From Smoke To Flames— Amazon: A West Brothers Novel

by A. M. Hargrove

“Hopefully, he treats her okay, but that’s what I plan on finding out.” I hoped she’d be open enough to talk about it to a stranger.

  Opening the door, the curly-headed girl looked up at me from her book she was flipping through.

  “Who are you?”

  I expected her to shy away from me, but she didn’t.

  “My name is Pearson. What’s yours?”

  “I’m not 'sposed to talk to strangers. You’re a stranger.” She folded her tiny arms and stared at me. I wanted to chuckle but didn’t.

  “I’m not really a stranger. I’m a friend of your mommy’s.”

  “Nope. I never seen you before.” She pointed a finger at me. “I know all mommy’s friends.”

  “Would you believe me if I told you I lived here?”

  Her tiny brows scrunched together, and she reminded me of my niece, Kinsley. She did that a lot.

  “Mister, whatcha gotta live here for?”

  “It’s only for a while, but I’m here for help. You know how your mommy helps people? I’m one of those people.”

  “Oh. Can I see your room? Does it have flowers on the walls. You got your own TV?”

  “Maybe you can see it later. And I don’t have my own TV. But what’s your favorite TV show?”

  She hugged the book to her chest. “Don’t have one.”

  “You don’t? Why not?”

  She pulled her little shoulders almost up to her ears. “I don’t watch TV much.”

  “Aw, you don’t like it?”

  “I do. But my daddy won’t let me.”

  “Some daddies don’t let their kids watch it. Does he let you watch movies?”

  “No. I got to watch a movie on my birthday. And got popcorn too.” She doesn’t sound very enthusiastic.

  “What’s your favorite thing to do at home?”

  She puts a finger on her cheek and says, “Um, I play with dolls in my room. I stay there mostly.”

  “Do you play games in there?” I asked.

  “What kind of games?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Does your daddy come in and play with you?”

  “No. He says he’s too busy and not to bother him.”

  “What about his wife?”

  She started swinging her legs back and forth. “She doesn’t like games.”

  “Montana, are you ever scared there?” Her lip started quivering and this was worse than I thought. “Hey, come here.” I opened my arms. She hopped off the chair and ran right into them.

  “Don’t tell my daddy, okay? He said never to tell.”

  “It’s okay.” I rubbed her small back and mumbled soothing words to her. “I used to be scared a lot when I was young.” But not every fucking day of my life. I picked her up and sat her on my knee. “Are you scared at your mommy’s?”

  “No, I like it at Mommy’s. Daddy yells when I go there.”

  “I see. Do you play games at your mommy’s?”

  “Yeah. And Mommy reads me stories.”

  “What’s your favorite?”

  “The Secret Garden. I want a garden. With lots of flowers. Do you like flowers?”

  As long as it’s not lemon verbena. “I love flowers. What kind of flowers are your favorite?”

  “Like Mommy has, red ones. And pink ones. I like pink best.”

  “What’s your favorite thing to eat?”

  She smiled. “Mommy’s chocolate chip cookies. Daddy never lets me have cookies. He says they’re not good for me.”

  “Ever?”

  “Nope. Only fruit. I get meat.” And she made a funny face. We laughed together.

  “I love meat.”

  “Yucky.”

  Rose walked in then and smiled at us. “I see you’ve met my friend.”

  “He was a stranger but said he was your friend. I said he wasn’t cuz I know all your friends.”

  “Good girl for checking,” Rose said. She gestured to me and then said, “Montana, can you wait here for just another minute and then we can leave.”

  “Okay.”

  I set her down on the chair and followed Rose out. When we got out of hearing distance, I turned off the voice recorder and said, “I’m not going to lie. Unless she just filled me with a bunch of BS, your girl is basically a prisoner in her room over there. I’ll let you listen to this and you can tell me if you think she’s telling the truth or not. I’ll need it for my notes though. This is compelling evidence of neglect on his part, not to mention the things he said to you before I spoke to her. And I’ll say I agree with you. The guy’s a major asshole.”

