“Including you?” Cameron asked me.
“Sure. But I already confessed to everyone except the kids about my past, so she can’t hurt me. And she can’t prove anything to have me arrested on the rest of it.”
“What do you plan on doing with the information?”
I walked over and picked up the judge’s file, handing it to Cameron. “That’s where you come in. I need your help to figure out how we can use this information without incriminating ourselves.”
“Oh boy,” Cameron said when he saw whose file it was.
Chapter Thirty-Three
We spent the rest of the day sorting and organizing the files. Maggie returned in time for dinner, and after three helpings she declared the pot roast the best she’d ever had. The kids’ lists of top ten qualities of each other proved entertaining. Nicholas nearly choked as he admitted aloud that he thought Sara was smart. Sara in return, very grudgingly, admitted that Nicholas was a decent companion. Grady’s shoulders shook as he laughed in silence during both speeches.
After dinner, Maggie, Grady, Cameron, Katie, and I reviewed the files that were set aside for the court battle. Everyone else loaded the rest of the boxes in various vehicles and drove them over to Headquarters to be stored in the basement.
When we finally had a strategy that Cameron felt confident wouldn’t get me arrested, we called it a night. We were scheduled to be at the courthouse at ten the next day, and it was close to midnight by the time we called it quits.
I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling as Grady slept soundly beside me. It was four in the morning, and I had yet to fall asleep. I wasn’t worried about going to jail. I wasn’t even worried about the custody case. I was worried that my mother had newer ammunition that could hurt my family. And I was floored by the realization that I didn’t care that my father was dead. I had no feelings either way. No grief. No sadness. No anger. What kind of person has no emotional reaction when she discovers her father was murdered?
Frustrated, I rolled out of bed and grabbed my robe from the bathroom before leaving the bedroom. I made it as far as the kitchen before I heard hushed arguing from inside the garage. I turned on the garage light and looked out to see Carl and Tyler standing in front of my SUV.
Opening the door and closing it behind me, I walked over to Tyler and snitched a cigarette from the inside of his leather cut. “Why are you two out here arguing at four in the morning?” I asked as I walked out into the driveway so I wouldn’t stink up the garage.
“I came over to walk the security route and caught Carl sneaking down the road in his pajamas,” Tyler said, having followed me into the driveway with Carl.
“I wasn’t sneaking. I was walking. Nobody said I couldn’t walk at nighttime,” Carl hissed back at Tyler.
“Tyler, why are you patrolling the properties? Chaves was arrested.”
“Habit.” He shrugged. “You pay me to keep an eye on things, remember?”
I couldn’t argue with his logic. “Carl, where were you going when Tyler stopped you?”
“Nowhere,” Carl answered, looking down at his feet.
“You’re lying,” Tech said as he entered the back door of the garage. “Nice outfit,” he said to me as he grinned down at my robe.
“Did we wake you?” I asked, looking at the dark apartment above the garage.
“Sleep is overrated. Besides, this sounded more interesting.”
I tried to hide my grin as I turned back to Carl. “Fess up. Where were you going?”
“Okay,” he whined. “I was going to Headquarters to test something I’ve been building.”
“Is this thing you’re building likely to blow up?” Tyler chuckled.
“No,” Carl answered, glaring at Tyler. “It’s a fighting machine for Grady and Kelsey.”
I glanced back at Tech as I exhaled cigarette smoke. He grabbed my cigarette and took a hit off it before smashing it under his boot. Tyler was already pulling a set of keys out of his pocket to my SUV.
“You want to change first?” Tech asked me.
“I keep clothes at Headquarters,” I answered as I slid into the passenger seat. Tech and Carl slid into the back.
By the time I had changed my clothes, Tyler and Tech had turned on the lights to the gym and helped Carl haul out his new experiment. I watched in awe as the fighting dummies moved around their circle track and their appendages alternated swinging fake arms or legs, sometimes with weapons, toward the center where someone was supposed to stand.
“Not it.” Tyler chuckled.
“I’m out,” Tech said. “I’m a computer geek. This is way out of my wheelhouse.”
