Sour Grapes

that Charger of yours?”
    The kid’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you want to know?”
    “I’m planning to recarpet my Buick, and I thought I’d ask your decorating advice. You seem like such a discriminating kinda guy.”
    “It’s black. But what’s that got to do with anything?” Dirk nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve heard your Charger is cherry; you rebuilt everything on it yourself.”
    “Everything but the paint job. My cousin did that”
    “So, when did you put the new carpet in?”
    “Last summer. Why?”
    Dirk grinned. “Just askin’. I’m the sorta guy who’s curious about a lot of things. Like I’m wondering right now, where is that Charger of yours? They say you weren’t driving it when they picked you up at the mall today.”
    “That’s right, my stupid sister took off with it, and we haven’t seen her since. When she gets home, she’s in big trouble with me. She knows better than to drive my wheels.”
    Listening on the other side of the mirror, Savannah felt a small chill of premonition. His sister took off with his car... and she hasn’t been seen since?
    That felt bad.
    It felt really bad.
    And Savannah had learned through painful experience, that when something felt that bad, it usually was. Sometimes it was even worse.
    Half an hour later, Savannah and Dirk were getting into his Buick, intending to head back to Villa Rosa, when Dirk got a call.
    Digging the phone out of his jacket pocket, he flipped it open. ‘Yeah?”
    In the passenger’s seat, Savannah grinned. Dirk wasted precious little energy on such frivolities as courtesy or diplomacy. Being bridled with a Southern upbringing which requires an exhausting degree of gentility, she vowed to be exactly like Dirk when she grew up someday. How deliciously liberating it would be.
    “Okay,” he said. Turning to Savannah, he said, They found the Charger.”
    “Good, where is it?”
    “Where is it?” he barked into the phone. “What’s it doin’ there?”
    He listened again and scowled. “All right. I’m on my way.”
    As he refolded the phone and tossed it onto the dash, he sighed.
    “What’s up?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
    The car is at the old mission. It’s sitting in the parking lot.”
    “All right. Anybody in it?”
    He shook his head. “No, it’s empty. The keys are still in the ignition.”
    “So, what’s the matter?”
    Trent’s kid sister is there, too.”
    “Francie? What’s she doing at the old mission?”
    It took Dirk a long time to answer. “Nothin’. Dammit, she ain’t doin’ nothin’ at all.”

    When Dirk and Savannah pulled into the mission’s parking lot, they saw the dark blue Charger, sitting empty, as they had been told it was. A patrol car was next to it, and inside the unit sat Officer Mike Farnon. On a routine round through the parking lot, he had spotted the Charger. And with the help of the mission curator, he had found Francie.
    He looked shook-up. His door was open, and his feet were on the ground. He had his hands over his face, and he was rubbing his eyes.
    Savannah felt sorry for him. She knew the gesture. She also knew that it wouldn’t help. Whatever vision he was trying to wipe away would remain with him for the rest of his life. In this business, you saw sights that scarred your soul and made you old before your time.
    Savannah figured she was about ninety-eight
    Dirk parked his car next to the cruiser, and when she crawled out of the Buick, she felt like someone had poured her body full of liquid cement.
    That beautiful girl. Dead. Yes, she felt very, very old today.
    “Where is she?” Dirk asked Mike.
    He nodded toward the back of the mission. “Down those stairs.”
    “Where’s the curator?” Savannah asked.
    “That’s her over there,” Mike replied, pointing to an elderly woman who was kneeling at the edge of the parking lot. “The one puking into the weeds.”
    “Is she okay?” Savannah said.
    “About as okay as I am.” Mike shook his head and let out a long, shuddering breath. “She got here right after I did. I asked her if she’d look around and she did. At first, we didn’t think anybody was here, but then she went downstairs and... Sorry, but it kinda got to me, the kid being so young and all.”
    Dirk slapped him on the back. ‘Just sit here and get yourself together, Mike. We’ll go down on our own.”
    Savannah was already on her way to the stairwell at the back of the building. Going down those steps was the last thing on earth