Tanner

by Kathi S. Barton

  “We’ll have to find out how close we are to some of their homes.” He told her they were going to his parents’ house for dinner tonight. “Okay, I’ll be better at handling them now, I think. You’re all very big guys, aren’t you? I mean, Rogan is big, but he’s sloppy fat. And someday I bet it will be his downfall. But you guys are tall and muscled.”

  “And yet my mom and dad still call us their boys. And if we do something wrong, when she’s nearby, Mom will pop us in the back of the head like she did when we were younger. And let me tell you, I didn’t get hit nearly as many times as the others did. I was the baby, and special to her.”

  They were still laughing about it when he pulled up in front of the antique shop. Taking her hand when they got out, Tanner kissed her again. Today was going to be a good day.

  Chapter 5

  Rogan looked over the pants and shirt he’d been brought to wear today. He wasn’t able to fit the pants on himself, but the shirt did all right. He’d had to think when he’d gotten so fat over the last few days. Like it had snuck up on him or something. He supposed that he should have been more careful of his weight, but there were so many foods out there that he just couldn’t help himself. When he heard the door open and close, he didn’t bother looking up. It would be someone coming to take him to the shower. “You ready?” The man there had a gun on him, and there were two other men behind him. “Come on, Rogan. You have things to do today. And having a shower is going to top that list. No more putting it off.” “I hate that shower stall. I don’t fit in it. Can’t I just go like I am? I’ll wear a lot of deodorant.” He told him that wouldn’t work, that his hair was nasty, and he stunk. “But the hot water doesn’t last as long as I want it to. I think you guys are cutting me off before I’m ready. You’re all out to get me, and as soon as I’m free from here, and I will be, I’m going to tell my governor about your ill treatment of me and that you locked me up for no reason at all.” “We want you as clean as you can get. Coming down here to just give you your tray of food is enough to make us sick. Get up and let’s get this done. The van will be here soon to pick you up. And if you miss it, you’ll not get a second chance at going there today.” He didn’t want to be humiliated again. They had all had a good laugh at him when he could only reach in and turn the water on but not shove his fat body into the stall. It was then that he realized just how monstrous he’d gotten. As he walked to the stalls, he thought of how pissed off he was that he was this fat. He could have blamed it on the diner that he ate at once a day, or the fast food shit that he picked up when he was out and about, but it was all him in this. Rogan didn’t remember the last time he’d seen his feet, much less his dick. And even when he was feeling horny, there wasn’t shit he could do about it, not like he was. So, he’d just watch women. And that had even become no fun for him until he got to kill them. He could still kill, and he supposed that was what he really liked to do anyway. The sex was just something that he did to have the women screaming and begging for their lives. Like that was going to happen. The last time he’d killed someone he’d had to just leave the body on the ground. There wasn’t any way for him to dig a hole, not without joining the dead woman in the grave too. Rogan knew that he should have thought about his size then, but it never occurred to him. He just thought he was really out of shape. The shower was the same as before—too little, and the tile was cold against his body as he tried to reach the soap and shit that they gave him. But this time there wasn’t a crowd in the room with him. He just tore his clothing off; unbuttoning it and trying to pull it off was too much effort. And anyway, he was going to go home today, so it mattered little what he did with this orange suit that made him look like a giant pumpkin at Halloween. He wasn’t going to have to come back here to put the stupid thing on, so fuck it. Rogan had been working on a plan for when he got out. The first thing he was going to do was gather up his family. He knew that they’d have some cash on them. Both of them. The way that his sister was dressed, she had to have more than Tyrrell did. Plus, she’d just come here from someplace far away too. Tyrrell hadn’t told him where she was, only that it would take her at least a day and a half to fly in. That sounded to him like she had money to burn. And if she was going to do that, spend it on clothing and girl stuff, she could damn well give it to him. And Tyrrell being a lawyer, he’d have cash too. Or some credit cards with really high limits. He didn’t care for them himself; credit cards were hard in his pocket, and people usually wanted to see some kind of ID with them. Not to mention that stupid machine. It was made, he knew, for people like him to look stupid when they didn’t know how to work them. He thought of his little sister and smiled. Giyanna had always hated him, he knew that, and thought it was funny that she would think that he even cared. But she’d help him out of this, and when it was over, he’d find her, take what she had, then kill her. She had seen things that he wished now that he’d not shown her. The woman—she’d seen him kill her. Rogan knew as soon as he’d done it that it was going to come back and bite him in the ass, and if she talked, he wasn’t getting out of here for a long time. It wasn’t as if he had tried to hide what he did. Rogan had been fucking the woman like he liked it, hard and mean. Then he saw his sister. She’d been so shocked, and he could still see the horror on her face as he broke the woman’s neck. Going after her, he was going to kill her that night, but she’d been faster than him and he couldn’t find her when she ran off. After that, he’d not seen her again. But he did worry once in a while about her. Weeks afterward he still worried about who she might have told. Not that the cops back then would have done anything to him. He was their go to guy when they wanted some drugs or whatever. Not that he ever used the money that he charged them for it to pay for the drugs, but killed the dealer and took all that he had. Sometimes he could go weeks without having to kill anyone for cash; he usually could get plenty from one drop. But that had dried up too when that woman had taken over for his crew. Damn it, women were the ruination of everything that he had loved. After he was dressed, he was shoved into the back of the van. There was another reason for him to hate that he’d let himself go so badly. Four men had to help him shove his fat ass into the back of the van that he’d have to ride in, and then he could feel every bump in the road as they drove down the road with his fat ass on the floor because the seats wouldn’t hold him. He was going to have to do something about this soon or he’d be pushing up daisies before his time. And what was he going to do when he got back home with his wife and kids? They’d need to stand close to him and stay there, or he’d never catch them again.

