Chapter 21

“OH, SHIT!”I tore my gloves off. “Shit! Pops! I’m sorry!”

I dragged the old man to his feet. He unclipped the padded helmet and let it fall to the mat. His face was red and drenched in sweat. He thumped his chest as though he had heartburn and shook his head.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

“You’re too good for your old trainer, Harry.” He batted me on the shoulder with his glove. “You’re a good cop, too. You’re not being shut out of the Georges River task force because of your abilities, or your gender. You gotta let it go. Okay?”

“Why?” I followed the old man to the stool at the opposite corner of the ring. I handed him the bottle of water sitting there. “I just don’t understand. I feel like there’s something you’re keeping from me. And we’ve never been like this, Pops. We’ve never kept things from each other.”

The old man sucked at the water bottle and regained his breath. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. I ducked my head to try to see what was hidden there, whether it was guilt or shame or concern cutting him off from me. But he wiped his forehead on the back of his arm and turned away.

“It’ll all come out in time,” he said. “And when it does, you’ll… you’ll be grateful for all the time you didn’t know the truth.”