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He didn’t know me.
“Hey, chica,” he said and licked his lips, then winked. “Let’s go, Bruno,” he said to the other guy, and they walked back the way they had come.
“I’ll catch up with you later, Javi,” Henry said.
I watched them leave. Javi, probably short for Javier. The same build as Sergio. Eyes of a killer. Was I reading too much into the exchange?
Henry turned to me. “What are you still doing here?”
“What’s your problem?” I said.
Sophia still looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but at my comment, she said to Henry, “Come, Mrs. Edgar has after-school snacks. You can stay until five.”
He was still glaring at me.
Sophia started toward the house without looking back or acknowledging me. Henry followed a moment later, and I got into my car.
I needed to know more about the older kid. Maybe Sergio would tell me if I described him, or I could ask Sophia.
A theory had begun to form about what had happened that night at the Cactus Stop. What I didn’t know was why Sergio would take the fall when it was clear on body type alone that the shooter wasn’t his brother. A minor as an accessory to murder might get time in juvie, but most likely probation. That was a whole world different than spending twenty years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit.
Maybe it was part of the whole, but there was something else going on here. Were my instincts right? Was I developing my PI sixth sense?
Or was I so far off base that I was going to screw everything up?
Twelve
Sophia Diaz
Henry was talking, but Sophia put up her hand. She didn’t want to hear his excuses. Her entire world was crumbling and she feared she would have no family left.
Even that fear was over-shadowed by Javier Escobar, the boy her brother insisted was “totally cool,” but Sophia knew he was dangerous down to his soul.
She unlocked the front door and went to the kitchen, where Mrs. Edgar usually greeted them after school. “Hi, Mrs. Edgar. You said my brother could come over?”
Sophia smiled and hoped it didn’t look like a grimace.
“Yes, of course. Henry, so good to see you again. Sophia, dear, help yourself to a snack. Don’t forget you and Ana have kitchen duty, but it’s easy today. Mac and cheese casserole, the instructions are on the board.”
“We’ll have it ready, thank you,” Sophia said. She retrieved a plate from the cupboard, took some fruit and crackers from the snack shelf in the refrigerator, and a couple cookies from the jar. Mrs. Edgar had been teaching them all to bake, and Sophia loved to cook. Mrs. Edgar said she was a natural and had let her help with the decorated sugar cookies she gave out to her neighbors for Christmas.
Sophia took the plate out to the front porch. Henry, even though he was her brother, was only allowed in the living room, kitchen, and on the front porch. She was the only girl here who had a brother. Ana had no family at all, and the other two residents were sisters whose mom was going through drug rehab. Their mother came to visit once a week. Sophia tried not to be home when she did. She was glad their mom was trying to stay clean, but seeing her reminded Sophia that her own mom loved drugs more than her three kids.
Henry scowled when she closed the door. “You have too many chores here. You’re her slave.”
“We all help. I like it. Mrs. Edgar is teaching us to meal prep and how to budget and make healthy food. I like cooking.”
“She uses you. They all use us.”
She was near tears. She didn’t want to argue with her brother. “Henry, what happened? Please tell me. I know something happened between you and Sergio after dinner last Wednesday. Did it have anything to do with Sergio telling the police he killed a man? I know he didn’t—he wouldn’t. And I know you had his hoodie that weekend. I know because you gave it back to him on Wednesday!” Sophia hadn’t meant to shout, and she put her hand over her mouth.
Henry finally looked contrite. “Look, I don’t know why Sergio said he killed someone when he didn’t.”
She stared at him. He was lying. She could always tell when her brother was lying. He wasn’t very good at it.
“Tell me the truth! What did you do?”
“I didn’t kill nobody.”
