A Million Ways Home Read online

  After what seemed like forever, Captain Ross and Trey came back into the room, trailed by Miss Austin. I tensed up again. “Guess what?” Captain Ross grinned like he had the best news in the world. “You get to spend the night right here in the cop shop with us.”

  I groaned. This had been the most mixed-up day of my life, my neck and shoulders felt like they were fused together, and my head was killing me. “Why can’t I just go back to the center?”

  Miss Austin clutched her purse with both hands. “It’ll just be best if you stay here, Poppy. But it’s only for tonight. We’ll have something better worked out for you by tomorrow.”

  “Something better where?”

  She gave Captain Ross a helpless look.

  “We’re still working out the details on that one,” he said.

  I couldn’t believe it. Neither of them were making any sense. My eyelids burned with tears. “All I wanna do is see my grandma.”

  Maria put an arm around my shoulders. “It’s gonna be okay, Poppy. I know you’re feeling overwhelmed right now. But I promise it’s not so bad here.” She looked at Captain Ross. “Can I stay with her, sir? I can do my paperwork in here instead of in the report room.”

  “Sure,” he said, looking relieved by her offer. “I’ll get a replacement for Ray.”

  Miss Austin smiled brightly. “See, no reason to worry at all. Everything will be fine. Try and get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay?” She turned and made her way from the room before I had a chance to say anything.

  “I’ll need a few things from Supply,” Maria said.

  “Of course,” Captain Ross said. “Let’s go get what you need right now.”

  Maria gave me a squeeze. “Just relax a minute, and I’ll be right back.” She followed the captain out into the hall.

  I dropped back into the velvet-padded chair, set my empty cup on the carpet, and closed my eyes. I heard Trey come over and kneel in front of me. “Hey, Poppy. Look at me a minute.”

  I wanted to tell him that I was too tired to look at him, to just please go away and leave me alone. But there was something about his voice that made him hard to ignore. I sniffled and opened my eyes.

  “You know what you told us about losing your parents?”

  I hated when people used the word losing like that. It made me think of a little puppy that accidentally wanders off and gets lost. “I didn’t really lose them,” I said. “They left me.”

  A flicker of surprise crossed his dark eyes, and I figured he probably thought I was an awful person. He tipped his head. “Well,” he said, “you told me that cashier from the convenience store was nice to you. So I thought you’d want to know her name was Lindsay, and she had a three-year-old daughter.”

  This caught my attention. An image of the little girl at the center filled my mind, and my fingers clenched into fists. “Oh, no. She has a dad, too, I hope.”

  “She does. But her mom’s still gone. So for her sake, and for everyone else’s, we need to get this guy off the street. And you can help us. You understand?”

  “Dozer couldn’t track him?”

  “He lost the trail at the river.”

  “So, the guy’s out there … free?”

  “Yeah, but you can bet he’s scared. And scared people do stupid things. Right now we’ve got this little window of opportunity when our chance of nabbing him is good. So tomorrow we’d like to show you some pictures and see if anyone looks familiar. And if not, we’d like you to help our police artist come up with a sketch so we can plaster his face all over Spokane. Can you do that?”

  I looked down at the rug and thought of the cashier’s little girl. Three was so young. Practically a baby. Would she understand what had happened — that her mom had been taken from her? Or would she simply think her mom had left by choice … like my mom?

  I took a shaky breath. “Okay. I’ll look at the pictures. But can you please take me to see my grandma first?”

  “Fair enough,” he said.

  Maria and Captain Ross brought in a rollaway cot and some blankets. Trey stood and ruffled my hair. “Sorry about all this, Tiger. Try and get some rest, huh?”

  Tiger? No one had ever called me that. I liked it. I reluctantly slipped off his jacket and handed it to him.

  Captain Ross gave me a thumbs-up. “You’re the best, Poppy. One in a million. Really appreciate your cooperation.”

  Maria set up the cot on the far side of the room and turned off the overhead fluorescent light. “Sorry about the desk lamp. But I need enough light to do paperwork.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “I just wanna lie down. Can you stay all night?”

