Bone nodded. “Yep. It’s going to be a busy day and night ahead. Since Lo didn’t do it, I will. This is Trish, and the lady with the dark hair is our office manager Shelly.”
Trish shook his hand, a faraway look highlighting her features as she glanced from Jim to me. “There sure as hell shouldn’t be any need for a DNA test. I hope you can deal with a little salty language, kid. Sometimes I have to vent on your Aunt Lo when she gets out of line.”
Jim smiled. “I think I can handle that, Trish. Pa already told me he had to stun-gun Grandma once. A little bad language won’t bother me.”
Jim’s reply had to be appreciated by all parties, including the stun-gunned G-ma, for a few moments. Shelly hugged Jim.
“I can tell you’ll fit right in here, Jim,” Shelly told him. “Most everything that is said must be taken with a grain of salt. We’re a big disjointed family.”
“I like it a lot so far. Pa told me if we all remember to gang up on Aunt Lo every time she speaks, everything will be fine.”
“Very funny, young man,” Lo allowed, as Jim’s statement received hoots of agreement from all directions. “I know who put those words in your mouth, and he will be dealt with. We all know the score here, so let’s gather some chairs, and plot our course.”
Steve crashed in then, mumbling about traffic, and his usual ramblings. He wasn’t late, but Steve knew everyone reached the office well before starting time. Add to that, each time he came in early, Lo would find some menial spying task for him to carry out on his unsuspecting comrades. Steve avoided it by coming in on time. I introduced him to Jim.
“This is my Grandson, Jim. Jim this is Steve Ramirez or Henpeck for short.”
Steve shook Jim’s hand. “My condolences. You seem to be a fine upstanding young man. I’m sorry fate chose this disrespectful wanker to be related to you.”
Jim laughed. “Thanks Steve. It’s not so bad.”
* * *
Bone and I did the presentation, each of us supplying what we knew about the Byers operation. Bone finished with the real damning part. He’d hacked into the Byers’ financial accounts, finding an offshore account fed from their take on the live feeds of the children living in the foster care home.
“Once Rick let me know what they were planning, everything made sense. The Internet money source feeds into a Belize account titled West Coast Consulting. This will be a piece of cake taking them down if we could use evidence gathered in a hack. I could get into their system in ten minutes with our resources, but it would be illegal.”
Lo gave me the evil eye. “I see that look, Rick. Your hamster came back from the dead, and the wheels spinning again. Lay it on us.”
“It depends on the size of their network. By the amount of money going into that offshore account I’m figuring they have a huge network of sickos. If Bone can find a candidate Staley could claim in his jurisdiction, we can force him to be our undercover operative into the Byers’ network. He would already be checked out, and would have numerous clips of the kids in Byers’ foster home. Staley can then work an across state lines deal with the FBI through their child exploitation task force.”
“That’s damn good,” Lo said. “Work that angle, Bone. See if there’s a user within Staley’s University precinct. Trish and I will work the Dane Ramos angle. There will be no more ‘banger visits or I see a night visit in Mr. Ramos’s future where he’ll be praying he had gone into the priesthood instead.”
“On it,” Bone said. “Can I use your office, Rick?”
“Sure. Stacy and I are going to get the DNA samples drawn. I want something to confront any action trying to draw Jim back to Phoenix. If that happens, I’m going with him. You have Cleaver on the pad, Lo. Can you light a fire under that parasite?”
Lo grinned. “I’ll be in my office, talking to our firm’s lawyer. I’ll warm him to the task at hand. Once Bone gets the details, Cleaver will be lubricating the wheels of justice with his own blood if need be.”
Jim hugged her. “Thanks, Aunt Lo. You all are the best!”
Lo held onto him tightly. “You haven’t even met our whole crew yet, Jim. When Rick brings you to our partner Jadie’s place, you’ll meet our Hollywood connection. They have a few added threads in their network which I may have to activate. We’ll see. Once things settle down, I’ll be depending on you to keep your G-ma from backsliding. All we can do with your Pa is watch him. He’s a backslider with no hope of stopping the descent.”
Jim laughed, holding on without letup. “He loves you too, Aunt Lo.”
* * *
“Pop!”