  Chained and brought into the courthouse, he asked if he could take a piss. They, of course, told him he should have taken care of that when he had time. Besides, one of them told him, the stalls were the regular size and he’d not fit in them. He said that he didn’t have to shit, just piss, and they told him that it was a genderless bathroom, whatever the fuck that meant. He was taken in the courtroom not long after that, and seated at the long table where his brother and that Calhoun guy were. He didn’t care for him, but after he told his sister that he was sorry yesterday, Calhoun told him what his plans were for today. He claimed there wasn’t any way that he was going to get off. But he knew better. His family wouldn’t let him rot in there, or he’d make them see reason. He was going to anyway, but they didn’t have to know that until he was released. Then, by damn, they’d know what the fuck it was like to be caged up. As soon as the judge was in, he was able to relax a little. This would be over soon enough, and he’d be home. There was shit going on there that he wanted to take care of. And all the missed opportunities as well. Rogan needed to make himself a trap or two to keep his sister in. He wasn’t even above killing her on the street just to show her that he always got what he wanted. And he wanted her dead in the worst kind of way. She’d been a burr in his ass for a long time, and it was time he took care of her. He wasn’t even sure why he hated her so much. Rogan had hated her from the moment that she’d come home from the h
ospital. Her and Tyrrell had been disliked by their parents for all their lives, and they’d been left without, so he knew that wasn’t it. They got better grades than he did in school, but it didn’t matter to his mom and dad. Not that he really cared about that part, but he did hate that they thought themselves to be better than him. Rogan supposed it was the way that Giyanna had always looked at him, like she knew something that he didn’t. Which wasn’t possible, since he was older and had seen it all. But she would stare at him with those big green eyes, and he’d want to take a knife to them and peel them out of her head. It was a dream of his to take her eyes out and make her eat them. As soon as he was old enough, he’d dropped out of school. Their parents didn’t care. They were seldom home anyway, and they’d leave him in charge. That was another thing that she did that pissed him off—Giyanna never was around when he was in charge. It was like she knew that something was going to come up and she’d disappear, taking Ty with her when she did. And he would look for her too. Wherever she was hiding, it was a better place than he could find. Rogan had become an expert of sorts in finding her money and stuff, but when he was to be her boss, she never came around so he could beat on her. “Are you paying attention?” He looked at his brother and told him he wasn’t. “Well, you’d better. They found something on the land out where you used to live, and they’re asking for a continuance.” “What does that mean?” He told him how he’d have to come back when they were done looking into whatever it was they found. “Oh, hell no. I’m not going to come back here. You tell them that.”

