by Donald Wells
Her face darkened. “He can go to hell for all I care. He killed an innocent baby with that screwdriver and he nearly killed Mona too.”
“She saved you. She pushed you out of the way just in time.”
“She wants to see you.”
“Mona wants to see me, why?”
“She didn’t say, maybe to thank you. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t shown up.”
I kissed her. “I was so scared for you baby.”
“You were scared for me? Look at you! My father nearly killed you.”
“He’s worse off than I am; Bill says he has a cracked skull.”
“I was so happy when he was lying there, crying, so glad that for once he was on the wrong side of a beating. Is that bad? To enjoy seeing someone get hurt, does that make me like him?”
I hugged her. “No. It just makes you human.”
* * *
Before leaving the hospital, I stopped into Mona’s room.
She had her own stitches and a broken pinky on her right hand. She waved me over to the bed and I sat in the chair beside it.
“You look like shit.” She said.
I smiled. “You should see the other guy.”
“I’ll see him soon enough.” She said, and for some reason, the way she said it made me uneasy.
“Felicia said you wanted to talk to me?”
“I want to ask you somethin’.”
“Go ahead.”
“My sister, you’re not just bangin’ her, are you?”
“I love her Mona, and it’s not just sex, believe it or not the sex only started weeks ago.”
“No shit?”
“No shit.”
“She loves you too, you know. I heard her talkin’ to her friend Janey about you and it was like she was talkin’ about Jesus. ‘Johnny can do this and Johnny can do that, Johnny can fix this and Johnny can make that.’ You’re like her fuckin’ hero or somethin’.”
“Thank God I won the fight; I’d hate to let down my only fan.”
“I want you to do somethin’ for me.”
“You’re kidding, right? Or have you forgotten that you’re the one that sicced your father on me in the first place.”
She smiled then and, with her puffy, discolored lip, it looked hideous.
“I’m sorry about that, but I thought you were just usin’ Felicia. If I’d known you really gave a shit about her I wouldn’t have fucked with you.”
“So what’s this favor?”
“Take care of her. Take care of my baby sister, she’s gonna need someone.”
Again, an uneasy feeling crept over me, but I chalked it up to the stress of the day and let it go.
“I’m going to take care of your sister for the rest of my life, count on it.”
“I will.”
I rose from the chair and walked to the door, before leaving, I offered condolences for the loss of her baby. I also asked a question that I feared the answer to.
“Mona, this baby, what I mean is… your father, has he ever touched you or Felicia in a way that… well… sexually?”
“No, he’s not a freak that way. But I’ll tell you somethin’ that you should know, I’m not the only one he likes to hit, every once in a while he’ll haul off and smack Felicia for no good goddamn reason.”
“That’s not what she’s told me, she said he only grabbed her wrist too hard sometimes.”
“Do you remember last summer, when Felicia had the flu and stayed inside for over a week?”
“Yeah, so?”
“That’s how long it took for the bruises to fade.”
I closed my eyes in pain. She’d been keeping things from me, trying to protect me.
“I should have fucking killed your father.”
“Yes, you should have.”
“So long Mona, and thanks for the talk.”
I was almost out the door when she called to me.
“Hey Muscleman!”
“Yeah?”
“I wish I’d found you first.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you had, sooner or later I’d of met your sister and dumped you for her.”
“Um hmm, but we would’ve had a hell of a good time before that.”
My eyes roamed over her body, even the shapeless hospital gown couldn’t hide her curves.
I sent her a wink. “Maybe in the next life,”
12
When I got down to the lobby, I saw Bill and Felicia talking to a woman I didn’t know.
She turned out to be a Miss Danvers from child welfare. With both her father and sister in the hospital, Felicia would be returning home to an empty house. Miss Danvers said that the law mandated that Felicia be taken to a state facility, until adult supervision could be found.
Felicia protested. “I’ll be fine at home by myself, I’m sixteen, not six.”
Bill spoke up. “I’ll supervise her, me and my wife.”
Miss Danvers shook her head in disagreement.
“I’m sorry Captain Healy, but your home is not a recognized facility, if it were up to me I’d agree, but my hands are tied.”
“You’re talking about a rule, where there’s a rule, there’s someone who can make an exception to the rule.”
“The only one I can think of would be the commissioner of child welfare, Alan Chambers.”
Bill pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through a list of names. A few moments later he had Alan Chambers on the line, apparently, they were friends. After a short talk with Chambers, Bill handed the phone to Miss Danvers. She handed it back moments later with a smile.
“It’s settled. She’ll go home with you until after the holidays, but Commissioner Chambers said I have to do a site inspection first.”
“Have you eaten Miss Danvers?”
“Well, actually no, Captain Healy.”
“Good, then you can stay for dinner as well.”
Felicia gave Bill a hug. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome honey.” He opened his cell phone again. “Now, let me break the news to my wife.”
I took Felicia aside. “It’s been a hell of a day.”
“Johnny what’s going to happen when my father goes to jail?”
