Celia's Puppies

by Claudia Hall Christian

  “Jill?” Mike chuckled. “No. This is something she has carried for a lot of years. For us.”

  Steve nodded.

  “I want to know,” Steve said. “I want to know.”

  “Me too,” Candy said.

  She held out her hands to Steve and to Megan. They took her hands for support.

  “Meg and I have a different father than you guys do,” Mike said. “Our mother was married to him before she married your father. She thought he died.”

  “That’s why there’s four years between me and you,” Steve said.

  “Right.”

  “And why Dad hated you,” Candy said.

  “Right. I look like my father,” Mike said.

  “I remember,” Megan’s voice was vague. “When you say those words, I know that’s true. My Daddy was… funny, used to make faces, loved me… a lot.”

  “He does,” Mike said. “He loves us – Steve, Candy and Jill included. He’s intervened in all of our lives when we really needed it. Money mostly. Steve, remember how the bill for your car was twenty dollars when the estimate was six hundred? Or your school, Candy? Remember how you got the scholarship to pay for knives and stuff? This house? Meg, how did you get that low interest rate?”

  “How does he know about us?” Steve asked.

  “Ever notice how Jill writes everything down in her journal? Every detail,” Mike said.

  Steve, Candy and Megan nodded.

  “Ever notice how she doesn’t have shelves and shelves and shelves of them?”

  Like a light bulb flashing over their heads, their faces lit up.

  “She sends them to Mom,” Megan whispers. “She used to ask for money sometimes... She sends them to Mom.”

  “Right.”

  “Mom and her husband live together in Costa Rica. He’s retired. Mostly.”

  “Why did Mom think your father was dead?” Candy asked.

  “He traveled for work a lot. He was gone for years and Mom was told he died. She married Dad. I call him Dad because...” Mike shrugged. “There’s more...”

  “What?” Megan asked.

  “Our Mother is the daughter of one of the head of the Bratva,” Mike said. “The Russian Mob. Dad worked as an accountant for the Mob. He got in some kind of trouble, I don’t exactly know what. They had to leave the country. Mom was pregnant with Steve. She left with him but, according to Jill, she didn’t know what going on until they were here. She never had a chance to say good-bye to her family.”

  “I remember that too,” Megan said. “Long plane fight. Mom was very fidgety and Dad was stone. Mike and I tried to be extra good so we wouldn’t get in trouble.”

  “He stole some amount of money,” Mike said. “I’ve heard the term ‘billions’.”

  Candy and Steve gasped. Megan jerked to the present.

  “Did Mom...?”

  “She knew nothing,” Mike said. “Knows nothing. I don’t either. Do you?”

  He looked from sibling to sibling. They each shook their heads ‘no’.

  “Jill?”

  “Jill doesn’t have a clue,” Mike said.

  “So the money just...”

  “Vanished,” Mike said. “Or he spent it or gambled it or it never existed. My father thinks the whole thing might have been a way to get Dad out of the country. He was killed for stealing the money. Remember those surveyors that came right after Mom and Dad died?”

  “They surveyed the house and the lot. They said it was for the new loan but...” Megan rubbed her forehead. “We didn’t have to do that for our house.”

  “Right,” Mike said. “They were looking for the money. Found nothing.”

  “Mike?” Megan asked. “What does this have to do with Jill?”

  “Mom wants to see her get married,” Mike said. “Jill doesn’t want to upset you or put Mom at risk. She’s not going to marry Jacob.”

  Lost in their own thoughts, Steve, Candy and Megan fell silent.

  “Mom works at the Marlowe School,” Mike said.

  They all began talking again.

  “SHUT UP!” Megan yelled. “God!”

  Steve nodded. Candy stood.

  “Where are you going?” Mike asked.

  “I want my mom,” Candy said. “You said she was at the Marlowe school. I’m going to see my Mom.”

  “Actually, she’s outside. Waiting. For us.”

  “She works at the Marlowe school?” Megan asked.

