Law Man

  Standing with them was Jez.

  Jez!

  Billie’s mother.

  My heart had stopped when my body turned to stone but taking in Jez, it started stuttering madly. No rhythm, it tripped unsteadily as my pleasure after the best day ever oozed out and fear settled in.

  I hadn’t seen her in six years. She took off within months of Billie being born. She was bad news then and she looked like bad news now.

  Worse.

  She looked strung out, too thin, her clothing matched the skank level of my Mom and aunt’s and it was clear she didn’t pay much mind to her toilette except to cake on more makeup than even Mom and Aunt Lulamae wore. I didn’t even think this was possible but there it was in the lit breezeway. Proof.

  Bill.

  Bill had activated Mom and Aunt Lulamae to find her and bring her here to fuck with me.

  And fucking with me meant fucking with Mitch, Billy and Billie.

  Oh God.

  I felt Billy’s body start shaking against me. Not little shakes, quakes. It rocked his frame and shook me out of my terrified surprise.

  He knew Jez, of course, it had been a long time ago but he remembered her. Even though he was very young, he avoided her even then with instincts honed from living in that world. And considering he was nine going on ninety, he knew why she was there now.

  And also, he’d never, not once, laid eyes on Melbamae and Lulamae Hanover. But he knew who they were and he knew why they were there now.

  I shuffled Billy and I closer to Mitch and whispered urgently, “That’s Jez. Billie’s birth mother. Not Bud’s, Billie’s.”

  “Right,” Mitch clipped, his tone even angrier, his mood rolling dangerously through the breezeway, his body still rock-solid.

  “Late night for two little kids,” Mom called, still smirking and Mitch moved.

  Not to my door. Not to his door.

  To Derek and LaTanya’s door.

  I was surprised by this but I followed, pulling a still shaking Billy with me and keeping my eyes on the Trailer Trash Trio.

  Mitch spoke not a word but lifted a fist and pounded on the door. I didn’t know what he was doing and I didn’t ask. He was clearly going to lead and I was definitely going to follow.

  Aunt Lulamae made a move to us, arms coming uncrossed, torso bent slightly, eyes on Billy. When she did, I shifted closer to Mitch, my arm tightening around Billy, I positioned so I was between her and my cousin, Billy between Mitch and me.

  “Hello, Billy, I’m your grand-momma,” she cooed and Billy shoved his body closer to me in a way it seemed he wanted me to absorb it.

  I held him tighter.

  “Far’s I can see, she grew up kinda pretty,” I heard Jez mutter and my gaze cut to her to see her eyes on Billie, mild curiosity in them and not much else.

  I found this surprising too, not to mention a little alarming. Furthermore, I found her assessment of Billie as “kinda pretty” insane. Even asleep and mostly hidden from view by Mitch, anyone could see Billie was gorgeous.

  She was Billie’s mother and hadn’t seen her daughter in six years.

  Mild curiosity and an inane comment?

  What was that all about?

  I didn’t ask, not that I would have, I didn’t have the time.

  This was because Mitch spoke.

  “Not one step closer,” he growled in a way that even Aunt Lulamae stopped and looked at him.

  “I –” she started.

  “Not another word either,” Mitch went on, his voice low and vibrating, so furious it felt physical. “We’ll deal with you in a minute.”

  Aunt Lulamae’s torso straightened with a snap and her eyes narrowed.

  “Those’re my grandbabies,” she hissed.

  Before Mitch could respond, the door opened and Derek was there.

  Then we weren’t.

  This was because Mitch rounded me and Billy, herding us, forcing us with his movements through the door, through Derek and once we were inside, he slammed the door behind us.

  I saw immediately that there was a mini-cocktail extravaganza in progress. There were martini glasses in hands, decimated platters of food on the coffee table with two silver cocktail shakers, a bucket of ice and bottles of booze and mixers. I had seen this all many times before. Once she settled in, LaTanya wasn’t one to waste time sashaying into the kitchen to mix cocktails. She set up where it was comfortable and stayed there.

  Bray and Brent were on the couch.

  So was LaTanya’s cousin, Elvira.

  Elvira.

  I wasn’t certain what Mitch’s plan was. What I was certain of was that in any plan, Elvira was a wildcard.

