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I turn to face a tall, Hispanic-looking guy, his dark hair cropped close to his scalp, formally dressed in pressed pants, shirt and tie. He looks familiar, but my mind goes blank for a second.
“I can’t believe my eyes.” He grabs my hand and shakes it, beaming, his grin blinding white. “What are you doing here?”
“John,” I say slowly. “John Elba.” The detective in charge of the case of the insane motherfucker who went after my kids and Octavia two years ago. “Didn’t know you were still in town.”
“Me? I’m always here. You’re the one who left.”
“You blame me?”
“Not at all.” He steps back, stares at me. “Holy shit.”
“What? Do I have something on my face?”
“Shut up. It’s not every day you stand in the presence of a happy ending, a good ending to an ugly tale. Let’s go, I’m buying coffee.”
“You’re nuts.” But now I’m grinning, too. Sure, John Elba is tied to some of my fucking worst memories in this world, but he’s right. It was a happy ending, and he was part of it. He was there, he helped, and hey, he’s police. Just the sort of guy I came to see. “Lead the way.”
* * *
“So is life kinder to you these days?” he asks over a cup of bitter, godawful coffee. “Everything going your way over in St. Louis?”
“It’s been okay,” I concede, pushing my coffee away, and then have to correct myself, because I feel I owe this guy the truth. “It’s been great.”
“You and Octavia are still going strong?”
“We got married. Got a kid on the way.” I can’t stop a grin from spreading on my face. “It’s good, man.”
“Rumor has it you opened your own garage.”
“Rumor, huh?”
“Evan told me. I ran into him the other day.” He sighs, pushes away his mug. “This coffee sucks. No idea why I keep coming back here.”
“Because it’s right next to the station?”
He grins at me. “Right.”
“You heard about Evan’s accident?”
“Sure did.”
“Then maybe you also heard the rumors about Jasper Jones?”
He nods, his grin slipping. “He’s been getting worse. He always was a jackass. You could see it in the way he treated everybody, including his own wife. No wonder she split soon after Ross was born.”
“She skipped town?”
“Oh yeah, and left no return address. Can’t really blame her, though I felt for Ross back then. Stuck with a father like Jasper, and no other family, everyone avoiding them because Jasper was such an ass… that can’t have been easy.”
You don’t say? I scowl, pissed that I feel a twinge of sympathy for Ross. “Yeah, well, Jasper had three more kids in town and never lifted a finger to help them. Worse still, he let Ross pick on them every chance he got. Life for Octavia’s family wasn’t easy, either.”
“Never said it was.” John shoots me a curious look. “Why are you here, Matt? Is something wrong?”
“What?” I’m so caught up in my unease and confused anger, it takes me a moment to remember that yes, I came here for a reason. “Oh right. Here’s the thing: I’m back in town with Octavia to help Evan out until he gets his feet under him. And Jasper showed up yesterday with two of his thugs, making threats.”
“That where you got that black eye?”
I shrug. “You don’t need to know that.”
