Page 42 of Saving Grace

“Shit, I’m sorry, but he was.”

She shook her head. My son turned back to talk to Tank.

Ms. Joyce got up and walked over to where I was standing. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from my son, even when she spoke they remained glued to him.

“Can I talk to you?”

I nodded. “Come on let’s go get some coffee.” She tugged me in the direction of the elevators.

We didn’t say a word until we were settled at a table in the hospital’s café.

She sat across from me looking as if she was trying to figure out the words to explain to me what was going on. When she finally did speak she said. “Just let me speak before you say anything.” she urged.

I nodded for her to continue. With every intention of doing what she asked, but I had so many questions.

” I can only tell you much as I know, without telling you business that ain’t mine to tell. I know this is a lot to process—”

“Why did she leave?” I interrupted asking her the one question that kept running through my head.

She sighed and ran her hand through her greying hair.

“She had some bad people chasing after her. She knew you would try and protect her and when it was all done— you’d probably end up hurt or resenting her. She didn’t want either.”

I shook my head. “I would have protected her from her Marcus.” I threw out my assumption.

“It’s not him. There’s so much you don’t know,” she sighed.”

I nearly shouted, “Like what?” I needed her to stop being cryptic and just spit it out.

“You gonna have to wait until Grace wakes up to tell you that, those are not my secrets to tell.”

“Then what is the point of this conversation?” I snapped. I didn’t mean to sound disrespectful but if she wasn’t going to tell me anything of significance, I could be doing more with my time.

She raised a wrinkled finger at me. "I’m going to let you have that last one, because I know you're frustrated. But watch your mouth, don’t make me pull my razor out my bra."

She continued before I could respond to her threat, though I didn’t even know how to begin to respond to it.

“Anyway, I pulled you away to talk about the accident and not Grace and your business.”

Pissed off at the change of subject, I bit my tongue trying to hold my anger at bay. I knew everything about the accident I needed to know. I decided to hurry her along. I’d rather be spending my time with the son I hadn’t known about all these years “They say she was hit by a suspected drunk driver?”

She nodded. “That’s what the police say, but what they ain’t reporting or talking about is the gunshot AJ said he heard. And nobody knows where the drunk driver is. The truck he was in was just left sitting there and he went where? Wandering around in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night? Where’s the officer that called the incident in? I think someone was pretending to be the police. They wanted Grace dead and were checking to make sure she was.

And furthermore, when I went to the house to get your number, I saw two men that were at the hospital earlier snooping around outside our house. Then again at the hospital. Mary tells me they up and disappeared when you and the giant showed up. She thought you two where with them.” She nodded, taking a sip from her coffee. “Real suspicious, ain’t it?”

“Where was AJ?”

“He was at the hospital with Mary, the nurse you met, she was watching him while I went home to change clothes. I came right up here in a robe and slippers after hearing about what happened. I had to get to my grandbaby and make sure he was safe.”

That explained the nurses attitude. The wheels in my head started turning, but the one person I could think of having anything to do with Grace's car accident was dead. Her ex-husband was fish food. His body had been ran through a meat grinder and dumped into Tampa Bay the day after he stepped foot out of prison. There was no way I’d let him live after what the news said he’d don’t to Grace. That was a secret nobody but me knew and I’d take it to my grave.

My grandfather didn’t know about Grace and neither did any of my enemies.

“I’ll be back,” I stood up and fixed my clothes as best as I could. I had a few calls to make. As I turned to leave she grabbed my arm, stopping me. She looked up at me with sad eyes. “I know you’re angry and you have every right to be, but I hope whatever you do, don’t end up taking that boy away from his momma. She loves him more than she loves her own life.”

I simply nodded. I’d have to remember her words when I felt calmer because the way I was feeling at that moment had me thinking about doing exactly what she was afraid of.

Atticus