  “Keep your voice down.” He was going to knock Calhoun’s head off when he was freed too. He was nasty mean, and was never afraid of him. Well, he’d make him afraid, even if he had to kill him to do it. “You’ll have to go back to jail. The judge said that there is enough evidence on whatever they found to want to investigate it more thoroughly.” “No.” Calhoun just cocked a brow at him. “You tell them it’s too late to be making me go back because they can’t get their shit together and do this today. I got no reason to be in jail in the first place. So what? I did something wrong. It’s not like you wouldn’t do something too if you got the chance to. I ain’t perfect, and as much as that bothers me to say it, you tell them that, so I can get home.” “I would never do the things that you’ve done. Not even on a bet. I’m reasonably sure that I didn’t trash my home, and wouldn’t threaten the police if they came to arrest me. Or beat my wife and kids and then act like nothing happened.” He told him all that was his business. “No, it’s not. Especially when it’s government housing and your wife pressed charges against you so that you’d keep away from her. Also, you were to stay one thousand yards from her and the kids at all times. You didn’t do that either. Now shut up so that I can figure out what is going on.” He wanted to slap the shit right out of him. What did it matter if he had done those things? It had been his house, wasn’t it? Besides, the government had all kinds of money to fix things up that he’d done. That’s what they were there for, to make sure that he had safe housing. There hadn’t been anyone around when he’d done it, so he wondered how they got to pin that shit on him. And the police were pussies if they thought he’d been threatening them. He’d been promising them that he was going to kill them, not threatening them. A threat was worthless if you didn’t ever follow through. When he was lifted up and the police told him to come on, he looked at the judge and asked him what the hell was going on. Calhoun told him to be quiet, that he’d explain later, but he wanted someone that had smarts to tell him, not this pretty boy that didn’t know shit. And he was beginning to think that he’d gotten the worst lawyer in the whole state—hell, even the entire world—in having Calhoun at his table. “Mr. McGowan, you’ve been told three times, that I’m aware of, to shut up. If I were you, I’d do that. I’m in no mood for you to be loud in my courtroom. You’ll have everything explained to you by your attorn—” “He’s an asshole. I don’t care for the way he talks down to me either. I might not be the sharpest tool in the box, but I’m far from stupid. And I don’t want to go back to the jail. I want to go to my house and wait for my wife and kids to come back. They will, too, when I have a little talk with Bridgett.” He slammed his fist into his hand, making sure that the judge could understand how he was going to get her to behave. “There ain’t no reason for me to be taken back there. All this shit they have on me, it’s not right that I should have to sit in the cell all day when I could be out having me some fun. You tell them whatever else they’ve found out, it’s too late for that shit and for them to just let me go. I had plans to go on home today. I’m guessing that they got my house—”

