“Wow,” Tim said. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I really feel that they shouldn’t have gone after my reputation,” I said. “Let’s see what they have to say.”
Sandy Jackson put on a brave face as she approached the assembled media representatives. She was dressed in jeans and a black top. The ensemble looked simple until she closed the distance and I realized the shoulders were cut out of the top. Didn’t that trend die decades ago? If not, it definitely should have.
“I want to thank you all for coming,” Sandy said. “I know it’s a Saturday and you would probably prefer being somewhere else, but since we’re closing in on one week since Sierra was taken, we want to make sure the focus remains on her … instead of getting lost on things that don’t matter.”
I fought the urge to smirk when Sandy’s pointed gaze landed on me. If she thought I was a pain before, she was going to cry her eyes out when she realized what I had in store for her now that they’d ticked me off.
“We want to send a message to the person who took Sierra,” Sandy said, squaring her shoulders and staring directly into the closest television camera. “We don’t want revenge. We just want our daughter back. We love her more than anything, and we’re willing to forgive you if you’ll send her back to us.
“If you’re worried about getting caught, you can drop her off at a gas station … or church … or fire station,” she continued. “We’re not interested in revenge. We’re interested in making our family whole again.”
“That was almost poetic,” Tim muttered.
“Almost,” I agreed, tilting my head as I caught a hint of movement out of the corner of my eye. Danny Jackson emerged from the house, his gaze trained on something behind us as he moved down the driveway.
“Sierra, if you’re out there and you can hear us, we want you to know that we’ll never give up looking for you,” Sandy said. “You’re the most important thing in this world to us. We’re devastated without you.”
I continued scribbling Sandy’s quotes but shifted my attention to the spot where Danny stared, my heart rolling when I saw Bridget Dalton approaching from behind us. Her expression was dark – like really dark – and she was fixated on Sandy. Something told me this was about to go south.
I turned back to Danny. He’d caught sight of his mother and was hurrying in her direction. He looked worried, too.
“In closing, I want everyone to know that I didn’t give birth to Sierra, but I couldn’t love her any more than if I had,” Sandy said. “I’m her mother in heart and spirit.”
“Except I’m her mother, you bitch!” Bridget made her presence known as she pushed through the ring of reporters. For those who hadn’t seen her yet, the white fringe on her suede jacket might have been off-putting. I wasn’t really surprised.
“What are you doing here?” Sandy hissed, focusing on Bridget. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Mom?” Danny looked frightened.
“I’m here to get my son,” Bridget replied, completely ignoring Danny. “I’m here to make sure you don’t lose him like you lost my daughter, you whore.”
“Don’t call me a whore!”
“If the crotchless panties fit!”
I realized what was going to happen before anyone else did and took a step around Bridget, snagging Danny by the back of his shirt before he got between his mother and stepmother. “Be careful,” I said, jerking him away.
“But … Mom.” Danny was on the verge of tears as Bridget grabbed a handful of Sandy’s hair and pulled. I directed Danny to a spot a few feet away as the television cameras converged for the beatdown.
“You can’t get involved in this,” I said quietly. “You have to let them sort it out.”
And sort it out they did … if screaming, hair pulling, open-palmed slaps and general name-calling can be considered sorting it out, that is. Whatever you’d call it, it was one heck of a show.
18
“You’re such a slut!”
Bridget grabbed a hank of Sandy’s hair and tugged it as hard as she could.
“Maybe you only think I’m a slut because you’re a frigid bitch,” Sandy shot back, screeching as she tried to swivel, her fingers snaking out and missing Bridget’s throat. “You wouldn’t be so bitter if you’d kept your man happy. I don’t have that problem … especially since I kept your man happy before he became my man.”
“You whore!”
Danny’s eyes widened and he took a step in his mother’s direction. I kept my hand on his neck and forced him to stay away from the melee.
“That’s my mom,” Danny said, his voice barely audible.
For some reason – and I hate kids, so it surprised even me – my heart went out to him. His sister was missing and his parents cared more about themselves than him. “It’s going to be okay, Danny,” I said. “They’re just … .” I couldn’t say the word I really wanted to use and thankfully I didn’t have to think of another because that’s when Daniel Jackson decided to join the fray.
“What in the hell is going on here?” he bellowed, scurrying toward the battling women. “Why is no one stopping this?”
“That’s not our job, sir,” one of the cameramen replied. “Do you think you can make the woman with the fringe yank the other one’s head back a little farther? It’ll look better on television that way.”
“You’re a whore!” Bridget tugged on Sandy’s hair with all her might. “You can’t get your own man, so you steal other people’s husbands.”
“I didn’t steal him,” Sandy shot back. “He ran to me because you’re a cold bitch who never took care of his needs.”
“I had children to take care of,” Bridget said. “He can’t always come first. He’s an adult. He should know that.”
“He should be treated as the king of his castle,” Sandy said, gasping as she tried to remove Bridget’s fingers from her hair. “I treat him like the king he is every moment of every day.”
“That’s because you’re a whore!”
I was starting to feel dizzy from the Jerry Springer overload when Daniel caught sight of me.
