With grainy blackness filling his senses, Dan choked the life out of his attacker. He didn’t let go until beginning to lose consciousness. By then Dan held only a limp, dead form. Falling away from the body, Dan rolled to his back, grinning into the descending darkness. Hey, baby… long time, no see.
* * *
Nick woke, feeling the sudden cold wetness. He rolled toward Rachel, pulling away the covers. Uh oh. “Rach, your water broke.”
“Huh… oh shit!” Rachel started to jump out of bed, but Nick stopped her.
“Calm down, Hon. I’ll get you cleaned real fast, and then we’ll load you in the car. You call Payaso while I get wet towels and wipes.”
“Yes! It’s finally happening,” Rachel replied happily while reaching for the phone. “Hurry up, Muerto. When the contractions start I want to be at the hospital away from your ‘Pressure Point’ birth technique.”
“Damn big mouth, Payaso.” Nick helped Rachel strip out of her nighty while she told Gus what had happened. He wiped her off thoroughly before helping her over to the dresser where Rachel had what she wanted to wear to the hospital already set out.
“Gus will be over in a couple minutes to stay with Jean.” Rachel let Nick help her put on the elastic waist adult diaper and a clean flannel nighty. “I’ll take my cotton robe. I’m fine. Get dressed, Muerto. You already have the hospital bag in the trunk. Unless you left one of your dead bodies in it, we’ll be able to leave the moment Gus arrives.”
“The dead body comment is not appreciated by El Muerto.”
“Boo hoo.”
* * *
John knocked on Dan’s door. When no one answered, he pounded on the door with a big grin. “Answer the door old man. I am here early. The heir to the great Muerto has arrived. We will go to the hospital together.”
John looked around. He didn’t want the police called because of his noisy attempt to awaken his friend. He tried ringing the doorbell a few times. “I thought you old guys leaped out of bed at dawn,” John muttered. He tried the door knob. It turned.
He drew his 9mm Smith and Wesson automatic. The door opened partially under his pressure but was blocked by something against it on the other side. Enough light shone in, John could see two bodies lying next to each other. He forced the door open carefully until able to slide in the opening. Knowing he could no longer help his friend, John searched the house with weapon at the ready. He found a canvas bag filled with jewelry, Dan’s laptop, and other items that looked as if they were made of silver or gold. John left it and finished his search. When certain there were no others in the house, he returned to his friend, crouching next to him while avoiding the pool of blood. John bowed his head, grasping Dan’s cold hand for a moment. He then walked around to the dead burglar.
“It is good you died so quickly by my friend’s hand. If you were still alive, it would be many days before death found you. By then, you would have cried out joyously as if to a loved one.”
John hesitated, but then called Nick. He knew Gus was with Jean.
* * *
A grim faced Nick slid in Dan’s door in the same manner as John had before him. He nodded at John who stood silently near Dan’s body. In a moment of seeing the discarded knife, bloody handed assailant with bulging eyes, and Dan’s wounds, Nick knew immediately what had happened. He knelt down next to his friend, noticing the slight smile on the old man’s mouth. Nick closed Dan’s sightless eyes gently, grinning down at him.
“You died with your boots on, Geezer. I pray it be so for me one day.”
“And I,” John added solemnly.”
* * *
A nearly full moon with star filled sky provided some light for the group congregated around a small tidal pool. Neil Dickerson stood near his squad car in dress uniform, making certain there would be no interruption to the small ceremony on the beach. Rachel held the newborn Quinn in her arms tightly as Jean tried not to cry next to her with arms around Rachel’s waist. Gus, John, and Tina stood near Rachel on the other side with Deke sitting silently in front of them. Nick stood with Dan’s children next to the tidal pool where he had watched Dan stir in his wife Carol’s ashes. Dan Jr. held out the bag with Dan’s ashes to Nick.
“Would…would you do it for us, Nick, and… and the Psalm and movie line?”
Nick accepted the bag. “I’d be honored.”
He knelt next to the pool with constant movement of ocean water swirling in over the rocks and back out. Nick poured his friend’s ashes into the pool slowly, stirring them in with his hand while reciting the Twenty-Third Psalm, his companions joining in. When the bag was empty, Nick stood for the last part.