“It’s only for Grady and Kelsey,” Carl said, shaking his head. “Maybe Donovan, but he has to be nicer to me if he wants to use it.”
“Carl? Is that mannequin swinging a lead pipe?” I asked.
“Yes. You better duck. Franky’s mean.”
“Do all the mannequins have names?”
“Of course. How would you tell them apart without names?” Carl changed the direction of the spinning mannequins and hit another lever on the remote for one of the mannequins to kick a steel-toe boot toward the empty space in the center. “That’s Willy. He’s a kicker.”
“I see that,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “What about the fat one? What does he do?”
“That’s Meathead. I haven’t tested him yet. We’d better not try him until we know the others work the way they should. I have a lock on the remote so I don’t accidentally activate him.”
I turned to look at Carl as he turned the remote to the side and showed that the switch was in the off position. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why Meathead was more menacing than a dummy swinging a lead pipe and another that kicked with steel-toe boots.
“What about the other two?” Tyler asked.
Carl introduced us to Jimmy and Kimmy, who both had extra long arms and legs and could swing a gloved fist or shoe-covered fake leg well into the center of the ring.
“Are you ready?” Carl asked, looking down at me.
“Carl, that lead pipe could kill someone,” I said, pointing to the dummy named Franky.
“I recommend you duck—fast,” Carl agreed, nodding.
I heard Grady’s laugh as he walked across the gym. “You heard him. If you’re too chicken, I’ll go first. Looks like fun.”
I looked back at the fighting contraption, rotating my neck and rolling my shoulders. “What the hell. It looks like a lot more fun than anything else I had planned today.”
Carl shut the machine off so I could walk between the mannequins and stand in the center. “Ready?” he asked.
“Tech?” I called out. “You’ve been watching Carl on that remote, right?”
He laughed. “Yeah. I can shut it down in a hurry if you’re knocked unconscious.”
I decided to face Franky first, so I’d have a sense of his location before he started spinning around me. “We both know the others aren’t a threat,” I said to Franky the mannequin. “But you like to play dirty, don’t you? A lead pipe? Really?”
“You about done profiling the practice dummy, babe?” Grady asked.
I took a deep breath, staring at Franky. “Hit it, Carl!”
The machine started up, and I crouched and swerved as Franky swung the lead pipe right at the spot I’d been standing. I blocked a kick from Kimmy, pleased to see that the leg reacted to the impact and retreated. Moving back, I tested Jimmy’s punch, which also retreated when I blocked it, before Willy kicked me in the stomach, sending me flying into Franky’s chest as he swung the lead pipe down into the space I’d been standing. The contraption stopped moving, and I turned and ducked out of the circle. “Holy shit.” I laughed, holding a hand over my bruised stomach. “I’m out.”
Grady rubbed his hands together and smiled wickedly. “I was hoping you would say that.”
“You’re insane.” Tyler laughed at Grady. “No way in hell I’d get in there.”
“Good,” Donovan s
aid, walking up behind us. “Then I’m after Grady, and you can watch Abigail.” He handed a sleeping Abigail to Tyler, who cuddled her to his chest.
“Carl built it for Grady and me,” I told Donovan. “He said you can’t play unless you’re nice to him.”
Donovan looked at Carl and raised an eyebrow. “How long do I have to be nice to you?”
Carl pondered the question before answering. “Two days. Promising anything more would be a falsehood on your part. You should be able to manage two days, though.”
“Fine,” Donovan agreed. “As long as you leave my cell phone alone and don’t steal the parts from inside it.”
Carl looked at the remote, then up at the ceiling as he grinned to himself. “To clarify, you mean from this moment on and through the immediate forty-eight hours, correct?”
“Are you telling me that if I were to use my phone right now, it wouldn’t work?” Donovan growled.
“Remember,” Grady laughed, walking over and standing in the center of the contraption, “if you want to play with the new toy, you have to be nice.”
“Fine. Starting right now, I’ll be nice to you, Carl, if you don’t mess with my phone again for two whole days.”
