Sisters in the Wind(63)
“Please don’t worry.”
She’s got this.
It’s conveyed in the quiet luxury of what she wears. Not Prada like Jamie, but the less ostentatious attire. It doesn’t scream MONEY. It whispers wealth.
Jamie didn’t grow up with money, but Daunis did. She can buy her way out of any situation. She will never be trapped with no way out.
“Do whatever you want. I don’t care,” I tell a stunned Daunis. Before Jamie can say anything, I shrug. “It’s not my first punch.”
Daunis bursts into gut-wrenching sobs. When she manages to speak, her voice is raw.
“What happened to you?”
“I got punched in the face,” I say flatly.
“I’m not talking about in there.” She points as if the cell is next door. “I mean from before. What happened to you in foster care? Whatever it was, it never should’ve happened. They should’ve followed ICWA. We were here. We could have…” She cries as Jamie holds her. “We were right here. All that time. We were here.”
* * *
My arraignment hearing goes the way Jamie hopes. Other than my black eye, I look presentable in black pants and a soft pink sweater, courtesy of Daunis. The judge sets bail. Daunis pays a percentage of it so I can be released. She will be on the hook for the full amount if I skip out.
It’s like the judge can read my mind because I definitely intended to flee.
He orders me to wear an ankle tether. It’s fairly standard to do so when the authorities find suspicious items on a person in custody. In addition to the cash and fake ID in my pencil pouch, five thousand dollars in large bills was hidden in an inner liner of my hoodie. I stay quiet about the extra cash instead of offering feeble claims that it wasn’t mine. I figure that Jamie must have caught on to my escape plan and hid extra money in my new hoodie.
Jamie stays behind to meet with the prosecuting attorney, so I leave with Daunis. The tether is clamped to my healthy leg. It doesn’t weigh much, but the device is awkward and annoying. Daunis offers to carry the bag with the clothing I wore when I was arrested. She’s already done so much for me.
We sit in the SUV to wait for Jamie. I expect Daunis to start talking but she doesn’t. She doesn’t turn the radio on either.
Finally, the quiet gets to me.
“Are you waiting for me to say I’m sorry?”
She turns to me. “Why would I expect you to?”
Her voice is calm. No heat or sarcasm. Just bone-weary tiredness. Like I’ve put her through so much. Lily’s half sister is more work than she thought when Jamie reached out. Who is she kidding? I know she pounced on the chance to see Jamie; I was just the cover story.
“Lucy,” she says gently. “There is nothing for you to be sorry about.”
I stare at this larger-than-life woman. She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met before. We lock eyes and I cannot blink or look away in case she disappears.
“You are brilliant and brave,” she says. “You’re a hard worker and you expect so little for all you do. You’re quick and clever. You’ve been through things I can’t even imagine. For all that you’ve lost and for all your efforts to keep people at bay, you are a person who still loves people lucky enough to have you care about them.”
I want to stay forever in her gaze. It’s warmer than the spring sun. Even when her pause makes my heart thump because I’m so afraid of what she might say next.
“Anything you did, Lucy, you did because you didn’t think you had any other choice. You don’t know how to ask for help because you have been let down so completely. You would rather go it alone than have anyone ever disappoint or abandon you again. You were too scared to see me trying to help you get away from whoever has been after you.”
“You knew?” My voice squeaks from utter surprise.
“After I bought the CMU hoodie, I went back for another one. I stitched another layer inside the hood and hid the money there. I knew you were planning to run as soon as your leg was healed, but something spooked you last weekend.”
My thoughts race, trying to make sense of her revelations. How did Daunis know someone was after me?
“How did I know?” She says my thoughts aloud. There’s even a hint of a smile—a real one—because clever people recognize the cleverness of others. “A pipe bomb goes off when you should’ve been outside the building. If they’d wanted to kill you, they would’ve set the timer for ten minutes earlier when you’d be rinsing your mop bucket right next to the lockers. The cook always locks up after you leave. He deposits the cash bag at the bank, runs a few more errands, and returns an hour or two later to prep for the next day.” She smiles. “Tim likes to blast heavy-metal music when no one else is there.”
“Really?” I can’t picture him as a metalhead. Tim is a sixty-something Black man who eats oatmeal every morning and sings show tunes all day at work.
“They wanted to threaten you. So Jamie and I made sure you weren’t alone in the hospital. We vetted every nurse, aide, and janitor. You were sent flowers with no card when you were in the hospital. I followed up with the florist. Cash payment might not have been unusual, but not including a card was odd.
“They used a different florist to deliver the carnations to the PT office. That time they did include a card with a message that shook you. After that, you had me switch your appointments to the hotel gym.”