Page 54 of Into the Fire

“That’s great news,” I said. Henry had made mistakes and needed to own up to them.

I’d made mistakes, too. Yet, I’d not only helped exonerate an innocent man, but also reunited Sergio and Sophia—and my mom and Aunt Rita were helping keep them together. That mattered.

Mom said, “I talked to Antonio Perez this morning and we’re going to work on moving Sergio and Sophia to another community, in case there is any fallout. Javier is a minor, and I don’t know how long he’ll be in custody. Even with Henry’s statement that Javier killed Rodriguez, I don’t know if they’ll try him as an adult. He won’t walk away from the attack on Sophia and Evelyn Edgar, but how long he’ll get is up in the air. Javier is a troubled young man and I think removing Sophia from his sphere is wise. Antonio has a Taco House north of 101, in Norterra. He’ll send Sergio there, and with the Kinship Caregiver allowance, Sergio should be able to afford an apartment in the same area.”

“Mom—I told you that you can move mountains. Thank you.”

“I wouldn’t have known there were mountains to move if you hadn’t pointed them out to me,” she said with a smile. She leaned over and touched my hand. “Margo, you did good.”

Her praise meant everything to me. Here I was, twenty-five, still needing my family’s approval. Maybe I always would. “Thanks, Mom.”

Mom’s phone rang again and she stepped out.

I’d solved two separate robberies and a homicide and I felt good about it. But I still had much to learn.

I wanted to learn. I might not have the experience yet, but I have the desire.

I wanted to help people like Sergio—people who didn’t have anyone else to help them. I was good at the puzzle, at looking at a wide canvas and making connections where others didn’t.

It would take time to build my business, and I’d probably have to take cases I didn’t want. I might have to work for a divorce lawyer to make ends meet. There was a lot of money there, enough where I could take cases like Sergio’s for free—or mostly free. Maybe I should look at it from another angle: taking a variety of cases would help me hone my instincts to become a better investigator.

I could work at Flannigan’s until I had enough income coming in that I didn’t need the regular check. I didn’t know how long it would take, but I hoped by the end of the year I would be able to support myself full-time as a PI.

“You okay, sis?” Jack asked.

I nodded. “For the first time, I don’t have doubts.”

“About?”

“My decision to be a PI.”

“Good.”

I tilted my head. “What does that mean?”

“It means you were meant to do this—you were the only one who didn’t see it.”

I might not know where this path would take me, but it was the journey that was important.

Life is a journey. For the first time in a long, long time, I knew I was on the right path.

It wasn’t solving the robberies—or even a murder—that gave me this deep sense of satisfaction and pride. It was how, without me and other people who cared, like Andy and Detective Villines and even Detective Barrios, an innocent man may have gone to prison. A family could have been destroyed forever. I couldn’t fathom how I would feel if this had happened to my family, if someone confessed to a crime they didn’t commit to protect the Angelharts.

I hoped I would never find out.