  “Jake hired her when they needed more people. She started right after Katy and your kids started going there. She speaks five languages and kids love her,” Mike said. “She came because she wanted to know her grandchildren. Ryan knows who she is. He’s kept her secret.”

  “Why is it safe for her now?” Steve asked.

  “Because of me and Val,” Mike said. “There was a conversation, and an agreement to leave us alone.”

  “Us?” Megan asked.

  “You, me, Candy, Steve, Jill and our kids,” Mike said. “We don’t know anything about any money. Do we?”

  Everyone shook their heads. Candy walked to the door.

  “Wait,” Mike said. “Mom’s had some work done. You might not recognize…”

  Candy ran out the door and into her mother’s arms. Crying, laughing, kissing and hugging, Steve, Megan and Candy met their mother for the first time in fifteen years.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Don’t mess with the master

  An hour later

  Blane lay on the bed with his head in Heather’s lap. He liked communing with the baby. Now that he was so sick, he liked her warm comfort. Plus, he hadn’t thrown up in almost two hours. A major accomplishment, he thought.

  “Ok,” Heather said. She had been reviewing the site tapes on his laptop. “Here’s the part I think you should look at. We looked at last night, right?”

  “Yeah,” Blane said. “Nothing.”

  “What’s weird is that Aden and Bambi found concrete under the shoring,” Heather said. “I reviewed all of yesterday.”

  “When did you do that?” Blane asked. He rolled on his side to look at the computer.

  “While you were asleep,” Heather said.

  “I wasn’t sleeping,” Blane said.

  “Uh huh,” Heather said. “You forgot what you’re SUPPOSED to say.”

  “Yes, wifey,” Blane said.

  They laughed.

  “Watch the timestamp,” Heather said.

  “You’re going too fast.”

  “Ok, slow boy,” Heather slowed down the fast forward. “Right here. See this guy?”

  They watched the left head light of a rusted out Jeep Cherokee pull up. The bright white work lights created a line of light and shadow. At four-fifty, it was pitch dark except directly under the blazing lights.

  A man wearing coveralls and a battered coat came into view. He looked one way, then the other. Moving fast, he ran out of view. He returned with open cans of paint, which he poured into the trench. He ran out of sight and returned with two more rusted cans.

  “That’s weird,” Blane said. “What time was that?”

  “Four fifty-three. He’s using the site to dump some kind of industrial waste,” Heather said. “Probably figures it’s safe.”

  “Where are our guys?”

  “I doubt they could see him in the dark with just the spotlights,” Heather said.

  “They shouldn’t have been working when it was so dark.”

  “Trying to catch up,” Heather said. “Check out this camera.”

  The black and white video showed a man running up to the trench with three or four half filled bags of concrete. He looked up as if he saw something. An excavator roared in the background. The man ran to his Cherokee and took off.

  The entire thing lasted less than two minutes.

  “Look here,” Heather said.

  Blane sat up to see what she was pointing at. Her finger showed the concrete falling in a neat pile along the edge of the trench. Heather clicked to another came
ra and they saw a cloud of white powder drop against another edge of the trench.

  “Is that enough to do it?” Heather asked.

  “Not in normal circumstances,” Blane said. “I mean, we’ll have to have Jake and Sam look at this. You’ve got two piles of concrete in two areas. Our guys are working fast and in the dark. Yeah, that might do it.”

  “What do you do?”

  “Beside worship the wifey?” Blane laughed.

  “That’s a given,” Heather said.

  “We call Jake and Sam,” Blane said. “After they see this, we call the police.”

  “Do you think someone did it on purpose?”

  “It’s certainly intentional. This guy didn’t accidentally spill all of this junk into the trench,” Blane said. “But it’s not sabotage.”

  “That’s good news,” Heather said.

  “Very good news,” Blane said. “Thanks. You’re awesome.”

  “Eh, what’s a wife for?”

  “Screwing?”

  “Yeah? You don’t know many married men.”

  “Hey, if I was married to Ashton Kutcher, I’d screw him regularly!”

