City of the Dead (Alex Delaware, #37)(46)

Milo said, “So, Aaron, what can we do for you?”

The boy shifted back to him. “I decided to come here because I thought I could offer some insight into the dynamics of my family. Unless you’ve already solved my sister’s murder and don’t need that.”

Now both of them were looking at me.

I said, “The more we know, the better. What can you tell us, Aaron?”

“For starts, I want to say that though I’m coming across relatively chill it doesn’t mean my sister’s death didn’t affect me emotionally. It did. It does. When I heard, I cried and I’m not ashamed to admit that. But then I woke up this morning and I felt I should get myself together and try to help. My mother had already said I could stay out of school so I told her I was walking to the Beverly Hills library to do some reading. Instead, I took the bus here.”

“Appreciate the effort,” said Milo. He crossed his legs.

“Okay…” Dark-blue eyes floated around for a while. “Okay,” he repeated. “For most of my life, there wasn’t much relationship between Cordi and me because there’s so many years between us and she wasn’t around much. Also, my mom wouldn’t talk about her and if I brought her up, she’d try to change the subject.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “But my dad answered my questions. He’s not her dad, just her stepdad, that’s probably why he’s…less intense about Cordi. Later, when Cordi and I finally started to talk, what she basically told me was what Dad told me so I know he was honest.”

I said, “When did that start?”

“About a year and a half ago,” said Aaron Blanding. “I just got tired of having this half sib and not knowing her so I reached out and she was super-appreciative. In fact, she cried and said it meant a lot to her, she’d thought I didn’t want to know her. I said I absolutely did so we started talking.”

“By phone?”

“At first, phone and text. Then around a year ago, we started getting together at various Starbucks. Near my house, if I didn’t have transportation, near hers if I did. We did it like every three, four weeks. I’d cut school because school is basically crap and learning about my sister was way more important.” His voice caught. “I wish it could’ve lasted.”

His lips knotted as his face lowered. He covered it with his hands, exposing grubby nails and ink-specked fingers. Forcing back tears led to more grimacing. A fifteen-year-old confronting a reality most people never faced.

It took a while for the hands to drop and after they did, he stood shakily and headed for the door. But instead of leaving the room, he circled once and sat back down.

“Sorry. That was cheesy.”

Milo said, “More like a normal reaction, Aaron.”

“Really?” A look to me for confirmation.

I nodded. “You’ve experienced a terrible loss and it’s courageous of you to come forward.”

“No, I don’t think I’m very courageous…more like I keep thinking about my own feelings and it kind of rises up in my stomach.”

“Exactly,” I said. “Normal. You need to look out for yourself, Aaron.”

“Maybe…” Deep sigh, drop of shoulders.

I said, “So around a year ago you and Cordi started hanging out at Starbucks.”

“Or Jamba Juice. It was instructive.”

“How so?”

“I got to understand Cordi,” he said. “And myself, Dr. Delaware. The fact that Cordi and I shared some chromosomes but our childhoods were totally different.”

Hesitant smile. “She once told me, ‘Baby bro, we might as well have grown up on different planets.’ Not in a jealous way. She thought it was kind of funny. I told her that made me feel guilty but she said don’t be a wuss, guilt is crap, it can only hold you back. Then she said everyone has challenges, no matter how they grow up. Hers was making something of herself despite her childhood and what did I think mine was. I said not getting dependent and lazy because Mom tries to spoil me rotten. Not that it’s Mom’s fault, it’s up to me to deal with it. At some point I will.”

I said, “Two different planets.”

“Probably more like two different galaxies, Dr. Delaware. My sister had no idea who her biological dad was and when she was growing up Mom was attracted to bad guys and had all sorts of issues.”

“Financial issues?”

“Financial, psychological.” He scooted forward, tight-faced. “Mom’s all Beverly Hills now, with her tennis and her mani-pedis. But back then, she used drugs and was pretty wild. Obviously, I’d never bring that up with her, she’d go insane. But it helped me to know.”

“To understand your mom.”

“To understand why she needs to control everything. Cordi told me about guys beating Mom up. Not treating Cordi well, either.”

Milo said, “In what way?”

“I don’t know,” said Aaron Blanding. “She just said none of them were nice to her and that she never had a real father figure. Then she laughed and said she probably wouldn’t know a father figure if she met one but she’d never wallow in weakness. That’s the way she was. Fierce.”

His right knee began shaking. “She once told me the reason I was so much smarter than her was probably because Mom was on something when she was pregnant with her. Then she made a stupid face like this.”