“I don’t know, maybe they’ll let you live with Bill and his wife.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. It’s enough that he’s letting me stay at all.”
“You must have some other family, somewhere.”
“No, my father is always bragging about how he swam across the Rio Grande at twelve and never looked back, and my mom’s family threw her out when she married daddy. I don’t know how to find them.”
Bill walked over. “I do. Years ago, when I took your mother to the shelter, she asked me to contact her younger sister. I bet I still have her name in one of my old notebooks, if I recall, your aunt was living in New York State.”
“I have an aunt? I never heard of her. Mom never spoke about her past. I think when her family disowned her, she disowned them right back. Did you ever find my aunt?”
“I did. But when I told her that your mother went back to your father, she never showed up or called again.”
“I’d love to meet her, and God I hope she’s normal, it’d be so nice if someone in my family was normal.”
* * *
While Bill worked on fixing the broken front door at Felicia’s house, Felicia went through her room, gathering enough clothes for the next few days.
She looked around. “I may never live here again.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think of it, if daddy goes to jail, the state’s not going to let Mona raise me, she’s not much older than I am.”
“Still, she is legally an adult.”
Felicia smiled at me. “Have you met my sister?”
“I know, but she cares about you, maybe this will make her grow up and for once do the right thing.”
The next day, Christmas Eve, I got that idea out of my mind.
A
s we opened gifts and drank eggnog with Bill and his wife, a call came in saying that Mona had just killed her father.
13
Dominic Delgado was buried on New Year’s Eve.
When Felicia’s mother died, her father had pre-paid for a plot, so that someday he’d be laid to rest beside his wife. As far as I knew, it was the only remotely loving act he had ever performed.
It certainly saved Felicia trouble and expense. She was still facing a healthy dose of both however, because her father died intestate. The house, such as it was, was paid for, and would eventually be sold to cover her father’s debts.
After looking through Dominic’s scant financial records, Bill figured that the debts and assets would more or less even out.
Bill had also located Felicia’s aunt, a Mrs. Sophie Thorne, a widow. Mrs. Thorne said that she would contact Bill again after she talked with the child welfare people.
Mona was now a fugitive wanted for murder.
A maintenance man was working on a broken toilet and Mona surreptitiously acquired a screwdriver from his tool cart. She then went up to her father’s room and jabbed the screwdriver into Dominic’s left side while he slept, rupturing his heart. Mona soon exited the hospital and has not been seen or heard from since. Live by the hand tool; die by the hand tool, I guess.
Although I was taken aback by the violence of her act, I was not stunned by its actuality. Dominic Delgado had sown the seeds of this bitter crop for years.
* * *
Felicia and I were in the cemetery, along with Bill, and her friend Janey Winslow. My grandfather offered Felicia his sympathy, but said he’d be damned if he was going to the funeral of a man who had tried to beat me to death.
Felicia cried at graveside and I was pleased to see that she could still weep at her brutal father’s passing. The girl had a compassionate heart and it made me proud to love her.
Janey’s mom parked her catering van along the ribbon of blacktop that meandered through the cemetery, the name of the diner they owned, Winslow Diner, written across the van’s side.
Janey gave Felicia a hug and a kiss on the cheek and headed down the hill, brown pigtails bouncing as she ran along.
I then pointed across the tombstones, to a site far on the other side of the cemetery, where a large service was being held, gathered about the mourners were TV camera crews.
“What’s going on over there? It looks like a celebrity died.”
Bill released a sad sigh.
“That must be the Tate girl’s funeral, she’s the latest victim of the serial killer that murdered the girl we came across that night we were driving home from Philly.”
“You mean that monster is still killing?”
“There’s a Task Force after him, but so far they’re having no luck.”
I put my arm around Felicia. “You don’t go anywhere alone until they catch him, you hear me?”
She smiled. “As long as I have you, I don’t want to be alone.”
“She’s safe.” Bill said. “He only kills blondes. The youngest was fifteen, the oldest, twenty-two,” Bill then stared over at the Tate funeral. “Those poor, poor people,” He whispered.
I hung my head in disgust. “So much pain and waste,”
We stood solemnly by the grave and gave Felicia a few moments to say goodbye to her father.
All three of us soon looked up as a limo parked and three men got out.
Two of the men were large, about my size; they were in their twenties and dressed in matching black tracksuits. The third man was average and much older, maybe sixty. He was well-dressed in a suit and overcoat and walked between, yet slightly ahead of, the other two.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Bill unbutton his suit jacket and slide his hand close to the holster on his belt.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“That’s Tony Scaggaretti, part of the Philly mob,”
As I stepped in front of Felicia, Scaggaretti gestured behind me.
“Hello there miss, but would you be Dominic’s daughter?”
Felicia stepped out from behind me. “Yes.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I was your father’s boss; I’m Anthony Scaggaretti. I’ve come to pay my respects, and maybe, to do a bit of business.”
“What kind of business?” I asked.
He turned his attention on me. “I take it by the bandages and bruises that you’re the one who beat up Dominic?”
