Dead in the Water (DeSantos Book 1)

by A. R. Case

  Tony didn’t know. “Don’t know.” Crap. If he had the backing of the Brigands, he knew what he’d do. He’d take Jonathan to a safe house, and lock him down. Then he’d figure out a way to lock down Susan, too. At least until the lawyer got the courts on her side. He supposed it would be considered kidnapping if he tried it now. Time to man up. But first he needed Jonathan’s head straight. “Here’s the deal. Your mom wanted to tell you this, but I don’t want you going in there blind. Today your lawyer found out that all the paperwork in Ohio was filed, but the revision wasn’t completed. That being the stuff your mom gave to the courts regarding the move. Since your dad had visitation before, he’s claiming she took you out of state illegally.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “I know it is, but that’s in place so some people don’t lose contact with their kids when they are good parents, you get that right?”

  “But Dad is an asshole.”

  “Yeah he is, and your mom told me there was a restraining order in place for you as well as her, which should mean something. So hold your ground, but don’t get crazy on this shit, got it? You need a cool head to fight with, so lock down what you are feeling and get the facts straight. It will carry you further for the here and now.”

  Jonathan nodded. “How’d you learn that?”

  Tony frowned. “My dad told me that a long time ago.” It had been the day he rode out with Chris. His father had been worried about Tony going along, that he wasn’t mature enough to take care of business. Tony wondered if it had been a good thing or a bad thing that he’d listened very closely to his father that night.

  There were two social workers in the room with Susan. She was sitting, a bottle of water in her hand. Another person, in a suit, but with hospital credentials, was in the room with them. Tony led, going in first and keeping Jonathan behind him.

  Susan saw Jonathan and started crying.

  Fuck, this wasn’t going well already, Tony thought. His adrenaline kicked up, preparing him for a fight he knew he couldn’t follow through with, but his body wasn’t listening. He let Jonathan move up to stand beside him, but tugged his arm to keep him from going to his mom.

  “Is this Jonathan?” One of the social workers said.

  Tony stepped forward. “He is. What’s going on?”

  “You are?” The other one said, coming to his feet.

  “Anthony DeSantos, friend of the family.” He held out his hand, and he could feel Jonathan’s eyes get wide. “You are?”

  “Mr. DeSantos, we represent child protective services for the state of New Jersey, we have an order to remove Jonathan to court custody until we determine whether child abduction charges will be filed.”

  Tony pulled back his hand and straightened, stepping forward into the man’s space. “I didn’t catch your name.” His voice was just a bit lower than normal, and cold.

  “My name is Marcus Bell.”

  Tony held his hand out again. “Nice to meet you Mr. Bell.” He waited as Mr. Bell shook it hesitantly. Tony didn’t pull any bullshit, squeezing harder or crap like that, he just shook with a solid grip, looking Bell in the eye. Then he smiled. “Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, I’d like to point out that this young man you want to remove had a restraining order placed against his father.”

  Susan gasped and then spoke up. “We both did. The guardian ad litem filed at the court’s request for Jonathan.”

  The child services people looked at each other. “Our paperwork doesn’t indicate this.”

  Susan pulled herself together. “I have the paperwork filed with my lawyer. We were going through the process for renewing the orders.”

  “As in New Jersey, Ohio is a shared parenting state, we have the settlement paperwork indicating that the division of parenting was determined as shared there.”

  “And I have the revision which was filed three years ago with the letter of approval by the courts there granting me full custody.”

  “Full custody is not a removal of visitation rights. You needed to get that amended, or file with the courts in Ohio before removing him from the state.” Bell reminded her.

  Susan stood. “Full custody in Ohio means I have the legal right to move out of state with Jonathan. My lawyer there confirmed this before I moved.”

  The younger woman with Bell spoke up. “That differs from New Jersey law. This is complicated.”

  “Which is why you probably should wait until tomorrow when the lawyer can get you all the paperwork.” Jonathan said.

