by Lynn, JB
It was Aunt Leslie’s turn to shrug. “We noticed that you weren’t on the texting chain.”
“There’s a texting chain?”
Leslie nodded. “One text and everyone in the family knows something is going on.”
“Everyone except me?” I asked, a sense of panic settling in as I realized I was being omitted from family business.
“I’m sure it’s just an oversight,” Leslie soothed.
“That’s why we asked if you knew about it,” Loretta finished.
“I do now,” I said.
My aunts looked worried. “Are you upset?”
“I don’t understand why I wasn’t included. Wouldn’t you be upset?”
They nodded in tandem. My cell phone buzzed. “Maybe that’s Darlene making sure you know,” Leslie said hopefully.
I looked at the display and saw that it was a message from Gino, Delveccio’s bodyguard. “Not her,” I said. “But I have to take care of this.”
I spun on my heel and walked out before my aunts could ask me any more questions. I threw back over my shoulder, “Tell Darlene I’ll be back in time for the meeting.”
I fought the urge to slam the front door as I stalked outside.
“What do you have to take care of?” God asked.
“Gino wants to see me. Now.”
“But you have to figure out what Darlene is up to,” the lizard told me urgently.
“I am aware of that,” I told him through gritted teeth.
As I marched toward the edge of the driveway, where Gino had said he was waiting to meet me, my anger grew. I didn’t like the idea that Darlene was trying to pull an end run around me with the rest of the family. I didn’t like her announcement that she was getting ready to leave. I didn’t like that she was going to take Katie.
“I’ll kill her,” I muttered under my breath.
“No, you won’t,” God said.
“Really?” I asked him sarcastically. “Now you’re going to try and be as literal as one of the other animals?”
“Grouchy,” he said.
“She’s trying to steal Katie,” I reminded him.
“You gave her Katie,” the lizard told me.
“I thought she was better qualified to raise her,” I said. “And it was what Teresa would have wanted.”
“And now?”
“Katie deserves to be with her family,” I said with conviction.
“And how are you going to make that happen?” the lizard asked.
“I haven’t figured that out yet,” I confessed. “But right now I have to deal with Gino.”
Delveccio’s bodyguard had his window rolled down and he smiled and waved as he saw me approaching. Both the smile and the wave froze as he saw the expression on my face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I told him. “What do you want?”
“Get in the car, Maggie,” he said firmly.
Grudgingly, I did as he asked. I buckled my seatbelt as he pulled away from the compound.
“You pissed at me?” he asked.
“No,” I told him. I had enough enemies at the moment, I certainly didn’t need to add him to the list. “It’s a family thing,” I said.
“Archie?”
“Actually, Archie is not the highest on my list of family problems at the moment,” I told him.
Gino pulled off the road a couple of streets down from the compound’s driveway. He put the car into park and twisted in his seat so he could look at me. “Maybe your father should be at the top of your priority list.”
I narrowed my gaze and asked grudgingly, “Why?”
“I know the boss gave you a job,” Gino began carefully. I nodded. This is how he and I spoke, in half sentences and half-truths.
“You didn’t involve Mulligan, did you?”
I shook my head. Honestly, it hadn’t even occurred to me to involve the redheaded detective in this.
Gino nodded his approval, rubbing his chin. “Good, don’t.”
“Why not?” I asked, my anger with Darlene giving way to curiosity.
“I can’t tell you why that skull is so important,” Gino said slowly. “But I need you to believe me when I tell you that it is.”
“Okay,” I said. “I kinda got that from the fact that two convicts were looking for it and now Delveccio’s told me to find it.”
He looked out his window and squeezed the steering wheel.
I tilted my head at his hands, an idea beginning to form in the back of my mind. “Is it important to you?” I asked. Perhaps the skull was one of Gino’s victims, and Delveccio was just trying to cover for him by getting me to get the skull back for him.
Gino chuckled, following my train of thought. “You think I’d be that unprofessional? I take pride in my work. Nobody’s gonna find any body parts when I…”
I nodded. From personal experience, I knew this was true because Patrick Mulligan’s girlfriend’s body had yet to be discovered. Gino had done me a big favor by getting rid of it, especially since I’d had a part in her death. Not that I’d actively killed her, she’d fallen on her own syringe.
“I’ll do what I can,” I said.
“And if you need help, you’ll call me?” Gino gave me a stern look. This was an issue he and I had gone over multiple times.
I nodded. Last time, he’d really come through for me when we’d been trying to save Angel on the rooftop of the hospital. I had no reason to doubt him this time around. “I’ll call,” I promised.
“Is there anything else I can help you with in the meantime?” Gino asked. “If you’ve got a family issue…”
“You can’t help with that, but I’ve got a question.”
“Shoot.”
“How hard is it to kill someone in prison?” I asked. Gino blinked, caught off guard by my question.
“Are you having somebody in prison killed?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. The person’s already dead.”
He looked at me suspiciously.
“Look,” I said, my voice tinged with annoyance, “it’s a simple question. How difficult is it to have somebody killed in prison?”