“He was born in the time of blood and dyin’, and never questioned a bit of it. He never went back on his folks or his kind. I rode with him. I’ve got no complaints.”
After a pause, Nick went on. “Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live’. Amen.”
A chorus of amens drifted out into the night air.
* * *
Lino Verducci smiled out at the clear morning below him, the Upper East Side vista a magnificent sight. He sighed, knowing his morning would be spent deciding on another contingent of his men to solve his Santa Cruz problem. For now, he thought, I will enjoy this incredible view. Just because some shipping clown got popped here in this beautiful office I got it for a steal.
The .50 caliber round left little of Verducci’s head or smile left on its way through.
* * *
Nick stopped for gas near Bloomsburg, PA. As he pumped gas, a Toyota Corolla rolled into a spot on the other side of the pump opposite Nick. A young woman in her early twenties with a bright smile waved at him as she exited the vehicle. He grinned and waved back. She began pumping gas.
“It’s a nice day to travel,” the woman commented to Nick.
He nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“Where are you headed?”
“Full circle.”
The End
Future Nick and Jean Bonus Story II
The Salvatores
“We’ll need your boyfriend in on this.”
“No way, Dad! And he’s not my boyfriend!” Jean launched a fake roundhouse kick, dropped the leg down, and tried to leg whip her Dad with the opposite leg.
Nick didn’t take the bait. Instead, he dived atop the assaulting appendage, rolling and locking Jean’s leg in a hold she fought to the last second trying to prevent. Failing, she had no recourse but to tap out.
“Damn it!” Jean pounded the mat while their audience hooted with catcalls and whistles. “How did you know the roundhouse was a feint?”
“I’m older and wiser.” Nick held out a helping hand, only to have it slapped away. “Didn’t I ever teach you anything about sportsmanship?”
“Yeah. Direct from Vince Lombardi, that old Green Bay Packers coach. It was ‘Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing’.”
“Did not. You’ve never heard me say that, have you, Quinn?”
Jean jabbed a warning finger in Quinn’s direction. “Don’t even think about answering that, Daddy’s little sock puppet.”
“Mom, Jean’s calling me names again,” Quinn complained in his deep base voice.
“Jean! How many times have I told you not to pick on your younger brother? He can’t help it because he’s Daddy’s little sock puppet.”
Quinn sighed as Jean enjoyed Rachel’s dig at Quinn. “This is about my missing Easter Sunday dinner, isn’t it? It was my weekend on duty. I can’t say I’m sorry, but my Mommy wants me home for an Easter Egg Hunt.”
“We didn’t have an Easter Egg Hunt,” Rachel corrected him. “We had a nice dinner together with our actual family. I told you not to join the Marine Reserves. We have plenty of money to send you to college without scholarships from military branches of the service. Now, whenever the crazies start killing each other overseas, I have to worry about you getting sent at a moment’s notice.”
<
br /> “He’s serving his country, Rach,” Nick pointed out. “Be proud of Quinn, and quit nagging the crap out of him.”
“Oh…oh hell no, you did not tell me to stay out of my own son’s business, Nick McCarty! That would mean war has been declared.” Rachel tied her hair back, popped open a couple of the top buttons on her blouse, and pulled the blouse out of her jeans with fists up. “Mamma goin’ ta’ kick your ass!”
By this time, coupled with her aggressive movements toward Nick, and wardrobe adjustment, Nick was not the only one enjoying the show. He backed away as Rachel made feinting moves with her fists. “May I remind you, you’re still working the diner even though we have more money than you can spend? You were proud of Jean for doing a stint in the Marines.”
Rachel straightened from her fighting stance. “That was because Jean was too dumb for college, and they didn’t have knife throwing scholarships.”
“What?!”
Rachel went into her fighting stance. “C’mon, sissy-girl, Momma got your bad attitude right here.”
“Dad? What the hell is this?” Jean gestured at her posing Mom. “Is she on drugs?”
“She’s been watching that new reality show ‘Trailer Trash Mamma’,” Nick explained. “Now, every time she wants to act out, we get ‘Trailer Trash Momma’. If I don’t have her tea by the bedside in time, I get a dose of Momma interspersed throughout my day.”