  Rose looked like she was going to cry again.

  “Rose, listen to me. You have to play this off like you don’t know. If we’re going to catch this guy at his worst, he can’t know what you’re up to. Go get Montana, take her home and have a fabulous weekend. I’ll start working on this, get in touch with my friend through Sylvie, and get the ball rolling. But I need to send this to him. And I’ll also need to stay in touch with him because—I’m not trying to pat myself on the back—but I’m a better attorney when it comes to winning these cases.”

  They left and I went to hunt for Sylvie. She was still in her office, finishing up paperwork.

  “Pearson, glad to see your face has returned to normal.”

  Not waiting to take a seat, I rushed in saying, “Thanks. I need an urgent favor. I need to send an email to a friend—the one who I’m going to ask to represent Rose in her custody battle.”

  “Whoa, whoa, slow down, buddy. Excited much?”

  “Not lately, but this is really important. I just witnessed, well, more like heard, the interaction between Rose and her ex. The guy’s a major prick. And her daughter? I asked her some questions and let me just say, I’m all in on this one. But I need to contact my friend, Miles Sinclair. He’s the one who I’m going to ask to handle the case. I know I don’t have access to a computer for another two weeks, but this can’t wait until I get out. If you can send it care of my name, we can get this thing started.”

  She gave me a hard look. “Are you sure about this? Montana is Rose’s world. No false hope here?”

  “I’m never one hundred percent sure about winning a case, but I won it for him, and I think I can unwin it.” I held up the recorder.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a handheld recorder. I use it for work but brought it with me. I figured I’d record my thoughts when I was super down or doing really well so I could replay them to help me combat the lows. Anyway, it came in handy today, because I sat behind the glass partition and recorded Greg and Rose’s interaction. Then I asked Montana some questions and recorded that too. Miles will need to hear this for the case.”

  “Are those admissible?”

  “The one between Rose and her ex might be but not the one between Montana and me. I want Miles to go for child neglect though. That’s why the urgency. And I can’t be involved since I’m a patient here anyway.”

  “Okay. What do you want to send?”

  I asked if I could type it out. “You’re free to read it. It’s just easier for me.”

  “Sure. Have at it.”

  I quickly typed out the email, which ended up being fairly long. I had to explain why someone else was sending it. I also told him where I was and why I couldn’t take the case. I did tell him I would reimburse him for it too. When I was done, I told Sylvie she could look at it.

  “I trust you. Go on and send it.”

  I did and hoped he didn’t ignore it. If I didn’t hear back in the next day or so, my next step would be to ask Sylvie if I could send it from my own account. I knew that was completely overstepping my bounds, but I didn’t know what else to do.

  We parted ways, and I went to my room to formulate a plan. Miles would need information from Rose, as in how many times she had issues with Greg. She said she’d kept records. I was hoping they were meticulous. I was also hoping that her experience as a psychologist would aid us in this. I would ask Miles to have Montana analyzed by a child p
sychologist and pull all her preschool records—what her interactions with other students were like as well as her teachers. He needed to see if there had been any significant changes in her behavior over the last eighteen months.

  My notepad quickly filled up with things for him to do. I hoped he didn’t resent me or think I was being bossy, but I wanted no stone unturned. When I read the custodial arrangements, it was easy to see how Greg won custody. He was more stable at the time because Rose was still in school and working while they were separated. I had made the case that she wouldn’t have much time to spend with Montana. Currently, the situation was totally different. If worst came to worst, we could push for a fifty-fifty split.

  But then I realized something. I didn’t want a fifty-fifty split for Rose. I wanted her to be the custodial parent. And this time it wouldn’t be because of the money I’d gain in winning the case. This time it wouldn’t be because of the recognition I’d get from the partners in the firm. This time it would be because it was the right thing to do.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rose

  * * *

  “Mommy, why does Daddy yell at you all the time?” Montana asked. I knew the questions would come eventually, as they always did.

