“—slim to none,” Dezi finished. “I know.” She touched a hand to her chest. “Deep down, I know she’s still alive.”
Grimm didn’t try to disavow her of that belief. Statistics weren’t always the truth for every situation. Maybe Penny was out there, waiting for someone to find and free her. For Dezi’s sake, he hoped that was the case. And if he could help in any way to find her, he would.
“Changing the subject because Penny’s disappearance is still too painful to discuss…what about you?” Dezi asked. “Where did you grow up?”
Images of his shitty childhood rushed through his memory. An alcoholic father who turned mean when he got drunk, which was all the time. His mother, who drank to dull the pain of abuse. She’d escaped her life by crashing into an electric pole while Grimm had been at school.
With his mother dead, Grimm’s father had turned to him and unleashed his anger on his ten-year-old son.
Grimm had tried to hide the bruises but couldn’t hide all of them. When his teachers noticed at school, he was taken from his father and placed in the foster care system, which was almost as broken as his father.
“I’m sorry,” Dezi said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“No, it’s okay,” he said. “I grew up in Houston, Texas.”
Dezi glanced his way. “You’re far from home.”
“Not far enough,” he said through clenched teeth. He felt her gaze boring into him, but she had the good sense not to dig deeper.
“I always wonder what makes a person join the military. I wanted to join because I wanted to be a part of something bigger than just myself.”
“Why didn’t you?” he asked.
She stared straight ahead. “The entrance physical found that I had ventricular arrhythmia. They wouldn’t let me in. Since I loved cooking and was pretty good at it, I went to culinary school in LA.”
“And yet, you came back to Eagle Rock? Seems like since you went to culinary school, you’d want to work at a high-end restaurant.”
She nodded. “And I did, for a couple of years, as a sous-chef. When Penny disappeared, I realized I’d rather be back home, close to the people I love.” She sent a smile his way. “Why did you enter the military?”
He snorted. “It was that or go to jail.”
Her eyes widened. “Go to jail for what?”
“Assault and battery.”
A frown dented her brow. “What happened?”
“I beat up a man who was slapping his wife around in the parking lot of a grocery store where I worked.”
“Why did they press charges against you? You were defending that woman.”
“She didn’t press charges against her husband. Then her husband pressed charges against me. I was about to graduate high school, hadn’t turned eighteen yet, or the judge would’ve sent me to jail and marked my record. Instead, he gave me a choice.”
“Go in the military or go to jail.” Dezi shook her head. “How do you feel now about your decision?”
“Best decision I ever made.” Grimm lifted his chin. “It gave me a job when I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had a drill sergeant who kicked my ass into shape, saw potential in me and steered me toward Delta Force. It was the first time in my life an adult saw something better in me than a dead end.”
“Seriously? You’re amazing. How could anyone miss that?” she said with a bright smile.
His lips twisted. “You don’t have to humor me. I’ll get you to Bozeman and back. You don’t have to patronize me.”
She frowned. “I’m not. You saved me from that attacker last night. I’ll be forever in your debt.”
He shook his head. Thankfully, they were approaching Bozeman.
“Medical Examiner first?” he double-checked.
Dezi nodded. “Yes.” Her face paled, and she twisted her hands in her lap. “The last time I saw a dead person was when I went to my parents’ funeral.” Her hands twisted in her lap. “Not a happy memory. I guess it’s pretty lame of me when you’ve probably seen so many more.”