Maya had no idea about Frank's history. She didn't particularly care.
She sat in the McDonald's, crunching fries and sipping Coke, waiting. Jimmy and Frank spent a long time wandering through various tangents before they finally got to what she needed.
Two takeaways.
First: Frank Gardes was coming back early. His men were dead, his trafficking operation had been blown — he was moving up his timeline. He'd arrive in the early hours of the following morning, route unknown until the final leg, but his eventual destination was the same as always: his own building.
Second: Tom's name had surfaced. Maya didn't know it yet, but Jimmy hadn't actually identified Tom as Mary's biological father. He'd pulled a list of low-level, dispensable names from the investigation results and selected a few for Frank to take his frustration out on — sacrificial targets, people too small to fight back. The genuinely powerful men on Lillian's list were people Jimmy and Wade had no interest in provoking.
Lillian, for all her history, was still a distant relation of a Queens district attorney. Frank wouldn't touch her in the end. Jimmy and Wade certainly weren't going to make themselves part of that mess. As far as Jimmy was concerned, a man's wife sleeping around was a private matter. Getting cheated on wasn't exactly rare in their line of work. Not that it was his problem — he wasn't the one wearing it.
What Maya didn't know — and had no way of knowing — was that Lillian hadn't just been sending Tom signals back then. The real list from those years was considerably longer. Mary's actual paternity was genuinely uncertain; Lillian herself wasn't sure. The only reason Tom's name had come up at all was that Mary and Tom both had dark brown hair, and Lillian vaguely remembered a handsome face from around that time. Paternity testing back then wasn't reliable or accessible enough to settle the question cleanly. If it had been, Frank might have saved himself some energy — energy better spent on Wilson Fisk.
Maya knew none of it.
What she was certain of: she needed to make sure Frank didn't make it back to his building tomorrow night. If she could stop him from returning, he couldn't act on any decisions he'd already made. Tom would be safe.
And while she was at it, she could make Frank pay a little for the people he'd gotten killed.
Decision made, she pushed back her chair, dropped the tray, and walked out of the McDonald's toward home. On the way, she admitted to herself that she'd gotten lucky — two afternoons of sitting around, and she had everything she needed. She'd been prepared to come back for a night shift if today had turned up nothing.
She reached the apartment building and had barely climbed to the second floor when she heard the noise spilling out of the neighbor's unit.
Lucius and his wife's cousin Bonky were going at it.
"Bonky, I didn't want this to happen either. Cochi is your cousin — but she's also my wife. She's the mother of my kids."
"So what, you're just going to sit in this apartment and pretend none of this happened? You're going to tell me the product had nothing to do with you?"
"Bonky, you and Carol came over here to say what, exactly? I'm nobody in Hell's Kitchen. No badge, no connections, no money, no pull. There's nothing I can do right now."
"You could at least go see her. Even if you can't post bail, you could go down there and let her know she's not alone."
"I'll go. I will. Just not now. My new album just dropped — there are people watching my every move. I can't afford any connection to the product right now. Cochi and I talked about this. She'll understand."
Andrew and Jamal were sitting by the building entrance, both of them wearing expressions that had no business being on kids their age.
Maya sat down next to Jamal and put a hand on his head. "For people in this neighborhood, this kind of thing isn't unusual. I know your mom is in trouble right now — but I think she'd want you to hold it together."
Jamal looked up at her. "Maya, when your dad got arrested, did you cry really hard?"
Maya's hand froze mid-pat. You little disaster. What was she supposed to say to that? Admitting she'd cried out loud would cost her authority. Saying she hadn't would be a terrible example for an eight-year-old.
Andrew filled the silence before she could recover. "I've been thinking — every time you take stuff to your dad, it must cost a lot. I'm saving up for a Nintendo right now. If I have to spend money on my mom too, I probably won't be able to get it."
Maya stared at him. So the deeply troubled expression on his face was about the Nintendo.
"Also," Andrew continued, "I'm guessing I have to send my mom something in there, right? You have way more experience with this stuff than me — what do you think she'd want?"
Maya's expression went dark. Experience? What do you mean 'experience,' you little—
She counted to three, reminded herself that his mother had just been arrested, and kept her voice even. "You could take a few photos of Lucius and mail them to her."
Andrew blinked. "My dad won't even go visit her himself. You think he'd let me take his photo?"
Maya had said it as a throwaway line. She hadn't expected it to land as a sincere question. She recalibrated.
"Take them without him knowing. He doesn't have to find out."
Andrew's brow furrowed in what appeared to be genuine, serious consideration. He nodded slowly.
Maya decided she was done with this conversation. "The spring sports meet is tomorrow. You're entered, right? Do your best out there. Win something. Give your mom good news to hear — that'll actually make her happy."
Andrew pulled a face and scratched the back of his head. "The last time I brought home a gold medal, Cochi didn't even look at it. If I win first place tomorrow, it's just a piece of paper. She'll probably call me an idiot. The student council is way too cheap with the prizes this year, Maya."
"Are you participating or not?"
"Yeah, obviously. I'm planning to ask Liz to dance afterward."
Maya had genuinely nothing left to say to him. These two didn't need comforting. They were going to be fine.
She stood up. "If the baby gets fussy and you can't settle him down, go knock on Jennifer's door."
Then she turned and went inside.
Jennifer and Jack were already at the kitchen table, talking about Cochi. The moment Maya walked in, Jennifer looked up.
"You need to start coming home earlier. And don't go back to that part-time job for now. Cochi getting caught today has nothing to do with you — but it's a sign. This neighborhood is about to get messy. Be careful."
Maya paused.
She's not wrong.
Jennifer had lived in Hell's Kitchen long enough to sense trouble before it arrived. Maya filed it away and said nothing.