“Okay.” Carl said and started the machine as Grady went into attack mode.
Grady did better than me, lasting a lot longer and several times kicking or hitting the dummies to the point that the circular track lifted and tipped before settling back to a level position. But eventually he turned too late to block Willy’s kick. Grady, who had been crouched down, took the kick to the chest. It sent him sailing into Franky’s legs and the lead pipe came down stopping only inches away from his family jewels.
“Uncle!” Grady yelled.
Tech grabbed the remote and shut it off because Carl was too busy laughing.
Grady crawled around Franky and out of the ring before standing. “Damn. That was fun, but shit that hurt.” He rubbed his chest as he tried to even his breathing. His T-shirt was damp with sweat and I reached up and wiped the sweat off his face with my shirt sleeve.
“My turn,” Donovan said, slugging Grady in the shoulder on his way past to enter the fighting ring.
Carl took the remote from Tech and as soon as Donovan nodded, he started the machine.
Donovan was doing as well as Grady had, maybe even a little faster. He was a good five minutes in when he blocked a kick from Kimmy and we heard something break. Kimmy’s leg dangled limply, now motionless and broken, but the rest of the dummies continued on, and Donovan turned to defend himself against Jimmy’s fists.
Sensing Carl’s anger at seeing his toy broken, Tech and I both darted toward him and the controller, but we were too slow. Carl flipped the side switch, activating Meathead, and threw a lever down. We watched in horror as Meathead vaulted like a torpedo into Donovan, throwing him over Willy and out of the ring. The entire fighting contraption was flipped over, landing upside down, and Meathead landed on Donovan as he slammed into the planked floor and skidded another ten feet.
“Holy shit,” Tyler hissed, frozen in place like the rest of us as we waited to know if Donovan was alive.
“Ge-hhht,” Donovan wheezed, “get this thing off me!”
We ran over to help, still unable to speak. Tyler passed Abigail to Carl, and it took all four of us to move Meathead enough so Donovan could crawl out. The dummy must have weighed five hundred pounds at least.
Donovan glared at Carl as I inspected the back of his head, and Grady checked his arm.
Beth ran over to Carl. “Give me the baby,” she said as she took Abigail from his arms. “Run! Back to the house! Sara and Nicholas will protect you!”
Grady and I laughed as Carl ran toward the doors.
“Not funny,” Donovan said before he raised his good arm to his chest and coughed.
“I’ll drive him to the ER for x-rays,” Tyler said, helping Donovan up. “I’ll try to have him back before Lisa finds out.”
Grady and I walked over to Beth as Tyler helped Donovan limp out the gym. Grady took Abigail who was now wide awake and gurgling spit-bubble grins. “Yeah, I thought it was funny too,” Grady cooed to her, lifting her up before bouncing her in his arms.
“Is Donovan going to be okay?” Beth asked, looking back at the doors.
“He’s survived worse,” Grady said. “What brings you here so early?”
“Bored,” she admitted. “I woke up early, drank a pot of coffee, and reorganized my kitchen cupboards. I decided I might as well come here and rearrange the supplies for the schoolroom.”
“You can do that later. Follow us over to the house, and we’ll feed you. That way we can protect Carl from Lisa when she hears about Donovan’s injuries.”
“I’ll agree, if you let me help cook. Otherwise, I’ll just end up drinking more coffee.”
“Deal,” Grady said. “Gets me off the hook from helping. I’ll meet you guys back at the house. I need to get Donovan’s spare keys since he’s the only one with a car seat.”
I turned to Tech. “You joining us?”
“I’ll be over,” he said, looking over the remote for the fighting machine. “I want to make sure this thing is powered down so we don’t start a fire.”
“I’d disconnect from the main power pack,” Beth said, nodding over to a box sitting a few feet away. “Looks like he rigged a car battery and part of a generator.”
“Shit.” Tech laughed. “How much do you want to bet that’s Katie’s car battery?”
“That’s a bet I’ll have no part of,” I said. “Carl’s still mad at her for banning him from the laundry services area at the store.”