Temple launched on me the moment I walked through the door, arms bear-hugging my neck, and legs encircling my waist. “I’m glad to see you too, kid. Calm down a bit. I have someone I want you to meet. He’s a big fan of yours.”
She immediately let loose of me, hearing my no nonsense Cantelli tone. Temple saw Jim walk in from behind me. Her mouth dropped open in shock. She glanced from him to me in silent amazement, her brows furrowing as confusion took over. “Is…is this your son? He appears to be poured out of the same mold.”
“This is my Grandson Jim. He’s a huge Sally Waters’ fan. My old acquaintance, Stacy Alden is his Grandma. I only found out about this since getting back from overseas. Jim… this is Temple Donavan.”
Jim held out his hand, awe the foremost feature on his face. “I’m glad to meet you, Ms. Donavan. I loved ‘Dark Waters’.”
With a slight yelp of delight, Temple hugged him. Jim was a couple inches taller than her, so the hug I’m certain gave my adolescent protégé impure thoughts for well into the future. “I…I’ve seen everything you’ve acted in, Ms. Donavan… except ‘The New Beginning’. I hate that guy they stuck you with though in the ‘Dark Waters’ series… ah… Alex something.”
“Yeah,” Temple said, holding Jim at arms’ length. “Alex Winton. I don’t like him either. How old are you, Jim?”
“Uh… almost thirteen.” I could see the look of uneasiness spread over Jim’s features. It appeared the Phoenix foster home had him thinking he needed to be careful with everyone. I figured that frame of mind couldn’t hurt, especially after what he had told me went on in the foster care home.
“I guess you’ve already heard a bunch of people tell you the resemblance between you and your Grandpa is nearly surreal.”
Jim grinned finally, his body relaxing. “We proved it today with DNA samples like in the CSI show. Pa paid to have the testing expedited. This is my Grandma Stacy, Ms. Donavan.” Jim took Stacy’s hand, pulling her forward. “I…I know you’ve heard a lot of bad things about her, but Pa and I are going to make her better.”
Temple held out her hand to Stacy without hesitation. “I’m glad to meet you, Stacy.”
Stacy shook her hand. “Jim’s my anchor, Temple. I plan on only good things from now on. I hope we can be friends.”
Temple shrugged. “If you take care of Pop and Jim, I’m cool with being friends. I’ve been around Lo so much, her attitude towards the human race has infected my thoughts about people though. I hope it works out for you three. Pop doesn’t like messing with his younger flock, so this is for the best. Jim and I are going to be buddies. You’ll be my conduit to any background info between Pop and Lo.”
Jim backed away. “Sorry, Ms. Donavan. I don’t rat on anyone.”
Temple laughed and hugged him again. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Me either, Jim. Finally, someone I can trust.”
Jim’s eyes brightened. “Oh… that was a test?”
“Guilty. I have to be sure of anyone who is around Lo and around me. She’s like a walking torture chamber when information is out of her grasp.”
“Aunt Lo’s funny,” Jim replied. “Does she get you all the time too, like she does the others?”
“Worse! I pay her money to be my security detail, and she abuses me at every opportunity. It’s horrible, Jim. Freaking horrible the way she-”
Lo was suddenly in her face. I had sme
lled Harpy long before as the old crone snuck into position. I should have said something; but for Jim’s sake, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. He needed to learn.
“Drop and give me twenty-five, Shortcake!”
Temple yelped, suddenly exposed to the Harpy at close range without warning. Temple looked at Jim, and then posed with hands on hips. “I will not! I didn’t do anything. I’ll walk out of here first, you old crone!”
One Harpy dead eyed stare was all it took. Temple assumed plank position, and began doing pushups. “You’re mean, Lo!”
Jim dropped down, and did pushups in sync with Temple’s. She giggled with him working out her penance in tandem. “Thanks, Jim.”
“It’s okay. I like watching you do pushups from down here.”
Temple gasped. Her subsequent laugh broke pushup concentration, causing a resulting rough landing on her stomach, followed by a rollover on her back with a sigh. “That wasn’t very nice, Rick Jr.”
Jim finished the pushups, rolling next to her while us old fogies enjoyed the show. “It would have been less nice for me to stay on my feet watching your butt though, Ms. Donavan.”
