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.With his hair wet and tousled, he looked even younger—far too young to have to face this kind of a loss of innocence.Kids were supposed to be able to go on believing that they and their parents were immortal.At least that’s what I’d heard.“Yup,” I said.“So Zale’s going to be bunking here on the couch, and I have to scoot you into the bathroom so I can make up his bed.”After all his recent experience with brief boat showers, Pit emerged, wet-headed and wearing my sweats, about the time we finished making up the sheets and blankets on the couch.I grabbed a sleeping bag and pillow out of my room and said, “Zale, I’m going to go unlock the boat for Pit.I’ll be right back.” Then I slapped the side of my leg.“Come on, Abaco.Time for you to go outside, too.” She’d been sitting on the couch next to Zale, and she gave him a nudge with her nose, then jumped down to follow me.As I punched in the combination on the keypad, Pit asked, “So what’s this about Molly getting arrested?”I slid open the side door and entered the wheelhouse.“Yeah, it surprised the hell out of me, too.Jeannie and I went to see her at the police station earlier tonight.We don’t really know what kind of evidence they have yet, but Jeannie’ll find out tomorrow.There’s supposed to be some kind of hearing.They were about to transport her over to the county jail when we left.God, I hate to think of her in there.” I handed him the sleeping bag, and he shook it out and smoothed it across the narrow bunk.He boosted himself up and sat on the bunk, then kicked off his ratty-looking boat shoes.“What reason could they possibly have for thinking she did it?”“It seems she got mad at him and threatened to kill him.Outside, in front of the neighbors.You know, she was just saying it.She didn’t mean it.But then tonight the cops were questioning her about a gun and about who had access to her garage.I don’t know what that means.The bridge tender said the shooter was in a black Mustang, and Molly drives a black Mustang.Whoever did this knew what they were doing.Molly must think she’s going to be in there for a while because she asked me to take Zale out to Big Cypress to stay with Gramma Josie.”“She’s still alive?”“Seems so.”“I thought she was really old when we were kids.”“She was.She’s got to be close to ninety now.”“Too bad I’ve got to go for my interview and start work tomorrow.I’d really like to see her again.”“Yeah.Our adopted grandmother, right?”“That’s how it was when we were kids, eh? We shared everything.We didn’t have any grandparents, so Molly shared hers.” He sat on the high bunk in the back of the wheelhouse and ran his hands over the sleeping bag next to him.“Hey, Sis, you know, if there’s anything I can do to help Molly.” He left the sentence unfinished, but I knew what he was trying to say.“And if you want to let her know I’m in town.Since you’re talking to her again.If she wanted to see me, I’d go wherever, do whatever.Will you let her know that?”“Sure, Pit.I’ll do that.”The lights were out in the living room when I opened the door to my cottage, but if Zale was about to drop off to sleep, the front paws Abaco planted on his chest put a stop to that.In the light that came from the crack around my bedroom door, I saw the boy’s hand reach out to scratch the dog’s ears.I was about to slip into my room when I heard his voice.“Seychelle? Do you think my mom’s okay?”At the age of thirteen, his voice had not yet changed, and with the fear and the anxiety, his voice was even higher pitched.He was so smart it was sometimes hard to remember that he was really just a little kid.I crossed the room, perched on the edge of the couch, and scratched Abaco’s back end while Zale worked on her ears.The dog was in heaven.“I think your mom is fine, and she’s probably more worried about you right now than she is about herself.She doesn’t want you to be scared.Just spending a night or two in jail, heck, that’s nothing for her.Molly’s tough.She can handle that.But what would really bother her is thinking that all of this is hurting you.Just the same way I’m telling you she’s fine, I need to be able to tell her that you’re handling all this okay, too.”“Yeah.” He nodded.One minute he seemed so young, and the next he seemed to have a wisdom outside the bounds of age.“You said ‘a night or two.’ Do you think it will be more than one night?”“That’s possible, Zale.When I talked to your mom at the police station, she asked me to drive you out to your Gramma Josie’s place in the morning.What with all the stuff in the news about your mom’s arrest and your dad’s will, she doesn’t want reporters or anybody bothering you.”“Okay,” he said, but I could hear the tremor in his voice.“Hey, I can’t wait to see Gramma Josie.” I glanced at him and raised my brows.“Think she’ll still scare me?”He shook his head.“Naw.She’s pretty cool.She always gives me these little hard candies.She has ’em in some, like, secret pocket in those big old skirts she always wears.”Josie Tigertail still wore traditional Seminole Indian skirts, though she often wore them with T-shirts when I was a kid.She never gave us candy, I thought, but then I wasn’t her real granddaughter.“You know, I was always jealous of Molly for having grandparents.All my grandparents were dead by the time I came along.I wish I could have known them.You’re lucky.Gramma Josie is your great-grandmother.That’s four living generations.What about Molly’s parents, your grandparents? Where are they?”“Gramps moved up to New Smyrna Beach and Gram moved out to Arizona.She’s living somewhere out there with her new husband.”I wanted to ask if they were still drinking, but I didn’t know how much the boy knew about the situation.“How’s their health?”“It’s all right.They got divorced because Gramps quit drinking.But Gram just found somebody else to get drunk with.”“I guess your mom has told you what it was like for her growing up with them.”“Yeah,” he said.“When we were kids, your mom used to tell me that she was gonna be a much better mom than her mom was.”He snuggled down under the blanket, handed me his glasses, and rolled onto his side, turning his back to the dog and me.“Yeah,” he said, the oncoming sleep making his voice barely audible.“She was right
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