“I warned him not to mess with that broken washer,” Tech said, walking over to the power pack. “But he didn’t listen.”
I steered Beth toward the exit.
“What happened to the washer?” she asked.
“They’re commercial washers. He fixed the washer, then adjusted the settings to turn it into a human washer.”
“What’s a human washer?”
“A contraption you climb into, hit the switch, and close the lid on.”
“Oh, boy.” Beth laughed.
“He forgot to factor in that humans need oxygen and can easily drown. Goat heard him yelling and had to break the front door on the washer to get him out. The whole laundry room flooded and was covered in suds, and the washer was sent to the scrap yard.”
Beth grinned. “But he was clean, wasn’t he?”
“That’s exactly what he said!”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Were you at Headquarters?” Lisa asked from the kitchen when we entered. “Donovan took Abigail this morning, but he’s not answering his phone.”
“Carl tampered with his phone again,” I said. “Abigail’s with Grady, who will be here shortly.”
I pulled three dozen eggs, crescent rolls, cheese and sausage from the refrigerator. I handed the eggs to Beth and Lisa pulled out a large pan.
“Donovan’s not coming back for breakfast?”
“Oh, he’ll be here, eventually. But there was a wee bit of an accident. Tyler took him to the ER to have x-rays.”
“How wee bit of an accident are we talking?” Lisa asked with a fist propped on top of one hip and narrowed eyes.
“Possibly a concussion and a fractured arm. He’s actually lucky. That thing drilled into him and nearly crashed through the floor.”
“What thing?”
“Well, see, umm…” I hesitated.
Tech and Grady walked through the garage door. Abigail squealed in Grady’s arms.
“Quit stalling.” Lisa glared.
“Okay, but you have to promise not to get mad at Carl. He didn’t mean for Donovan to get hurt.”
Grady chuckled. “You sure about that?”
I smirked. “Well, he didn’t mean for him to get seriously hurt.”
“Carl built a fighting machine,” Beth said, interrupting us. “Donovan wanted to try it, but he broke the machine. Carl
got mad and hit the other lever which activated the big fighter to fly at Donovan.”
Lisa looked at Beth, then at me, then at Grady. “My idiot husband willingly participated in one of Carl’s inventions and allowed Carl to run the remote knowing Carl easily gets mad at him?”
“To be fair,” I said, holding up a hand to hold her at bay, “Carl usually only gets mad at Donovan when Donovan is yelling at him. This situation was a complete fluke.”
Grady barked a laugh. “A fluke that required a manual override and a large lever to be flipped.”
“And Carl will be punished,” I countered. “But by me, not Donovan. And we all knew the risks of getting into that thing. I mean the swinging lead pipe alone could’ve killed us.”
“Swinging. Lead. Pipe?” Lisa glared.
“Please,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Can you really see your husband turning down something like that?”
“I recorded it on my phone if you want to see it after you’ve calmed down,” Tech said, taking Abigail from Grady and walking into the dining room with her.
I finished rolling out the crescent rolls and nodded toward the oven. Lisa grunted her angst but turned the oven on before storming outside. Grady grabbed the shredded cheese and coated the inside of the rolls as I followed after with the sausage and rolled them up. Beth already had the eggs cooking, so she moved the rolls to cookie sheets.
“It’s safe to come down now,” I called out.
Three sets of legs came scurrying down the stairs.
“Did Donovan really catapult across the room?” Sara asked as she climbed on top of a bar stool.
“Is he going to be okay?” Carl asked with tears in his eyes.
“How long before breakfast?” Nicholas asked. “I’m starving.”
“Yes, Donovan will be okay,” I said to Carl. “But we have to come up with a suitable punishment. You can’t just get mad at someone and then throw the launch lever like that.”
“And I put Katie’s battery back in her car,” Tech said, scowling at Carl. “You’re lucky she doesn’t know you stole it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Beth said. “Stealing is stealing. Carl, go to your room and pick out things you own to give away. For everything you stole, you have to give something of value in return, whether you were caught or not.”
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