Yep. My mini-me was a hit. Temple attacked him, jumping over atop Jim with hands playfully at his throat. In seconds, Jim broke her hold at the wrists, locked her right leg, and rolled her. By then the regulars were streaming in, rooting on the match. Temple writhed valiantly, but Jim obviously had been in a few struggles already. Lo nodded at me, with a huge grin. Jim leaped to his feet after a moment, helping Temple to stand.
Temple noted the appreciative crowd unhappily, red faced and panting. “Great… I get schooled by a thirteen year old, and I still have the workout Nazi’s torture hour ahead of me.”
Jim grasped her hand. “I’ll work out next to you. It’ll be fun. Pa says you make squeaky noises like one of those rubber mice in the toy store.”
“Pop!” Temple stared at me plaintively to accompanying laughter, her look of outrage somewhat less intimidating as she retained a grip on Jim’s hand. “C’mon, Jim, I’ll show you where we work out. We have a special place as far from the roving Jillian Michaels wannabe as we can get.”
“I’ll go with them,” Stacy said.
“I’ll be there in a moment, Stace.” I turned to Lo as the rest of the workout group ambled by with hellos and waves. “How did you and Bone do?”
“Better than I hoped. We found a first class candidate within Staley’s precinct, and Bill loves your idea. Of course the prick doesn’t want to know how we plan to get this Lester the Molester on our pad. My take is he cooperates, or we introduce him to desert life styles like we did that last child stalking bastard, Rudy Molinca.”
“I agree, but if there aren’t any other ones in Bill’s area, we need this guy to help us get the goods on the Byers couple. Is he reachable?”
“Bone says we may have to lean on him a bit. He’s not living in the basement of his parents’ home. He’s a lawyer.”
That’s all we needed. “Maybe I better handle this on my own, Lo. This could get real tricky for the firm if he sues us.”
Lo’s eyes furrowed into twin battle lasers. “Listen, pecker-head… was that an insult? If he tries any funny stuff, instead of filing lawsuits, he’ll be in a landfill in twenty pieces.”
“Well, okay then. He has a lot to lose. Any priors for his hidden vice?”
“Nope. He’s clean. Mr. Natterly’s not stupid enough to haunt the playgrounds. His wife left him a couple years back with their two kids. I’m wondering if his Lester the Molester persona had anything to do with it. If the divorce was because of some other matter, he won’t want his wife and kids to know.”
I spotted Trish coming in alongside Sam. They had Karen Bastille, and her husband Danny Tilson with them. At the rear of the arrivals were Shelly and Max Hulme. Karen was really showing. “There’s the rest of the gang. How’s Cleaver doing with the legal end?”
Lois smiled one of those special smiles she reserved for emasculating jobs done to her high standards. “The weasel tried to hem and haw about the difficulty in handling such sensitive cases. When I got done with him, Cleaver didn’t know whether to shit or go blind. Needless to say, Jim is his number one priority.”
Our group approached with Trish leading. The hugs and handshakes were heartfelt. Although Sam and I had met under less than stellar circumstances, we’re okay. He’s good for Trish. I can tell he loves her. I’m not too happy with having ‘old cuckold’ added to Lo’s verbal harpoons she spears me with, but I can handle it. Maybe they did miss Lo and I at the workouts, but probably not.
“I told them all about your mini-me, Rick,” Trish said. “I see him there making Hooterville Junior moves on Shortcake. We’ll let you finish talking to Lo, while Shelly and I introduce the extended family.”
“Thanks, Trish. We’ll be over in a few.”
“I see Sam isn’t looking at you like he expects a bullet between the eyes anymore. Maybe Trish telling him about Stacy being back helped,” Lo said. “My Sis seemed glad to see me home alive. She looks ready to pop. It’s strange as hell watching a pregnant woman do this damn workout. Anyway, Cleaver’s in the mix. He faxed a letter of intent to the Phoenix home. Listen to this, Rick. Cleaver called me an hour ago, saying the Byers can smooth out this whole process for five thousand dollars.”
Visions of hopping a plane to Phoenix flashed through my head… a private plane I could bring along the propane torch and pliers on board. The Lois cackle jarred me out of my small reverie, as Spockella the mind munch ripped out my thought of special Byers’ visitation time, and smacked me in the back of my head.
