by Liza Brown
“So you two are in love?” came Bart’s recognizable voice from somewhere in the crowd.
I wrapped my arms around Elsu’s abs and squeezed. “You bet.” Bastard.
“Mae, Elsu, we need to go,” said Millard.
We turned and stepped over the yellow tape.
The fire trucks were gone, now there were three police cars. One I recognized as being Detective Graven’s. We walked up to him as he finished his conversation with another officer. “Mae, I have guys going through every inch of the debris to find any clue as to how this happened. We’re trying to find the epicenter, but there is nothing here to indicate a traditional explosive did this. It’s like whatever it was disintegrated right along with the building.”
“So what does that mean?” I asked.
“Until we have a how, it’s going to be a lot harder to find a who.”
“But that idiot all but admitted to doing it.”
“No, reread your texts. He’s been very careful. He has yet to implicate himself. If we were to find the guy you’ve been texting right now, we’d have nothing to arrest him on.”
“No…he said if I told Elsu, there’d be more. I told Elsu, there was more. Isn’t that enough?” I asked.
He looked at me oddly. “Hold on,” he stepped away with his phone in his hand.
“Is he getting the same texts I am?” I asked as Elsu took my phone and read through the messages he missed from the previous night.
“He really wants us to break up,” he said.
“That’s what he’s always wanted, apparently,” I said.
“Mae, if someone gets hurt because of us…”
“Stop! He’s not going to win!” I wasn’t going to hear it.
He turned me to face him. “He can’t win. I’m the one who won. I don’t give trophies back.”
I stepped back. “Trophies? I’m a trophy?”
“Shit. I’m sorry. No. You are not my trophy. We are my trophy. Us. Us together.”
I kicked a rock and stared at the ground.
“It’d be ok.”
“What would?”
“Being your trophy. I don’t mean like a prize. But you know…something you’d be proud to display.”
“But you’re not a ‘thing’. You’re my Mae. My sweet, sweet Mae. Like a gorgeous sunflower. Sturdy, strong, and beautiful. Your face more beautiful the higher you raise your head. I am proud to have you on my arm.”
I took a step back. “I love you.”
He kissed me and my toes curled in my boots. “I love you, Mae.”
After a quick hug, I turned to head toward the shop and saw my crew standing in a huddle near the door.
“Bonnie, what are you doing here? You were off today,” I said as I walked to her.
“I canceled my plans, Mae. Being here is more important,” she said.
Steve stepped forward. “Where do you need us, Mae?”
“We’re here to help,” said Greg. “I’m truly sorry about this.” He gave me a quick hug and I could see the sadness on his face.
Tears welled in my eyes at the support. I honestly didn’t think any of them would come and there they all were, as ready to work as any other day.
“If you don’t want to stay, you can go home. Unfortunately, I can’t pay you for today if you leave. But I won’t hold it against you either. There is a lot of stuff that needs cleaned up. There are broken windows we need to get the glass up from in the garages and warehouse. Steve, I need you to order replacements as soon as possible. I need the warehouse checked for any damage that the explosion may have caused. I have paperwork I have to do. I was hoping to see about moving some of the interviews to today, but obviously that won’t happen now. I’ll have to do them tomorrow morning.”
“We’re staying, Mae. No question,” said Bonnie and I smiled at my employees. They quickly all turned and headed into the shop.
“Elsu!” A familiar voice came from behind us, followed closely by my sister, Candice who was dressed like a business woman and not a teenager for once.
“Mr. Brothers,” Elsu held out his hand to the team owner and they shook.
“I heard the news and came straight away. Mae, good to see you again.” He smiled kindly and shook my hand as well.
“You too, sir.”
“Jonathan. Please.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“I’m here to offer my assistance to the police department. Detective Graven knows I am open to whatever is needed to figure out who did this to your shop. My bank account is your bank account,” he said as he looked to the detective.
“But…” I looked to my sister. I was still confused by her presence.
“This is Candice,” said Mr. Brothers as he unnecessarily introduced my sister to Elsu, then looked to me and smiled. “I would assume you two have already met,” he said to me with a smile.
“Candice? What are you doing?”
“I’m working,” said Candice. “I’m Mr. Brothers’ new personal assistant.” Her pretty blonde hair was shining in the early sun. Her green eyes beamed and she smiled hugely. I also noticed the white blouse she wore under her coat was unbuttoned more than it should have been.
I walked up to her and started buttoning her up. “You’re doing what now?”
“Stop that!” She smacked at my hand and blushed.
“Unless you’re more than an assistant, dress the part. You don’t want to screw this up by acting like a tramp.” I stepped back and the world around me lost focus briefly. I had just heard the voice of my mother come out of my mouth.
“Yeah, I heard it too, Mae,” said Candice as she finished buttoning up her blouse. “Mom.”
I shook my head, then looked between her and her new boss. “How…? When?”
“I just found out yesterday that you called me earlier this week and I never got the note. I’ve decided I needed an assistant,” said Jonathan. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that bastard Carl.”
