Page 190 of Titus

“Honestly. How are you?”

“I am alive and have coffee in my hand,” she said, walled off as usual.

“Sounds like things are going well.”

“Reasonably.”

For the first time since dialing, some of the tension eased.

“What happened, Catalina?”

She knew I wasn’t calling to catch up or to check on her, and that was the reason she’d answered.

I looked out into the darkness of the ocean as it continued to roll onto the shore.

“A man I care about was arrested this morning.”

The silence that followed was immediate, probably because the way I said it would lead anyone to believe that my sorry ass was out here dating losers.

“You care about someone?”

Of all the responses I expected, that wasn’t one of them.

I smiled despite myself. “Thank you for that vote of confidence.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I know, and yes,” I said. “I finally started dating again, and the impossible seems to have happened with this man.”

“What happened?”

“His name is Titus Hawk.” I bit my thumbnail. “Have you heard of him?”

“Hawk?”

“Yes.”

“Is he one of Herbert Hawk’s sons?”

“You know who he is?”

“Everyone who knew Herbert Hawk knows who his sons are.”

That made sense, especially since my mother lived around this wealth as much as I did. Even though she retired, she knew the people that family knew.

“True,” I said.

“He was arrested?” she said, as if she’d never imagined a day like this would happen to Herbert or his sons.

“Yes, and the federal investigation involves things his father did in the past.”

My mother sighed heavily. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

I straightened. “Do you know something about him, Herbert?”

“I know the Valdéz family spent years despising that wicked man.”

“Why?”