  I knew Elvira seeing as she was a staple at LaTanya’s cocktail extravaganzas. Elvira had great style, a sister and brother who worked her last nerves and she didn’t mind telling everyone about it so she did (at length). She also had an interesting job herding the cats that were a bunch of men whose business was a little hazy but my sense was they were private investigators (or the like) and, once you got to know her, she could be hilarious.

  But if LaTanya Delight deserved a capital “D”, her cousin Elvira’s Attitude deserved a capital “A”. Pretty much anything came out of Elvira’s mouth and she was scary nosy. She didn’t have a filter. She said what she thought, she said it straight and she had a lot of opinions.

  I liked her but I had to admit, she always scared me a little.

  During another mini-cocktail extravaganza of LaTanya’s, that one sans Elvira, LaTanya shared she felt the same way about her cousin.

  Now Elvira, Bray, Brent, LaTanya and Derek were all staring at us with various expressions of surprise on their faces and I didn’t blame them. We’d barged right in and there we were.

  “Is everything –?” Derek started but Mitch didn’t let him get further as we heard a pounding knock on the door.

  All eyes (including mine) went to it but Mitch started talking.

  “The Trailer Trash Twins are in the breezeway,” he explained quietly, striding straight to Derek and LaTanya’s second bedroom that they used as a half-office/half-man cave. When I saw him on the move, I trailed taking Billy with me. So did Derek. So did LaTanya. And Bray, Brent and Elvira all got up and followed us.

  Mitch kept talking as he moved, carrying the still sleeping (thankfully) Billie.

  “They brought reinforcements. Billie’s Mom,” he stated as he walked into the room. Billy and I followed, so did Derek and LaTanya. Bray, Brent and Elvira huddled at the door.

  I heard several sucked in breaths and I was guessing they came from LaTanya, Brent and Bray. For his part, Derek’s face got tight.

  Mitch bent and I watched by the light coming through the opened door as he carefully deposited Billie on Derek’s man cave couch, arranged her comfortably and then reached out an arm to grab a throw from the back of it. He tossed it over her, twitching it so it covered her.

  Then, when she was down, we all heard another pound come at the door.

  Everyone’s heads twisted in that direction except Mitch’s. He moved swiftly, his movements controlled, fluid but economical like he was holding himself in check. He also didn’t hesitate and Bray, Brent and Elvira had to jump out of his way as his long legs took him out the door.

  My arm still around a trembling Billy, I hurried after him, guiding Billy with me and giving him a firm squeeze.

  “It’s going to be okay, honey,” I whispered as we moved and his head tipped back woodenly, his terrified eyes hit mine and my heart clenched. “Promise, Bud.” I kept whispering. “Everything’s going to be okay.” I gave him another squeeze. “Promise.”

  We made it to the living room but Billy didn’t even nod and the terror didn’t leave his face. I stopped us when I heard Mitch speak and looked to the door.

  He had it open, his body was blocking it and I saw Aunt Lulamae was standing on the other side.

  “Five minutes,” he bit out.

  “Fuck five minutes,” Aunt Lulamae returne
d. “We been waitin’ an hour.”

  “Then you’ll wait another five minutes or you’ll find your ass in the back of a cruiser and you’ll be facing harassment charges,” Mitch fired back and I just got the chance to see her head jerk and her eyes narrow before he shut the door in her face.

  Then he turned, walked directly to Billy and crouched in front of him.

  One of his hands came up, curled around the side of Billy’s neck and he pulled him roughly yet tenderly away from my body and to within an inch of his face.

  “I got this, Bud,” he said in a low, deeper than normal voice, his eyes locked with Billy’s.

  Billy didn’t respond.

  Mitch gave him a gentle shake with his hand at his neck.

  “I promise you, I got this. You believe me?”

  Billy didn’t move nor did he speak.

  “Bud?” Mitch prompted on another gentle shake and finally Billy nodded.

  My heart skipped when Mitch pulled Billy to him and rested his forehead against my cousin’s for half a second before he let him go and straightened.

  Then he looked at LaTanya.

