Before we begin this chapter, I want to give a huge thank you to my brand new editor, gungurl_300blk. Her attention to detail can only make things better! Any mistakes that remain in this chapter are mine, not hers. If you're interested in what's been going on with me, see the Author's Note at the end of the chapter. Thanks! - CM
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"TOGETHER!" we all said.
It was a powerful and emotional moment! Afterwards, Kevin looked at Crystal.
"Do it, Crystal. Make the call," he said quietly.
She nodded her head and took her phone out of her purse.
"Damn!" she said with a grimace.
"What?" I asked, concerned.
Wordlessly, Crystal held out her iPhone for me to see. I could only echo her sentiment when I saw the size of the crack in its screen. It was completely useless.
"Kayla," she muttered under her breath. "I swear, that girl is death on touchscreens! It's a damn good thing I have the money to keep fixing the things!"
"Here," I said to her, handing her my phone.
"Thanks, Gracie!" she said, taking it eagerly.
She dialed a number and listened, saying nothing for several minutes. The four of us watched her with baited breath. Crystal was quiet for several minutes. When she started speaking, it was obvious that she was using some kind of prearranged code, because the things she was saying had absolutely nothing to do with anything we'd been discussing. Finally, she ended the call and gave me my phone back.
"The Special Investigative Response Team (SIRT) will be here within 48 hours," she said.
"I'd hoped they'd feel a little more urgency than that," I said in a dry tone.
"Oh, they always say 48 hours," Crystal said soothingly. "In my experience, it'll be a lot quicker than that!"
"They probably say 48 hours to keep people from learning where the SIRT units are at any one time," Kevin said, and Crystal nodded her head in agreement.
"How do you figure that?" I asked, more to hear his reasoning than because I thought he was wrong.
"Well," Kevin began, "with modern air travel, you can literally be anywhere in the world in 48 hours, no matter where your starting point is. By saying 'expect a response within 48 hours,' they help keep people in the dark about where their base of operations is. That's pretty smart, really, considering the way things are these days."
We spent about an hour talking with Fleur, Elizabeth, and Crystal before things broke up for the evening. Fleur and Elizabeth left for home after hugging Kevin and I. Elizabeth still looked a little fragile.
"It's going to be okay, Liza," Kevin said softly as he held her. "We're going to make sure the people who did this won't be able to do it to anyone else! And after we do that, we'll do everything we can to help make you and your Mom better!"
"We will, Liza," I assured her. "We promise!"
They left, and Kevin and I watched until they made it to their Trailblazer and drove away before we returned to the kitchen.
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Crystal said quietly.
She was still sitting at the kitchen table, staring down at its polished surface. When she turned her face towards us, I could see her eyes were red and her face was blotchy.
"I can tell you right now that while the Feds will come down on these bastards like a cluster bomb, some of them are going to get away with it."
Crystal was speaking to both of us, but her haunted eyes bored into mine like a laser drill.
"Some of these sick fucks will try to get a plea deal - and they may succeed."
She shrugged almost shrugged fatalistically and brushed her hair back behind her ear.
"I've seen it happen. Or, they'll turn state's evidence in return for immunity. I've seen that too. And I've also seen people actually manage to completely avoid getting arrested at all!"
She closed her eyes and heaved a loud sigh. After a few moments, she looked at me again, her eyes reddened and sad.
"Gracie, no matter how hard we try, we aren't going to get them all. We're just not! I'm not happy about it, God knows, but that's the way of the world. You shouldn't go making promises to people like that poor woman when you can't possibly keep them!"
"So what are you saying, Crystal?" Kevin demanded.
"Kevin," Crystal said tiredly, "I'm saying exactly what it sounds like I'm saying. We live in a flawed world, with a flawed justice system. Sometimes - hell, a lot of the time! - some of the bad guys escape punishment. We will get some of them. In fact, with what you've discovered, I'll wager we get most of them. I've been working with these people for a long time, and they're some of the best criminal investigators there are. But it won't be the 100% clean sweep you seem to think it will be. That isn't how real life works!"
Kevin stared at her for a moment, and his face fell. He looked so forlorn that I couldn't stop myself from going to him and pulling him into my arms. There were no tears; we were both too hard-bitten for that by this point. I held him close and pulled his face down against my neck.
He allowed me to comfort him for several long quiet moments.
"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you both that," Crystal said softly. "But just like I know you won't lie to me, I won't lie to you either. Not even to make you feel better!"
Crystal sighed again and stood up from her seat at the table. She offered the two of us a weak smile.
"Look, there's more than enough time to worry about all that," she said. "If you want my advice, concentrate on the now. Let the Feds do their job. You two just live your lives. I'm going to go hold my daughter and get some rest."
Crystal smiled at us again, more warmly this time. Her eyes took on a hint of their usual twinkle.
"Why don't the two of you go...relax your way, alright?"
Having delivered her parting shot, she wrapped an arm around each of us and hugged us for a moment before heading off to the guest room where little Kayla slept. I knew intellectually that Crystal was right, but that didn't make her words any easier to hear. That was especially true for Kevin.
My loving brother is not naive by any means, but he does have a very simple view of the world. In his view, good prevails. Evil is punished, and justice is given impartially to one and all. I know he knows that isn't really the way things work. We've both had enough personal demonstrations of that, God knows! But that doesn't change the way he feels about the way the world SHOULD be. In some ways, Kevin would be a truly wonderful absolute monarch. If anyone could assume that much power without being corrupted by it, he could!