  Susan pushed through the people in the room to hold her son, who was standing tall.

  He continued. “It’s a school night for me, and I’d like to go home. Since you’re supposed to be looking out for my best interest, I think I need sleep for school, right?” He added a smile that made Tony smirk just a bit before straightening his face. Kid learned fast. Damned fast.

  “It’s not that simple. We’re under order to remove you to custody.”

  Jonathan took a step back. Tony put a hand on his back. “Easy.”

  Susan grabbed him again. “You are not taking my son.”

  The hospital administrator stood up. “Gentlemen, ladies, let’s calm down. Susan…”

  She looked at him. “I filed the papers correctly, I’m not wrong here.”

  He frowned.

  Bell stepped forward. “Mrs. Bauer, do not make us…”

  “It’s Schreiber. Ms.”

  Bell frowned. “We will acquire police intervention if necessary. Tonight we need to remand Jonathan into court custody until we get this sorted out. Our department was informed that it was in the best interest of all parties to do this.” He shifted his attention to Jonathan. “I don’t think you will be going to school tomorrow.” He reached out to indicate Jonathan should come to him.

  Tony stepped between Susan and her son and Mr. Bell. “You might want to make that call to the police department and Susan’s lawyer before you try to take Jonathan anywhere. I think we all need some proof of what is in the best interest of Jonathan at this moment.” He tried not to growl, but his voice took a decidedly dangerous tone. Without looking behind him. “Susan, did you call your lawyer?”

  “I couldn’t. They’ve kept me in here.”

  He handed her his cell. “Call. We’ll all wait.”

  Mr. Bell got on the phone, too, but the hospital administrator stopped him. “Are you planning on charging Susan with anything?”

  Susan looked up with the phone to her ear. Panic was in her eyes.

  Bell answered. “We do not have charges ready at this time. This is being handled through a civil action currently.”

  “What does that mean, Mom?”

  Susan shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  There was a knock on the door. Two officers stood in the hallway. Tony recognized one of them as being on site when the body was found. “Hey Birkins.” The Asian looked up noticing Tony. “DeSantos, right?”

  “That’s me.”

  Birkins glanced around the room taking in the situation. His partner was discussing the situation with the social workers. He leaned in toward Tony. “They giving you grief?”

  “Some. Jonathan’s dad’s a dick.”

  Birkins raised an eyebrow.

  “Guy didn’t file charges three years ago when Susan left the state, but just now decides he wants his kid back, come on…”

  The cop had the decency to raise both eyebrows and nod sagely. “Pretty messed up, hey.”

  Tony kept his voice low so Susan and Jonathan didn’t hear him. “Do they have grounds to take him?”

  Birkins shrugged. “Usually when they come for a visit, the kid goes, but this…” He shook his head. “Susan over there has patched a few of our guys up, that counts for something in my book.”

  His partner came over and they stepped aside
to talk things over. Birkins broke off, “I take it her lawyer’s on the way?”

  “We called. She said she needed to get copies of the custody paperwork from her office. Then she’d be here.”

  “Looks like we’re waiting. Damn. There’s nothing worse than hospital coffee.”

  “There’s a Starbucks across the street.”

  Birkins mulled that over for a moment. “Hey Charlie, you want Starbucks?”

  Charlie ordered a latte.

  “You going to be good here?” Birkins asked.

  Charlie shrugged. “We’re on hold here. So sure.”

  Tony took advantage of the lull to pull a chair in front of Susan and Jonathan. He deliberately kept his position facing the social workers and set between them and Susan. Call him a caveman, but there was a part of him that had already marked Susan and Jonathan as family. Being the man between them and danger was then a given.

  A half hour later, Susan’s lawyer joined them. She showed the social workers and the police the filed paperwork from Ohio and the stipulations in Ohio law that granted Susan sole custody of Jonathan.

  Bell and his partner were not happy to be returning empty handed. To smooth their feathers, a hearing with child services court would be scheduled in the morning.

