by Margaret Kay
“No, I want to bring my momma and dad their favorite Italian dinner. They want to see you and the kids.” He wrapped an arm around her and brought her into his chest. “Let me take care of the four of you tonight. And we’ll figure out the rest tomorrow.”
She nodded. She pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Later that evening at his parent’s house, his childhood home, they all sat gathered around the table enjoying the incredible food.
“Thank you for bringing dinner, Landon,” his momma said.
“You’re welcome. I was looking forward to it too.”
To his parent’s credit, even though they knew why he was in town, they’d both respected his wishes and so far, had said nothing to EJ. They also let Hayden’s split lip go with her excuse of falling down some stairs and his slight head shake warning them off. Even though Hayden and Melanie were not related by blood, the Johnson’s were their grandparents just as surely as they were EJ’s.
“EJ, please pass me another piece of garlic bread,” Lambchop said. After he’d taken a piece, he smiled at his momma. “Elias loved Covelli’s. I remember the last time we went there for dinner, for my birthday that year he died.” He paused and laughed. “I’ve never seen anyone eat as much spaghetti as he did that night.” He turned to EJ. “Your dad was a skinny dude, but he could eat way more than me.”
After his momma laughed, she focused her soft gaze on her grandson. “EJ can put it away, too. There are a lot of similarities between you and your dad. I am surprised by how many there are. Your father was a good boy, just like you are, EJ. I know you got in some trouble and that’s why Landon is here, but I want you to know that Grandpa and I don’t think badly of you for it. You can come to us anytime, for anything. Please remember that.” Her eyes shifted to Lambchop as his father nodded his agreement.
“Thank you, Grandma,” EJ murmured.
“I remember when you told me you had enlisted, Landon,” Momma said. “It was right here in this kitchen.”
“Yes, I remember that day well,” Lambchop said. His gaze went to EJ. “I didn’t talk with your grandma or grandpa before I enlisted. I just did it and then told them after it was already done.” He glanced back at his momma. “I’m sorry about that. I should have talked with you before I did it.”
“That was so long ago,” Momma said. “And your grandmother was right. It made a very good man out of you. I’m proud of all you have accomplished, son.” She paused and smiled. “You and Faith both, have made your way in this life and achieved so much. You help others.” Her gaze swept to Shereese. “You are our second daughter and we are proud of the life you have built for yourself and the kids. We’ll always be here for you.”
“I’ll have to give Faith a call. I’m sorry she couldn’t make it in this weekend. I know she’s busy.”
Momma smiled and nodded. “She’s off the weekend of Easter and plans to be home. Maybe you can make it back that weekend.”
“I’ll sure try,” Lambchop promised.
Papa
After dinner, Lambchop grabbed two beers from the refrigerator. He brought EJ up to his old room. It had the same twin beds in it, but the color scheme was changed, and their posters were taken down years ago. He handed EJ his beer and took a seat on his old bed. EJ nervously looked at the beer.
“Come on, you’re seventeen years old. I’m sure you’ve had a few beers.”
EJ smiled nervously and took a drink.
“I think it’s time we talked man to man. You know what I do for a living, but you don’t really know what I do.”
EJ remained silent. He looked confused.
“I’ve seen some real evil in this world. I’ve seen men, friends, killed on the battlefield. I’ve seen women attacked, savagely raped, people killed. I’ve seen people do things out of greed, with no care for human lives or humanity in general. I’ve seen those responsible for deadly drugs on our streets spit on the dead bodies their product killed. EJ, before Christmas, I saw hundreds of women and girls chained to the floor of shipping containers, sitting in their own piss and shit because the men who took them saw them as little more than cattle.”
“Why, why were they taken?” His small voice asked as Lambchop drew in a pull of his beer.
“To be sold as sex slaves, for organ harvesting, and God knows what else. There are some really bad people out there and they do not care about anyone but themselves.”
“Why are you telling me this?” He asked and then took a sip of his beer.
“Because they all started as someone’s friend in high school. You cannot ever think that anyone has your best interest at heart or that they wouldn’t throw you under the bus if it would keep them out of trouble. That’s why you always need to be thinking about the possible repercussions of your acts, the possible trouble that could come from them. Believe me, I get it. At your age, your friends are everything. You trust them and don’t think they will get you in trouble or pin anything on you to get out of trouble themselves, but it can happen. Those really bad people I told you about slowly headed down that path, one sin at a time, one step farther off the straight and narrow at a time. Remember when I told you a person’s character is built by all their individual acts?”
EJ nodded.
“Think of a building. You set one of the bricks off center. The next one follows that one and so on. Before you know it, the wall is leaning. No one wakes up one morning and says I think I will go and viciously rape a girl today. No, they’ve worked up to it, taking advantage of a girl who’s had too much to drink or taken too many drugs, watched violent porn, fantasized about doing it. Maybe they got a little rough with one of their girlfriends and it turned them on, so they escalate their acts over time until the day they do viciously rape a girl.”