He shrugged. “With the right contacts, it’s pretty easy.”
“And what about breaking somebody out of prison?” I asked.
“Hell of a lot harder,” he said. “What have you gotten yourself into, Maggie?”
“It’s complicated,” I said.
He groaned. “It always is with you.”
18
“Look,” I warned them. “It’s going to be complicated.”
DeeDee and Piss were lying on my bed, watching me intently. I’d been trying to explain to them that Darlene had called a family meeting and that emotions would be running high.
“Help will I,” DeeDee pledged.
“I appreciate that,” I told her. “But you really don’t have to attend.”
“We can offer support,” Piss pointed out.
I nodded. I really did appreciate that they were willing to wade into the war zone with me. But I had a feeling it was going to get ugly between Darlene and I, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to expose them to the kind of vitriol that I might spew.
“They can offer comfort,” God said.
I looked over to where he was curled up in the bottom of his glass fishbowl.
“They can be therapy dogs,” he said. “You know, offering emotional support, blah, blah, blah.”
“But I’m a cat,” Piss said, arching her back.
“Therapeutic furries,” the lizard said to her, sticking his tongue out.
I held my breath, not having the emotional reserves to break up a fight if one broke out between my pets.
Apparently, the animals understood that and took pity on me, because both the cat and the lizard turned and faced in opposite directions.
Just then, there was a knock at my door. “It’s time,” Templeton, Aunt Loretta’s fiancé, called through the door.
“I’ll be right there,” I said.
“She’s not stealing our girl,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I was talking to myself, or the animals.
“Just stay cool, Sugar,” Piss urged.
“Oh sure,” God mocked from his container. “That’s one of her strengths.”
I considered leaving him in the room as punishment for his snide remark, but ultimately decided not to, as I knew I’d probably need his counsel in the midst of an argument with Darlene.
I scooped him up and dumped him down my bra unceremoniously.
“Let’s go,” I told my four-legged friends.
Together, we walked our way down to the living room. The rest of the family was already gathered there. Darlene was standing in the center of the room, pacing back and forth. She glanced nervously at me, as though she could read my mood from across the room.
“What is this all about?” Susan asked.
I know that, like me, she knew exactly what it was about, but she was playing dumb. She didn’t glance over at me, giving away that I had confided the secret to her.
Griswald, arms crossed over his chest, was standing in the corner, surveying the entire room. I wondered if he was looking for some sort of tactical advantage. I wished I had one.
“I wanted to tell everyone at once,” Darlene began. “I don’t want you to think that I came to this decision hastily, or easily.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her twin, Marlene, perched on the knee of her boyfriend, Doc, lean forward. “What decision?” A tremulous note wove through Darlene’s twin’s voice.
For a split second, I thought that her vulnerability would be the thing to change Darlene’s mind.
“We’re leaving,” Darlene announced firmly.
“Leaving?” Leslie parroted.
“This just isn’t working for us, living here.”
A strange silence fell over the room as everybody processed the words.
“But where will you go?” Herschel asked.
“That’s not the right response, Father,” Susan snapped. “The correct response is, how dare you?” Susan rose to her feet, hands balled into fists at her side, chin trembling. “How dare you, Darlene? First, you disappear for years, then you come back and offer no explanation of where you’ve been, deprive us of the chance to get to know your children, and now you’re leaving again?” Her voice rose with every syllable until she was shouting at the end. I felt a surge of sympathy for Aunt Susan, knowing exactly how she was feeling.
Darlene had anticipated the attack and, hands on her hips, told her with a ridiculous amount of self-righteousness, “I’m doing what’s best for my family.”
“But we’re your family,” Loretta cried, jumping to her feet. She almost fell over because of her stilettos. Thankfully, Leslie was by her side and grabbed her elbow to keep her sister upright.
Templeton, who was sitting on the other side of Loretta, didn’t move. He was staring straight ahead at the floor, as though wishing he were anywhere else but there. I understood that feeling too well.
“You can’t leave me again,” Marlene said in a voice that was beyond pitiful.
Darlene blinked. And again, I thought that maybe their twin bond would be the deciding factor.
“I’m not leaving you,” Darlene told her twin. “I’m just leaving.”
Marlene jumped up and ran out of the room, sobbing. Doc chased after her.
“You can’t do this, Darlene,” Susan insisted. For a second, I thought she to was going to burst into tears. Her eyes glistened, and her whole body seemed to be shaking. DeeDee went and stood beside her, leaning her body weight against Susan’s leg. She absentmindedly pet the dog’s head.
I felt a surge of pride in the Doberman, who was doing exactly what she was supposed to.
“Let’s talk about this,” Herschel said. “I know that I disrupted the applecart…”
Darlene shook her head. “It’s not just you, it’s all of you.”
“Us?” Leslie ad Loretta said simultaneously, both clutching their chests.
“Yes, all of you.” Darlene didn’t offer any apology.
