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He nodded his head and walked out with his father, saw the police car with the lights flashing parked in front of his father’s truck.
When he got in the truck, the police car took off and his father followed. They were getting an escort and moving through town fast.
“Dad, what is going on?”
“You’re mother’s been shot,” his father said.
“Shot! She was going Christmas shopping,” he said. “How can that be?”
His stomach hit the floor and he felt as if he was going to pass out. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He needed to stay strong for his father. The man who protected him and his mother. Always.
“I don’t know all the details,” his father said. “We’ll get more information later. I only care about your mother. Just know, Cal. It’s not good. You’re old enough to understand that and be told.”
The fact they were racing through the town and running streetlights while he held onto the door with a white-knuckle grip should have been answer enough that was the case.
“Is she going to die?” he asked quietly.
His father didn’t turn to look at him, but Cal saw the tear rolling down the big man’s cheek. “I don’t know. But we have to be braced for that possibility.”
They got to Albany Medical Center in record time, his father leaving his truck and keys with the valet at the entrance as the two of them raced in.
It didn’t matter though.
They were too late.
They got to the front desk, gave their names and then were escorted to a private room where a doctor came in and delivered the news.
Somehow Christmas shopping turned into the end of his mother’s life and Cal wasn’t sure how his world would ever be right again.
1
OUTSIDE OF THINGS
Sixteen Years Later
“Hey, Cal,”Brian Dawson said when he walked into his lawyer’s office mid-September. “What brings you in today?”
“Sorry to drop in like this,” Cal said. “I was driving by and thought I’d see if you were available. If not, I’ll just leave the information with Beth.”
He was surprised to see Brian standing at the front desk talking to the receptionist. He couldn’t remember her name. Normally he only dealt with Brian or Beth, the paralegal.
“I’m available,” Brian said. “Come into my office.”
Cal moved past the front desk and went to Brian’s office. He’d been coming here for years for his legal affairs. Brian and he went to school together. They weren’t close like best friends tended to be back then or even now.
As adults, he’d call Brian one of his close friends, but he wasn’t sure he had a best friend in his life. Not someone he told everything to, but Brian was damn near close to it.
“I’m buying another house,” Cal said.
“I figured you were buying something,” Brian said. “Normally it’s not selling.”
“Nope,” he said. Cal owned several businesses and rental properties. He was always adding to it but rarely sold any. Maybe because it seemed like all his investments did well and there was no reason for it.
“Tell me about this house,” Brian said, leaning back in his chair.
“Three-family house in Albany. A nice rental unit. It’s already got tenants on the first floor. The other two floors are empty, as they moved out when the house went up for sale. It will give me time to do some work inside before I find renters.”
“You’ll have no problem finding renters in this market.”