  “Door closed to Billie. Shit goes down, I don’t want her hearin’ it. You gotta move her back to your room, I need you to do that. Yeah?” he asked and LaTanya nodded then rushed to the man cave.

  Mitch looked to Derek.

  “I don’t want those women around the kids and I don’t want them knowin’ I live across the breezeway. That’s why we’re here. In a minute, Mara and me are goin’ out there, we’re takin’ them into Mara’s apartment and we’re dealin’ with ‘em. You hear shit you don’t like, like those bitches gettin’ loud and threatening, you call Slim. He knows what’s goin’ on and he’ll know what to do. You don’t like what you hear, you call. No hesitation. Right?”

  Derek nodded.

  Mitch looked at Bray and Brent.

  “Keep Bud company. He’s freaked.”

  Bray and Brent nodded, Brent detaching from Bray and moving toward Billy.

  Mitch’s eyes came to me, they moved over my face, I knew he didn’t like what he saw but he powered through it and said quietly, “Let’s go, sweetheart.”

  It was my turn to nod.

  “I’m goin’ with,” Elvira announced right as I started to move toward Mitch and both Mitch and my eyes went to her.

  Oh boy. Here we go. Elvira was butting into Mitch’s plans.

  “No,” he denied.

  “Uh…yeah, hot guy, macho man, decorated, squeaky clean po-lice detective,” she shot back and there it was. The Attitude. “I spend my time around hot guy, macho men, almost all my time but even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t take a psychologist to read you are one seriously pissed off hot guy, macho man, po-lice detective. And I’ll repeat, you’re decorated and squeaky clean. You need to keep your shit and stay that way and, my read, you got about a half a millimeter left on your hold on your control.”

  I figured her read was right.

  She kept talking.

  “You both also need a witness to whatever goes down over there. I’m not either of ya’ll’s neighbor or best friend,” she lifted a hand, finger pointed down, her well-formed nail, I distractedly noticed, painted an awesome midnight violet color. She circled her finger between Mitch and me then she dropped her hand. “So that witness is gonna be me.”

  Well, one thing I knew about this, LaTanya had shared with her cousin about Mitch, me, Billy and Billie.

  The other thing I knew was that Elvira didn’t just have Attitude, she was wise.

  Mitch came to the same conclusion because it was then he nodded and muttered, “Let’s go.”

  Mitch spoke and Elvira and I moved, following him out the door and into the breezeway.

  “Where’s my grandbabies?” Aunt Lulamae asked before Derek and LaTanya’s door even closed.

  “We’ll talk at Mara’s place,” Mitch replied, moving directly to my door, key at the ready.

  “I wanna see my grandbabies!” Aunt Lulamae was getting loud.

  Mitch stopped, pivoted on his boot, stalked to Aunt Lulamae and even Aunt Lulamae, who had never been the brightest bulb in the box, was smart enough to see she’d pushed him too far. She flinched and cowered when he got in her space and leaned into her face.

  I held my breath.

  “We’ve been at an amusement park all day. Your granddaughter is exhausted and sleeping. Your grandson does not know you but with all your bullshit, he’s scared shitless of you. Right now, he’s in that apartment,” Mitch’s arm went up and he pointed at Derek and LaTanya’s door then dropped his arm, “shiverin’, he’s so fuckin’ scared. Now, you wanna convince anyone you give one shit about those kids, you’ll keep your fuckin’ voice down and you’ll wait the thirty fuckin’ seconds it takes to get into Mara’s place so we can talk. Your other choice is to have it out out here which means in about ten minutes your ass will be in a fuckin’ cruiser. You got a second to nod you agree or let loose. Your choice. That second starts now.”

  She immediately nodded.

  I let out my breath.

  Mitch stalked to my door, opened it but didn’t walk through. He stopped in it and his eyes sliced to me as his hand came out to me.

  I walked directly to him, Elvira at my back and when I got to him, my hand came up. His fingers closed around it and we walked in, Elvira following, the Trailer Trash Trio bringing up the rear.

  Mitch’s hand gave mine a squeeze and he ordered gently, “Hit some lights, honey, then right back at my side.”