  “They found a body, Mr. McGowan. In your yard. It was wrapped up in a shower curtain that had been in your home.” He asked how they knew that. “DNA was all over it. And if that wasn’t enough, the cadaver dogs have been brought out, and they think that there might be as many as three more. That’s what the delay is. And you should know, if this turns out to be your handiwork, that there is no statute of limitations on murder. We just want to make sure that we arrest or have arrested the right person for the murders. And for now, since we have you right where you can’t take off, we’ll leave you right there.” “I don’t know nothing about them. So that should be enough for you to let me go home. I don’t know what you’re snooping around my yard for anyway. I can’t even get someone to come out and fix the toilet when it’s stopped up.” He told him that he didn’t have a home to go to. “Yeah, I do. That one there on Meadow Lane. I’ve been living there off and on for most of my married life. And that ain’t gonna change because I’m in here. You can’t kick a man when he’s down, no matter how many bodies are in the yard. I’m not saying I had anything to do with them being there. You should ask the neighbor—he don’t like me none either. You can’t hold me on something like that.” “Oh, but I can hold you on just about anything I want. I’m the judge, and that’s what I do best, is judge people. Additionally, you’ve been barred from the home on Meadow Lane and any other house that the government owns. The restraining order that your wife had on you has made it so you weren’t to live there any longer with her or the children. Then there is the fact that you did several thousand dollars’ worth of damage to the house. How do you propose you are going to pay for that?” “Me? Ain’t my fault that they have shitty workmanship.” He grinned. “You and I both know that the government has all kinds of stashed away money for stuff like that. You just call up some of them, have it fixed up, and I won’t bother anyone again about it. Except for getting my wife home. She ran off with my kids and that queer brother of hers. No telling what sort of things he’s doing to them. I’m going to take care of him too, see if I don’t. He’s a pervert.” “Mr. McGowan, you are a piece of work, aren’t you?” He nodded, thinking that it was nice to have someone notice. “I’m not giving you a compliment, but telling you that I cannot believe the stuff that is falling from your mouth. I’d say that your brain needs a rest, but I think that’s what it’s been doing for most of your life, resting. You’ll be going back to jail, right now as a matter of fact. And you should prepare yourself for a lot longer stay this time. I might take me a little vacation and leave you in there indefinitely.” Rogan wasn’t sure how it happened, but in no time he was back in the van on his way to the jail again. Nobody was talking to him either. As soon as they took the chains off him so that he could move around, he asked to speak to his attorney and his family. He wanted them there right now. And by God, they’d better have a damned good reason for him being here again. Rogan had quit this place, and to be here again went against the grain. “There won’t be any visitors tonight, Rogan. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow. The judge has said that you can’t have your family here until then. Though why they’d want to be around you at all is lost on me.” He’d not have anyone talk to him this way and told the man to come over there so he could bop him a couple of times. “Do you really expect me to just walk over there and let you hit me? You’re dumber than I t
hought you were. And that is saying a lot.” This was all his fault, that Calhoun guy. He should have told that judge that he didn’t need to be put back in his cell. He wasn’t going nowhere. Of course, if he was loose, he’d go and hit his family, especially his sister, up for some cash, then take off to find his wife and kids. But nobody had to know that but him. ~~~ Giyanna wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Tanner was in court, and she was all alone at his house. Their house, he told her several times, and she could change it any way that she wished. That had been fun for about ten minutes, but now she was bored, and she needed something to occupy her time. Going out onto the lawn in the front of the house, she was startled when the women from the family got out of the big van that had just pulled in. “We’ve come to get you.” She didn’t even ask, but got into the van with the rest of them. Joe laughed as she continued. “I’m guessing that you needed a break. I’ve never been one that liked to be in my own company either. I have scary thoughts, and then I can’t rest at all.” “I was about to leave anyway. I had no idea where I was going to go, but I needed to get out of the house for a little while.” Chloe said she could understand that. She’d been bored too. “I’m guessing not much happens in a town this small. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I could use some excitement now and again. And please don’t take that as a challenge, Chloe.” She liked these women, and the fact that she could joke around with them as if she’d known them her entire life. And the best part was, they didn’t treat her like she was the sister of a murdering asshole, but instead like a friend to them. “Nothing much happens here, not really. Oh, we have our trouble, like most towns do, but since I’ve taken over, things are a little less hectic and dishonest. You remember this place when you lived here?” She said that she did, and was glad that the police station was a safe place to go. “I am too. Anyway, we’re going to the mall to do some shopping for the upcoming auction. We have several gift cards that were given to us to buy something huge with them. Also, we’re picking up things that have been donated.” “What’s the auction for?” Marty told her it was for school backpacks that were filled. “Wow, what I wouldn’t have given for something like that when I was a kid. I barely had lunch money most of the time, much less the things for class. And I know that the families that get them are very happy too.” “It’s getting better around here since we have new places that are hiring. The economy is also going up. People are getting out more, and thankfully starting to be friendly neighbors again. Which is what most of the people had missed a great deal.” She said that she noticed that as well. “The day after tomorrow, we have two businesses that are coming here to see if the land we have is suited for their manufacturing