Sehven
Monica Knight - Piper was only forty-four years old and had only turned that old today. She was the only daughter to my grandmother, Pastor JoBeth Knight — who had been a pastor from the age of thirty-two until her dying days at seventy-eight.
Monica's pregnancy at only fifteen years old was the first time she broke her mother's heart. However, she got married by nineteen to my father and it seemed to seal the broken deal. It had been a long four years of not having a dependable support system. I was a "big girl" by then and my Granny Jo said that was her only reason for coming back around. Not being in her granddaughter's life mended the issues between the two of them.
Before Monica could turn thirty, she was had broken her mother's heart again with her excessive drug usage.
Granny Jo's last wish was for Monica to get help and heal from whatever "demon" had a hold of her. However, I felt the complete opposite regarding my birth mother. Monica was living the life she chose to live and did it with pleasure. Getting clean and fighting off demons weren't in her near future plans.
It's one reason I've wiped my hands of trying to clean her up from the drug habit and make her happy through other means.
The only reason Monica crossed my mind was because it's March 8th and today is her birthday. I had picked up my phone to call her several times throughout the day, but it had been a fail the first three times. And I stopped trying after the third one. There was no telling who had her phone. Or if she kept it charged. The iPhone had been a gift to her years ago, but Monica never stayed stable long enough to keep track of. Or to even upgrade the device. So she was still using her iPhone8. I covered the monthly plan for it 'til this day. But having an iPhone on her bad days? Exactly what she needs for a quick fix.
A knock at my door came and I looked at the security camera to see Stephen standing on the other side. It looked like something was in his hand, so I leaned over to buzz him in.
I had approximately ten minutes before Migi Vargas was here for his appointment. I'm thankful today was Monica's birthday because it took my mind off the problems that came with my ex-neighbor being in close proximity.
Just as he opened the door, I closed the file on my desk discreetly, tapping the keyboard to awaken the screen. The last thing I needed was for Stephen to do what he does best: start asking too many questions. I didn't want to elaborate on emotions too much today because I was still sorting everything out for myself.
"Hi, Little Miss Brilliant."
"Do you even know my real name?" I asked sarcastically, making Stephen smack his teeth.
"Anyways," He said coming to take a seat in front of me at the desk. "I was told to give this to you," He held up an evidence bag which seemed to hold a cell phone inside it. "It's Vargas's old phone. He's free to have it back since there was no evidence they could pull from it."
"None at all?" I asked with a frown. That's strange. There must be a high-level VPN on it for the federal detectives not to discover anything from the android. Or maybe it wasn't the piece to their puzzle.
Regardless it was good for him.
"Nothing. There's a block on it that they can't seem to...undergo or break. And since he has been released of his charges, they have to return the property to him."
Interesting.
Now that I have an idea of how stubborn this man is — just because of his younger self — I know Migi won't touch that phone. It'll be left inside that bag for sure, but...
