CHAPTER NINE; A BIZARRE BREAKFAST.

We have been sitting in silence for twenty minutes since I told Jade about her mother. She had not said anything and I was starting to get worried. I had decided on telling her once we got to my apartment instead of at Rochelle's. I decide to bring her some water. After drinking the water I can see her slowly get over the shock. "You mean she's been alive all this time?" It's still hard for her to believe everything she has just heard. "Yes, sweetheart," I try to assess what she is thinking. "She has no memory of anything or anyone before the accident."  I try to explain why she never reached out. She is holding the now empty cup like it has the answers she is looking for. "Maybe." "What do you mean by maybe?" I ask. "I'm just saying with who she was before the accident, it would have been easier for her to run away from us if she had her memory than if she didn't," she finally puts the cup on the table. "She wasn't running, she was in an accident Jade," I look at her and she smiles wearily. "I know. I'm just saying maybe." "What reason would she have to run away?" I ask now curious and confused. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I have to tell my father about this," with that she runs out of the apartment like someone who is on fire.

It takes me a while to get over her reaction to the news. There's no conventional way to handle the news that your mother, who you thought was dead for over two decades has been alive all this while. On top of all that, shock manifests differently on everyone. When taking a shower I keep picturing Avan. Especially the look in his eyes when I told him I was scared he might die on me. I try to shake that thought off my mind. It is instead replaced by the thought of his lips on mine. When I get in bed he's all I can think of and when I finally drift off to sleep he's all I see. 

I wake up feeling so tired. I hate sleeping with a lot on my mind. I have to go see detective Swindle before heading to work. I ran out of coffee two days ago so I decide to have breakfast at the nearest cafe to the police station. I am in the middle of reading through the menu when I hear a familiar voice calling me. I look up to see detective Swindle with the two detectives I saw in his office. "Good morning to you too detectives," they all smile. All except detective Swindle. "Mind if we join you?" Detective Kelly who I think I have never seen wear any other jacket except from the leather one. "Yeah, it's okay," I motion for them to sit. I notice a look of discomfort on detective Swindle but choose to ignore it. "How are you feeling?" he asks me after we've all placed our orders. "I've recovered completely," he looks at me as if trying to decide whether he believes it or not.

We talk about everything and nothing during breakfast. "This one is a loner," detective Roll says pointing at detectve Swindle. That's not his real name but everyone calls him that and when I started working with the detectives he told me his real name but I forgot it almost immediately. "He has been paired with four partners and manages to loose them within a day or two. The one that stuck for long was only for a week," detective Kelly adds before turning his attention back to his pancakes. "I just work better alone," chips in detective Swindle in an attempt to defend himself. "Bullshit, you've never really given any of them a shot," detective Roll says in the midst of laughing. "Some people do work better alone," I comment. They all look up at me before returning to their meals. "You're just defending him so he'll go easy on you," detective Kelly says. "No, that is my professional opinion." This time only detective Swindle looks up at me. Our eyes meet and we look at each other with a feeling of understanding for each other. I work better alone too.

After breakfast they all stand to leave. "Detective, can I have a minute please," they all turn to look at me. "Kerrick," both of them look at him and back at me. "Okay, meet us at the pawn shop, there's something we have to check before going back to the station,"detective Kelly says before  Kerrick takes the seat across from me. "Yeah, what do you want to talk about?" "The patient you asked about before, was it Avan?" He nods. "I had talked to doctor John about taking him as his client," he nods again and it bugs me. Does he know that this is just a weak attempt to cover my ass. "It has always bothered me when people referred to them as clients rather than patients,"he says in his usual cool demeanour. "What?" I ask caught off guard. "I mean you just referred to him as a client but you're a doctor so doesn't that make him a patient instead?" I think for a minute. "Generally speaking, yes. But some of my patients really need more therapy than psychiatric help," I say. "Is he one of them?" he asks before sipping his 'to go' coffee.

"One of who? The ones who need more therapy than psychiatric help?" He nods once again. "I cannot tell you that. Doctor patient confidentiality and all." He is silent for a while, "not even if it helps me solve the case?" "There's no case. You told me it was suicide." I don't know, the timing seems off. Plus why do I feel like you're protecting this patient of yours?" I tense up. "I'm not. Just curious." We sit in silence for a while. "Was that all?" he asks with a sense of urgency in his voice. "No there's something else, but first do I make you uncomfortable detective?" He coughs as he chocks at his coffee. "Why would you ask me that?" He asks when he stops coughing and regains his composure. "Because you seem uncomfortable ever since I said you could join me," he looks even more uncomfortable now than he did before. I decide to put him out of his misery and go on before he could answer. "It's about Laura, your mother." That seems to overpower every other emotion he was having.

After explaining everything he seemed to be processing it better than I actually thought he would. "You had no right," he says silently looking at the table. "Had no right to what?" I ask trying to understand him. "You had no right to tell Jade about Laura, my mother I mean," this time he looks at me. "She's her mother too," I say. "Not in the way that she is mine." "What's that supossed to mean? She's more her mother than than she's yours," I regretted it the minute it came out of my mouth. "Why? Because I'm adopted and she's not?" I try to think of a way to explain it but I come up with nothing. "I didn't mean it like that," is all I can manage to say. "Because from everything you've told me she was with her for less than ten years and with me for more than twenty," he says with a sternness I had heard in him on our first meeting. "The years she was with you doesn't mean she stopped being her mother," I say calmy. "But she did though." "Why? Because she lost her memories of them?" I ask starting to get agitated. "No, because someone she knew tried to kill her. Chances are it was someone from her family," he says angrily. "What do you mean?" I ask hoping I had heard wrong. "It means you may have just put her in danger by telling your bestfriend her mother is still alive."