“Oh no you didn’t,” Rachel spun on Nick again, hands on hips this time. “Did you just disrespect Momma in front of her troglodyte children? I don’t think so. I’ll open up a can of kick your balls into yo’ nose, Nicky Pooh.”
“Troglodytes? Really?” Jean also turned on her Dad. “Do something, Nicky Pooh. Can’t you do anything with her?”
Nick shrugged. “You bunch are lucky. At home, she’ll do it naked if I cross her before her shower.”
“Ewww…ewww…ewww…ewww!” Jean danced around with a disgusted look on her face. “Too much information, Nicky Pooh! Quinn… you baby blue Marine… say something!”
“Don’t look at me. I’m just Dad’s little sock puppet. Besides, she may be mental, and start stripping into Big Momma.”
That dig jolted Rachel out of her humorous acting out. “Did you just say Big Momma? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Did you call me fat?”
“Uh oh,” Quinn said, walking over to put an arm around Rachel’s shoulders. She tried to attack him, but he simply picked her up, and began walking from their workout room to the stairs. “Uncle Gus and Uncle John are bored to tears, Mom. The match is over. Let’s go to the deck. It’s clear and there’s a full moon. I want to hear about this new job Jean wants to take on for Phil Salvatore. That she doesn’t want to collaborate with the love of her life is very curious.”
“What?!” Jean ran at Quinn from the rear as he climbed the stairs with Rachel. Nick caught her in mid leap with Gus and John enjoying the McCarty show as they followed along. “Let me go, Dad! I’m helping Big Momma kick the Baby Blue Marine’s ass!”
“Not happening, Viper. Settle down. We need to discuss this Salvatore case. You have my attention now, and you didn’t need to challenge me to a duel to get it. I believe you figured on making me tap out tonight. Is that why Payaso and Kabong were invited early?”
Jean went limp. Nick released her. “Maybe. Quinn hasn’t made you tap out yet, and he’s three times as strong as you are. I wanted to be the first. I thought tonight was the night.”
“It was a good show,” Gus said. “I thought you had Muerto on the ropes, and the Big Momma show was worth the price of admission by itself.”
“Very amusing,” John added. “It must be very entertaining watching that TV show with Big Momma. You’ve been keeping that gem under wraps, Muerto.”
“My ears are buzzing,” Rachel called over her shoulder. “If I hear any more Big Momma jokes, Momma gonna’ punish!”
“I thought it was just a phase she was going through,” Nick admitted. “I didn’t know she planned to adopt it as a life style change. It has made life interesting lately. The only problem about the entertainment is once she gets in character, it’s hard as hell to get her out. Are you done yet, Momma?”
“Maybe. Make this big ape put me down.”
Quinn laughed and released Rachel. “Sorry, Mom. You were getting scary. Have you really been torturing Dad with Trailer Trash Momma?”
“Maybe.” Rachel glanced back at Nick as they reached the second floor. “I had to get a rise out of him somehow. He’s so laid back lately writing those damn novels, I have to poke him with a stick sometimes to see if he’s still breathing.”
“He brings you tea every morning, cooks your breakfast, cleans the house, and he’s been your damn sex slave forever, Trailer Trash,” Jean went on the attack. “If Dad sits down for ten minutes you want to shove a broom up his ass, and make him mop the floor on his way out to get you chocolate bon-bons.”
Rachel tried a gasp of outrage, but it turned into a laughing fit as they entered the balcony area. “Okay… good one… snot. Now, what’s this shit with you playing hard to get with Sonny, you scarred up little turd? You’re lucky he gives you a second look.”
“Scarred up… why you… if you weren’t my Mom, I’d put a hurtin’ on you.” Jean pointed at Rachel threateningly while taking the shot glass Quinn poured her with the other. “You need to go on a retreat… to Alaska, for about five years. That should give you some perspective.”
Nick moved behind Rachel, and began massaging her shoulders. “Momma’s not going anywhere. Fill us in on Phil. I thought because he forbid Sonny to have anything to do with you, and Sonny ignored him, that Phil didn’t speak to you anymore.”
