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“And?” What isn’t he saying? “I recall a robbery there not too long ago.” My neighborhood isn’t the best, but we still know when bad stuff happens. Everyone in my building talked about the robbery. One of the clerks was shot.
“She was working when the store was robbed.”
“Was she hurt or something?” I heard it was a guy that was wounded.
“No.” He frowns. “The other employee on duty was, though. Badly.”
“But my mom wasn’t?” The pair of us stare at one another. I blink first. “What aren’t you saying?”
“I’ve got no proof. Not yet.”
“About what?” Then, I remember––my mom’s a thief. “You think she was in on it?”
“It’s only a hunch.”
So much is running through my mind right now. For one, my mom lives here. She probably always has. Which means, for the last twenty-three years, she’s been doing her own thing, not giving one hoot about me or her own parents. Did she know Grandma was dead? Grandpa? Would she care? Probably not.
“What’s wrong, Lucy?”
I wipe away the tear that escaped. The traitor. “Nothing.”
Garrett pulls a handkerchief from his inside pocket. A real handkerchief. I stare at it a moment but smile at the gesture and at the memory of my grandfather. He always carried a real cloth handkerchief around. Grandma embroidered his initials onto every single one. I glance down at Garrett’s but see no such handiwork. Maybe I could—
No. Stop right there, Lucy Locket. You’re a fool to think this man wants anything to do with you. You’re a thief. Just like your mother.
And that thought causes several other tears to fall.
“You didn’t know she lived here?”
Shaking my head quickly, I wipe the last tear I’ll shed for that woman. “No. And that’s fine. Probably for the best.”
“I’m going to need to speak with her about the locket.”
“Good.”
“Are you sure your grandparents never heard from her, you know, after she took the necklace?”
“I was a toddler when everything happened.”
“Was there anything in your grandmother’s things? Letters from your mom? Anything that could help us prove that Lily took the necklace?”
“Other than the police report?” I have to think. “It’s all in the report as far as I know. You read the part where my grandpa explained how it happened, right?”
“Yes.” Garrett reads from the screen. “It says ‘Lily wanted to see the necklace. He left the room and when he returned, she was gone and so was the locket.’”
“That’s all I know about. I don’t know what else there could be.”
“Maybe your mom wrote to them?”
“There could be a letter in her things. I can look.”
Garrett stands. “Come on. It’s late. There isn’t much else we can do about this tonight. I’ll drive you home.”
“Home? I get to go home?”
“I’m not going to arrest you, Lucy. There are too many questions surrounding the provenance of that locket.”
“B-but, what about us talking to my mom? She’s probably working now. Whenever I’ve seen her there, it’s been late, after my events.” Besides, I need something chocolate.
