Read Online Fast Lane by Dave Zeltserman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Dave Zeltserman
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and it’s only natural to get shaken up a bit when you’ve been let down.” I hemmed and hawed a little before continuing. “I hate seeing you torn up like this. Should it really be this important for you to find your birth parents?”
“ I don’t know, Johnny. But it is.”
“ Your adoptive parents are nice folks, better than most people could hope for. Maybe you should be satisfied with them. It would be a shame to end up spending all this money and time only to find out something you might be better off not knowing. There’s a reason why a pretty little baby is given up for adoption.”
She shook her head, her jaws tightening with determination.
“ I’ve got to find them,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to ever since I was twelve—that’s when I found out I was adopted. Frank and Julie are wonderful parents and I love them. But that doesn’t mean I don’t need to know who I really am.”
“ What if it turns out your real mother was a prostitute? Or your daddy was a madman? Or a murderer?”
“ Why are you saying that?”
I gave her a sympathetic smile. “Mary, some things are better left alone. Maybe this is one of them.”
“ I don’t want to leave it alone.”
“ How’s your job going?” I asked.
“ What—it’s going okay.”
“ It must be awful hard,” I said, “going to college during the day and then working nights at that convenience store. Just to pay for this.”
“ It’s my decision.” She forced a weak smile. “I’m an adult, you know.”
I leaned back in my chair and decided to go at it from a different angle. “When I first started out as a private detective I had a case similar to this. This boy, he felt the same as you, that he couldn’t be happy unless he was able to meet with his birth parents. And—”
Mary cut in, giving me a cross-eyed look. “I’m really not interested in this,” she insisted.
“ I appreciate that,” I stumbled on, “but it might help to hear me out. I found this boy’s momma for him. After more sweat and hard work I found his daddy had been long dead, killed in prison. It turned out that my client, well let’s just say, was the product of a rape and grew up to be the spitting image of his daddy. When he showed up at his momma’s door and she got a look at him, something in her snapped.”
Mary’s eyes drifted away from me. My story was boring her and I couldn’t help feeling a little hot under the collar. I cleared my throat and continued, wishing I had never started.
“ When she looked at this boy she didn’t see him as her long lost son. Instead she saw the son of a bitch who had raped her years before. By the time anyone was able to get her off him, she had half his face scratched up and had almost cut out one of his eyes. My client didn’t end up any happier and neither did his mother.”
Mary was looking around impatiently. “I don’t understand why you’re telling me this. It’s not going to change my mind. And besides, I don’t think I have to worry about being the spitting image of a rapist.”
I leaned further back in my chair and gave her a hard look. She was so damn determined and headstrong. There was no sense trying to talk her out of it. For a second, I almost told her the truth. I wanted to, but it would have ended up causing too much pain.
I let out my breath slowly. “I only want to make sure you understand what you might be up against. If you want me to keep looking, I’ll do just that.”
“ I appreciate that, Johnny.” She blushed, lowering her eyes from mine. “There’s something else, something we haven’t talked about. The night before you left. I know things got kind of weird, but before that everything happened too quickly for me. I guess I wasn’t ready for it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to happen. Only that we need to take it more slowly.”
Her face had turned red. I forced a smile and told her I felt awful about it, and that I hoped the two of us could
“ I don’t know, Johnny. But it is.”
“ Your adoptive parents are nice folks, better than most people could hope for. Maybe you should be satisfied with them. It would be a shame to end up spending all this money and time only to find out something you might be better off not knowing. There’s a reason why a pretty little baby is given up for adoption.”
She shook her head, her jaws tightening with determination.
“ I’ve got to find them,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to ever since I was twelve—that’s when I found out I was adopted. Frank and Julie are wonderful parents and I love them. But that doesn’t mean I don’t need to know who I really am.”
“ What if it turns out your real mother was a prostitute? Or your daddy was a madman? Or a murderer?”
“ Why are you saying that?”
I gave her a sympathetic smile. “Mary, some things are better left alone. Maybe this is one of them.”
“ I don’t want to leave it alone.”
“ How’s your job going?” I asked.
“ What—it’s going okay.”
“ It must be awful hard,” I said, “going to college during the day and then working nights at that convenience store. Just to pay for this.”
“ It’s my decision.” She forced a weak smile. “I’m an adult, you know.”
I leaned back in my chair and decided to go at it from a different angle. “When I first started out as a private detective I had a case similar to this. This boy, he felt the same as you, that he couldn’t be happy unless he was able to meet with his birth parents. And—”
Mary cut in, giving me a cross-eyed look. “I’m really not interested in this,” she insisted.
“ I appreciate that,” I stumbled on, “but it might help to hear me out. I found this boy’s momma for him. After more sweat and hard work I found his daddy had been long dead, killed in prison. It turned out that my client, well let’s just say, was the product of a rape and grew up to be the spitting image of his daddy. When he showed up at his momma’s door and she got a look at him, something in her snapped.”
Mary’s eyes drifted away from me. My story was boring her and I couldn’t help feeling a little hot under the collar. I cleared my throat and continued, wishing I had never started.
“ When she looked at this boy she didn’t see him as her long lost son. Instead she saw the son of a bitch who had raped her years before. By the time anyone was able to get her off him, she had half his face scratched up and had almost cut out one of his eyes. My client didn’t end up any happier and neither did his mother.”
Mary was looking around impatiently. “I don’t understand why you’re telling me this. It’s not going to change my mind. And besides, I don’t think I have to worry about being the spitting image of a rapist.”
I leaned further back in my chair and gave her a hard look. She was so damn determined and headstrong. There was no sense trying to talk her out of it. For a second, I almost told her the truth. I wanted to, but it would have ended up causing too much pain.
I let out my breath slowly. “I only want to make sure you understand what you might be up against. If you want me to keep looking, I’ll do just that.”
“ I appreciate that, Johnny.” She blushed, lowering her eyes from mine. “There’s something else, something we haven’t talked about. The night before you left. I know things got kind of weird, but before that everything happened too quickly for me. I guess I wasn’t ready for it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to happen. Only that we need to take it more slowly.”
Her face had turned red. I forced a smile and told her I felt awful about it, and that I hoped the two of us could
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