Page 165 of Sing with Me

“You were staying in Auntie Bling’s beach house, not with Grandma Rose. Why?”

Diehl didn’t want to get into how he could only spend a couple of days with his mom. He didn’t like hearing all her complaints.

“I needed space,” Diehl said. It was the truth.

“From us.”

“No, no. I, uh, burned out at work.”

Elisa gave him a funny look. “If Ethan was here, he’d ask if you were in a fire.”

“In a way, I was in a psychological fire.” Diehl drew a deep breath.

“What fire?”

“Never mind. God saved me from the pit.”

“God? You never talk about God.”

“I do now.”

“Will God bring Mom back?” Elisa asked.

“No, but He can keep our family together.” Diehl reached for Elisa. “Your brother and grandparents are waiting for you at the house.”

“Not Grandma Zeta. I don’t want to see her.”

“Oh?” Something going on? Diehl recalled that Malik said the Bishops had left in the middle of the night.

“I heard her talk on the phone with Romina about new passports,” Elisa said. “There were many children there, waiting for their photos.”

“Photos?”

“We were getting our photos taken, like in a yearbook, except this is for our new passports.”

“New passports?”

Elisa nodded.

This was huge.

“Elisa, we always want to do what is right because God sees everything we do,” Diehl said. “Tomorrow, the police will ask you more questions so that we can help all those children you saw, okay? We don’t want her to take other children away from their parents.”

“Romina doesn’t do that. Other people did.”

“Other people?” Diehl asked. “Adults?”

Elisa pursed her lips the way Ethan sometimes did.

Diehl made a mental note to mention all the above to Detective Jeong, who had given him some instructions for the next day. Right now, he needed to get Elisa home.

He handed Elisa the tote bag. “Your shoes are at the bottom. I forgot a pair of socks, but oh well. Would you like to go home, Elisa?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Then let’s go home.”

Chapter Forty-Five

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