“Ivey,” Gray murmured warningly with an arm squeeze.
I shook my head and didn’t tear my eyes off the Codys.
“You’ve lost her,” I said quietly. “The woman you know as mother is breathing but she’s gone. With the strength in her body went her fire. She doesn’t boss anymore. Doesn’t tell you what to do, doesn’t have an opinion about everything. You live just miles away from a mother who’s fading fast and soon everything, and that means everything about her will be a memory. Are you sure that in twenty, thirty years when you’ll be in the same place that she is now you’ll be secure in the knowledge you did the right thing by your mother? Because if you are then there’s something wrong with you and if you were real men, you’d take time to reflect on that and then you’d use the time you have left to mend bridges with your mother and give her what you’ve got to give in the time she’s got left.”
Although I was talking quietly and standing still, I ended my rant breathing heavily. And when I ended my rant, I had three Codys just staring at me.
When no one said anything for awhile, I noted, “You aren’t leaving.”
Frank tore his eyes from me to look over my shoulder at Gray.
“Ma’s not doin’ good?”
Jeez.
Seriously?
“Frank, she was, she wouldn’t be in that f**kin’ home,” Gray replied, sounding as exasperated as I felt and then some.
“You said she couldn’t take care ‘a her personal business,” Charlie put in.
“Yeah, I said that,” Gray agreed. “I also said she was deteriorating quickly.”
“How bad is it?” Olly asked.
“Bad,” I bit out and got all three Codys looking at me again.
Then Frank looked back at Gray and asked softly, “How much time’s she got?”
“Not much, God feels kind,” Gray answered.
These words spoke volumes and there was a moment of silence then some Cody men shuffling their feet. Then there was a very long moment of silence while all three Codys looked anywhere but at each other or Gray.
Men!
“God!” I cried, impatient and on edge. “Seriously?”
Again they all looked at me.
And again it was Frank who lifted his eyes to Gray but this time their blue depths were twinkling with something familiar, something I saw often in Gray, something I used to see in Grandma Miriam and he remarked, “Heard word, now see it’s true. Your girl’s quite the spitfire.”
I rolled my eyes to the nearly cloudless Colorado sky as Gray’s arm gave me a squeeze.
“’A course,” Charlie said and I rolled my eyes to him to see him grinning, “Gray’s a Cody.” He leaned a bit toward me and shared, “Cody men like fire and not a little bit of it.”
“You’re still here,” I noted.
Olly ignored my comment and asked Gray, “Ang drop off her chicken Mexican thing?”
Charlie’s back straightened as he shot to attention.
“Fuck, yeah, that casserole could win awards,” Charlie muttered, breaking off from the pack and, to my utter disbelief, heading toward the house. “Tragedy strikes, Ang breaks out the tortillas.”
“Does he really think he can go to my kitchen and eat the casserole Ang made for you and me?” I hissed but I should have saved my breath seeing as all the Codys, including the one by name only, started toward the house.
“Seems like it,” Gray muttered, I started to twist my neck to look back at him then I felt his arm and body tense around me and I knew why.
Coming down the lane was a police cruiser.
By the time Captain Lenny parked, got out of the car and approached a Gray who had wrapped his arm around my neck pulling me in close, front to his side, I felt the Codys all standing at our backs.
It was long overdue.
But at least they were there.
Lenny took in Team Cody and continuing to do so, muttered, “Good to see this shit’s had some good come outta it, you all workin’ out your crap.”
“Save the commentary, Len, you got news?” Frank barked, Lenny studied him then his eyes came to me. I give him a wince-faced apologetic look and he sighed.
Then he looked at Gray. “Pete rolled over on Bud.”
Gray and I both got tense but Gray definitely was tenser and a wave of emotion came from behind us.
Lenny went on.
“Spent the mornin’ gettin’ a judge to get us warrants. Once we got those, we moved in on Pete’s place as well as Bud and Cecily’s. Boys are still at both places. Buddy’s been at the station since eight o’clock this mornin’ when we brought him in. We been talkin’ to him on and off since then and he denies any involvement. We pushed it, he’s lawyered up. We’re waitin’ for his attorney to get there so we can have another chat. That said, the warrants we got included lookin’ into his phone records and financials and we found he took a trip to Vegas not too long ago, stayed a single night, this corroborating a statement Ivey gave us about when he went there to have his chat with her. This is new evidence we just got about half an hour ago and we’ll be usin’ that when we sit down with him and his attorney.”
“Right,” Gray muttered, his voice tight and Lenny held his eyes but shifted his feet in a way that was very un-Lenny.
I would know why when he said softly, “You know, Pete’s been outta work now for goin’ on two years.”
Oh God
Gray’s body went solid, my arms slid around him and another wave of emotion hit us from the back.
“Do not defend that piece ‘a shit,” Olly growled and Lenny looked to him.
“I’m not. I’m tryin’ to do the impossible and explain the unexplainable. Sometimes, folks get wronged, they like knowin’ what motivated the ones who wronged ‘em.” Lenny’s eyes came to me. “He’s taken odd jobs but they weren’t makin’ ends meet. He was gettin’ desperate, thinkin’ he’d lose his place, his truck. He said Bud paid him. Unfortunately, this was with cash but we’re hopin’ we can string that line together.” Lenny looked back at Gray. “He knew about the shotgun, Gray, set the fire and then tripped the shotgun to give you warnin’. Boy’s never set a fire before, didn’t know the barn would go up that fast. Thought you’d have plenty of time to get those horses safe.”
“I think you can guess my response to that is I don’t give a f**k,” Gray replied softly, his voice still tight with restrained impatience and controlled anger.