“Wait, you hired an assistant that quickly?”
“We’ve had Candice’s resume on file for a while. Finally got a chance to bring her in.”
“Is that so?” I looked at my sister.
“I sent out resumes to a bunch of places a while ago.”
“So, working where? How?”
“Mainly in the office for me. But there may be times she’ll have to come with me to games and other business trips,” said Jonathan.
I looked at him and glared a bit. My sister didn’t always make the brightest decisions. “Does mom know?” I asked Candice without taking my eyes off Jonathan.
“Not yet,” she said.
“You do know how this is going to go over, right?”
“I’m not going to worry about that yet. She’ll find out eventually.”
“So what exactly is going on?” I asked of Mr. Brothers.
“I know how strapped the department is. I’ve already spoken with Police Chief Walters. I’ve brought in the best I could find to catch this ass.”
“The best what?”
“Equipment and people who know how to use it. And anything else they need all they have to do is tell Candice and she’ll make sure it happens. Candice will stay here for now since I have work of my own to attend to at the moment.”
“Wow,” I said as what he was doing registered. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you’re Elsu’s girlfriend and it’s what needs to be done.”
“Thank you, sir. I could have paid for this,” said Elsu.
“You could have, but so can I. Let’s get whoever did this and move on.” He turned and walked away.
“You’re working? Incredible!” Before I could ask her more questions, Detective Graven interrupted.
“Mae, I need you down at the station,” said Detective Graven, pulling me from my stare of disbelief.
“Ok.” I reluctantly followed him and Elsu to the patrol car and got in the back. We held hands and I put my head on his shoulder
.
“I bet the tabloids will have a field day with pictures of us in the back of a cruiser,” said Elsu. We were blinded by flashing lights as we pulled out of the parking lot. Elsu took the opportunity to make funny faces at the cameras and pretend as though he was being taken against his will.
“Elsu Benjamin arrested on charges of stealing a girl’s heart.” I pretended to read the headline.
“I’m pretty sure it would be considered an even trade,” he smiled.
As upset as I was supposed to be with what we were leaving behind, I couldn’t stop being a giddy teenager when we were together. I thought I heard Detective Graven nearly gag on our sweetness.
Once at the station, Detective Graven took us into a conference room. “Please, have a seat.”
We sat down next to each other and stared at the pile of paper that littered the large table.
“You can thank this asshole for single handedly destroying a million acres of rainforest,” he joked.
“Is this all me?” I asked.
“Yep,” he said. “We’ve been going through it with a fine toothed comb all morning.”
“Wow,” I said as I quickly touched a small stack. “So who are you looking at? Bart?”
“Well, we’ve been looking at the log from the texts you’ve received. Have you received a text so far this morning?”
I thought for a bit and pulled out my phone. “I thought you were getting my texts.”
“We were. But we haven’t gotten any recently.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Damn.”
“Damn what?”
“We’ve lost contact. The number is ringing dead. We think he may have disabled the phone.”
An officer appeared at the door. “Graven, we’ve got some probably bad news.”
“Probably?” I asked even though I hadn’t been spoken to.
A man in a suit and tie walked in and was introduced to us as one of the men assigned to train the station on how to use the new equipment Mr. Brothers had brought in. “Sir, ma’am.” He sat down next to me with a stack of papers in his hands. “We’re afraid Miss Rogers has been being contacted by two people.”
“Two?” I yelled.
“Yes, ma’am. The phone numbers have a pattern.” He laid a piece of paper in front of me with a list of phone numbers on it. “If you just look at the numbers as they sit here, you’d think they were random. But they aren’t. They change incrementally.”
He brought the next page in his stack forward with the same list of numbers on it. However his list was separated into two columns. “These numbers were increasing by sixty-three. These numbers, the more recent calls, increase by eleven. Do either of those numbers mean anything to you?”
Elsu and I both responded together. However our answers were not the same. I shook my head no but Elsu nodded.
“What?” I asked him.
“It’s my jersey number.”
“Oh,” I said. “But what about the sixty-three?”
“I don’t know about that,” he said.
“Now that we’ve got them separated we’re hoping we’ll be able to find where they came from.”
“How long will that take?” I asked.
“We’re not sure. Could be half an hour, could be several depending on the machines.”
“Several…hours?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The door to the room opened and Max walked in. He was steaming.
“Mae! When were you going to call your lawyer?” Max was on a rampage.
“When I needed one, I’m not the one on trial here,” I said.
“I had to hear about the shop from the news on the radio! What the hell, Mae?”
“I called you yesterday and you didn’t seem to believe me! Maybe next time you’ll listen to me!”
“Well, now that you’re here can you take these two with you? I’ve got some work to do around here,” said Detective Graven.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain it in the car,” I said with a sigh. “Just take us back to the shop.”
“Oh, now I’m supposed to just take you to work? I don’t drive a taxi.”
“Actually, let’s stop and get everyone donuts. I’m feeling generous.”
