Kashi's Uncle let her have the week off with no questions asked. She drove Felix to school every morning and went straight to visit her dad. He was conscious all the time now, cranky that the doctors were making him stay for observation. He was even grumpier when the police came to ask him questions. Cooperative was too nice a word for what her dad was currently doing.
"Sir, can you tell us what you remember about the night?" One of the officers in the room asked Kashi's dad.
"I got shot in the damn gut, that's what I remember." Her dad frowned, taking a too large sip of water. The doctors had vetoed his usual four cups of coffee. Maybe that's why he was being such a grouch.
"Sir, I meant before that. Any strange noises? Did you see who fired the shot? Do you know anything about—"
"No. I heard Carr making a ruckus in the shed and most likely a mess.An old business partner who I no longer have relations with was back in town and up to his old shady business. I was worried that the boy had gotten himself in the middle of an old situation. I saw a tall hulky figure in the bush and his gun and so I tackled Carr. End of story. That's all I remember." Her dad finished the cup of water, crumpling the paper cup and throwing it directly into the trash can like he was throwing a basketball. "See that shot Kash?"
"Yeah, yeah I saw dad. Can you just answer the officer's questions?"
"I did."
"We're not done sir." The officer said, visually shying away from Mr. Thomson. It was wise of him to do so. Mr. Thomson's angry glare said as much.
Kashi checked the time on her phone. Above the smiling faces of her and Sierra on her lock screen the time read 11:00am. She frowned. "Hey dad I need to get going." Conveniently, she had planned to meet Sierra and Carr at Belle's diner to discuss the goings-on. Just in time to escape her dad's confrontation with the poor officers.
Before her dad could protest, she flew out the door, down the long hallway to the elevator. She pressed the down button, waiting against the wall for the elevator to come up to the sixth floor. A few nurses pushed a young man, eyes closed, bleeding from his forehead, on a bed past her. She watched it go past with a frown. Hospitals, Kashi decided, were her least favorite of the places she could go.
The elevator dinged. A crowd shuffled out, so many people the elevator must have been close to its weight limit. Kashi turned her head down to the right when a little child brushed against her leg walking by. But then a much bigger human shoulder checked her on the left, making her stumble so she nearly fell. A hand shoved a piece of paper into hers, crumpled into a ball. Kashi whipped around, but she saw only nurses and a few doctors along with a woman, presumably the mother of the girl. She didn't open the paper until she got into the now vacant elevator.
Stop looking into my business.
That was it. In scrawled handwriting on a dirty old receipt from a gas station. It had a footprint on it. It had to be Jeremy Hughes or someone in league with him. She could give it to the police, but she doubted he'd be dumb enough to use his own receipt. It was cash anyway from the only gas station there was in her town. She huffed. Not good. She'd been on her way to tell Sierra and Carr about what she'd learned from the police, but… her dad had been shot. Now this note. She doubted that Hughes would be kinder in the future. Maybe it would be wise to just let Hughes have his way and stay out of his lane. She couldn't imagine what she'd do if Jeremy Hughes were to go after Sierra or even Felix for that matter. He'd gone for his own son, Carr, and shot her dad by mistake. At least, that's how it sounded. Maybe he was just after whoever knew what was inside the envelope. Which meant Kashi, Carr, Sierra, and now her dad.
By the time she turned out of the hospital parking garage, Kashi wanted to bang her head on the steering wheel. It was all so stressful and frankly frightening. She looked at the note again from where she'd chucked it in a cup holder. She didn't recognize the writing at all. It could have been Hughes. Again, he most likely was smart enough not to use his normal script. He looked too fancy to write in such a way anyhow. Kashi picked at her nails nervously, watching the remaining yellow chips of polish fall to the floor of her dad's truck while she waited at a red light.
Kashi had worked herself up almost to the point of tears when she parked outside Belle's. She was late so as she suspected, Carr and Sierra were inside already. Though it looked like they'd waited for her to order lunch. That made her smile at least a little bit. Belle had added a new turkey pot pie to her menu that Kashi was dying to try. Meeting here for lunch had been her idea solely because of Belle's new pot pie. If it was anything like her other foods, it would be to die for.
Kashi took a deep breath, willing herself to be calm as she entered the diner. "Sorry I'm late guys!" She said as she slid onto the booth.
Sierra gave her a hug, squishing her. "Hey Kashi, it's good to see you. I'm not upset that you're late, don't worry. I ordered a coke and a turkey pot pie for you. Carr was being a crab so I ordered for you. How'd I do?"
"Perfect." Kashi smiled. "I may have gotten a different soda, but the caffeine is welcome right about now."
Carr smiled. A small one. He had bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept since the night her dad got shot. He may not have. Kashi hadn't slept well at all either. She'd tossed and turned so much that her comforter had been on the ground when she'd woken up and her sheets twisted into knots. "Hey Kash. Sorry we didn't wait, but not really sorry. I'm hungry."
"It's eleven forty-five in the morning, Carr. This is an early lunch." Kashi gave him a look.
Carr shrugged, "I forgot to eat breakfast."
"He ordered about all the breakfast that Belle has." Sierra chuckled, as Belle came over with their three drinks.
"Yes he did." Belle chuckled, setting down a large glass of coke in front of Kashi. "I swear I need to hire more people. There's only three of us here today. Your meal might take a second Carr."
The girls laughed at the pained expression Carr made. But it grew serious when Belle walked away. "So Kashi, you said you learned something, or needed to talk about the mystery?"
Kashi inhaled a deep breath as her two friends leaned in closer. "I think that it's getting dangerous and we need to stop." She put the note down on the table.