“No… you can’t fly to Phoenix, you old cuckold. Let’s have some fun tonight. We’ll fix all the nasty loose ends in short order, including that prick Ramos.”
For now maybe that will be enough. “I can’t wait for Frank to meet Jim. He’s coming to Casablanca Night isn’t he?”
Lo yanked me by the ear toward our workout spot. “Are you kidding? He almost came to the workout. Now… who’s my bitch tonight? That Danny is still annoying the hell out of me. I didn’t get to research any real estate zingers to blast him with. Poor Temple will have to take the brunt of my exercise night cauldron capers.”
I shook my head as she finally released my ear, having garnered laughs all the way to our spot. Stacy kept her eyes down, but Jim looked at me in amused confusion.
“Did you do something wrong, Pa?”
“Nope. That’s your Aunt Lo’s way of asserting her Harpy control.” I saw Jim grin, because I’d already rehearsed the zinger with him. “Good news. Your Great Uncle Frank will be going to Casablanca Night. You’ll get to meet him, Jim.”
“Great Uncle Frank?” Lois had her guard down as I hoped, and Jim nailed her on cue.
“Pa told me I should address your husband Frank as Great Uncle Frank because of the age difference, but he said you were mediocre at best, and Mediocre Aunt Lo wasn’t polite.”
I received another smack in the back of the head, but it was accompanied by intense enjoyment by everyone within hearing. Temple enjoyed the zinger a bit too much for Lo.
“Drop and give me twenty, Shortcake. You’re on my list.”
Jim grabbed her hand, whispering in her ear. They both dropped down, and whipped off twenty pushups. Lois shook her fist at me of course.
“This is your doing, you old cuckold! Now I have to deal with two Cantellis undermining my authority. This reprobate put you up to this, didn’t he, Jim?”
Jim stiffened to attention, eyes locked straight ahead. “Never give the Harpy the satisfaction! James Randal Bishop, Cantelli apprentice, B452258.”
Our skit drew the intended laughs. Lo tried but failed to attain the proper amount of outrage, as Jim held his at attention stance. She roughly put him in a headlock.
“You little bugger! Name, Rank, and Serial number… really? I can tell you’ve been prepped. You better understand Mediocre Aunt Lo gets payback when least expected, kid.”
“I fear nothing. Pain is my friend. Honor is my duty!”
Lo lost it then in a cackling assault probably heard down the block. Jadie and Ken walked in from the front, zeroing in on our pre-workout jam session. They were right on time, so they both waved in our direction, and started the workout. I was in a world of my own. I didn’t care about the crowd, the workout, or anything other than I had a Grandson who streaked past any expectations I could have imagined. Yeah… I prepped him, but thirteen year old kids who can own a room like Jim, acting on every nuance fed them is rare even in today’s tech savvy generation. I knew one thing… I’d make sure I was dead before he ever came to harm. If I wasn’t, and harm came to him, people would die in numbers best not even imagined. Enjoy the moment was my anthem, and good Lord, the kid helped me to do that.
“If our Cantelli-land contingent is ready to start the workout, we can begin,” Jadie called out over her microphone at the front to enjoyment from all directions.
I waved our surrender from Cantelli-land. I signaled my mini-me to end the assault. He nodded in acceptance. “Well… that was fun.”
“Yeah, it was, Rick,” Trish agreed in hushed acknowledgement.
“I heard that, Skipper!”
“Blow it out your ears, Mediocre at Best!”
Ah… home sweet home.
Chapter Five
Workout
“It seems young male companionship is what you needed for encouragement, Temple,” Jadie observed as she toured the rows of her sweating human cornstalks. We were all in plank position doing leg spreads. Temple did hers in sync with Jim without complaint tonight.
Jim immediately held himself in a one handed plank position, shooting his arm straight above him in open palmed fashion. “Sieg Heil, Fräulein Wentworth!”
Jadie’s fiancé, Ken Arlington, went into convulsions trying to stifle amusement by her side, but the rest of us had no such limits. Jim jumped to his feet before Jadie could react.
Rick Cantelli, PI: Into the Darkness (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 3) Page 11
