Dirty by Debra Webb Read Free Book Online Page B

problem,” I corrected.   Her English was excellent for a woman who’d had no formal education in the language.   That was another thing we’d worked on together.
    Alita nodded and turned those big doe eyes up to me and something passed between us, woman to woman, an urgent plea I couldn’t have missed short of having been struck blind in that same instant.
    “What’s wrong, Alita?”   Living in Texas, especially this close to the border, no one was more acutely aware of the controversy over illegal immigrants and the cruel treatment they often endured.   Alita and her son fell smack into that category, though both were citizens.   To some, they would never belong.   Still, she had made Houston their home.   I respected her determination.   I respected her period.   She reminded me of my mother, though a born and bred Texan she had also cleaned offices in this city long ago, when I was about Emilio’s age.   My father had just started his law practice but mother was the one who kept food on the table while he built up a client list.   Women like my mother and Alita Reynoso were a special breed.
    Sometimes I wondered why I fell slightly short of that category.   I worked hard that much was true.   My friends described me as driven, even accused me of being all work and no play at times.   But I often considered whether my intense focus on making it in this male-dominated occupation was more about proving I could.   I’d felt that way since the divorce...as if I couldn’t risk failing at anything else.   Maybe that’s why I always picked the wrong guy.   I couldn’t fail at a relationship if I wasn’t technically in one.   The wrong guy automatically ensured things didn’t meander too far into dicey territory.
    Enough with the self-psychoanalyzing already.   Something was troubling my young friend and she needed my help.
    Alita glanced back toward her son.   “I would very much like you...find Emilio’s father.”
    “You want me to find your son’s father?”   I blinked in an attempt to hide my initial reaction.   Too late.   She noticed.   My repeating her statement in the form of a question might have played a small part in giving away my surprise.
    “I never talk of him before but it’s time he know he had a son.”
    I nodded, just then grasping her full meaning.   “Were you pregnant with Emilio when you left Mexico?”
    Her head moved up and down quickly.   “But I did not know.   When I find out it was too late.   I couldn’t go back and he not know.”
    Before I said yes I knew full well Alita couldn’t pay me.   But it didn’t matter.   She was my friend, if I could help her I would.   “I’ll look into it, Alita.   Make a list of all you know about him.   Full name, last known address, stuff like that and I’ll get right on it.”
    “Thank you, Miss Jackie.”
    Hobbs made a sound in his throat and I shifted my attention to where he lurked in the doorway. “I believe this is for you.”   He waved the FedEx envelope Alita had accepted.
    There was something about his tone that gave me pause.   “What is it?”
    He strode to my desk and placed the envelope in my outstretched hand.   “A somewhat intriguing message,” he declared.
    I frowned.   I couldn’t be sure if Hobbs was yanking my chain because he was still frustrated about Willis or if he was serious.   There was a return address, a PO box, but no name.   I reached into the envelope and felt around.   At first I thought it might be a joke since the envelope felt empty.   Some might deem that a message in itself.   Then my fingers encountered something small and rectangular.   Smooth, slightly thicker than paper.   I withdrew the object and studied it.   A photograph.   The kind taken for a passport or drivers license.   It was...
    The air evacuated my lungs...for ten full seconds I couldn’t speak or form a coherent thought.   I could only stare at the face I hadn’t seen in a