Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 88

AJ Styles had now been in the wind for three days. His body count was now up to three police officers. Cops had been instructed to work in pairs, but it seemed that some precincts had been a little lax in enforcing it. An officer who had stopped at a coffee kiosk had never made it back to his car. He had been shot in the back, and then again in the back of the head while he was down on the ground. Of note was the fact that a pistol had been used, as opposed to the shotgun from the previous killings.

The case was harrowing, and involved spending most of the days outside in Chicago's freezing January weather. Those two factors made the days very tiring, but Erin and Jay had to try their best not to show any of it for Clementine's sake. Their young daughter was often still full of energy when they got home, wanting to talk to them or play games with them. In a way, it did invigorate them, also giving their minds something else to think about.

On this particular evening, Erin had decided that it was her turn for some one on one time with Clementine. During her shift that day, she had driven past a local park and noticed that they were still running their 'Winter Wonderland' event. It featured market stalls and festive decorations, and would make a nice place to wander around for an hour, she figured. As if to compliment the occasion, just before they got out of her car light snow began to fall, as it had earlier in the day.

"I love the snow," was Clementine's first comment after getting out of the car.

"Me too, Clem," Erin lied smoothly. In truth, having to work in the snow made her despise the stuff, but she knew that for a twelve year old it was a thing of beauty and wonder, so she was willing to make it seem the same way for her too.

"Can you help me with my scarf?" Clementine asked, struggling with it.

"Here, do it like this," Erin said, showing her how to fix it correctly.

Clementine also had a thick coat on, her usual Cubs baseball cap, and matching Cubs gloves that Erin had purchased for her online. Everything that could be done to prevent her catching a cold had been done.

The park was busier than Erin had expected it to be. The snow seemed to have given a lot of people the idea to head to Winter Wonderland.

"Okay, Clem, hold my hand please," Erin said after putting on her own gloves. "There are a lot of people here and we don't want to get separated."

Clementine did as she was asked without comment, and they walked through the entrance into the park. Erin expected her to say something about how nice everything looked. She couldn't have been more wrong.

"Erin? Why do white people hate black people?"

Surprised, and fearful that someone might have made a racist comment to her daughter, Erin stopped walking and looked at her. "Why do you ask that?"

"At school today I heard a white boy call a black boy a nasty word, and some other white boys laughed at him. I could tell they don't like black people."

How awful, Erin thought. What kind of parents would have a kid of Clementine's age behaving that way? "That's awful, Clem. It's definitely not all white people that feel that way. Unfortunately there are some disgusting people in the world who will dislike you purely because of your skin colour. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. Over time, more people are being educated not to behave that way. Sadly, there will always be some nasty ones out there."

"But why would they not like me because of what colour my skin is? You and Jay are white. Why did you want to adopt me?"

Of those two questions, Erin decided it was best to focus on the latter. She led Clementine over to the side of the footpath so that they were not standing in people's way. "Clem, Jay and I don't care about the colour of your skin at all. It's not even something we consider. We chose to adopt you because we were looking to adopt, and then fate brought you and I together. We wanted a child to raise as our own, and you needed parents to take care of you. Like Jay and I both told you at the time, we promise to always love you and care for you. To us, it doesn't matter that we're your parents by adoption. We consider you our daughter, and we always, always will."