  “I don’t know sweetie. But, how about pizza night tonight?”

  “Yay! Daddy never lets me have pizza.”

  We were home by now and I’d gotten her things out of the car. As we walked inside, I asked, “What do you do at Daddy’s?”

  “Stay in my room.” The excitement left her voice when she told me that.

  “Does Caroline play with you much?” Caroline was wife number two.

  “No, she says not to bother her. And Daddy yells at her a lot too.”

  Taking her hand in mine, I went and sat on the couch and pulled her onto my lap. Brushing her curls back, I asked, “What do you do after you get home from school?” She went to preschool from morning to noon.

  “I eat lunch then go to my room.”

  “Do you ever have any playdates?”

  She stared at her lap as her head swiveled back and forth.

  “What do you do in your room?”

  “Play with my animals mostly. And my friend, Mazie.”

  “Mazie?”

  “Yeah. Miss Caroline yells at me when I talk to her. She tells me not to do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because she’s my make-believe friend. I talk to her real quiet so she can’t hear me, but she sleeps a lot. And is mean. Her and Daddy fight when he gets home, and he yells at me too.”

  My hand rubs circles on her back. “Oh my, sweetie. Why haven’t you told me this before?”

  “Daddy says never to tell you anything.”

  “Montana, does Daddy ever hit you?”

  She bows her head and nods.

  “He does?”

  “Sometimes. When I don’t hear him, but I can’t when I’m in my room.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He calls me and he’s in the kitchen, but I can’t hear him.”

  “Why do you stay in your room?”

  “The door is locked. I have to.”

  What the fuck! “The door is locked?”

  “Uh huh.”

  Bile rose to my throat when she told me this. The bastard was locking her in her room. What the hell was going on over there?

  “I have an idea. When the pizza gets here, let’s have a movie night? How does that sound?”

  She clapped her hands and yelled, “Yay! Fun night!”

  I got up and brought over a stack of DVDs I’d bought for her so she could pick one out. Then I decided to try to get Pearson on the phone.

  “I have to make a phone call, sweets. I’ll be right back.”

  When the center answered, I asked them to page him. He came to the phone and I relayed everything she told me. “Do you want to talk to her again tomorrow?”

  “Rose, it’s not really necessary. I’m waiting to hear back from my friend and as soon as I do, we’ll institute a plan. I’ll pass this along to him. My guess is he’ll file a lawsuit demanding sole custody and request that Montana undergo a formal psychological evaluation to see if she’s been traumatized. Your ex will fight that of course. He’ll call my firm and they’ll tell him I’m unavailable. Someone else will handle the case. That’s good news for you because no one there is as good as I am.” He chuckled and the sound caused electricity to race up my spine. I shouldn’t be feeling like this while discussing my daughter’s wellbeing.

  “Pearson, I’m really frightened.”

  “I can hear it in your voice. I promise to do all I can.”

  “On Sunday, should I say something to Greg?”

  “I wouldn’t. He may take it out on Montana for telling you.”

  My stomach twisted into knots. “I hadn’t thought of that. He’s always been a jerk to me, but I never thought he’d treat her like this.”

  “Try to stay calm and enjoy your time with her. And make it a fun time for her. She looks forward to being with you.”

  “Okay. I gotta go and order pizza. Thanks. You’ve been a big help.”

  “See ya Monday. Oh, and Rose. When he picks her up on Sunday, make sure you record him.”

  “Great idea.”

  “You can do it on your cell phone.”

  “Right. Thanks for the tip.”

  I ordered the pizza and then checked on Montana. She was happily watching TV, because I suspected it was a novelty for her.

  “So, doodlebug, what would you like to do tomorrow?”

  Her mouth scrunched up as she asked hesitantly, “Can we go see the monkeys?”

  “You mean at the zoo?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Sure! I think that’s an awesome idea. I miss seeing them.”

  She got up and hopped around then suddenly stopped and looked at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not supposed to do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Jump up and down.”

