Chapter 8
“Hey,” Micah answered on the first ring.
Krystal let out a silent sigh of relief. She swore her brothers were avoiding her. “Hey yourself. What’s going on with Cormac? Don’t lie to me.” Still at home since she hadn’t left for work yet, she poured coffee into an insulated mug to go.
There was a looong beat of silence. Crap. That was never a good sign.
“What do you mean?” Micah asked, his tone all innocent.
Oh god. That was even worse. “I talked to him yesterday and he got off the phone with me without any explanations. Obviously he’s involved with Daniela Ruiz. And from what Apollo said, they have a history. I need more details if I’m going to keep him safe.”
“You don’t have to keep us safe. That’s not your job.”
“Tell that to my annoying brain because she’s not listening.” After their mom had been murdered, Krystal had basically raised her brothers and sister. She would always look out for them.
Micah sighed, but it wasn’t in exasperation. “I honestly don’t know what to tell you. Apollo and I are currently helping him with his situation. I can’t tell you more because you need plausible deniability with your job.”
“I hate it when you’re logical,” she muttered. “Whatever. I’m just worried about him.” Especially since the Ruiz woman had just killed someone. In self-defense, but still.
“I get that. I am too. And if I’m going to be totally honest, I think he’s in deep with this.” Micah’s tone was not grim exactly, but maybe a little worried.
Which just made her even more worried. Great. “If things start spiraling, pull me in. I don’t care about deniability.” She’d do anything for her family. Period.
“I will. How are the boys?”
She knew he was changing the subject but was glad for it.
She wasn’t going to get the answers she wanted this morning so there was no sense in badgering him for more info.
“It’s like they have new personalities every week,” she said dryly.
At least her husband was a solid partner, but raising three teenagers was a lesson in patience. A very long, very frustrating lesson.
He snorted softly. “We still on for Sunday?”
“You know it.” They often had family dinners at her place on Sundays and got caught up on everyone’s lives. “You think Cormac is coming?”
“I don’t know.”
She knew better than to push. Or more accurately, she knew when to push and now wasn’t the time. “Okay, just keep me updated.”
“I will… You hear from Pilar lately?”
“No. I mean yeah, but not about…that.” Months ago one of their mom’s childhood friends they hadn’t even known about had reached out, wanting to talk about their mother. Well, specifically their mom’s murder.
Pilar Vasquez had seen Krystal on the news after a blowup of a case and decided to talk to Krystal.
It had been a big shock to Krystal and then to her siblings when she’d filled them in on the random visit from the woman.
Pilar had told her that she was dying and didn’t want to go without solving her best friend’s murder.
But Pilar was going through chemo and her family had basically blocked Krystal from staying too long to visit.
So forget about discussing the cold case.
Not that she could blame them. They wanted their mom comfortable and resting.
But it was like she’d dangled this carrot in front of her then backed out, and it was taking everything in Krystal not to spiral, to obsess.
“I’ve got all the info she gave me,” she said on a sigh. “I’ve been digging here and there but…I don’t know if I want to get sucked into this.”
Did she want to know who had murdered her mom? Hell yes. But she was a mom now and her family depended on her. There were only so many hours in the day, and if she let what was a cold case consume her, she could see herself spiraling and going down a dark path. Her kids deserved better than that.
And so did she. She had a good life and, ugh, she needed to stop thinking about it. “I can’t change the past,” she finally said.
“I know.” Micah was silent for a moment. “But I would really like for Mom to have justice.”
“Me too,” she whispered. Then she swiped away a few stray tears because there was no time for that. Not on a Friday morning when she needed to get to work. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Once they disconnected, she grabbed her purse and coffee and headed out. Her boys were already at school and her husband was at a meeting so the house was weirdly quiet.
Sometimes she enjoyed the quiet, but right now she needed the chaos of the sheriff’s station. Anything to take her mind off what was going on with Cormac and the unsolved murder of their mom.