Little White Lies (54 page)

Sheri waves her hand at A.J. with a look of disgust and dismisses him from her mind.

“We’re going to have a big party when you come home, Phil. We’re going to celebrate life.”

“Count me in!” Jennifer stands in the doorway. “So this is why I haven’t heard from you. You have been hiding out down here all this time… planning parties.”

She walks to the bed and Sheri stands to the side, allowing Jennifer to come close. I can’t help but check her over, looking for any kind of damage. She looks better in hospital garb without makeup than most women do when they’re dressed to kill. She gently sits on the edge of the bed and takes my hand.

“I’m sorry,” she begins, in a soft voice, “but I didn’t know you were here until just a little while ago. I decided to find out for myself and find the party planning committee in full attendance without me. I should have known.”

“They’re the ones doing all the planning,” I reply pointing an accusing finger at Sheri and A.J. “I’m just a patient here, minding my own business. Are you okay?”

She nods in reply and leans forward and gives me a gentle kiss as reassurance.

By the way,” I just triggered a thought and turn to A.J., “speaking of business… have you heard anything from Dallas on the scheduling of that opening?”

Sheri jumps in front of A.J.

“That’s it! Enough! Shut up, A.J.! All we’re going to talk about here is when these guys are coming home. When they do, we’re going to have a party… just the family, which includes you two. We’re going to have a good time and give thanks.”

A.J. stands behind Sheri and mouths the words that everything in Dallas is okay. Sheri follows my gaze and quickly swings her arm in a backhand move that narrowly misses A.J.’s head.

“How the hell does she do that?” A.J. exclaims. “She didn’t even look and she almost nailed me.”

Sheri turns on A.J., “I told you, no talk about business.”

“I wasn’t talking about business and besides… since it’s Phil who’s in the hospital, why can’t we talk about what he wants to talk about? How come we have to talk about approved subjects only… subjects approved by you? If I were going to talk about business, I wouldhave told him the only thing holding up the opening is the shipment of stoves, which, if we get them this week, we can still make the original date, and that we should know tomorrow. But, in accordance with your wishes, I’m not going to talk about business, so I won’t mention it. Wild horses couldn’t drag it out of me… my lips are sealed… we won’t discuss it until you say it’s okay.”

Sheri’s lower lip begins to quiver and she starts to sniff.

“I only wanted to make sure Phil gets his rest,” she whimpers.

“Aw geez, Sheri,” A.J. walks to her with outstretched arms.

A.J. puts his arms around her and Sheri gives him a solid shot in the gut. A.J. lets out a ‘WOOF’ as Sheri’s punch knocks the wind out of him.

She turns to me and winks.

“He falls for that every time. How did you like that move, Phil?”

I laugh.

“You can get a better result if you square up a little more and hold your fist like this.”

I hold my fist up for Sheri to see.

Sheri walks over to the bed and leans over Jennifer to hold her fist next to mine. Ever the student, she wants to make certain she understands the lesson completely.

Nodding her head, she says, “I think I’ve got it. Come here, A.J., let me see if I’ve got this right.”

A.J. is rubbing his stomach and making a face.

“Yeah, right. What the hell do you think I am… a damn punching bag? As soon as you get out of that bed, Phil, I’m going to fire your ass. She doesn’t need any of your damn help.”

“If you fire Phil, then I’m going to hire him as my personal trainer,” Sheri exclaims, placing her hand on my head and stroking my hair back in a loving motion. “And I’m going to double his salary,” she adds.

I laugh. “I’m sorry, Sheri, but I think I’m going to retire from the more active pursuits. If you guys are finished sparring, let’s get back to the original topic, the party. I have a special request.”

“Name it,” Sheri replies.

“You got it,” A.J. adds simultaneously.

The fisticuffs are a thing of the past, completely forgotten by both contestants.

“I would like to have the security team there. They did a good job and we have a lot to thank them for.”

A.J. and Sheri nod in agreement.

“Would someone please tell me what happened after I fell and hit my head in the library?” Jennifer asks innocently.