  “Why ever not?”

  “Miss Caroline says it hurts her head.”

  What’s this Miss Caroline crap? “Hmm. Well, guess what?”

  “What?”

  “It doesn’t hurt mine a bit so jump around all you want. In fact, since we are going to the zoo, I think we should pretend we’re animals and we have to try and guess what each other is. Want to do that?”

  “Yeah!”

  “You first.”

  She put her hands in front of her and started hopping around the room. She resembled a kangaroo, but I said, “You’re a bunny rabbit.”

  “Nope.”

  “A frog?”

  A giggle burst out of her. “I’m not a frog.”

  “A leaping lemur.”

  Now she was all out laughing. “What’s a leaping lemur?”

  “Well, it kind of looks like a monkey but has a long striped tail.”

  She hopped over to me and laid her head on my lap as she giggled. “I’m not a leaping lemur. I’m a kangaroo.”

  “A kangaroo? Dang, you got me!” Then I tickled her until she rolled around.

  “Your turn, Mommy.”

  I stood and hung my arms in front of me. I swung them back and forth.

  “You’re an elephant.”

  “How’d you get to be so smart?”

  She lifted her shoulders up. “I dunno.” She had a huge grin on her face and my heart twisted. If I couldn’t get her back from the man who was stealing away her happiness, I was pretty damn certain I’d die.

  “I do. Because you’re my daughter. Get over here right now so I can give you a big fat squishy hug.”

  She ran straight into my arms and we squeezed each other. “Have I told you how much I love you today?”

  “Nope.”

  “I love you more than pizza and stars.”

  “I love you more than Mazie.”

  “I love you more than pancakes and chocolate chip cookies.”

  “You do
?”

  Pulling her away so I could see her face, I said, “Montanaroo, you are the most important thing in the world to me. Do you understand what that means?”

  “I think so.”

  “It means I love you more than everything else in the world.”

  “I love you too, Mommy.”

  The doorbell rang and she hollered, “Pizza’s here.”

  “It sure is. Let me go and pay for it. You sit right here.”

  I grabbed the money and made the exchange. Then I got our plates and napkins and put the movie Coco in. Thirty minutes in we were happily munching on chocolate chip cookies and an hour later, she was fast asleep. I picked her up and carried her to my bed. I didn’t want to spend one minute away from this little treasure. It broke me into pieces every time I thought about her expression when she told me about having to stay in her room. Something was seriously wrong over there and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

  I got ready for bed and climbed in with my baby. Then I read a book for a while before falling asleep. The next morning, I decided it was going to be chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

  Slipping out of bed, I got the coffee brewing and the batter ready. Montana was an early riser, so I expected her to be up any minute. I had one large stack of pancakes warming in the oven when she made it into the kitchen. Her hair was a tangled mass of curls and she looked absolutely adorable.

  “Oh, my goodness. Look who’s awake! It’s the cookie monster.” Bubbling laughter tumbled out of her.

  “I’m not the cookie monster.”

  “Yes, you are. But guess what? We have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. And whipped cream.”

  “We do?”

  “You bet. Come on and sit. I’ll fix up our plates.”

  Everything was ready, minus the syrup and whipped cream, which I snagged out of the refrigerator. I poured on the syrup for her, then the whipped cream. Admittedly, they looked yummy.

  “Cheers.” We clinked glasses—my coffee mug and her milk glass. She loved doing that. Then we dug in.

  “Mmm. These are good, Mommy.”

  “I’m glad you like them.”

  We both polished off our breakfast, then I hopped into the shower while she stayed in the bathroom. After we were dressed, we left for the zoo.

  I snapped dozens of pictures of her petting the deer, goats, and llamas, and then we went to see the monkeys. After that, we checked out the bears, elephants, tigers, and lions. During the day, we ate tons of junk food. Every time I went to buy something, she’d ask if it was okay if she ate it. I had to assure her that it was fine. It made me wonder what the poor child was fed over there.