I watched as Griswald’s scowl deepened. He hadn’t looked happy when I walked in the room, but now he looked almost as furious as I felt.
“And what about Katie?” Armani asked.
I felt a surge of gratitude for my friend, who put herself in the firing line to ask the question that I hadn’t wanted to voice.
“Of course, we’ll take her,” Darlene said. “Not that that’s any of your concern. It’s not like she’s your family.”
Armani flinched under the attack.
“Hey,” Griswald said, physically stepping between the two women. “Armani is a part of this family. Everyone loves her.”
Armani’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
Mine might have, too. I don’t think I’d ever heard Griswald voice anything about love before, and I’d certainly never heard him say anything kind about Armani. Not that he’d ever said anything unkind, he’d just kept his opinions about her to himself.
“Fine,” Darlene said, “I tried to do the right thing. I tried to tell everybody so it wouldn’t come as a surprise and this is the reception I get. Not a word of support from anyone.”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, advancing on her. “You want us to support you deserting the family and taking Katie?”
“You’re a fine one to talk about deserting, Maggie,” Darlene said. “Isn’t that just what you did to Katie?”
19
U.S. Marshal Laurence Griswald is pretty fast for a guy his age, but he wasn’t fast enough. Before she even knew what was coming, a slap was delivered across Darlene’s face.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh rang out in the room.
Everything stopped. Everyone stopped breathing. It could be that everyone’s heart stopped beating, too, because I’m pretty sure mine did.
Darlene reeled back, more stunned by the blow than hurt.
Griswald stepped in before another attack could be made. Staring at her attacker, Darlene cupped her cheek.
“Take it back,” Aunt Susan said through gritted teeth.
Darlene blinked dumbly at her. Like me, she had probably assumed that Aunt Susan was the last person on Earth to physically attack another. Yet, she’d flown across the room in a rage and smacked Darlene across the face.
Not that she hadn’t deserved it.
“Who comfort?” DeeDee asked, clearly surprised and just as confused by what had just transpired, like everyone else in the room.
“Shh,” Pissed meowed softly.
“Apologize,” Susan ordered. The color in her cheeks was high, her eyes flashing. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her so angry. And I’d seen her pretty angry at my father.
Darlene just stood there.
Griswald hovered in between them. I wasn’t sure if he was playing referee, or if he expected to body slam Darlene to the ground like some sort of professional wrestler.
“It’s okay,” I choked out.
Susan glared at me. “It is certainly not okay. She had no right to say that about you.”
“It’s not worth—” I began.
“You did not abandon that child,” Susan said. “You agonized and you made the sacrifice because you wanted to do what was best for her, what you thought Teresa wanted.”
“Technically…” Leslie began.
Her twin elbowed her in the ribs, and she fell silent.
I knew what she was going to say, she was going to say that it wasn’t just what I thought Teresa wanted, it was what Teresa had specified in the event of her death: she’d wanted Darlene to care for her child.
Instead, Katie had gotten me for a while.
Now I was going to lose her. “Please, Darlene,” I begged. “We can work this out.”
Darlene turned slowly and glared at me. “You ca
n’t have it both ways, Maggie. Either you can be a serious adult, or you can be you.”
I flinched. I really didn’t understand why she was trying to attack my character, it wasn’t winning her points with the family, so it wasn’t giving her an advantage on that front.
“Don’t forget, you’re supposed to pick up Katie for a play date tomorrow.”
“I never forget,” I told her through gritted teeth, tired of being treated like I behaved irresponsibly with Katie’s care.
“You can pick her up at ten. Have her back by two.” With that, hand still cupping her cheek, Darlene stalked out of the house.
The rest of us just stood there in the living room, too shocked to speak. I felt too ashamed to make eye contact with anyone. This was all my fault. If I hadn’t given Katie to Darlene, none of this would be an issue. My knees gave out, and I weakly sank into the nearest chair. Piss jumped into my lap and began to purr rhythmically, kneading my thighs, offering me the comfort I so needed.
“You hit her, Susan,” Loretta said. I wasn’t sure if I heard amazement or respect in her voice.
“She besmirched the character of our Margaret,” Susan said, chin held high. She obviously didn’t regret her actions.
“Besmirched,” I heard God mutter to himself.
“She won’t really do it,” Leslie said. “She’s probably just upset, she wouldn’t leave…”
None of us felt compelled to remind her that Darlene had made it a point to stay away from our family for years, even making us believe she was dead, so she didn’t have to spend time in our company.
“Maybe you should just let her take the child,” Herschel suggested quietly.
I’m not sure who gave him a dirtier look, myself, Susan, Loretta, Leslie, Griswald, Templeton, or Armani.
Realizing the error of his ways and taking a half step back, Herschel said, “I just meant that she’s been taking care of her and maybe you should just continue to allow her to.”
“Katie is family,” Susan declared.
“So is Darlene,” Leslie reminded her softly.
“Darlene’s an adult. She has the responsibility to make decisions for herself.” Susan gave me a searching look. “It’s up to the rest of the adults to make a decision about Katie.”
