Wrong Way Renee (39 page)

“What?”

“Baby-sit for
Char
's kids.
Cleave
pretty much volunteered
the two of us.”

“T
hey're not that bad, are they?”

Renee hung her head.
“R
emember
Apple being bald for a month?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Don't leave eith
er of them alone for a moment.” She furrowed her brow.

The front door opened and two clients came in, then another.

“Time to get to work.
”
Renee
gave her partner a hug
. What would she ever do without Becky? She couldn't imagine not
coming here every day
. That would mean she wouldn't get to see Becky or Antoine. She'd even miss Zoey. Probably not
Chantelle
and definitely not Susan
. Renee showed her client to her table and got to work.

The day flew by. Before Renee knew it,
the clock read five o’clock
. She stopped by her apartment to feed Apple and take a shower before she headed to
Cleave
's house for an evening of torture by babysitting.

His
car was in the open garage when she arrived, but he was nowhere in sight. She
cracked the door to the kitchen and stuck her head in.
“
Cleave
? Hello?”

Duke came running toward her, teeth bared. She slammed the door shut. The dog stood inside, barking incessantly.

“You stupid dog, I've
been here like a million times.” He continued
growl
ing
.
“I hate you, Duke.”

She dialed
Cleave
's number.

He picked
up on the third ring
and grunted
.
“Yeah?
”

“
Cleave
? Are you okay? You don't
sound good. Is anything wrong?”

“I'm sick
. I've been throwing up for the last hour. I think I have some
kind of virus. Where are you?”

“In your garage. Duke won'
t let me come in.”

“Oh. I can't come downstairs right now to let you in. I don't dare g
et that far from the bathroom.”

“Do you need anything?
”

“No.
I don't want you to catch the creeping crud I've got. I'm sorry about the babysitting. I gu
ess you're on your own.”

She gasped.
“What? No. Oh, no.
”
She
nearly cried.
“Oh, God. I hope you feel better soon. But I hope your
dog gets whatever you've got.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Go to bed. Bye.
”
Poor
Cleave
. He sounded miserable.
But what the hell had he gotten her into?

She clamored into her car
.
Now
what? She dialed
Char
's number.

Dead woman walking.

Char
's answering machine picked up.
“We can't take your call. We might be at the mall. Or with the kids playing ball.
”
Beep.

“That is the most idiotic message I've ever heard,
Char
. Anyway,
Cleave
is sick as a dog. He can't watch the kids tonight. I know I'm going to kill myself later for saying this, but bring them to m
y apartment. I'll hide my cat.”

She
headed to
the grocery store on her way home to pick up potato chips, cookies, ice cream, cat treats and a big bottle of white wine. That should cover all the bases. She stopped at the
mailbox bank inside the complex
and found late notices from her dentist and American Express. Those would go on the pro side of the 'Marry
Cleave
List.'

Her cell rang as she was pulling into her parking space. It was
Char
. “Hello, sister dear,
”

“Hey.
Sorry to hear about
Cleave
. I'll be over in a little while with the kids. Do you think they could spend the night since it'll be late and
…
”

“No.”

“But if
—”

“Let me be clearer.
Fuck,
no.”

“Okay. We
really appreciate this.”

“You better tell the kids that if either one of them touches my cat, I'll do to
them whatever they do to her.”

“Renee, they're just children.”

“Hey, fair is fair. An eye fo
r an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

Char huffed. “See you soon.”

Forty-five minutes later,
Char
and Gary arrived with their children.

“Any last requests?
”
Renee asked
her sister
.

“What the heck does that mean?
”
Char
shrilled.

“Instructions, you know.”

Char narrowed her eyes at her. “
Gary Junior must not have too many sweets, or he'll upchuck during the night. Remember Alyssa is allergic to milk. She knows not to drink it, though. We'll try not to be too late, but the senator tends to go on and on.
”
She handed Renee a plastic grocery store bag.
“Here are some
healthy
snacks and their
pajamas.”

“Renee, this dinner is real important to me, to my career. I s
ure appreciate your help.
”
Gary
kissed her
cheek.
“It's also nice to kn
ow our kids are in good hands.”

Leave it to Gary to make her feel like crap.
“Yeah, well, you'd better go.
”
She walked them to the door
.
“No worries.”

Gary and
Char
headed down the stairs as Renee closed the door. She turned around to see where the kids were, but they were nowhere in sight. Neither was Apple. Oh, no.

She set the bag of snacks on the counter.
“Here, kitty, kitty. Come here, Apple.
”

Nothing.