  “Yep. This is my normal shift anyway. But usually I’m out on patrol with Ray.”

  The bag from Miss Austin still sat by the door. I went over and pulled out my flannel blanket. I pressed it to my nose, longing for the sweet smell of the lavender drops Grandma Beth always added to the washing machine. But it didn’t smell like lavender anymore, it didn’t smell like home at all. It smelled like the center, and it made me want to cry again.

  Was Grandma Beth okay? Did her left hip ache like it often did at home? Had she tried to call me? Would she feel like I’d abandoned her? I wrapped the blanket around me and lay down on the cot with my back to Maria.

  I wanted to sleep in the worst way, but as soon as I closed my eyes, I started remembering the gunshots, and the feel of the man’s gloved hand against my mouth, and the lady lying on the white gurney. So I forced myself to think about Grandma Beth some more. I wondered if she was missing me and our bedtime routine — the one where she’d open her huge book of famous quotations and pick out our “nightly three” to share. Some were funny, some made you think, and some were just plain dumb. But it didn’t matter — I loved hearing them anyway.

  Grandma Beth had been gone eleven nights. We were thirty-three quotations behind.

  I WAS afraid I wouldn’t get to see Grandma Beth until after school the next day, but when I woke in the morning, Trey told me I didn’t have to go to school. He drove me to the Huckleberry Home in his own car. It was a black Pontiac GT with chrome wheels and a cool little camera that showed what was behind you when you backed up. I told him how much Grandma Beth would love one of those cameras. How she’d been terrified of backing up ever since she was learning to drive at fifteen and had taken out a whole section of the neighbor’s newly painted fence.

  He smirked. “A fence? Shoot, I backed into my buddy’s Mustang the night we graduated high school.”

  “Really! What’d he say?”

  Trey shook his head. “Don’t think I better repeat it.”

  I giggled as I drummed my fingers on the armrest, impatient to get to Grandma Beth. I tried to decide what to tell her about what had happened at the gas station. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her and slow down her recovery time.

  “I don’t think I’m gonna say anything about yesterday,” I announced, shortly before we got to the nursing home.

  Trey raised his eyebrows. “You have to.”

  His abrupt answer caught me off guard. “Why?”

  “Because she’s your legal guardian. She needs to know what’s going on.”

  “But it’ll just scare her. She always worries too much about me anyway.”

  “I understand that, Poppy. But you have to tell her, regardless.”

  My stomach fluttered. He was wrong, but I didn’t know how to tell him that. It’s not like I had a lot of experience arguing with adults, especially one I barely knew … especially a cop. “How come?” I finally asked, sounding as unsure as I felt. “What difference does it make?”

  “It’s not about whether it makes a difference. It’s about you being a minor, and her right to know what’s going on with her granddaughter.”

  “But she’ll see I’m okay. And she knows I’ve been staying at the center.”

  “Don’t you think she’ll wonder what I’m doing there?”

  I swallowed. I hadn’t thoug
ht about that. “Well, can I at least not tell her about …” I started to say Lindsay, but somehow it seemed too personal. “… about the cashier?”

  Trey sighed. “I understand why you don’t want to, Poppy. But she needs to know, and it’ll trouble her less if she hears it from you.”

  “And if I don’t tell her?”

  “Then I’ll have to.”

  Frustration flowed through me and made my knee start bouncing on its own. “Why should you get to decide? You don’t even know her.”

  But as soon as the words were out, my face got hot enough to melt. I wanted to dive under the floor mats. I couldn’t believe I’d said that to an adult. Grandma Beth would be furious with me. Then I did something just as bad — I started to laugh.

  Trey gave me a somber look that filled my whole body with pins and needles. I slapped a hand to my mouth. “Sorry. Sometimes I laugh at stuff that’s not funny.”

  Grandma Beth said my nervous-laughter thing was genetic — that I’d inherited the tendency from my mom. She told me that when my dad asked my mom to marry him, she’d burst out laughing, and it had really upset him.

