time.
She wouldn’t feel guilty for using that.
Not when maybe she wanted to feel some protective arms around her.
Something that had been missing from her life for years.
Something she had never gotten before she moved in with the Lancasters.
“He will. That was nice of you. He’s been wanting to see you also.”
She sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I know everyone wanted to help me move.”
“But you had to do it your way,” her mother said, “and your way normally means independently. It’s hard for us all to accept.”
“You’ve done a good job of it for the past decade.” She stood up and walked to the small kitchen in her one-bedroom apartment.
At eight hundred square feet it was twice the size of the place she had downstate and a fraction of the price.
She was still making the same salary as she was there...so winning!
She popped the top on a can of soda and took a swig. “Can I bring anything on Sunday for dinner?”
“Just yourself. I’ll do the cooking. There is no reason for anyone to bring anything.”
“You shouldn’t have to do it all,” she argued.
“I won’t be. Your father helps. We’ll grill. I’ll make your favorite chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.”
“Now you’re talking my language. That’s bribery so I don’t leave before dessert.”
“That’s right,” her mother said. “I’m going to call Brenna now and see if she’s off. She’s the last of my kids to know their schedule for the weekend.”
“Wow. You might have all six of us there at once? When was the last time that happened?”
“Last year for Christmas when I talked you into coming home. Now that you’re here, I get you for all the holidays.”
She blinked her eyes, the tears gathering that she was glad no one would witness.
“You do get me for the holidays.”
“I’m so glad you’re back, Skye. I know this isn’t easy for you. The decision to return rather than visit.”
Because normally when she visited it was short and she was out of there.
Always avoiding driving by the empty lot where her family home once stood.
Not that it was much.
Nothing big. Nothing fancy. Not even pretty.
It was a small home that needed a lot of work and didn’t even have smoke detectors.
Something so simple that could have saved their lives, but that her parents never thought much of nor cared about. And paid the price with their lives.
As shitty as her home life was, the last thing she would ever wish was that.
Not on anyone.
“I’m not really living there so it’s not that hard.”
Because living in Glens Falls, twenty minutes away, made it a little bit easier.
No worries about being tempted to check out where she came from.
Here, she could build her life again. Start over and try to move on.
All the while, searching for what really happened that night.