Blue only shrugged.
Ty leaned back, looking him over. “I’m not asking you to leave anyone behind. Bring the woman here. My wife is selling real estate now, so she can find a house for you. What I’m asking is for you to consider how far you can go here. You’ve outgrown what you do in California, and you know it.”
“That’s why I’m here.” No one needed to know his other reasons.
The steaks arrived. Prime cuts charred black at the edges. Blue took a bite and sighed. “They are as good as they always were.”
Ty grinned. “See, that’s what I’m talking about.”
They talked while they ate. Finally, Ty said, “I’m glad you want to come home. Your brother would be proud of you for returning.”
Blue nodded. He had looked up to his brother, but he would forever be in his brother’s shadow. “Charles was a great guy. Everyone loved him.”
“I’m not trying to give you guilt,” Ty said as he finished his meal. “But I’m convinced you’re the right man for this job. Think about it. I need an answer before you leave.”
“Sure thing.” Blue needed to get this decision over with.
Maybe he had been on Crown Island long enough. He’d certainly made a fool of himself there.
That afternoon, Blue drove to the cemetery alone.
The headstone was of polished silvery-gray granite, chiseled with Charles’s name, dates, and the Chicago Police Department star engraved beneath. Someone had left fresh flowers—his mother, probably, or maybe Athena.
Blue stood there for a long time with his hands in his pockets, rocking on his feet and staring at the headstone. His brother’s death was the end of an era.
And the beginning of another.
He didn’t talk to the headstone because he knew his brother’s soul wasn’t there. However, it was a good place to think.
Charles became a detective the year he died. He’d been good at it and had the mind for it. Patient and methodical with a good eye for pattern recognition.
Blue saw patterns, too. He just saw them differently.
He crouched and touched the grass in front of the stone. It was cool and thick, neatly trimmed. Whoever maintained the cemetery did nice work.
Calm settled over him. He glanced behind him, making sure he wasn’t being observed.
Blue faced his brother’s headstone. “I’m not sure what to do,” he ventured.
The steady hum of the expressway rose in the background, almost like distant waves. A bright yellow goldfinch landed on a nearby headstone and cocked its black-capped head at him as if it knew him.
“She asked me to marry her,” Blue explained to his new companion. “Now she hates me. Maybe not hate, but strong disappointment.”
The goldfinch ruffled its feathers as if admonishing him, then lifted into the air.
Even a bird knew he’d blown it with her. He stayed a few more minutes, then walked back to the car.
That evening, his mother set the dining table for five.
Blue counted the place settings from the hallway. His mother. Sadie. Elyse. Himself. And one more.
“Who else is coming?” he asked.
His mother straightened the flatware. “I invited Athena. She’d love to see you.”
“Ma. Really?”
“What? She’s family. She’ll always be family. I thought you’d like to see her this time.”
