Murder Deja Vu

likes them with sour cream, but there’s jam if you prefer. I have eggs and coffee. Frank takes so much medication, we’re up at the crack of dawn and eat early.”
    “I usually don’t eat much in the morning.”
    “Breakfast is the most important meal. I’m from Kiev, but there’s a Russian saying—eat breakfast yourself, share dinner with a friend, but give supper to your enemy.”
    “We have a similar one. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”
    “Yes, same idea.”
    Dana took last night’s seat. She watched the woman prepare a plate. Lana had working hands—strong, with thick fingers. Short light brown hair framed a round face with high, broad cheekbones and a flattish nose, and eyes that shifted from brown to hazel with the changing light, expressing emotions as clearly as if she verbalized them.
    “I don’t know how to thank you for taking us in and putting yourselves at risk.”
    “All I’ve ever heard from Frank is Reece this, Reece that. I’m happy to have a chance to meet him while Frank is still—”
    She swallowed hard and didn’t complete the sentence.
    “How long?”
    Tears welled in Lana’s eyes, but she regained control quickly. Her fingers tightened around the coffee cup’s handle. “Three to six months, maybe less. Not more. He’s tough, but for once in his life Frank can’t beat something. It makes him angry. He’s not used to losing a fight.”
    “No, I can see that.”
    Frank’s weak voice filtered in from the other room. “I can hear you in there. If you’re talking about me, don’t.”
    Dana returned Lana’s weak smile.
    Stuffed, Dana pushed her empty plate aside. “Delicious. Thank you. Let me help you clean up.”
    “I’ll do it. Go keep him company. He doesn’t like being alone for long.”
    Dana went into the living room and took a seat on the sofa. “Are you feeling better?”
    “Yes. All the years I took drugs, and now I can do it legally. Ironic, isn’t it?”
    “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
    Frank wiped his sleeve across his forehead and sighed. “So, are you in love with Reece? Don’t be coy.”
    Dana marveled at Frank’s directness. One didn’t beat around the bush when life was a ticking time bomb. “Coy is not a word that describes me. Yes. I’m in love with him. Very much.”
    “Is he your soul mate?”
    Dana thought. “Yes, if soul mate means sharing what’s in our hearts.”
    “That’s what it means. Lana is mine. I never had one before. ’Course, I spent most of my adult life in prison.” He looked out the window. “Didn’t leave much time for love. But I love Lana, and I love Reece.” He must have seen the curious look on her face. “Not like that. Did you wonder?”
    “He told me how you saved his life.”
    “Did. You. Wonder?”
    After professing not to be coy, that was exactly how she was acting. She knew what Frank meant. “Yes.”
    “No, never. It wasn’t my style as long as I had two hands. Now, if someone cut them off, I might have reconsidered.”
    Dana broke into laughter. “I can see why Reece loves you.”
    “He taught me to read. Taught some others too. Ignorance breeds violence.” He paused, wheezing. “That kid taught an ignorant prick like me how to read. Can you believe that?”
    “You don’t have to talk now.”
    “When then?”
    A silent moment passed between them, and Dana said nothing more.
    “I was forty-seven years old. Ignorant as they come. I’m not now.”
    “One is never too old to learn.”
    “That was our deal. I got more than I bargained for. A whole world I knew nothing about.” He summoned his strength. “I never finished sixth grade. Didn’t learn shit then. Besides, I had to go out and earn money for my mother. Ten years old and I prowled the streets stealing and conning. I didn’t know any of the good stuff till Reece.”
    Until Robert, Dana had led a sheltered, idyllic life, entrenched in her small mountain town, going to a nearby college. She couldn’t have conceived of a ten-year-old kid working the streets, but some of Robert’s cases exposed her to the dark side. And Robert demonstrated firsthand the ugliness that lurked behind closed doors in suburbia.
    “So you protected Reece, and he taught you to read.”
    “Yeah. Now I read all the time, like I’m playing catch-up. He was a good teacher. Patient and persistent.”
    “I can see how he would be.”
    “But that was only after he learned a few things he