Maria burst through the door and ran down the hallway.
She found Naomi standing in the kitchen eyeing what was inside the refrigerator. From the looks of Naomi’s face, she wasn’t impressed. She looked at Maria and said, “You two really need to hit the grocery store a little more often.”
“Where’s Carla?” Maria said.
“In her room. She just went to lie down for a bit. Your mom is in there with her,” Naomi said.
“What about the police outside? Where are they?” Maria said.
“I don’t know. When I got here there weren’t any police,” Naomi said.
“There were supposed to be two cops guarding the door,” Maria said.
Naomi closed the refrigerator door. Asked Maria if she was ok.
“What do you mean, am I ok? Carla was supposed to be protected. I wouldn’t have left if she wasn’t protected,” Maria said.
Naomi stepped forward. Touched Maria’s shoulder.
“She’s ok. Come on. I’ll show you,” Naomi said.
Naomi was right. Carla was curled up asleep on the bed with her head on Maria’s mother’s lap. Her mother looked up as Maria came in. Knew immediately that something was wrong but was torn between wanting to know what it was and not wanting to wake Carla up.
Maria mouthed the word, Later, and left the room.
“Better?” Naomi asked.
Maria shook her head. She was furious. She went outside and called Millie.
“Where the fuck are the officers who were supposed to be guarding Carla?” Maria said.
“How the hell should I know? I told them to stay there,” Millie said.
“They weren’t here when I got back,” Maria said.
“You ain’t exactly the president, Maria, no matter what you think about yourself,” Millie said and hung up.
Maria looked around to see if anyone was watching her. She’d have to go by the office and ask for the front gate cameras, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to find anything. Whoever had left the bullet wouldn’t have left a trace. She went back inside.
“Rough day, huh?” Naomi said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Maria said.
“I’ll order pizza, and you can tell me all about it,” Naomi said.
By the time the pizza arrived, Maria had calmed down a little, and when she checked on Carla, she found her mother and Carla both sound asleep.
“Are we eating all this pizza by ourselves?” Naomi asked.
“Seems like it,” Maria said.
“I’m going to start that diet someday,” Naomi said.
“You barely have any flab on you,” Maria said.
“I keep on hoping if I eat enough, my ass will grow. It’s hopeless though,” Naomi said.
“Who wants a big ass, anyway?” Maria said.
“Pretty much everyone,” Naomi said.
Naomi loaded two slices of pizza onto a paper plate and handed it to Maria.
Maria stood as she ate, thinking over what her next options should be.
“Something serious happened, huh?” Naomi said.
Maria could feel the bullet in her pocket. Wondered how much she should tell Naomi. She obviously couldn’t depend on her fellow officers anymore, but she wasn’t sure she could depend on Naomi either. The girl looked a lot better than she had when Maria’s father had pulled her out of the streets and moved her into his home, a decision that Maria understood more fully now but was still slightly baffled by. Maybe she was lacking some empathy gene that hadn’t been passed down from her father. Maria had never been as purely kind as him.
“I don’t blame you for not wanting to tell me,” Naomi said.
“It’s just been a long week,” Maria said.
“Shit, it’s been a long few months,” Naomi said.
Maria took a bite out of her pizza. It had a thin crust and was light on the cheese but loaded up with pepperoni. The cheese burned the top of her mouth, and she almost spit some back onto the plate.
“Must have been hard getting that bookshelf out of your brother’s house and turning it into a regular basement. I never went down there. I mean, I woke up on the floor right, and I saw the bookshelf pushed aside, but if I’d a gone down, I’d have never come back up, huh?” Naomi said.
Maria dropped the pizza onto her plate. Looked at Naomi, really looked at her. Naomi wouldn’t meet her eyes. It was the first time they’d ever discussed Naomi’s kidnapping, and Maria had thought Naomi just didn’t know who it was. Now though, understanding all of it, she wondered how conflicted Naomi must feel.
“You knew the whole time who it was?” Maria said.
“Not the whole time. I told everyone I couldn’t remember anything because there was no way in hell, I was going to testify against anyone. Testifying is a good way to end up dead. But if I’d been drugged and couldn’t remember anything, no one could make me testify, right?” Naomi said.
Maria nodded.
“But when your father came to get me out of that motel and brought me to his home, your brother was already dead, right? And your mother showed me a picture of her recently deceased son. Of course, I recognized him right away. Kind of hard to forget the face of someone who tried to kill you,” Naomi said.
“I’m really sorry he put you through that. I didn’t know about that side of him,” Maria said.
Naomi waved her hand as if it was nothing. But it definitely wasn’t nothing. All the facades of street toughness couldn’t change that.
“So, I thought your dad took me in because he felt guilty, right? Because his son had done something terrible, and he wanted to set it right. Look, I was happy to have a place to stay for a bit while I figured it all out. What the next steps were and all. A part of me wondered if your father had killed his own son because of me. I mean, that’s some intense shit, isn’t it? Killing your own blood to protect a stranger. Then whoever killed your brother killed him, and I wondered if all of this shitstorm was brought onto your family because I hopped into the wrong car at the wrong time,” Naomi said.
“You aren’t responsible for any of this,” Maria said.
“It was a really nice car, you know? It’s always the ones who seem most respectable are the ones you need to watch out for,” Naomi said.
“You haven’t told my mother, have you?” Maria said.
“No. Of course not, but she knows. Your mother is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. Still, she’d never admit it. She locks it away. As harsh as this sounds, thank God whoever killed your brother killed your father as well, or else your mother would have to live with the thought that her husband killed her son. Who could live with that?” Naomi said.
“I don’t know,” Maria said.
“So, are you going to tell me what had you bursting in here like there was a fire?” Naomi said.
Maria pulled the bullet out of her pocket and placed it on the counter.
“That’s a big bullet,” Naomi said.
“It’s for a sniper rifle. The kind that killed the woman in the shack in California. The kind that…” Maria couldn’t finish the sentence. She was starting to break down. Now wasn’t the time for emotion, now was the time to protect and to hunt, but she couldn’t keep the tears from coming out of her eyes. Seeing that photo of Carla, being taunted with her pain and fear, all of it had seared her soul in ways she was only beginning to understand.
Naomi reached out. Grabbed her hand.
“I can’t let anyone else get hurt,” Maria said.
“Wonder Woman you ain’t, Maria. You can’t protect us all, all the time,” Naomi said.
Rarely had the truth been so well intentioned but hurt so deeply.