Chapter 37

ALEJANDRO I WALKED THROUGH THE BAR AND TOOK A SEAT NEXT TO JAX. HE SLID A glass of Scotch to me and I took a swig, the smooth rich malt burning my throat as I swallowed. ‘So, what did you find out for me?’ I asked him. ‘Martin Carmichael was a marine. Worked his way up to petty officer and left at the age of fifty1 with a stellar record. He opened his own butchers store in Brooklyn, did a lot for his local community. He ran the store until he died twelve years later in a car accident.’ ‘And Alana’s grandmother?’ ‘Beverly Carmichael was a high school teacher. She left her job when she was fifty1 too and never went back to work. ‘She left to raise Alana?’ I asked as I downed the rest of my whisky. Jax nodded. ‘Yup. She was heavily involved with the church and did a lot for the local homeless shelter and soup kitchen. But she never had paid employment again. She died two years after her husband.’ ‘How?’ ‘Cancer.’ I grimaced as I thought about Alana