Everyone looks at Jennifer in confusion, but no one volunteers. There’s a light knock on the door and a nurse announces quietly that it would be in the patient’s best interest if everyone said their good-byes now. Saved! Sheri takes A.J.’s arm and starts him towards the door. Jennifer leans over and kisses me lightly on the lips.

“See you later,” she says with one of the prettiest smiles I have ever seen.

CHAPTER 30
 

It’s a long two days before I’m released from the hospital. My wounds looked much worse than they were and the repair work was fairly straightforward. Other than the loss of blood that left me weak, I feel ready to go. The doctors say it’s simply a matter of time. Lot’s of rest, drink plenty of liquids, etc., etc. I don’t want to, but the best cure for me right now is to get back into an exercise routine and get what blood I have left flowing again.

This isn’t the first time Hudson has pulled me out of a hospital bed. I’m beginning to think this might be part of the routine and we make light jokes about it on the way home. Hudson has always covered my back and I, in turn, have done the same for him on occasion.

“Some people are a little upset with me, Philip,” he comments. “They figure I should have gone into the cellar sooner. Might have saved you some trouble.” He looks sideways at me with a slight smile. “I figured you wanted him for yourself.”

“You figured right.”

“We had him nailed from the beginning. We weren’t able to get on the monitors, so we decided to put a fairly tight perimeter around the house itself. Your hunch was on the money. Mary called him on his cell phone. They parked in the field across from the gate and made their way across the property. We picked them up when they were about fifty yards from the house. They made a beeline for the stairway outside Mary’s room and went right in. If we had been a few seconds faster, we could have stopped them in their tracks.

Once they were on the stairs, though, we didn’t want to shoot. You never know where those rounds are going once they hit the house. After that, we tightened up on the stairway and the library where all the people were gathered.”

“Karen was angry with me and she wanted to leave,” I counter. “I had no idea Monte and his partner were in the house. Karen almost made it out. If she hadn’t been around, it would have been a lot easier on all of us.”

“Yeah, what happened there? When you moved all the ladies over to the same sofa, it was pretty obvious what you were doing. Then you pointed at Monte’s sidekick and I knew exactly what you wanted. You had positioned yourself to get at Monte and I figured you were cuing me in on the other guy. I had put my sights on him the minute he walked into the room. Since he was the only one with a gun in his hand, he was going to go down first. We had to take him out permanently, we couldn’t take a chance. You pointed, I fired.”

“They were there after money. Apparently A.J. keeps quite a stash in his safe. I never knew anything about it, but Monte did. They were preoccupied with getting the dough. Your shot was well timed and perfectly executed… no pun intended.”

“Shots. I fired twice. I wasn’t sure what the window would do to the soft-nosed rounds, so I put the first one into the glass to clear a path. The next one finished the job.”

“All I could hear was a shot. He went up in the air like a puppet on a string. Then, I really had to kick myself into gear. It’s too easy to be a spectator when the shooting starts. I grabbed Monte, disarmed him and then the sonabitch spits in my face.”

Hudson laughs. “No shit?”

“Yeah. He tossed a gob in my puss and I lost it. I had just taken his gun, so I started to beat the hell out him, when Karen grabs my arm from behind. I couldn’t imagine what the hell was happening. That’s when he spun loose. He was already a handful without someone holding my arm from behind.”

“What in the hell made her do that?”

“Hard to tell,” I reply. Monte said something about Karen clearing her brother’s debt before he dragged Jennifer out of the room. He must have been blackmailing her. She adored her brother, but she would never really talk about him. Probably mixed up in drugs or gambling somehow. Whatever it was, they recruited Karen way back when, at the very beginning. That must have been the motivation for the story on the Jacksons. It never made much sense… doing a story on a rapper for the kind of publications she wrote articles for.

“But I don’t think she was ever able to really help them in any way. They didn’t need her with Mary around, but Monte might have put her in the equation for insurance in case Mary dropped out for some reason. She didn’t arrive at the house that day by accident. she had been warned or told something was up. probably by Monte. But I don’t think she was trying to help Monte when she grabbed my arm. I may be wrong, but I honestly think she was just trying to stop the mayhem.

“But then, after Monte grabs Jennifer, Karen tries to stop me from going into the cellar after them. That was sort of the final straw. I was ready to kick her ass out of there by that time.”

