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“Okay, I’m not trying to be rude. But I am an investigator looking into a series of murders. So when I say it’s none of your business, it’s just a polite way of telling you that it’s none of your business.”
Burke glanced down at Michelle’s waist. “Do you have to wear that thing around here?”
Michelle looked at her holstered pistol revealed through the opening in her coat. “Two people up here are dead. I would think you’d like someone with a gun around. Just in case the killer shows up here.”
Burke gasped and took a step back. “Why in the world would they do that? You’re just trying to scare an old woman. That’s not very nice.”
Since Burke did indeed look very frightened, Michelle sighed and said, “Maybe I was trying to scare you, but just because you got under my skin.”
“That was not my intent.”
“Sure it was,” she shot back.
At first Michelle thought Burke was going to launch into a tirade, but the old woman instead sat down in a chair, wrapping her sweater more tightly around her and said, “You’re right. It was.”
Michelle relaxed a notch. “Why?”
“You remind me a lot of my daughter. Well, when she was younger. Fiery, independent, her way or no way at all.”
“Okay.”
“We had our differences. We had our words.”
“Moms and daughters often do.”
“Are you close to your mother?”
Michelle hesitated. “I… was.”
Burke looked confused. “You were… Oh, yes, oh, I see, I’m sorry. Was it recent?”
“Recent enough, yeah.”
A few moments of silence lapsed. “So what happened to your daughter?” asked Michelle.
“She left to go to college. I just assumed she’d come back here. But she never did.”
“Where is she now?”
“Hawaii.”
“Long way away.”
“About as long as you can get and still be in America. I’m sure that was intentional on her part.”
“Do you ever see her?”
“No. It’s been decades now. It amazes me when I think about it. All those years. The time goes by so fast. She sends me pictures. I have three grandchildren. Before my husband died we had planned to fly out there and break the ice. But then he passed and… Well.”
“I think you should still go.”
She shook her head vigorously. “I think I would be too afraid. When my husband was alive he was the buffer. I could make the trip with him. But alone, no.”
“And not see your grandkids?”
“They don’t even know me.”
“But they will if you go out there.”