  I couldn’t tell if Trey was upset or not, because he didn’t say anything. He just turned his focus back to the road and gave the steering wheel a few solid taps with his thumb.

  The Huckleberry Home looked like a restaurant from the outside. It was a long, boxy building, white with purple trim, with a steaming huckleberry pie painted near the front entrance. But as soon as we stepped inside, I knew it wasn’t a restaurant — it smelled just like the hospital.

  A lady at the front desk asked us to sign the guest book. She handed me a lacy white feather pen like you’d see at a wedding, then pointed us toward room 24. I half walked, half skipped down the beige hallway. But as soon as I rounded the doorway to Grandma’s room, I stopped. She was dozing, her head tipped back on the pillow, her mouth open and droopy on the right side. I was embarrassed for Trey to see her like that, so I hurried over and gave her hand a squeeze. She opened her green eyes with a start and focused on me. “Oh, Poppy, honey.”

  I leaned close to kiss her cheek and caught a whiff of the peppermint denture cream she used to brush her false teeth. It smelled just like our bathroom at home. “I’m here, Grandma Beth. How are you? Is this place better than the hospital?”

  “I’ve been better, sweetie. But I’m sure glad to see you. I tried to call you three times yesterday.”

  “You did?” Suddenly I was even madder at Sidney. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t have my phone.”

  “Oh, no. You didn’t lose it, I hope.”

  “No. It got stolen.”

  “Stolen! Did you tell anyone?”

  “I haven’t had a chance yet. But I will.”

  “Who brought you?” she asked. “Miss Austin?”

  I glanced over my shoulder. Trey leaned against the doorframe. “Uh, not exactly.”

  Grandma Beth pushed a button on her bed, and it raised her to a sitting position. “Oh, well, hello there,” she said to Trey.

  He stepped over and offered a hand. “Detective Trey Brannigan, ma’am. Nice to meet you.”

  Grandma held out her thin, fragile hand, and it disappeared inside of Trey’s as they shook. “Detective?” she asked, sounding worried.

  “Actually,” I said quickly, “something kinda scary happened yesterday, Grandma. You probably won’t believe it, but I saw a guy rob a gas station, and …” I hesitated, trying to pick words that would scare her the least. “… and a cashier got shot.”

  She pulled her hand from Trey’s and fumbled for mine. “What! Oh my Lord, Poppy.”

  “No, don’t worry. Everything’s fine. But the police want me to look at some pictures to see if I can identify the guy who did it. That’s why I’m not in school today.”

  Grandma Beth searched my face, seeming to digest that for a minute. “But why were you at the gas station? Were you with Miss Austin?”

  I swallowed. “Uh, no, actually I was trying to find you.”

  Grandma Beth’s eyes flashed. “Priscilla Parker! That’s just the kind of impulsive decision I’m always warning you about.”

  I bit the inside of my bottom lip as heat rushed to my face. I’d expected a lecture, but it was way worse with Trey standing there. “I was just worried about you is all.”

  Her face softened, and she gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “I know, honey. I’m sorry. I just want you to be safe.”

  Trey cleared his throat. “Speaking of keeping Poppy safe, Mrs. Parker, I was hoping to get your permission to take her to my mother’s house for a few days.”

  I don’t know if my mouth fell open, but it sure felt like it did. “What?”

  “Your mother’s?” Grandma Beth asked.

  Trey nodded. “Poppy told the suspect her name. I want to keep tabs on her until we can find him, but the budget won’t allow me to put a full-time officer at her school. And it would be pretty tough to keep track of her around all those kids anyway.”

  A shiver passed through me, and I saw the fear in Grandma Beth’s eyes. “Ohhhh,” she said. “I see.”

  “But what does your mom have to do with anything?” I asked.

  “For one thing, she and I live in opposite ends of the same duplex, so I’ll be right there. Plus,” he added, with a smile, “Mom loves two things in this world: kids and dogs. She’ll take in strays of any kind. She and Dad used to take in foster kids.”