Jean sat down, sipping her shot while Quinn filled everyone else’s drink order. “Ever since he got into real estate a while back, he’s been moving in some weird circles. Phil tapped into his contacts when he decided to run for congress. He’s been walking a tightrope ever since he won the congressional seat, because money drives everything in the political world. Phil didn’t do anything wrong, but anything that happens on a personal basis shuts off the campaign funds. I’m only telling you all this because I told Clarice I wouldn’t help her at all if I didn’t do full disclosure with all of you.”
“Clarice must be desperate. She hates you and me,” Rachel said. “What the hell did she… oh…my…God… no… say it isn’t so. Saint Clarice had an affair? At her age?”
“She’s only in her forties, Ma. Don’t be hatin’. Yes, she had an affair. She doesn’t hate us. Clarice would rather not be anywhere around us. To her, we are ‘Trailer Trash Momma’ and her crew. Plus, she knows about Dad. They’re flying high in the Washington DC circles again.”
“The only reason they’re anywhere near DC is because your Dad paid their way into the country club here, the ungrateful bastards! I don’t know how those two phonies ever raised a stand-up guy like Sonny.”
“I do,” Jean said. “He’s been hangin’ out with us since he was nine. Then he joined the Marines. Done deal.”
“You’re sweet on him, you little honey bun,” Rachel said. “You two were wild for each other, then bang, you get schooled and scarred, and suddenly you’re a damn martyr loner bitch from hell.”
Nick caught Jean in midair, kicking and arms swimming with clawed fingers at a laughing Rachel. “I…I’ll get you for that! Let me go, Dad! She’s toast. She can’t come back from that one!”
“I always figured in my old age, I’d be able to quit refereeing these matches, Gus.”
“I told you, John and I could convert the old interrogation horror room into cells where we could house these two when they start going for each other’s throat. Cala wouldn’t mind, would she, John?”
“No. She laughs her ass off when I tell her about the latest McCarty girls’ fight night. Our kids love them. When I’ve been over here with everyone, they sit there with their mouths open and eyes big while these two go at it. Cala would agree to be the jailer.”
“No cells for Momma and the Daughter of Darkness,” Nick said, giving Jean a shake. “Calm down. We have to hear the rest of this affair business. What kind of downside would her having an affair cause? I can understand you not wanting Sonny to know about his Mom’s affair.”
Jean relaxed and Nick let her go. “He suspects something’s wrong. I know that much. Mom’s right. I can’t be around him. We had a falling out after I nearly had my face cut off. He wanted me to quit. I told him there was no way. Things changed. I know we’ve been on the outs with the Salvatores. After your friend let them join the Corral de Tierra Country Club, they waited exactly six months to try and get you and Mom booted out of the membership, even though you only went there to have a meal once in a while with Julius Danvers.”
“Didn’t you have to intercede with Julius because he was going to kick their asses out instead, Nick?”
“No use dredging those bottom feeding times out now, Gus,” Nick replied. “Okay, so Clarice had an affair. Tell us why we should care, or for that matter why anyone should care. An older woman has an affair, and her husband is a congressman. All Phil has to do is have an affair, and they’ll probably be selected as role models of the year in DC.”
Jean grinned at Nick while pulling out her cell-phone. “Because she was drugged, and screwed. Check these out.”
Nick took the phone with some hesitation. They were compromising pictures of a naked Clarice with a boy, who looked about fourteen. He handed the phone to Rachel, with Gus and John moving behind her for a look. “Who did Clarice think she was having an affair with when they drugged her, and made the movie and pictures?”
“That’s where things get really interesting,” Jean replied. “Douglas Cameron. They were at a party in DC. Phil did his usual disappearing act, making all night deals in the backroom with the other crooks and thieves. He called and told her he had slipped out with one of his cohorts. Apparently, Phil does it all the time. Then he calls, and tells her to take a cab home. Phil’s the head of the House Ways and Means Committee. The golden boy Senator from Maine with the Mommy who was also a Senator, chatted with the lovely Clarice, and took her to a nearby hotel. He made them drinks in the room. She woke up with those pictures on her phone.”
Bloody Shadows Page 34