“We were confused. I wasn’t sure whose side she was on, and the Jacksons seemed confused, too, so we questioned her. but we didn’t put any real heat on her. Probably needs a good spanking. She wasn’t exactly our main concern at that point though. I saw you going into the cellar and I knew it was over for him… he wasn’t coming out alive. Trouble was, I didn’t know if you were going to make it either. Shit, boss, I had no idea you were wounded. What these people don’t realize is what we’ve been through before. I knew how you felt about him… that nose-bob, by the way, was beautiful.”

He laughs.

“Easier to finish it in the cellar… I didn’t want to have to go chasing him in the hospital or jail later on… too public, practically impossible. It’s almost a guarantee that I would do something stupid and get caught. But the man had to go down… there was no way I was going to let him escape into the system. It’scrazy… being dragged into a situation where stuff like that can happen.

“Monte, you know, was certified… a definite nut case. You should have heard him carrying on in the cellar. It was clear they were going to finish all of us off once they had the money. I guess they felt they had to do it… get rid of any witnesses. By then, however, it had become personal… I suppose at some point I was as crazy as he was. Don’t get me wrong… by the time we were in the cellar, philosophy had nothing to do with it. I was trying to get Jennifer back, put an end to him and at the same time stay alive. In case you’re wondering, that’s my version of a happy ending.”

“Like I said,” Hudson adds, “these people have no idea… you know, most people wouldn’t understand your thoughts about justice, much less agree with them.”

“Let’s not go into it,” I reply. “This is one of those areas where society makes me sick, all that politically correct bullshit. It’s over, let it be. I’ll save my philosophy for my trial.”

Hudson nods in agreement as he guides the limo to the front of the steps.

“Before you go in,” he begins, “I want you to know one other thing. We had the kids covered from the minute Mary entered the library. As soon as I saw her we knew the kids were alone and I sent a man up the stairs and into their room. We had the upstairs covered… I never got around to mentioning it to the Jacksons. There’s been too much going on. You can tell them when you get the chance.”

I nod in acknowledgement, push the door open and begin the process of emerging from the car. And it is a process. I feel like a wounded, constipated, pregnant water buffalo with its hind legs stuck in the mud. I’m okay until I have to move and then I feel the need for some serious therapy, like I never want to move again. Hudson closes the car door for me and we slowly climb the staircase to the front door. His hand is on my lower back and he gently assists my climb. The aid is welcome. I probably look like an old man only not quite as spry, perhaps. We can hear voices in the foyer. Everyone awaits the hero of the day. That’s me, unless A.J. finds a way to beat me out of it.

“Do you feel strong enough to party this evening?” Sheri asks laughing. “Or is it too soon?”

“Why don’t we have everyone over for an hour or so this afternoon,” I reply. I want to acknowledge the efforts of all the people involved, but I don’t want to make an afternoon of it. It would be a good idea to invite our local sheriff, too. There are probably a couple of things we should discuss since he and I didn’t quite see eye to eye the other day. Then, if it’s okay with you, I would like to have a quiet dinner this evening with just the four of us… kids, too, if you like.”

“Your wish is my command,” Sheri responds with enthusiasm. “But no children. There’s no such thing as a quiet dinner with those two.”

A.J. and I shake hands. He gives me a playful, micro-slug on my good shoulder.

“Hear anything more on our friends who are staying down at the sheriff’s bed and bath?” I ask.

A.J. nods. “Yeah, I talked to the sheriff earlier this morning. He told me Bear hasn’t said ten words since he put him in his cell. He won’t even talk to an attorney. They’re having a hell of a time with him.

“Mary, on the other hand, hasn’t stopped talking since she got there. She says she didn’t know anything about anything. She admits talking to Monte about things that were happening here, but she claims she didn’t have any idea what he was up to. I guess the D.A. isn’t sure he has enough evidence to get a conviction. She will probably get a light sentence… maybe even walk.”

I nod in reply.

“I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. That’s the way the game is played these days. We certainly don’t want to infringe on Mary’s rights. Hell, she’ll probably sue for damages.”