Free Green Tea by Sheila Horgan

convertible chair in sometime around midnight, provided a couple of pillows and some really unwarm blankets, and we dozed the night away in the little room with Nana.
    Just before the sun came up, the doctor came in, told Nana that she was fit for travel, and as soon as the paperwork was done, she was free to go.
    A nurse came in to help Nana get dressed and get organized. Normally, I would have helped my family with things like that, but as a guy AJ is a little more limited. Nana shooed us both out.
    We got Nana settled in at home, hit our apartment in full gonna-be-late-for-work mode, and got both of us ready and out the door in record time. We took separate cars, as I had my normal running around to do today, plus wedding stuff, most of which I hadn’t helped with, which is completely un-O’Flynn.
    I still can’t decide if my feelings are hurt that O’Flynns are living their lives without my help or input. Maybe I’m not as indispensible as I always assumed I was.
    Half way to the photography studio it dawned on me that I hadn’t turned my phone back on. When I got to the next stoplight, I grabbed that little sucker out of my purse, hit the appropriate button and waited, knowing full well that it would squawk and beep and boop all over the place because I’d have phone messages and email messages and missed call alerts.
    Silence.
    Hmm…
    It was an off-site day for AJ. He packed up the equipment he would need and rushed off to parts unknown.
    I went into the main area of the studio and boxed up some props, called the guy that transports them and asked for a quick pickup. He happened to be eating at the diner across the street and said he’d be over in a few.
    When he mentioned the diner, it dawned on me that when I’d been meeting with Steph there, I’d noticed a change in the front window of the studio, and had never checked it out.
    The best vantage point is the sidewalk. I went out front to take a peek. One of the sets used in the bridal shoot Morgan had done was blown up and sitting on the easel, but Morgan wasn’t in the shot. No bride was. It was just a naked background.
    I hate when they do that on billboards. I’ll have to mention it to AJ. My guess is that it was a requirement of the designer.
    I trudged back inside.
    Without the bride, the picture doesn’t make sense. Without the victims, murders don’t make sense. Without any background, the secrets of the memory cards don’t make any sense. Nana was right. I need to track down the people in the journals, the journals I’d handed over to Steph, and at the very least, try to find the details on the Internet. Why hadn’t I done that? Seems like a pretty damn obvious thing to do.
    I called, got Steph’s voicemail, left a message saying I wanted to borrow the journals back.
    I chastised myself again for allowing my life to rule me, instead of me ruling my life.
    My phone rang, frustrated and more than a little annoyed, I grabbed it and didn’t even bother looking to see who was calling me.
    “Hello?”
    “Cara, weren’t we supposed to meet at your apartment this morning?”
    “Eddie? Oh, Eddie, I’m so sorry. Things were a little out of control yesterday, and then I spent the night at the hospital.”
    “Are you okay?”
    “Oh, I was staying with someone else, I’m fine. I’m so sorry I’m not there. I’m in Old Town. Can you get started and I’ll meet you there and pay and collect the new key?”
    “I can do that cause I know you.”
    We made sure he was at the right apartment. Just my luck I’d have him change the wrong lock and then some poor unsuspecting soul would come home from work, all tired and cranky, only to find themselves locked out of their apartment, and the front office wouldn’t even be able to let them in.
    I left a note saying that I was done for the day at the photography studio, and if either AJ or Jovana needed me for anything, to give me a call on my cell.
    I raced back to the apartment. Eddie was already