“You,” he hissed, taking a step in my direction. “Get your hands off my son.”
I narrowed my eyes but didn’t release Danny. I knew the second I did he’d run between the two women to stop the fight, and I didn’t want him to take an inadvertent elbow – or errant insult – in the process. “I’m making sure he doesn’t get hurt.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” Daniel seethed, completely ignoring his wives as they toppled off the curb and hit the street. “Why are you here? I told your publisher I was going to sue if you showed your face again.”
“I pulled your divorce documents and proved everything in my article,” I replied, unruffled. “I have proof and you have no case, so I’m back. That’s probably not good news for you, but … well … I don’t really care what’s good for you.”
“Get your filthy hands off my son,” Daniel said, puffing out his chest as he moved in front of me. “I don’t believe in hitting women, but I’ll make an exception for you. You’re the Devil.”
I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that. The fact that he could utter the words while his ex-wife and current wife rolled around on the pavement was rich. The only thing they were missing was mud and bikinis. “You’re not going to want to touch me,” I warned.
“Oh, yeah? Why is that?”
“Because I have a bodyguard and he’ll rip your head off if you try to touch me,” I said, scanning the area for a hint of Eliot. Of course he would pick now to completely disappear.
“I think you’re lying,” Daniel said. “I think I’m going to make you stop touching my son.” He reached out, his fingers moving in the direction of my hand as it rested on the back of Danny’s neck, but he didn’t get a chance to test his woman-beating theory because Eliot moved in from behind me and cut off his avenue of approach.
Eliot grabbed Daniel’s wrists, digging
his fingers into a sensitive pressure point and causing Daniel to howl as he dropped to his knees.
“Let me go!”
“I believe you heard my … woman,” Eliot said, shooting me an apologetic look. “She warned you what would happen if you tried to touch her. Now it’s going to be a lot worse.”
“Woman?” I cocked an annoyed eyebrow. “It’s funny when you say that in the bedroom when we’re alone. I don’t think it’s really funny now.”
Eliot scowled. “I was on the spot,” he said. “It feels weird calling you my girlfriend. If I call you my old lady you’ll never have sex with me again. I need something to call you.”
“I’m going to kill you,” Daniel seethed.
“Shh,” Eliot admonished, applying even more pressure to Daniel’s wrists. “I’m talking to my … well, what should I call you?”
“Queen,” I supplied.
“I’m not calling you that.”
“I’m going to kill you both,” Daniel snapped, fruitlessly bucking against Eliot in an attempt to dislodge him. Eliot was too big and strong, though. He didn’t budge despite Daniel’s best efforts.
“I think you’re hurting him,” Danny said. “I … please don’t hurt my dad.”
Eliot’s expression softened. “I’m not going to hurt him,” he said. “The police are on their way. I’m just going to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone until they get here.”
“Okay,” Danny said, visibly brightening. “Do you think that means I can go inside and get a candy bar?”
“No!” Daniel vehemently shook his head. “No candy.”
“Go ahead,” I said, releasing Danny’s neck. “Get as much of it as you want.”
“You’re not the boss,” Daniel screeched. “You can’t tell my son what he can and can’t do.”
I inclined my head in Eliot’s direction. “Tell him.”
“She’s always the boss,” Eliot supplied.
“And?” I prodded.
“And she’s my queen,” Eliot said, forcing a smile.
“Very good,” I said, grinning.
“That’s going to work for exactly forty-eight hours,” Eliot said. “I’m still riding high after making up and agreeing to move in together. I refuse to call you that for one second longer, though.”
“We’ll see,” I said, smirking when an idea formed. “You could always call me ‘your highness.’”
“Over my dead body.”
“I’ll see what I can arrange.”
“WAIT, what happened?”
Jake arrived on the scene twenty minutes later, his frustration evident as he tried to unravel the inner workings of a news conference gone wrong.
“That filthy cu-- .” Daniel, his finger pointed in my direction, balked when Jake scorched him with a death glare. I had a feeling I knew exactly how he was going to finish that sentence.
“Use your words,” Jake instructed, leaning over so he could meet Daniel’s ire head-on. “I would pick a different word, too. If you were about to use the one I think you were, I’ll arrest you.”
“On what charge?” Daniel challenged.
“I think I have quite a few to choose from,” Jake said. “Just off the top of my head, I believe I was told you were about to put your hands on a woman when Mr. Kane intervened. I’m sure I can come up with a charge out of that.”
“She’s not a woman,” Daniel spat. “She’s a … liar.”
“Hey!” I would much rather be called the other word. “I didn’t lie. I have proof. You’re just a big … tool.”
“Avery, you’re not helping,” Jake snapped. “Don’t make things worse.”
I pointed toward the two cruisers parked in front of the house. Sandy was in the back of one and Bridget the other. They spewed an endless stream of curse words at each other. “I can’t possibly make things worse.”
Next to me, Danny happily munched on his candy bar and watched the unfolding events with wide eyes.
“She had her hands on my son,” Daniel said. “She was trying to kidnap him.”
“I was not,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“She had her hands on him,” Daniel said. “She was going to take him because I got her in trouble at work.”
