Page 98 of Chasing Justice
After giving Juniper a thorough exam to make sure she didn’t need to see a vet, Maya had set her up in the patrol vehicle to rest. She turned on the air-conditioning, gave her fresh water and provided a new blanket to curl up in and take a nap. Most likely the blanket would be shredded into confetti-size pieces when they returned.
The smell of disinfectant mingled with the sounds of people in the waiting area. The vending machine still had the dent left by Maya. She approached the volunteer at the front desk. “I’m here to see about my grandfather, Wayne Thompson. Is there any news about him?”
“I’ll call back and find out.” The volunteer picked up the phone and punched in some numbers, then waited.
Maya prayed that her grandfather would be okay.
The volunteer hung up the phone. “Your grandfather is in surgery. He is stable right now. The doctor will be out when he’s done and talk to you. You can take a seat over there, and please, stay away from the vending machine.”
He’s alive. He’s a fighter. He’ll get through this.Maya said, “I promise the vending machine won’t get hurt today.”
She and Josh sat down in the gray chairs next to a coffee table. Magazines were spread out on the table, and while other people waiting were reading, Maya couldn’t do anything but think about Pops.
She was grateful Josh was here with her. A twinge of guilt came over her thinking about reading his file and thinking Josh was the informant. She never would have suspected Sam. She’d believed him.
She didn’t want to think about another person betraying her. She wanted the truth...straight from Josh.
“How come you didn’t give me the full story?” Maya asked.
“The full story?” Josh fixed his dark eyes on her.
“You know, about your drinking and using drugs? Crashing a car? Getting fired from Chicago PD?”
Shock registered on Josh’s face. “How’d you find out about that?”
Maya didn’t want to admit that she’d been snooping, but she also believed in honesty. “Sam warned me about you. He said I needed to be careful and not get involved with you. I snuck into my grandfather’s office and looked at your profile jacket. I knew there was an informant in the department; I thought it could be you.”
Josh shook his head. He stared out the window, not making eye contact for a few minutes. Maya didn’t know what to say. She’d pushed too hard and didn’t want to lose him. Josh had become not only a friend that stood by her, but someone she cared deeply about. She didn’t want to hurt him.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked or read through your file. I thought you might be giving information to the Rays. I guess that was Sam. I never thought he’d do something like that.”
“No, it’s okay.” Josh looked back at her. “I didn’t think Sam would work with the Rays either, but I guess we don’t always know everyone. We all have our hidden sides.”
“We do. Can I ask you something? It’s none of my business, but I’m curious.”
“You can ask me anything you want, Maya. I’ll always be truthful with you.”
She took a deep breath. “One of the reasons I thought you might be involved with the Rays was because of the timing of that text when we were on surveillance. Was that text for work?”
“No. That message was actually my AA sponsor contacting me. With everything going on I’d missed a few meetings and he wanted to make sure I was okay.”
“Oh.” She shouldn’t have been so quick to make assumptions.
“Hey,” Josh said. “It’s okay. I can see how that looked. As police officers, we’re wired to think things like that.”
Maya braved looking back at him. “I supposed when I called you and couldn’t get you, that also has a good explanation?”
“If you call going to an AA meeting a good explanation, then yes.”
“Gotcha.” Her face flushed red. This would teach her to jump to conclusions.
“You know, if you ever want to go with me to an AA meeting, you can let me know. Give it a try. See if it helps. Or I could go with you to a veteran’s support group. Don’t know that I could attend one of those meetings since I’m not a veteran, but I’d drive you there. As a friend helping a friend. I can tell you have demons—I know what it looks like—but I can also tell you it’s so worth dealing with them. The other side of sobriety is beautiful, and while we will always be addicts and always battle, it’s a battle we can win.”
“I’ll think about it,” Maya said. Part of her doubted she could ever heal from her trauma, but she had to admit, part of her wanted to try. For the first time in a long time, there was a little bit of hope inside of her.
“You’ll know when you’re ready.”
“How did you know when you were ready to change? I know it’s none of my business, but I’d love to know your story inyourwords. And maybe it will help pass the time.”
