Chapter 5

Grace had not lead an easy life. It was not easy to be raised by a single mother and also to have to take on all the responsibilities that were expected of her. She often felt that she had been jilted out of a childhood. As far back as she could remember, she was always expected to help around the house. It had not been fun, but she did realize that it was expected of her. Grace never openly complained to her mom because she feared the wrath that her mom might bring down upon her. Her mom had not been a bad person, but rather a woman that was constantly stressed.

Her mom had had to work two jobs just to keep them in the home that they had. Granted it had only been Grace and her mom, but she wanted to be able to provide the home for Grace that she had started her life off in. Grace believes that it was more likely that her mom did not want to give up the home because of the memories that she had of her husband in the home. Grace’s father had been diagnosed with lung cancer even though he had not smoked a day in his life. It was not only three months after he had gotten his diagnosis that he died. Her mom had often told her that the only thing that kept her going those first few months was knowing that she was going to be having her. She often told Grace, “You saved my life. Without you I don’t know what I would have done.”

The house that she had grown up in wasn’t much but it was home. That is why it had meant so much to Grace when her mother had given it to her on her 21st birthday. It was the best thing that she could have ever gotten from her mother. Even though she had been embarrassed to bring her friends over while growing up, she loved this house. It was her project to fix it up and to make it a place that still held memories but also was the style that she liked. Her life did not go the way she thought that it would be that was okay.

Grace was in constant amazement of how her life has turned out with all the struggles that she feels that she had growing up. She has had her own business now for 4 years and has been able to be successful at it. She is not always sure that her life was as hard as it could have been, but it was not easy in her eyes at all. Here she was a 29 year old woman, with her own private practice, a crazy Dalmatian at home who believes he owns the place, a home that finally feels like her own, and she has just been asked by the Chief of Police, Jason Roberts, to help on a major case. It would appear that everything was finally starting to work out for her. She was happier than she had been even earlier today.

When Amalia walked into work, Grace let her know what was going on. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe that he came here, to our office and spoke to you,” Amalia had said. She was just as surprised as Grace was by their luck. It was so amazing that this was all working out the way that it was. There were a few loose ends that Grace needed to tighten up but that shouldn’t take too long, at least she hoped that they wouldn’t. With the help of Amalia, she was able to contact the young woman who was having her watch her boyfriend to see if he was taking a second job and hiding money from her. This was the only contract that she was currently working on so that was easy enough.

She sure was going to be glad to have that case behind her. She was sick and tired of sitting outside the bowling alley where he worked just to see him hang out after work talking to the boys. The amazing thing was that his girlfriend refused to let the idea go. Grace had been following this young man for 3 weeks and nothing had come of it. It was getting frustrating and she was looking forward to having the entire case put in the case closed file.

During the next two days, Grace kept wondering when Jason was going to be returning to her office. She made sure that it was straightened up and that everything seemed to be in place. It was almost as if she was trying to impress him. Well maybe she was, but not in a conscious manner. She just wanted to make sure that she made a good impression upon him when he returned. She had been so unprepared the first time that it was important to her to make sure that it didn’t happen again. That she was ready.

On Wednesday, as she was driving up to the office, Jason was already waiting for her. He did not look happy. She was surprised to see him there and was afraid of what he might have to say. She parked her car and put some lotion on her hands, so they would be smooth to the touch. As she started to get out of the car, he was already walking towards her. “This can’t be good,” thought Grace.

“Hi there Jason, “ she said with a gleam of happiness.

“Morning, Grace. We don’t have lots of time, so can you get whatever you need from the office and follow me downtown.”

“Sure, not a problem at all, just gives me about five minutes and I should be ready.”

She inserted her key into the front door and walked into her office. She was not prepared and she was not sure what she was going to need, but she got a tablet of paper and a few different pens and a highlighter. She really hoped that she had everything together that she was going to need for whatever was coming her way today. She left a note for Amalia. “I will not be in today. Just come in and lock the door behind you. I will contact you after my initial meeting and I will let you know what I need from you.” She hoped that she would read the note and realize that she needed to stay in the office and not try to go out and do whatever it was that she normally did. She locked the door behind her.

“Okay, I’m ready. Where are we going?” she asked.

“Just follow me downtown. I will tell the guards to let you park in the parking garage under the station. Let’s go, we don’t have a lot of time.”