plant. One of them is distribution, the other is manufacturing. Together they’ll hire on about a thousand employees when they’re up and running. This is what this town needs, an influx of money coming in and a place to spend it. Thus, the new shops that are going in. Keeping it home is the motto that we’ve come up with.” She could hear the pride in Laney’s voice when she talked about the businesses. Like all the women, she was active in the town’s growth, and whatever it needed to make it safe as well. That’s what she wanted to do, to be a part of something that was going to make a difference to someone else. “I’ve been rethinking my life.” Christine asked her what she’d come up with. “Not as much as I would have hoped, really. I know that I hated being an attorney, and its only just occurred to me that I did it for all the wrong reasons. But I’m done with it. I’ve given my notice of not returning to my boss, and he seemed to be relieved about it. He told me that things were not as good as he had hoped they’d be right now, and that he was going to have to lay off a couple more people. That’s so sad to me. Some of those people I worked with had worked for his dad. But with the Internet a lot of people are doing everything they can, like wills and such, online. It hurts attorneys when they do something like that. Not that I blame them, but it’s that trickledown theory at work again.” “Yes, I can bet that was the bread and butter for a small office. But back to what you were saying. So, you’ve taken steps to get your life in order. Tell me what it is that you want to do, not what you think you should do.” Honestly, she told her, she really didn’t know. “Well, it’s not like you don’t have plenty of time to try new things. You were told that you’re an immortal, weren’t you?” “Yes. But I wasn’t sure how that worked since Tanner and I are working things out between us.” Jas nodded too, like she could understand what she was going through. “I like him, a great deal more than I thought I would after such a short time, but I don’t love him. He tells me that he loves me all the time, but I’m not sure what I think about that.” “He loves you, you can bank on that.” She nodded at Christine, but still wasn’t sure. “Tanner is my baby. But even when he was little, he had his head on straight and knew just what he was going to do when he grew up. Be an attorney for the downtrodden. Did you know that he took more pro-bono cases than he did paid ones when he worked for that law firm? It’s the way he likes to do things. He said that it balances him. And he gives them the best that he has, just as he does the ones that pay him. Tanner is a good man.” “Not to mention that twice a week, when he has the time, he goes to the shelter and sees what sort of things he can do for people there. He’s helped some of the people there set up accounts so that they could have their social security checks sent to them instead of their kids getting them. There was a time when he helped one of the women down on her luck not just get a job, but to work in one that made her safe. She still works for him, doesn’t she, Christine?” Christine nodded at Jas’s question. “All the boys are working hard to make sure that there are businesses that they can be proud of. When Trent took over as alpha of the pack, he did more for them in the first few months than had been done for years when Casey was in charge. They have a medical team on site now. There are better schools too, with more teachers.” “I’m not saying that I don’t admire him. As you said, he’s a good man and he works hard. I just don’t know what kind of fit I am to him. He’s so very different than I am.” Jas asked her what she meant. “He’s so...he is wonderfully patient with everyone, including Rogan. He took the case so that my brother didn’t have to. And so that I didn’t have to be subjected to his mouth and fists. Rogan would hit me if he could, of that I have no doubt.” “Honey, he took that case all for you. Your brother would have done it, but Tanner didn’t want him to have to be subjected to Rogan either. And since Tyrrell hadn’t tried a case like this, Tanner is helping him so that you don’t have to.” She asked if she was serious. “Oh, I know that I’m right. Just ask him. And by the way, you can talk to him without being in the same room, did he tell you that? If you exchanged blood or any other personal things.” “You mean a kiss?” They all laughed and said that would do it too, but Giyanna thought that she had missed something, something important, but didn’t know what it was. And wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to know. “How do I do this? I’d like to ask him something about the house.” “Just think of him, and then you talk to him like with thoughts. After you get really good at it, you can send him pictures or visual thoughts that you have as well.” Joe leaned toward her to whisper the rest. “You can see through each other’s eyes too. But I’ll show you how to do that. It’s not for the faint of heart. You see whatever he’s seeing, and sometimes it can be a little disconcerting.” She decided to try that later. While it sounded fun, she was sure there were drawbacks to it as well. Thinking of Tanner, she felt like she could dance when she heard his laughter in her head. You’ve been talking to someone in my family, I’m thinking. I’m glad that they told you about us being able to talk to each other. I completely forget about it when we’re together. Giyanna told him where she was. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I have a few donations at the house. If, when they bring you back, you could give it to them, I’d appreciate it. I will. How did the trial go? Is he getting out like he thinks? Tanner told her what had happened, every detail of it. Even what the judge had said to her brother be
fore he’d been taken away. So, he’s still thinking that he should get out anyway. That sounds just like him, to think that everyone around him is too stupid in thinking he could be anything but an upstanding guy. Yes. He certainly isn’t making any friends of the court system. There is something else that you can do, honey; you can read the mind of a person that you’ve had contact with. I tried to see what he was thinking, your brother, but we’ve never exchanged much more than a handshake, and that wasn’t enough to make it work. She asked him if he wanted her to read Rogan’s mind. I do, but be careful. He might not know what it is if you’re poking around, but if you go too hard, then you’ll hurt him. If you’d like to wait until I get home, I can be there for you should you need me.