  I looked up at him, nodded and wandered the room quickly, turning on the lamps on either side of the couch. Mitch positioned himself six feet into the apartment, hands to his hips. Elvira went to sit on a stool at my bar, back to the counter, body facing the showdown. It was then I noticed her clingy, wraparound dress was pretty spectacular and if I survived this without having a mental collapse, I needed to ask where she got it. Mom, Aunt Lulamae and Jez were all standing just inside my door, looking around my apartment with astonished expressions on their faces.

  I understood this. Seriously, Penny did a great job. My apartment was awesome.

  Jez’s expression melted to indifference as her eyes drifted to Mitch. It was all the same to her and, vaguely, I wondered what she was even doing there. She didn’t seem a participant so much as an observer.

  Mom’s and Aunt Lulamae’s gazes came to me as I made it to Mitch’s side and their expressions shifted to scorn.

  “Who’s she?” Jez asked, her head tipping to Elvira but Mom spoke over her and what Mom said took precedence, at least according to Mitch.

  “Knew it, always knew it.” She threw her hand out, indicating my apartment. “Slutty, little tease always had your nose in the air, thinkin’ you’re better than everybody, thinkin’ you’re somethin’ you are not.”

  Obviously, she said this to me.

  And, very obviously, considering the already suffocating air in the room went thick as paste, Mitch, seriously pissed, got more pissed.

  A lot more.

  “For this discussion, you direct any communication to me. You do not talk to Mara,” he clipped out this order and Mom looked at him.

  “And why would I do that?” she snapped.

  “Because you’re standin’ there thinkin’ you got the upper hand when you don’t. And if you don’t smarten up fast and play this right, I’m gonna unleash a world of hurt on you, your sister and your sister’s son. And part of playing this right is not disrespecting my woman to her face or mine,” Mitch replied, one of his hands staying at his hip, the other one sliding around my waist and pulling me close.

  “That a threat?” Aunt Lulamae asked.

  “Nope,” Mitch answered.

  “High and mighty cop, you think you got the system on your side,” Mom stated, her lip curled. “But we got ourselves a lawyer, Lulamae, Jez and me. And he says the system likes to place kids with blood relatives, the closer, the better. Not some second cousin, but a Momma or a Grandma. And Jez here,
now she’s all set to move into a trailer close to me and Lulamae so those kids got all sorts of family close by to take care ‘a them and see they got what they need.”

  After she said this, her face changed and I knew that change. I knew it because I’d seen it often in my life. And I knew it heralded her doing something that was not just her normal ugly but her vastly more hideous nasty.

  And I would be right because she went on to say, “And, Jez here bein’ Billie’s Mom and all, we’re happy just to have the girl. You can have the boy.”

  My heart clenched so hard I feared it would rupture and Mitch’s arm spasmed tight around my waist.

  They had a lawyer.

  And they were happy to break up the kids.

  They had a lawyer and they were happy to break up the kids.

  “I see you’re not just not all that smart. You’re plain stupid,” Mitch returned quietly, his eyes locked on Mom.

  “Got a lawyer who don’t think the same way,” Aunt Lulamae fired back.

  “No,” Mitch replied, his gaze slicing to Lulamae. “You got a lawyer who’s happy to take your money on a case he knows he has no hope of winning.”

  Mom shook her head. “See you’re not too smart. Don’t you see? We’re offerin’ you a deal. We take the girl. You want him, you can have the boy. Everyone’s happy.”

  The girl.

  The boy.

  Why did her calling Billy and Billie that hurt so much?

  I started having trouble breathing.

  “You’re not taking Billie,” Mitch declared.

  “Jez is her Momma,” Aunt Lulamae stated. “And my boy gets to pick who he wants to raise his kids and he picks Jez, Melba and me.”

  “Bill doesn’t get to decide shit,” Mitch shot back.

  That was when Aunt Lulamae’s expression went from ugly to nasty.

  She had something, I could tell by the look in her eyes. She was saving her ace and was about to play it.

  I braced and she played it.

  “He didn’t when he was facin’ all them charges. He does now, seein’ as he’s talkin’ with the DA to make a deal to provide testimony in return for immunity,” Aunt Lulamae returned fire, I stopped breathing altogether and felt Mitch’s body get tight.

  Mom smiled in a way I clutched Mitch’s shirt at the back.