  I tried to make sense of his words. “You think I’m a stray?”

  He winked. “Figuratively speaking, of course.”

  Grandma Beth and I looked at each other. “How long would this be for?” she asked.

  “Wish I had an answer to that,” Trey said. “But I’m afraid I don’t. Hopefully just temporarily. Until we find the guy.”

  “What about her schooling?”

  “I’m sure Miss Austin could arrange to get her homework for her. She could do it at Mom’s.”

  “And where exactly do you live?” she said.

  “West Twenty-Fifth and South Howard.”

  I sucked in a breath. “Really? That’s only like four blocks from our apartment.” If I stayed there, I could go home and get my bike and come to see Grandma Beth whenever I wanted. I started to feel hopeful.

  Grandma Beth nodded. “Well, Detective Brannigan, if that’s what you think best, then of course you have my permission.”

  “Great. Thank you,” Trey said. “I’ll have Miss Austin bring you the necessary paperwork to sign.” He took a step back and jerked his thumb toward the door. “Now I’ll wait over here and let you two visit.”

  “Detective Brannigan?” Grandma Beth said. “You make sure you look after my Poppy for me. Please.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll do that.”

  I waited for Trey to move away, then lowered my face to Grandma Beth’s. “So tell me what to do to get you out of here,” I whispered.

  Her eyes showed her disappointment. “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to stay for some time, honey. My right side is refusing to cooperate with me.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I can take care of you. I’ll drop out of school for a little while and do whatever you need.”

  “You will do no such thing. Do you think I raised an honor student just to let her drop out in sixth grade?”

  “I’m barely getting a C in math, Grandma. And I didn’t mean drop out for good, just until you get better.”

  She snorted. “Not even for a day, Priscilla Marie. You’ll stay in school and get good grades and make me proud. Is that understood?”

  I gritted my teeth to keep the tears back, but they came anyway. “I’m not leaving you, Grandma. What can they do for you here that I can’t do at home?”

  She reached up with her left hand and smoothed the bangs from my eyes. “Well, for one thing, I can’t walk without falling because my balance is all catawampus. Now, do you see Detective Brannigan over there?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No. Take a lo
ok at him.”

  I glanced over at Trey. He was fooling around with his cell phone. “Okay,” I said.

  “Well, whenever I need to go someplace, they send in a big, strapping aide about his size to lift me in and out of a wheelchair. Now, do you think you could do that?”

  I swallowed. “I’d figure out a way.”

  She chuckled. “And do you know what would happen if you tried? The same thing that happened when you and I carried that eighty-pound sack of chicken feed for Mr. Hankins. You remember that? We got it halfway to the shed and dropped it, and the whole thing burst open. We had cracked corn to kazoo.”

  I smiled in spite of myself. “Yeah, I remember. But I’d find a way.”

  She patted my cheek. “That’s my Poppy, always trying to fix things. How about if we both just take one day at a time, and do the best we can. God be willing, maybe we’ll be back together soon.”

  Maybe? The word sent a tingling chill through my whole body. “But what about stuff at home?”

  “I asked Mrs. Gilly to keep an eye on the plants and to check the mail. Everything else will be fine for a while.”

  A smiling man entered the room, dressed in a dark blue shirt and pants, with a name card dangling from his neck. “Pardon me for interrupting, Bethany. I didn’t know you had company.”

  Grandma Beth introduced him as Chad, and he pumped my hand. “You two visit as long as you like,” he said. “But in about fifteen minutes the Mission Gospel Choir will be performing in the recreation room. They’re pretty good, from what I hear.”

  “That sounds very nice,” Grandma Beth said. “Would you like to stay, Poppy?”

  I couldn’t see Trey; he’d slipped out of the room. “I don’t think I can, Grandma. You go listen for me.” The idea of leaving her again made me feel sick inside. But I couldn’t think of anything more to say with Chad in the room. I kissed her on the cheek again. “I’ll get back just as soon as I can. Promise.”