all of Duchess’ files when you called. I don’t know if any of this is going to help, but we’ll try, yeah?” She opened one of the files and rested her elbows on the desk. “I guess maybe we should start with who everyone is. I normally don’t have this big of a crowd during appointments.”
Zephyr lifted his chin. “Zephyr.”
“Detective Kaye. Kaye Crew.”
“Sledge,” I grunted.
Lynn looked expectantly at Queenie. “You have quite the entourage.”
Queenie laughed nervously. “Uh, well, Sledge and Zephyr are, um, friends, and Detective Kaye and I just met outside. She’s working to find Gunner, so she’s here to hopefully find something to help.”
“Sounds like a solid plan. An MC and a cop should help cover all of the bases, am I right?” Lynn laughed at her own joke, but it trailed off when none of us laughed with her. “Well…”
“Are you a shrink?” Zephyr blurted out. “You don’t look like no shrink I’ve ever seen before.” Leave it to Zephyr to just get right to the point.
“Surprisingly, a bachelor’s in psychology, master’s in counseling, and a doctorate in substance abuse counseling doesn’t keep me away from the tattoo chair or the hair dye.” She lifted a lock of her hair. “Plus, it makes me more relatable. Would you wanna spill your guts to someone who looks like they walked off the cover of Housewife Weekly?”
“Good point,” Zephyr grunted.
Lynn smiled at him. “I’d love to know how you got the name Zephyr.”
Zephyr smirked and threw a wink at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know, doll.”
Oh, hell. Zephyr was trying to get in with Lynn. She may look like someone who Zephyr would be interested in, but something told me Lynn was a whole hell of a lot more than he could handle.
“Are you two flirting right now?” Kaye asked. “Is that what we’re doing?” She looked at her watch. “I got some other stuff I could be doing.”
“Sorry,” Lynn laughed. “I get distracted sometimes when I want to figure out why and how something ticks.”
“Distracted, right,” Kaye mumbled.
Queenie leaned forward. “Um, I was hoping maybe you knew the answers to some questions I have about Duchess.”
“Of course. Ask away and I’ll answer what I can.” Lynn smiled wide. “She was one of my favorites. She wanted to get clean and I was just here to give her the tools to do it.”
“She was newly pregnant when you started seeing her, right?”
Lynn nodded. “Yes. It was fun to see her come in and watch her growing bump.”
“Did she ever tell you who the father was? She didn’t put a name on the birth certificate and we think maybe whoever the father is might be connected to Gunner being missing.”
Lynn sat back. “Well, I don’t think she ever said his name, but she did say he wasn’t around because he got arrested.”
“For?” Kaye asked.
Lynn splayed out her hands in front of her. “I don’t know, but it must have been pretty severe because she said he was going to be in there for life. She didn’t seem too upset about it, though.”
“You didn’t ask for his name?” Zephyr asked.
“It didn’t seem relevant to her recovery. He wasn’t around and wouldn’t be around so I didn’t push the issue. I’m concerned with who is going to be in her everyday life. The only person she ever mentioned by name was Queenie.”
“She didn’t mention any friends?” I asked. We already knew the dad was in jail. The problem was there were a shit-ton of people in jail. Even if we had a first name that would help us to figure out who he was, it would be a longshot.
Lynn shook her head. “Not really, and even if she had, I don’t remember them. I take in-depth notes, but not about irrelevant things.”
Queenie sighed. “I feel like the worst sister ever. I don’t know anything about her.”
Lynn reached out and laid her hand on Queenie’s. “I wouldn’t feel that way. I very rarely see an addict fully understand and love the way Duchess did. By the end of our sessions, she took full responsibility and knew she would be dead if it hadn’t been for you.”
“You mean my checkbook and she relapsed, Lynn. She wasn’t clean in the end.” Queenie laughed drily.
“No,” Lynn said lowly. “I mean you. Duchess was messed up for a long time, but she came out of it because of you and Gunner. She was clean because she wanted to be the mother and sister you and Gunner deserved.”