EJ had tears in his eyes. “I’d never do anything like that, Uncle L.”
Lambchop rested his hand on EJ’s shoulder. “I know you wouldn’t. I was using that as an example. A lot of the guys running drugs started out innocently enough too, make a little cash, or pay for their own habit. But with drugs comes money and there are always guns around when there is money. A lot of people die. I work missions with the DEA busting big drug criminal enterprises. I pray to God every day that something will happen in this country that will stop the rampant use of dangerous drugs. The people making and distributing them don’t even care that their product kills thousands of people a year. They know there will be more buyers. They trade drugs for sex with girls and women who are addicted and will do anything to get the next hit. They turn them into prostitutes.”
“You work with the DEA?”
“Yes, and with local police departments, the FBI, the CIA, all the alphabetic agencies. EJ, we have always had a plan for you we talked about, you and me. I think all young men should spend a few years defending our country and our freedom in the military. This world is bigger than the small view you have of it at your age. I’ve been to many foreign countries, have seen how people live and that has made me very proud of our country, our way of life, and our freedoms.”
EJ nodded.
Lambchop nodded too. “I have paid for you to go to the school you do, to give you the best education and the best chances in life. I wanted you off the streets, so the gangs don’t take you. And have no doubt, even good kids get taken. EJ, what you got arrested for isn’t horrible, but it’s one step off the straight and narrow. There cannot be any more steps. Nothing got out of hand, but it could have very easily. You were not in control of everything going on there. All it would have taken was one of those kids to do something stupid, even by accident, and you’d all be looking at worse charges.”
EJ nodded and took another drink of the beer. “Terrance didn’t think of any of those things, I’m sure. He just thought we could party there and have time alone with our girlfriends in private. He’s a good guy. Mom is not being fair.”
“She doesn’t know them, so she has nothing else to judge. That’s on you. I know your friend’s parents live in
nicer houses and have more money than you do. You need to have pride in what you do have, in what your momma has worked very hard to provide for you. Don’t be ashamed of where you came from but strive to put yourself in an even better place. Strive to become the best man you can be.”
“I’ll try,” EJ promised.
“And lastly, listen to what people have to say, especially those older than you. You rolled your eyes at me a couple of times today and that really pissed me off. I don’t want to come across like I’m lecturing you but understand that I and other people older than you, have a different perspective and experience that may make us a bit more informed than you are.”
“Yes, sir,” EJ said sheepishly. “I’m sorry I did that.”
Lambchop took him in a bear hug. “I love you, EJ. Don’t ever think my motives are anything but helping you become the best man you can be.” After that, they lightened the conversation and continued to drink their beers. Lambchop’s phone rang. It was a local Pittsburgh number. “Johnson.”
“Hi Agent Johnson, this is Lieutenant Hodges, we spoke last night.”
“Yes, Lieutenant, I remember.”
“I’m calling because I just got notified the DA intends to pursue charges against EJ for breaking and entering.”
“And the other kids? Terrance Boyd?”
EJ’s eyes widened, and he listened, trying to hear any part of the conversation from the other end of the phone.
“Negative. The Boyd kid is trying to pin it on EJ. Said it was all his idea and he was just going along with it. His father is a big donor to the DA, and it is an election year.”
“What recourse do you see we have?”
“I’m sure under oath a good attorney can flip a few of the kids into stating the truth. Honestly, I’m shocked it’s coming to any charges. Nothing was damaged, no one was hurt. All the girls, even the underaged girls, confirm they were there by choice. The owner of the house they borrowed doesn’t even want to pursue charges.”
“Why is this moving forward then?”
“I think the Boyd kid’s father is pissed that EJ told the police it was his son’s idea. I think it’s just motivated by revenge because EJ broke the cardinal rule. He didn’t keep his mouth shut,” Hodges said.
“Thank you, I appreciate the heads up. I guess tomorrow I’m paying Terrance Boyd’s father a visit. Can I have your cell number in case I run into any problems?”
Hodges laughed. “You mean like him calling the cops on you?”
“Yeah, something like that. Though I’ll use my own badge first.”
The lieutenant recited his number, which Lambchop programmed into his phone. After he hung up, he gave EJ a recap of the call.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” EJ exploded. “I can’t believe Terrance would do this to me.”
“It may be his father. My advice is do not contact him and if he calls you, let it go to voicemail. If he text messages you, don’t reply until I’ve seen it. Let me help you deal with this. I’ve got some experience with shit like this and rich and powerful people like Mr. Boyd.”