“I am.”
“Well then, my business is with you.”
“Bill, get Felicia the hell away from here right now.”
Scaggaretti laughed. “Whoa, you got me wrong kid, you and your cop friend here. I’m not out for payback if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Bill spoke up. “How do you know I’m a cop?”
Both Scaggaretti and his men laughed this time. Scaggaretti then nodded toward Felicia.
“I know you’re a cop the way I know she’s a girl, it’s written all over you. Now listen, the reason I’m here is to make the big guy a job offer, after all, I need someone to take Dom’s place.”
I stared at him, incredulous.
“You want me to be a leg breaker?”
He shrugged. “It’s mostly thumbs and arms really.”
“Thanks,” I said. “But I’m more of a fixer than a breaker.”
“Damn shame, I really need someone out here in the sticks to make sure the yokels pay.” His face softened then, as he looked at Felicia. “Any word on your sister, kid?”
“No, but they say they expect to catch her soon.”
Scaggaretti reached into an inside pocket and brought out a business card, he then wrote something on the back of it and handed it to Felicia. “That’s my lawyers in Philly, Jameson & Jameson, they’re topnotch. I’ll call and let them know you’re coming by for a consultation, from what I hear, your sister is going to need a damn good lawyer.”
Felicia smiled at Scaggaretti. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You know, I knew Dom for over twenty years and I didn’t even know he had a family. If I’d known about the abuse, it would have stopped, believe me, one way or another, it would have stopped. When you see your sister, tell her I said she’s got stones, goodbye.”
As Anthony Scaggaretti and his men turned and walked back to their limo, Bill pointed to the business card.
“What did he write on the back?”
Felicia read the card. “He only wrote one word and then signed it, it says, ‘Anything!”
No sooner had the Scaggaretti limo left, than another one appeared. A man in a gray chauffeur’s uniform hopped out of the driver’s seat and swiftly made his way around to the back passenger compartment. As he opened the door, a woman stepped out. She was in her mid-thirties, pretty, with a nice figure and very well dressed. She gazed in our direction, then she stepped aside and a young man joined her.
He was GQ all the way. He wore his dark hair medium length, was clean-shaven, and tanned even in winter, there were movie stars that would have envied his looks and he walked with an athlete’s gait. For just a moment, I wondered if he was the woman’s boy toy, but that thought quickly left my mind, as the couple drew closer. The man had an air about him, of authority, of being in control, of arrogance and privilege. I took an instant visceral dislike to him that disquieted me. I was usually not one to prejudge.
As for the woman, when she was closer I could see a resemblance to Felicia and knew that this must be her Aunt Sophie.
The woman gave Bill an appreciating look and then smiled.
“Are you Captain Healy, Sir?”
“Yes Ma’am, and I take it that you’re Sophie Thorne?”
She said, “Yes.” and then stared at Felicia. “Oh my God, you look so much like Elizabeth.”
Felicia step forward and returned Sophie’s stare. “You look like my mom too.”
“I’m your Aunt Sophie, Felicia, isn’t it?”
“Yes and thank you for coming to my father’s funera
l,”
Sophie glared down at Dominic’s grave.
“I wouldn’t have crossed the street for that man. No dear, I’m here for you. I’ve come to take you away from this dreadful little town and home to New York.”
14
The five of us stood by the grave of Felicia’s father, amid an uneasy silence.
Felicia gave me a troubled look, and then spoke to her aunt.
“Aunt Sophie I’m happy to meet you, but Castle Ridge is my home, I’ve lived my whole life here.”
GQ stepped forward.
“Hello Felicia, my name is David Thorne. Has anyone ever told you that you are exceptionally beautiful?”
Felicia looked about nervously at everyone for a moment and then blushed.
“Thank you Mr. Thorne… but yes, Johnny, my boyfriend, he tells me that all the time.”
She took my hand then, but I could tell that Thorne’s attention had flattered her, and why not, he looked like a male model.
“Excuse my manners,” Sophie said. “Felicia this is David, my late husband’s nephew. David decided to come along with me to see you; his school is only a few miles from here, Hobbes University.
At that moment I thought, These people have some serious money.
Hobbes University was touted to be, at least academically, in a class with Princeton and Harvard. It was also ridiculously expensive, and exclusive. Hobbes accepted less than a thousand students a year based solely on scholarly achievements. I looked at GQ David with new eyes. Not only was he extremely good-looking, but he must also possess an intellect to match.
Sophie stared at me. “What happened to you? You look as if you’ve been in a train wreck.”
“Aunt Sophie, Johnny is the one who stopped daddy from hurting Mona, he beat daddy in a fight.”
Sophie gave me a sour look. “Another brawler, Felicia I really hope you’re not like your mother, she was always attracted to the basest types.”
Bill came to my defense. “It’s not like that Mrs. Thorne. John is as decent as they come, if not for him, Mona may have been more seriously hurt, or even killed.”
Sophie’s face softened and she reached out and squeezed Bill’s hand.