  “But would you call him ‘wifey’?” Heather laughed.

  “Good point,” Blane said. “Thanks Heather. This is fabulous. We’ve got the license plate number and everything. We can give it all to the police.”

  “I’m glad I could help.”

  Blane lay back down on her lap.

  “I’d screw Ashton Kutcher regularly too,” Heather said.

  Blane laughed.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Tres Sierra, the CFO, rubbed his face to keep from crying. He had contacted every bank and banker in Denver. All he learned was that their bank was well within their rights to call the debt. In fact, he heard banks were doing it to everyone, then charging huge fees to keep what little available credit flowing.

  Fuckers. His mind flashed through images of firebombing their bank.

  “Hey,” a man stuck his head in the controller’s office. “I came to see Jake, but... Where is everyone?”

  “Working,” Tres’s firebombing rage spilled over into his demeanor.

  “Don’t want to interrupt work,” the man said. “I wanted to drop off the Avs tickets for Jake. Does he really have a girlfriend?”

  “Avs tickets?”

  “We share season tickets for the Avalanche. Hockey? He takes half. I think he goes with Mike, but I heard he has a girlfriend.”

  “He shares tickets with a venture capitalist friend of his Mom’s?” Tres said.

  “Celia was more than a friend to me. She saved my life,” the man said.

  “You probably feel like you’re in her debt,” the CFO said.

  “In her debt? I owe her everything. She even gave me the loan to start my business.”

  “Venture capitalists loan money to companies.”

  “Sort of,” the man said. “Listen, maybe I should...”

  “I have a crazy question,” Tres said. “Would you secure some debt for us?”

  “Us?”

  “Lipson Construction.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Tres laughed.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Friday afternoon — 3:30 P.M.

  Smiley Middle School

  “Who’s that?” the new boy pushed Nash Norsen’s shoulder.

  “My friend, Sandy,” Nash said. He waved to Sandy, who waved back.

  “She looks like a hooker.”

  “Yeah, like you know what a hooker looks like. I think she’s beautiful,” Nash’s best friend Tommy said. “Hey Sandy.”

  Sandy waved to Tommy.

  “Shut up, she’s my Dad’s girlfriend,” Nash said.

  He ran down the steps to where Sandy and Noelle waited for him. He hugged Sandy. She put her arm around his shoulder as they walked to Aden’s car.

  “Where’s Dad?” Nash asked.

  “There’s been a MAJOR problem at work, Nash,” Noelle said. “We’re going with Sandy to her work.”

  “What happened?” Nash asked.

  “I think it’s more like what didn’t happen,” Sandy said. “Are you okay to come with me? I was going to cut your hair in between. You can stay with me tonight.”

  “Did your shop ever fix their website?”

  “No,” Sandy said. “Could you…?”

  “Not a problem.” Nash stood a little taller with the idea that he might actually be able to help.

  “Are you hungry? Your Dad packed some snacks for you, but I thought we could order a pizza.”

  “PIZZA!” Noelle said.

  “Front seat!” Nash yelled then ran to the car.

  “You always get the front seat...” Noelle ran after him.

  Shaking her head, Sandy walked past a man coming to pick up his son. He looked at Sandy, then did a double take. Embarrassed, Sandy put on her sunglasses and ran to catch up with the kids.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Friday afternoon — 4:30 P.M.

  Bambi’s water and sewer site

  “Don’t mess with the master!” Valerie yelled from on top of an excavator.

  The crowd of Lipson employees cheered as she set the last steel shoring in place. After the police collected what they needed, Valerie had helped the team pull all the shoring out. She instructed the team to dig the junk out of the trench.

  When they were ready, she insisted on setting the trench shoring herself. Sitting on top of an excavator, covered in mud, Valerie was every bit her mother’s daughter. She worked with practiced efficiency.

  “Damn, I forgot how fun this is!”

  “You want a job?” Bambi asked.

  “She has one,” Honey pointed to the rows of photographers.

