Save Her Child by CJ Lyons (best historical biographies txt) 📗

help a wave of anger. Why was it that no one placed any value on time spent solving the murder of a teen prostitute? Lily had had her whole life before her; surely she meant as much as some middle-aged corporate conman. Or at the very least, she deserved not to be forgotten, her killer allowed to walk free.

Well, Lily had Harper on her side, if not the rest of the world. No way in hell was Harper about to give up on her. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

Twenty

In his prior life as a childless bachelor—aka six months ago—Luka would have been at his office hours before dawn after a weekend on call. In fact, he might never have bothered to go home other than for a quick shower and change of clothes.

Now, here he was, having an actual sit-down breakfast with his grandfather and Janine. He was exhausted—the leg had kept him awake all night and he’d been up all of the night before that working cases. He deserved to simply sit for a few minutes and enjoy a cup of Janine’s excellent coffee along with her equally excellent eggs and sausage. But despite his throbbing leg and the damn crutches that hurt his arms, Luka itched to get to work.

“What are we going to do about Nate?” Janine asked as she joined him and Pops at the circular table. This table was where all the important decisions regarding Jericho Fields had been made for two centuries, from new types of apples to cultivate, to planning Luka’s wedding before his fiancée had been killed. They’d also planned Luka’s parents’ funeral here—him, Pops, and his gran. Then after Gran passed, and then after Luka’s sister, Nate’s mother, died, it’d been just him and Pops alone at this table. But now it was the place where they discussed the family’s future: Nate. “School starts next week. And you know that vice-principal, Driscoll, is going to make his life hell.”

Pops made a small grunt of disgust. “I say we teach him how to fight back, give those bullies a taste of their own medicine.”

“Which will get him expelled,” Luka said.

“Or arrested,” Janine added. “Did you see how they took a six-year-old away in handcuffs, put him in a jail cell, all because he had a tantrum? Ever know any six-year-old who never had a tantrum? They didn’t even try to understand why he acted out.”

“Was he Black?” Pops asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s all they need to know. Don’t care about the rest. Probably claimed he was a danger to the teacher or other kids, that he was out of control—”

“Isn’t that the definition of a child having a tantrum?” Janine retorted. She was in her fifties, her own children raised and gone, the daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of Polish coal miners. And she didn’t put up with crap from anybody. “Last year he had Emily with him, but this year Driscoll assigned them to separate classes.”

“It’ll be like he’s starting over again,” Pops said. “He won’t know any of those kids. Hard enough the first time around; at least he met Emily.” In the spring when Nate had first arrived, the school had made him repeat first grade because his schooling had been erratic down in Baltimore. But he’d worked hard over the summer and he’d shown real progress, and they’d decided he could skip ahead now, and rejoin his age group in third grade.

“And it was Emily helping him over the summer who got him caught up,” Janine put in. She was certain Emily and Nate shouldn’t be separated, but Luka wasn’t so sure.

Leah had agreed to let Emily skip ahead to third grade, despite the fact that she’d be the youngest in the class. Better to keep them together, Leah had said, and at the time Luka agreed. Nate needed friends. Nate was such a great kid, but because he’d been working so hard on academic progress over the summer, Luka hadn’t been able to enroll him in sports camp or any activity where Nate could socialize with other boys his own age. Now he worried that having Emily there was a crutch and Nate wouldn’t even try to find other friends.

“Yeah, but he needs friends his own age.” Luka remembered his own third grade. Back then, girls had cooties and were to be avoided at all costs. So where would that leave Nate if he hung out with a girl, especially a girl who was a bit quirky and who didn’t always fit in, like Emily? Luka loved that about Emily, but as their encounters with Ms. Driscoll had proven, being quirky wasn’t always the best way to avoid trouble. And the last thing Nate needed was more trouble in his life. The boy had been through enough.

Pops made a noise. “Notice how it’s our problem figuring out the best thing for a Black boy who the principal doesn’t want associating with a white girl? I’ll bet Driscoll didn’t dump this on Leah. I’ll bet she never calls her about Emily being disruptive.”

Luka didn’t have an answer to that. “I don’t care. As long as he’s getting the best education possible. Which means, we should take Viola Reed’s invitation of a scholarship to Cambria Prep seriously.”

“Token Black kid—those snobby rich boys will eat him for lunch,” Pops said. “Or get his ass arrested when they push things too far. And you know the parents and teachers won’t tolerate anything from Nate. He’ll be on his own.”

“It could be a great opportunity,” Janine put in. “If they’re offering a full scholarship, might be worth a look. If he stays there through high school, it could mean a better choice of colleges, put him on a career path he might not have otherwise.”

“I’ll call her, learn more,” Luka said. “And I have a meeting set up with Ms. Driscoll and Nate’s new teacher later this week—if we don’t decide to move him to Cambria Prep.”

He eyed the clock on the wall and