“I have half a mind to leave you two here! This is bullshit, Mae. I should have been the first one you called.”
“Actually, if you’ll recall, you were!”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said.
“See? Had I been home I might have been killed.” I lied. I knew I’d hardly be at the shop when the explosion had happened.
“Don’t guilt trip me, I’m angry at you.”
“Good, now you know how it feels!” I said as Elsu and I followed Max out of the office like two children who had been picked up by their father for misbehaving in school.
After a quick stop for some donuts at Lieberman’s, a locally famous bakery situated across the street from the police department, we headed back to the shop in silence. Elsu held my hand the entire way. Max was mad that I chose to sit in the back seat instead of up front with him, but I wasn’t going to let Mr. Grumpypants ruin my day further.
Back at the shop, Max found a spot to park and we stepped over the yellow tape. The vultures immediately spotted us and Max got between them and us. “No questions,” he said with an air of self-importance.
There was now only one police vehicle remaining. A black SUV with ‘Explosives Specialist’ written in important looking letters across the doors was now in the parking lot.
I went into the shop and saw Bonnie on the phone and Candice sitting in a chair next to her making a phone call as well.
“Candice?”
She held up a finger as she wrote some information on a page in a notebook that sat in front of her.
Bonnie looked up and smiled. After she was done with her conversation she looked at me. “Welcome back.”
“What is she doing?” I asked as I pointed to my sister.
“Jonathan Brothers called and told me to make sure she was kept busy. She’s been helping me make calls for your interviews. We rescheduled four so far, I think she’s working on the fifth. The first one is at nine, then every half hour after that. Steve is supposed to be scheduling his interviews for the shop.”
“Good…” I said as I kept looking at my sister in disbelief.
Bonnie picked up a ragged piece of copy paper and started reading. “Steve said there is damage in the classic garage. The Nova we just got in has damage, and he’d like for you to look at it. Joe and Bill said they need you to look at urgent damage in the warehouse.” She took a breath and looked at me with a sigh.
“It’s been busy!” I said. I was still looking at my sister who hung up from her phone call and immediately went into another without looking up.
“You have no idea,” said Bonnie. “Oh, your insurance guy called, he’ll be by in about an hour.”
“Now there’s a conversation I’m not looking forward to,” I said. “Anything else?”
“That’s about it. Oh, Steve said the window guys will be here this afternoon to take measurements and if all goes well, they will start installation this weekend.”
“Great!” I said. I took one last glance at my sister and left the customer area.
I walked with Elsu to the garage where seven of my eight mechanics were standing around pointing at the windows which were all broken. “How bad is it?” I asked as I stepped up to them.
“We got most of the glass up, but these cars that were mid-strip have glass in them and Steve said he’d ask you how we should proceed with those,” said Greg.
“Aww I didn’t realize you already started on the Camry,” I said.
“Yeah, it was closest to the door yesterday so Steve brought it in.”
“What’s with that dent in the hood?” I asked. “I didn’t notice it the other day when I drove it.”
“You whatted it?” Elsu was not happy.
“Just
to see how it drove. It was bad. See? It’s been stripped. I’m still car-less.”
“So Mae, what do you want to do with these?”
“Just scrap them,” I said. “There’s no sense in anyone getting cut.”
“No problem,” said Greg.
“Where is Steve, anyway?”
“In the classic garage,” pointed Greg.
“Ok, why don’t you grab the tow truck and pull these out.” I said to Greg.
“You got it, boss.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Oh, by the way, there are donuts up at the counter. Help yourselves.”
“Lieberman’s?” asked one of my other men.
“Of course,” I smiled.
Elsu and I walked toward the door to the classic garage. From where we stood, we were out of sight of the mechanics we had just left and no one was around when Elsu grabbed my arm and spun me to look at him. He pushed me against the wall and kissed me. The kiss wasn’t passionate, it was forceful and firm. With my history, I was very surprised by how much I liked it.
He stepped back and looked at me. “What the hell was that for?” I asked. I was nearly out of breath but wanted more.
“I am so sorry, Mae.” He started to walk away.
I grabbed for his arm and pulled him back to me. “Why are you apologizing?”
“That wasn’t very gentlemanly of me. I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Ok. But why?”
“I don’t know what came over me. Your whole world pretty much tumbles down around you and you’re back in here being the in-charge Mae who doesn’t take shit from anyone. I have absolutely no explanation for it but I am so damn turned on right now it hurts!” I took a brief moment to look down and saw that there was a definite tent happening in his swishy pants.
“Really? I’m just doing my job,” I said as I pulled him closer to me.
“I don’t know why, but boss-Mae is hot.”
“Boss-Mae? I can’t take all the credit. My grandpa showed me how to be the boss.” I smiled at him and let him kiss me again. “By the way, I found forceful Elsu rather hot, myself.”
“Forceful Elsu?” he asked.
“Yeah, the Elsu who just took what he wanted.”
“Mmmm,” he moaned and leaned in for another kiss.
