Is This True?

Chapter 23

"Hey, girl! What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just trying to save the world."

A soft snicker blew out of my laptop as I adjusted my sitting position.
"No, but seriously speaking--I'm struggling with this case, Denise."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Mr. Woods shouldn't have given me this one, especially since I'm alone. Well--sort of, but anyway it's like--I don't even know."

My fingers absentmindedly ran through my hair as I tried to find the right words to say.
"Why did he even trust me with this complex case? Alone? I mean, I have zero experience with this sort of thing anyway so what good could I do? I have hardly any clues or leads, I lost some valuable information, and I almost got myself killed--"

"You what?!"

Oops. I didn't mean for that to slip.

"Look--it was nothing. I'm fine. I'm here right now, aren't I?"

"You're missing the point, Jenn!"

"I'm okay. Seriously, I am."

Denise sighed again as I watched her take a sip from her coffee cup through the screen. I'd been wanting to talk to Denise for a long time, but I thought this was a good time as ever to get some things off my mind. After all, she needed a break from her kids as well. Who doesn't?

"Well, if you didn't want to finish the case I'm sure Mr. Woods would find someone to--"

"No. I'm not quitting nor giving up."

"Goodness, I wasn't going to suggest someone replacing you, Jenn. I was talking about someone coming to help you. I understand where you're coming from though. I wouldn't send a rookie to another country alone to solve a case like yours; it just doesn't seem right."

"It feels like a setup to me."

"A setup?"

"Right. If--if that makes any sense at all."

Denise didn't say anything for a few seconds but rather sighed again.

"But if it makes you feel any better--"
I began,
"--I'm not completely alone up here."

I saw Denise scrunch up her eyebrows in confusion before I told her,
"Scott is up here with me."

Her chocolate eyes widened,
"Scott?"

"Yeah. Surprised?"

"What on earth is he doing up there?"

"Well--you told me he needed to get away for a while, didn't you? It just so happened that his getaway was Ontario. And besides, his parents live here too--which is the only family he has left. I think."

"Makes--sense."

"What? That he has no other family left?"

Denise slowly nodded her head,
"Exactly. He has no other family."

"Oh."

Poor guy.

"He's lived a hard life."

"Yeah, that's what I've heard but not specifics--not that I need to know. I just feel really bad, I guess."

"Scott isn't an open book when it comes to things like that, but all I know is that he lost some people he was really close to. And we just need to respect his privacy."

"Agreed."

I paused,
"And I may or might not have pushed him a little too far for information when he came over yesterday afternoon. I thought he was hiding some things, but perhaps I was wrong."