Jake sighed. “I don’t think she would be here if she was still in trouble at work.”
“I’m not,” I said. “I pulled the Jackson divorce documents and proved everything in my article. I’m queen of the world again.”
“That’s right, your highness,” Eliot said, his eyes sparkling.
“Oh, gross,” Jake muttered. “I see you two made up. I’m both happy and appalled by that. Don’t do anything sickly sweet in front of me. It’s Saturday and I’m supposed to be relaxing. I can’t take you guys being sweet and trying to make me throw up.”
“I have candy if you want some,” Danny offered.
Jake smirked. “I’m good. Thank you, though.”
“Stop eating that candy, Danny!” Daniel moved to get up but Jake shoved him back down.
“Don’t move,” Jake warned. “I don’t want to have to arrest you, too. I’m not ruling it out, though.”
“I want her arrested for touching my son,” Daniel said. “She’s a deviant.”
“I am a deviant,” I acknowledged.
“She didn’t do anything but make sure the kid didn’t accidentally get hurt when his mothers started pulling hair,” Tim offered, sidling up to Jake. “I was there when it happened. She just kind of sidestepped the mothers and headed the kid off.”
“That sounds unusually adult of you,” Jake said, looking me up and down. “The shirt is a dead giveaway that you’re still a child, though.”
“What can I say? I’m off my game.”
“Speaking of games, when can we go?” Eliot asked. “You promised me a full day in bed. We’re losing light at this rate.”
“Knock that off,” Jake ordered, flicking Eliot’s ear and earning a stern look. “Don’t make me arrest you for making lewd comments in front of a child.”
“They already talked about sex,” Danny offered.
“Thank you, Danny,” I said, forcing a bright smile.
“Okay, I need to talk to Mr. Jackson in private,” Jake said. “Avery, can you please take Danny over to the picnic table on the side of the house? I would rather not have an audience for what’s about to come.”
“Sure,” I said, gesturing for Danny to head in that direction. “That will give us a chance to talk.”
“Don’t fill my son’s head with deviancy,” Daniel yelled at my back.
“I think that’s a lost cause,” I shot back as I followed Danny out of earshot. Once it was just the two of us, I sat next to him on the picnic table bench and watched as he finished his candy bar. When he was done, I couldn’t help but notice the returning despair. He really was in an awful position. “Are they always like this?”
Danny nodded. “It sucks.”
“It definitely sucks,” I agreed. “You know this isn’t about you, right?”
Danny shrugged, noncommittal. “It feels like it’s about me,” he said. “My mom keeps screaming that my dad ruined our lives and my stepmother … I mean the bitch of Baker Street … keeps saying everything is my mom’s fault.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing and collected myself. “Is that what your mom told you to call your stepmother?”
Danny nodded. “I keep forgetting.”
“You know, Danny, when adults are out of control and you’re the only kid in the room it can be hard to deal with,” I offered. “They’re supposed to be role models, but you’re the only one acting your age. In this case, all of the adults are upset because your sister is missing and they’re dealing with a lot of baggage they’ve never dealt with in the right way. Things are just kind of … snowballing.”
“You mean my dad cheating on my mom and my mom making me drink the Kool-Aid – which I don’t do because I don’t like Kool-Aid but my dad keeps saying it?
”
I nodded. “You have to tune them out,” I said. “They don’t mean to hurt you. They just can’t see past their own wants and needs.”
“What does that mean for Sierra?”
My heart flopped at his earnest expression. “I don’t know what it means for Sierra,” I answered honestly. “She’s been gone almost a week now. No one has seen her. No one has made a ransom demand.
“I have to think that if she took off on her own she would’ve come back by now,” I continued. “I also think if someone wanted money they would’ve demanded it by now.”
“Do you think she’s dead?”
“I … .” That was a hard question to answer. I didn’t want to give him false hope, but I didn’t want to crush him either. “I hope not. Tell me about the last time you saw her.”
“We were in the mall and she wanted to go in that store with all the smelly lotions and stuff and I didn’t want to go in there because it’s embarrassing,” Danny answered. “She tried to make me but I argued with her, so she told me to go to the arcade and she would meet me there. I did go to the arcade but then someone mentioned Sears had a game system on display that I wanted to check out. I thought I would make it back before Sierra got to the arcade.”
“Did you see anyone following you that day? Maybe an adult or another teenager?”
Danny shook his head. “I wasn’t looking. I was trying to drive Sandy crazy, like my mom told me to do. I was going to hide someplace in the mall and make Sandy cry and get in trouble … but I forgot.”
“Did your mom tell you to do that?”
Danny nodded. “Don’t tell my dad, okay? He will be really mad.”
“I won’t tell,” I said. “I know a thing or two about trying to drive people crazy.”
“My dad says you’re a bad person,” Danny said. “He said you’re a busybody. Are you?”
“I am a busybody,” I confirmed. “I try not to be a bad person unless someone really deserves it.”
“Like Sandy?”
“Worse than Sandy,” I replied. “Someday, when you’re older, I’ll tell you about a terrifying beast the likes of which this land has never seen.”
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