Just then, it occurred to me the DEA had never figured out who had the real flash drive.
I spent the morning trying to figure out how to get her to confess, like she'd tell me she had a flash drive wanted by law enforcement officials and crime lords. She wouldn't even tell me what she had for dinner the night before. But she seemed sad, so I tried being nice.
“Is everything okay?” I asked in a moment when neither of us had clients.
“What do you care?” she asked with a sneer, but I heard the tears in her voice.
“Look, Suzanne, I know we’ve had our differences, but I can see you’re upset and I just want you to know if you need someone to talk to, I’ll be happy to listen.”
“Why would you do that? I’ve been nothin’ but mean to you.”
“Because you look like you’re hurtin’.” I surprised myself when I realized it was true. I wasn’t just trying to get information from her.
Customers appeared at both of our counters and we were busy for another half an hour before we had a rare lapse close to noon.
Suzanne looked my direction, her eyes shimmering with tears. “My boyfriend left me last night. With my best friend. I never saw it comin’.” She bit her lip as her chin quivered.
I handed her a tissue. “I’m so sorry, Suzanne.”
“I thought he was different.” She blew her nose and looked at me, narrowing her eyes. “Honey, don’t let no man do that to you.” She pointed to my face. “They say they love you and they’re sorry, but they’re just mean, selfish sons of bitches. You can do a whole lot better than that.”
My mouth fell open in shock. If someone had told me two weeks ago that Suzanne would be nice to me, I would have suggested they try to sell me some snake oil, because I would have been far more likely to buy that. But I’d changed, and I realized sometimes people acted mean because they were hurting. Suzanne had obviously been hurting for a long time.
I thought about telling her I didn’t get my bruises from my boyfriend. The Weston Garage bust had been big news. Daniel Crocker had been locked up in the hospital while he recovered from dog bites and a gunshot wound to his leg. He would soon face multiple charges that included murdering Sloan and my Momma, but that hadn’t been released yet. Amazingly enough, my name had been kept out of it. But I had to wonder how Suzanne knew about my boyfriend. I hadn’t told anyone. The person with the flash drive would probably know a lot about me since I took the fall for him. Or her.
We got busier and I didn't have time to think about it. Two o’clock rolled around, when I usually took my lunch break. I’d brought my lunch since Joe would be tied up with official state police stuff. He was still waiting to hear what his punishment would be. Joe said he didn't care. Let them fire him, he said. But the look in his eyes told me it would hurt him a whole lot more than he’d admit.
I sat at the table in the tiny break room, looking at the bulletin board. One of the other employees had posted pictures of her teenage son from his high school graduation. Betty had posted pictures of her grandkids, right next to the invitation to her retirement party. She only had a few weeks left.
I pulled my turkey sandwich out of a brown paper bag, courtesy of Joe. He was appalled at the lack of food in my house and insisted on packing my lunch. When I pulled out an apple, a note fell out onto the table, written on the back of a short grocery store receipt.
I'm counting the hours until I see you tonight.
Joe
I wondered again how I got so lucky. I had a smile on my face when Betty walked in.
“How’re ya doin’?” She asked, sitting down in chair next to me.
“Pretty good.”
“Ya look like your doin’ really well after all ya been through. I didn’t expect ya to be in today.”
In the middle of taking a bite of my apple, I nearly froze. Was she talking about Momma or the weekend?
“Ya know, if ya need more time off, you can take it without pay. I know it’s against the rules, but considerin’ all ya been through…” She patted my hand, giving me a look of motherly compassion.
My heart raced. “So Betty, you must be excited about your retirement. Do you have any big trips planned?”
“Nope, not unless ya count movin’ as a trip. We're movin’ to Dallas, to be close to my kids and grandbabies.”
I suddenly remembered Betty had a son who moved to Dallas before I started at the DMV. He had been arrested for drug possession and trafficking right about the time I started, five years ago. It wasn’t any secret he’d been involved in a gang. I racked my brain, trying to remember his name. Bobby Joe.