After Shereese left with her kids and his parents had gone to bed, he placed a call to Ops. He was in luck. Caleb Smith with the digital unit was on and they were slow in Ops.
The next morning, armed with a dossier from Ops on Mervin Boyd, Lambchop pulled up in front of their stately brick home in the affluent gated community. He badged his way in. The front door opened as he approached it and a stuffed shirt came barreling out. Evidently the gate guard had phoned ahead.
He reached into his back pocket and pulled his badge and creds out. “Hello Mr. Boyd. My name is Agent Landon Johnson, NSA. I’m here to speak with you about your son and my nephew, Elias Johnson Jr.”
“This is an abuse of your position as a federal agent,” Boyd said.
“No, sir, it is not. If I were to report your dealings with a particular start-up to the securities and exchange commission with information about insider trading that I obtained by using federal resources because of my position as a federal agent, that would be an abuse of my position.”
Boyd’s eyes went wide. He was momentarily speechless. “Is that a threat?”
“No, sir, it is not,” he repeated. “It’s a good thing I used a secondary agency with no direct affiliation to the federal government to run you to ground. Does your wife know about that apartment down on First Street you rent for your, um, personal assistant?”
“What do you want?”
“The charges against my nephew to go away.”
“He’s a snitch, and he isn’t hanging around my son anymore. We welcomed that kid into our home, and this is how he repaid us. He is not welcome here any longer.”
“Have you told your son that?” Lambchop asked.
“No, so you make sure your nephew keeps his distance from my son. He’s a good kid with a good future ahead of him. He doesn’t need to be brought down by some ghetto rat.”
“I’ll say a prayer for you. It seems your soul needs one. I’ll pray for your son too, while I’m at it.”
“Fuck you,” Boyd growled.
“The borrowing of the keys to the neighbor’s house was your son’s idea. You are aware of that, right?”
“It was a friend of my wife’s house. It wasn’t in this neighborhood.”
“So, your son broke and entered into a house worth only a hundred and fifty thousand, not three quarters of a million. That makes all the difference.”
“I’ll call the DA off. Just keep your nephew away from my son.”
“Don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t want my nephew anywhere near you. Have a good day, Mr. Boyd.”
Lambchop got back into his rental car and drove away, fuming mad. Mervin Boyd was a self-righteous sonofabitch! Yeah, he needed to get EJ away from his son, alright. An idea came to him. He arrived at Shereese’s with donuts and coffee, and that idea fully thought out.
After devouring the donuts, the kids retreated to their rooms. Lambchop told Shereese what had happened with Terrance’s father and pitched his idea.
“Move to Illinois? All of us?” Shereese said.
“Yes. I can pay your rent until you get a job at a salon and help you with it after. The schools where I am thinking are good. I won’t have to pay for EJ to be in a private school. Your girls will get a better education and be safer in the suburbs. And best of all, when I am in town, I can spend more time with EJ. I think this is a good solution, better than him moving in with me.”
“Move from Pittsburgh?” Shereese said. She’d never lived out of state. “What about your parents? They’ll miss the kids.”
“I’ll fly them to Illinois once every other month for a week. They can stay at my place. Shereese, there are at least six communities within a half-hour drive of my place with great schools, little crime, no gangs to speak of, and a safe, small-town feel where your kids will thrive.”
“EJ’s not going to want to move away from his friends. Neither are the girls,” Shereese said.
“A friend of mine has a three-bedroom house for rent. It has a garage, basement, and yard. I’m sure she’ll rent it to me for you. It’s in a good neighborhood. We can fix up a room for EJ in the basement. The girls will get their own rooms. I’ll bribe EJ with drivers ed classes and a used car that I will help him buy. He needs to have his license before he goes into the Navy, anyway.”
“I’ll have to qualify for my state license there. It doesn’t transfer.”
Lambchop smiled. She was considering it. “I’m sure that will be no problem at all for you. A house in the suburbs with a yard. Think about how great that would be. And this is for EJ, to get him away from everything here, Hayden too.”
Shereese nodded. “Okay,” she agreed.
“I’m going to call her now.” Lambchop stepped into the kitchen and dialed his phone. Madison answered on the second ring. “Hi. I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
“You called on my phone, not the Ops line. This isn’t work-rel
ated?”
Lambchop chuckled. “No, it isn’t. But I do have a problem you might be able to help me with.”
“Sure. We’re slow right now. I can talk. What do you need?”
“Don’t you still have your house up north of the office? And didn’t I hear your renters just moved out?”
“Yes, and yes,” Madison replied.
“Have you rented it yet?”
“No, I haven’t had time. I did an exit inspection with them when they moved out. It probably needs some new carpet and a fresh coat of paint before I can rent it to someone else.”
“What if your new tenants don’t care about the carpet and will paint it themselves? Could it be ready for occupancy in four days?”
