Blue Boy 1: Bullet by Garrett Leigh Page A

never sleep again.
    He sank down onto a hard plastic chair in the busy ER corridor. It didn’t take long for the police to find him. They ushered him into a side room, leaving the door open for an officer to keep an eye on Bella’s room. An overweight, middle-aged beat cop pulled up a chair opposite. “Sorry, son. We’ll try and keep this quick. I take it you know what happened?”
    Levi bristled. Son? He could take it from Mr. Draper, but not from the cops. His momma was clinging to life by a fast-eroding thread. He wasn’t anyone’s son anymore. “She got hit by a truck.”
    “Yes, I’m sorry. It appears that she was crossing quite a way down from the pedestrian crossing outside the general store. The area isn’t well lit at the best of times, and the truck had a light out. Do you have any idea why she wasn’t at home and asleep at that time of night?”
    “No.”
    “Your mother’s neighbor said you buy groceries and deliver them to her. When did you last see her?”
    Guilt burned a path from Levi’s chest to his stomach. He’d missed his weekly checkup with Bella. The first time in years. “Two weeks ago.”
    “How did she seem? Was she her usual self?”
    He snorted; he couldn’t help it. “Yeah, she was her usual self.”
    The officer nodded and made a note. “Your mother has high levels of alcohol in her system. Your neighbor says that’s not unusual. Is that true?”
    “Yes.”
    “Is she an alcoholic?”
    “Yes.”
    There was silence as the officer turned over a page in his notebook. Levi looked around the room, taking in the shabby equipment and faded pictures on the walls. Trust Bella to wind up at the worst ER in LA.
    The officer cleared his throat. Levi glanced back at him, feeling somewhat detached. He kept waiting for the gravity of the situation to feel real, but it hadn’t happened yet. Maybe he was still drunk himself, though the buzz of his night at Silver seemed a lifetime ago.
    “Mr. Ramone, do you believe it’s possible your mother was trying to…”
    Urgent movement in the corridor cut the officer off. A nurse appeared in the doorway. “You need to come with me.”
    Levi shoved his chair back and pushed past the officer at the door. He followed the nurse to Bella’s room, bypassing her when she trailed to a stop. He reached Bella’s bedside and took her hand. At first it seemed that nothing had changed, but then he heard it, the faltering stutter of her failing heartbeat. A doctor hurried in. The chick was young; she didn’t look much older than him.
    “It’ll be quick now.”
    He nodded, his gaze fixed on Bella. Her eyes were closed, her face smooth. They’d been saying for hours that she was beyond feeling any pain, and he believed them. She hadn’t felt much of anything in so long.
    Transfixed, he squeezed her hand as her chest made a strange rattling sound, and he brushed her hair away from her face. Bella had been a beautiful Southern belle once, but now her features were ravaged by years of misery and alcohol abuse. Paper-thin skin and frail bones. He’d always known the booze would kill her, but he’d never imagined he would say good-bye to her like this.
    She shuddered. He watched the tremor travel through her body. To him it seemed like an animal shedding its skin, like she was trying to wriggle out of her life and force her way into whatever came next. The thought almost made him smile; then he noticed her chest was no longer moving.
    He watched her for a long while, though in reality, it might have only been moments. Sometime later, he felt the hand of a stranger on his shoulder, and he knew she was gone. His momma was dead, she was free, and for the first time in years, so was he.
    * * * *
    He drove back to Bella’s house in a daze. Her death had been quick and painless—for her, at least—but the formalities that came next had gone on for hours. Death certificates, funeral homes, donating her only fully functioning organs—her eyes—to be used for