She offered up a little prayer for her cat.
“Here, kitty, kitty.
”
Finally Apple bounded out of the bedroom.
T
he children must not be far behind. They couldn't possibly have gotten into anything so quickly. They hadn't even been there five minutes.

But t
he apartment was too quiet.

“Where the hell are you, you little shits?
”
s
he
muttered under her breath as she
tiptoed around the corner into her bedroom. No sign of them. She threw open the closet door.

Empty.

Next she made her way toward her bathroom. The light was on. She poked her head in and looked left, then right.
Still n
o sign of them.

“Alyssa? Gary? Where are you? I have candy
.” Still not a peep. “I have weapons.”

Something
in the mirror over the sink
caught her attention. Had s
omething move
d behind the door?

She grinned and
shut off the light, pretending to leave the room. Then she suddenly flipped
on
the switch
, bathing the room in light
.

Before she could stop them, both children jumped out from behind the robe that hung on the back of the bathroom door. Gary Junior flung an entire tub of scented body powder up in the air as Alyssa ran at Renee with the puff.
Sh
e grabbed
the girl’s
arm, spinning
her
around so the puff didn't cover her in
Pink Pleasures
scented white stuff. “Give me that
”

But Alyssa
had a death grip on the puff.
S
uddenly her bathroom
was engulfed in a fine white cloud
.

“It's snowing in Florida. It's snowing in Florida,
”
Gary Junior sang.

Renee could only watch and wait as
the sweet-smelling
dust descended on absolutely everything in the room, including her. The mirrors, the toilet, the shower, every bottle, hairbrush, toothbrush, everything was covered. It looked like pictures she'd seen near Mount St. Helen after
an eruption
.

She sank to the floor
, buried her head in her hands and
started to cry
, no easy feat while wearing a cervical collar
.

Gary tried to run from the room, but slipped on the powder. Alyssa laughed at him, then tried to make herself slide.
They laughed at each other—two black children covered in white powder.
Everyone was having fun but Renee.

Gary patted her arm.
“Don't cry, Aunt Renee. We're not staying long
.”

She tried to
compo
se
herself. If she was to survive this night, she had to wrest control from her niece and nephew right this very second.

“I'm hungry,
”
Alyssa complained.
“I want to eat.”

“Me too,
”
Gary chimed in.

Renee tried to channel the in
s
tructor at a yoga studio where she’d taken a couple classes.

Calm.

Screw calm.
I want revenge.

No. She drew a steadying breath.

“You want to eat? Then you clean this mess up. Stay here.
”
Sh
e left the room, closing the door behind her. She propped her vanity chair against it so they couldn't
escape
.

“What would Dr. Spock say about me now?
”
She chuckled wickedly as she ran to the kitchen to get a broom and dustpan
. She
set them next to the bathroom d
oor. Then she got her vacuum,
pulled it into the bedroom
and removed the chair
.

“Okay kids. Here's a vacuum. You're going to learn how to use this thing right now. What you can't get with it, you'll sweep up with this.
”
She held up the broom. When you're all done, then you may eat. And keep
my vacuum cleaner
away from water or you'll die a slow, painful death.
”
She pushed the
machine
into the room and plugged it in. Then she placed the chair in the middle of the doorway and sat.
“No one leaves until this room shines.
”
She folded her arms.

Alyssa started to cry. Renee stuck her fingers in her ears and started humming. After a minute, the stunned girl stopped. Gary picked up the vacuum's hose while Renee
depressed the on
button.

He cleaned the floor and the shower. Then Renee
attached
the brush on the end of the hose and handed it back to him. He sucked all the powder from the counter, the toilet tank and the mirrors.
I
t would take hours to completely clean the room, but this would at least make a dent in the sheer volume of
white
covering everything. She planned to make
Char
come over tomorrow to take care of what the kids were unable to clean tonight.

Alyssa pushed the broom across the floor, making little piles of dust for her brother to vacuum up. When that phase was done, Renee again locked the children in the room as she went to get a bucket and rags. She felt a little guilty for locking them in and not letting them eat, but if she let them out, they'd destroy something e
lse. Hunger was good motivation
.

She returned to the scene of the crime a few minutes later with a bucket of soapy water and two rags.

“Okay. Strip to your underwear.
”
She held out a plastic bag for their clothes.

Both children stared at her, wide eyed.

“Do it now.
”
Lord, she sounded like a
possessed woman. And she kind of liked it.