  After they left, Susan’s lawyer sat down in the chair Tony offered her. Then he took a spot to Susan’s left.

  “We need to discuss this situation.” The lawyer started. “I haven’t had time to arrange the guardian ad litem for Jonathan in this state and the courts in Ohio have closed his case there. Are you sure you can’t press charges against his father for physical abuse?”

  Susan shook her head. “I tried when it happened. I had the admitting photos and everything. But without the neighbor’s testimony, the police didn’t follow up. John was their teammate, so my guess is that…”

  Her lawyer held up a hand. “I know what you thought. Did you try a different precinct?”

  Susan shook her head no. “He signed the custody papers the same day the court ruled in my favor. I didn’t think I needed to at that point.” She shrugged. “I’d won.” Her voice had gotten quiet. “I thought I’d won.”

  “Because you didn’t notify the courts when you left, and because we don’t have a paper trail of abuse, he does have a civil case against you. Luckily, Ohio law is different than New Jersey law concerning abduction.”

  Susan interrupted her. “I did not abduct my son.”

  “I know you feel you didn’t. I’m trying to tell you that had the states been reversed, you’d be facing criminal charges right now.”

  She blinked as those words chilled the room.

  The lawyer continued. “With a situation like yours, despite having full custody, established visitation laws mandate court approval in order to allow a change of location out of state. In fact, you can’t move at all without notifying the court. Like I said, you got lucky Ohio doesn’t have that stipulation.”

  Jonathan put an arm around his mom. “I’m sixteen, can I make the decision where I stay?”

  The lawyer shook her head. “In this instance, no. In New Jersey you need to be eighteen to be emancipated.”

  Jonathan slumped for a moment. “What about in Ohio?”

  “I’m not certain. You should probably check into it. In most states though it is eighteen. If you don’t have any more questions, I’ll let you go for the night. I’ll call you in the morning to let you know when the hearing is.”

  “Thank you for your help.” Susan said.

  The lawyer smiled, but didn’t say anything. “I’ll call you.”

  Tony stood up as she left. “I’m going to drive you both home. Jonathan, grab the pizza and salad. It may still be good.”

  Susan brushed her scrubs off, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. She looked around a little lost. “I didn’t clock out. I probably should go do that, but…” Her brow crinkled. Tony came up beside her and ran his hand over her shoulders.

  “Deal with it tomorrow, okay. You’re done for tonight.”

  She nodded and leaned into him. He wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her close in a hug. “I’ve got you.” He said into her hair. “I’ve got you.”

  Jonathan made eye contact with him over Susan’s head and nodded.

  Chapter fifteen

  The lawyer postponed Susan’s meeting the next day and the two days after that. Tomorrow was Saturday and she didn’t know whether to breath a sigh of relief that she’d get to keep Jonathan, or to keep looking over her proverbial shoulder for the axe to fall. Each day, she’d take an extra minute or two just to look at her son, knowing that having him was one of the best parts of her life.

  There were cops down her block almost every day. When she asked, they said they were watching the house to see if any more break-ins occurred. Considering someone had taken the laptop, she didn’t have much else of value to take.

  It was her day off. She’d caught a rare Friday off as well. She’d have to make up for it on Saturday and Sunday this week, but it was almost worth it because Tony was taking her out on another date. Part of her was giddy with excitement. Another part of her was still scared of what she was doing. She was a mother, for Pete’s sake. Mothers didn’t date. Or at least no mother she’d ever known dated.

  She had to admit it was nice though. Each night she’d worked, Tony took time to bring Jonathan to the sign shop where he worked. He even paid him for odd jobs like sweeping or polishing some of the vinyl plates they used. Her son talked nonstop about working there during the summer and finally being able to save money for a car of his own. Of course, she tried to squelch the grander plans he had by reminding him about insurance and maintenance. She also pointed out parking rates and all those other things that made her take the bus six out of seven days a week.