  “When did they get here?” Valerie turned the excavator around and drove back to their storage area.

  Jumping out of the excavator, she was surrounded by Lipson employees. The employees formed a wall of bodies in front of the photographers. Valerie looked from face to face.

  “Thanks,” Valerie said. “After my initial panic, I... I’m a Lipson girl. Fuck it if the world knows.”

  The employees laughed. Bambi ran up to Valerie.

  “We can ...”

  “Let’s walk the site, Bambi,” Valerie said. “If they want to take photos, that’s got to be all right.”

  Bambi laughed and hugged Valerie. With a bevy of paparazzi on their tail, Valerie, Bambi, Honey and the assistant site managers walked the entire site. She found Mike waiting for her at the construction trailer. Like magic, she disappeared to Mike’s old Bronco.

  “I had the greatest afternoon,” Valerie said.

  She climbed into his lap. With the steering wheel pressed against her back, she kissed his lips. He sighed in her embrace.

  “Jake was right,” Valerie said. She brushed the dirt she’d transferred from his face.

  Mike shook his head to clear it.

  “About what?” he managed.

  “We’re not one thing or the other,” Valerie said. “I’m not a Lipson girl or an actress. I’m just me. And just me had the BEST time this afternoon. What did you work out?”

  “We’re on,” Mike said.

  “We’re going to have so much fun!”

  Valerie clapped her hands then climbed back into the passenger seat. Mike started the car. Before he put the car in gear, Valerie climbed back into his lap.

  “I love you Mike,” she said.

  She was about to kiss him again when they heard feet against the pavement. The paparazzi had caught up with them. She moved back to her seat and Mike took off toward the Castle.

  “Home?” she asked.

  “Uh huh.”

  “To work?”

  “Something like that,” he said.

  “Drive fast.” She clipped her seat belt.

  ~~~~~~~~

  The next day — 2:59 A.M.

  Pete’s Kitchen

  After crying all day, Jill stumbled through her shift at Pete’s. She was cert
ain her relationship with Jacob was over. She’d never endanger her mother by having her come to Denver. So that was that.

  As if she hadn’t had a hard enough day, everyone at Pete’s avoided her. She felt like she had a giant X on her forehead. What did she care? She was a model now. She didn’t have to work here.

  Even Meg was weird when she called to check on Katy. Meg was so strange on the phone she decided her sister was angry with her.

  And Tanesha hadn’t come in today. Tanesha worked four jobs to keep her grandma’s house out of foreclosure. The only time Jill saw her friend was in the wee hours of the mornings at Pete’s. Jill looked for Tanesha’s shoulder to cry on. But tonight, she never came.

  No matter.

  If she was done with Pete’s, done with Jacob, done with her stupid siblings, she'd just move. Maybe she’d move to Paris where Claire Martins lived; or Costa Rica to see Mama; or London; or Istanbul.

  “Do you know what language they speak in Turkey, Joe?” She set down Joe’s regular breakfast.

  “Turkish?”

  Jill scowled. She didn’t speak Turkish.

  Lost in thought, she scrubbed the counter. After all, it was her last night in Denver. She’d need a good reference in...

  Dubai! She’d heard there were a lot of jobs in Dubai. Someone said they even speak English there. She could probably get an office job in Dubai. Yeah, Dubai. Jill smiled to herself. She’d move to Dubai.

  She just wasn’t sure where Dubai was.

  Looking up, she saw Jacob through the windows. He’s probably walking home from some OTHER girl’s house. She scrubbed the counter with all her might.

  “Hi,” Jacob said. “You look very busy.”

  “God, Jacob, you smell,” Jill said.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I haven’t had a chance to shower. It’s been an awful day.”

  “Yeah?” Jill tried for cold. He had emailed her, called six times and sent her about fifty texts. She paid no attention. If he wanted to break up with her, he was going to have to do it in person. “Excuse me.”

  She went to refill coffee at her tables. When she got back to the counter, he was nowhere in sight.

  Chicken.