Sticks & Stones (A Hollis Morgan Mystery) by R. Franklin James Page A

the officer and explained that she would be right back in the event Stephanie came looking for her. Spanning the block in minutes, she quickly picked up items at a Seven-Eleven: a banana, a ham sandwich and a small carton of milk.
    When she returned ten minutes later , the scene was unchanged, except for the uniformed EMT sitting sat next to Vince.
    “Look man, you’re doin’ good. Don’t give up.” The burly African-American man leaned over to meet Vince’s gaze. “  ’Cept man, you can’t stay here. Jim lets you stay here on his shift, but he’s goin’ off in a little while. He called me to take you to the center. You can come back tomorrow and pick up your mom.”
    Vince looked panicked.
    “No … no I can’t make it there. Too many people usin’. I’ll go looking for some stuff.” He looked up and saw Hollis standing with the bag in her hand. He reached out.
    The EMT noticed her too and moved aside as she handed the food to Vince.
    “Thank you,” Vince said, even as he pushed the bread in his mouth. “See, Joel, I’m eating. I’m hungry, and I’m keeping it down.”
    “That’s good, man.” The EMT stood and held out his hand to Hollis. “He can’t handle the milk.” He handed the carton back to her.
    “Oh, sorry,” she said and slipped the container into her purse.
    “You know Vince? I’m Joel Cannon. You a social worker?”
    “No, I’m waiting for a friend. I just met Vince …. Well, not ‘met’ really. Anyway, I thought he could use a meal.”
    The side door opened and Hollis acknowledged Stephanie with a smile as she entered the room. Dressed in her lab coat and carrying a Dooney & Bourke bag, Stephanie quickly walked over.
    She gave Hollis a hug and an air kiss on the cheek. Joel and a chewing Vince looked on.
    “Hi, luv, what’s going on?” Stephanie glanced at Officer Jim, who just shrugged and went back to his computer screen.
    “Stephanie, this is Joel and this is Vince.” Hollis pointed to each. “Vince has  … has a problem, but he wants to be here when his mother is released tomorrow.”
    Stephanie looked at each of them and without a word bent over Vince and looked him in the eye. He didn’t pull back from her scrutiny. Hollis saw her take in the tracks on his arm.
    Hollis put her hand on her arm. “Stephanie, can I talk to you for a minute?”
    She steered her away to the opposite corner of the room.
    “Ah, no, Hollis, no, no . I was looking forward to lunch and I have that information you wanted about Kelly Schaefer.” Stephanie followed her to a far corner.
    Hollis put her finger to her lips. “Keep your voice down. We’ll have lunch , don’t worry. But isn’t there somebody or someplace that could help Vince?”
    “Who in the hell is Vince?” Stephanie threw up her arms. “No, wait, I can tell you. He’s a junkie in bad shape. I thought you wanted me to help you with your friend who was killed.”
    “Shh h, not so loud, Steph. I do need your help with a couple of Cathy’s items. But Vince is close to getting clean.” Hollis didn’t know if that was true, but she felt it was. “He just needs a chance. I don’t know why his mother is inside, but the fact that he cares for her says he’s not too far gone.”
    Hollis gave her the biggest pleading look she could muster.
    “Since when did you start to collect abandoned puppies?” Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest. “All right, all right, at least he’s able to eat. There’s a non-denominational church, The Eternal Lantern, about a half-mile from here. I’ll call the director.”
    Hollis took a deep breath. “Thanks, Stephanie. We can drive him over on our way to lunch.”
    “No, we can’t. I’m not getting in a car with him.” Stephanie smoothed her belt. “Tell—what’s his name?—Joel to take him.” She walked back through the double doors to make her call.
    Judging from their looks, Hollis realized that Joel and Vince did not have high hopes from the conversation. They