  Today, Jonathan was at Scott’s for an overnight. It had crossed her mind that it was a little too convenient for Jonathan to ‘remind’ her he was staying at his friend’s right before Tony called for a date. Her son and her, friend, okay, boyfriend - gah what a strange word! - were plotting against her. She was certain of it.

  Tonight was jeans and black top night. Tony had specifically requested jeans, and added “wear something that looks good with black leather.” Sometimes he could be so vague!

  Her hair was down again, and she turned to get a good view of the tight shirt she’d found at Goodwill. It wasn’t anything super special, but it fit like a glove, a very tight across the chest glove, which, as she sucked her stomach in just a little more, would look damn good with leather. Add a little more lip gloss and she’d be ready.

  Aaand.. there he was, ringing the bell right on time. Her ex had always been late or super early. Never on time. So either she’d been left wilting as she waited or rushed out the door half done. She opened her door, and went down the stairs, checking the peephole on the bottom door before opening it.

  Tony looked bad, in a really delicious way. He wore a black leather jacket with what seemed to be too many zippers on it. The shoulders and elbows had padding sewn right into the coat, and what didn’t have zippers or padding, had patches with various images or slogans on them. He stood in the doorway, one hand propping his leaning form against the frame. The black jacket hung open revealing a black T-shirt that had a heavily stylized motorcycle framed with wings, and a black leather vest, that sported a few more patches. From his black booted feet, up past his well-worn jeans, up to the black and orange bandanna around his neck, he looked like trouble.

  Susan fought a smile and lost. If John saw her right now, he’d probably try to lock her in for her own safety. She marveled at her emotions,feeling safer with him than she’d ever felt with John. It probably wasn’t fair to Tony that she compared the changes between her tastes of young and naive, and now.

  He saw her smile and broke into a smile himself, which totally reinforced the ba
d boy image. He hadn’t shaved around his goatee so the scruff on his face caught the last rays of the day turning what she knew was brown into golden sparks. He leaned in, but didn’t cross the threshold yet.

  “Gotta kiss for me, little girl?”

  A laugh bubbled up from deep inside. He made her feel like she was glowing. Because of this, she didn’t care who saw her move in, go to tiptoe and grab his leather with both hands before giving him a tiny peck on the cheek.

  He growled, really, he growled and pulled her in close and made her redo the kiss, turning up the heat as he bent her over his arm to take control of the kiss.

  She was breathless by the time she came up for air, and noticed it was cold. “I need to grab my coat.”

  “Way ahead of you.” He said. “Wait here, just a sec.” He jogged back to his truck that was parked in her cousin’s driveway and pulled an older, slightly smaller leather out from behind the seat. “This was mine when I was younger. It should fit.”

  Susan’s mouth gaped open.

  “Wear it tonight, you’ll fit in better with it than with that trench coat of yours. Trust me.”

  She pulled it on, feeling the weight of the leather, but also testing the fit, and discovering it was comfortable and well broken in. “When did you fit in this?” She asked.

  “I think between thirteen and fifteen. I had to clean some mud off it, hope it isn’t too ratty.”

  “Mud?”

  He laughed. “I wore it when I raced motocross.”

  “You raced?”

  He rubbed his neck. “Not officially.” He looked a bit embarrassed. “I still run in the cup at Daytona every year I can get down there. It’s amateur, not anything fancy.”

  “You ever win?”

  “I won fourth when I was a kid on the dirt track. Nothing in the top five since.”

  She looked at him. “You’re not kidding are you?”

  He had the grace to look a little sheepish and shook his head in answer. Then that lopsided smile crooked up and he got a glint in his eye. “You worried about me?”

  She scoffed and tapped him in the chest. Her hand lingered. He was leather covered steel tonight and she loved it. Stepping in again and tilting her head up, she went in for another kiss. “Thanks for the loan.” She stroked the ancient leather as she stepped back. Then got puzzled. “I thought motocross coats were colorful?”