Red_Roses_and_Black_Dahlias_-_Macy_T

“I went next door to their house as soon as I saw he wasn’t in football
practice anymore. His mom was passed out on the couch. She—uh, she
works weird hours, so she mostly sleeps all day and works all night.”
He looked slightly embarrassed and that made me guess Oscar’s mom
was probably a stripper. That was one of the main sources of income in
North Bridge, Tatum’s Gentlemen Lounge.
Having been there a few times for work, I could say there was nothing
gentlemanly about the place. But there wasn’t any need to be embarrassed as
I wasn’t one to judge. She had to put food on the table, and I got how hard it
could be for what I presumed was a single mother, since Aiden didn’t say
anything about Oscar’s dad.
The kid was looking at me like I was his last resort, completely
desperate. I don’t know for sure what made me decide to help him, maybe it
was the fact that his eyes held the same emotion while he spoke of Oscar as
Sofia’s had when she spoke of Valentina. Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't
fucking stand injustices and that Ravenbridge was full of them.
It could have been the frustration I felt at myself for not being able to
solve the Raymond’s case. Maybe I thought that by helping this guy I could be
useful to someone and redeem myself for failing my girls.
I don’t know what made me decide for sure, but I still found myself
wanting to help him.
“Okay, listen, kiddo, I can’t really help you since this falls under Ravens
jurisdiction,” his shoulders slumped, “but I don’t have any cases going on at
the moment so I will leave you my number, okay? Start by going to Oscar’s
coach and see if he even attended practice today. I’ll help as much as I can
but it will be off the record, you hear me? No one can know.” Looking
instantly relieved, he nodded his head insistently.
“Of course, yeah, I won’t tell a soul.” He got up and held his hand to me. I
shook it and gave him my card where I scribbled my personal phone number
at the back.