Chapter 2
Mandy wasn’t sure she was ever going to get everything put away. While the kitchen looked big when it was empty. With a table and four chairs, the trash can and the cupboards full, it seemed as tiny as the bathroom was. Even that took on a smaller appearance when she had the linens filled out in there as well.
“Can I have some carrots?” Mandy told Martin she thought there was a bag full of them on the counter. “Thanks. I’m going to eat them real careful at the table. I don’t want to mess things up, in case they come back and get the stuff they gave us.”
“Oh, honey, they won’t do that. You can be as messy as you want. Though I’m going to make you clean it up when you’re done.” She tousled his hair and told him that she loved him. “See if your brother wants anything. I thought for our first night here we’d order pizza and see how long it takes for us to get it. Deal?”
The house looked like they’d lived there for decades instead of about five hours. After the family left, having set up the furniture as well as the beds, including one for herself, she was ready to call it a day. But there were groceries still on the counter that had been left, as well as a few things that she said she’d get put together, like the vacuum cleaner and the coffee table. It was all lovely furniture, but she was still wondering how she was going to be paying them all back. They spent several thousand dollars on her home, and she wasn’t even related to them. And there were things that she still needed to get, like a coffee maker.
None of them drank coffee, so they’d not thought of getting her one. She had told them that she only had a cup a couple of times a week, so she thought it was a waste of money. But right now, she’d give anything for a nice hot cup of the stuff just to calm her down. She felt as if she’d been running all day long. And she had.
At a quarter to seven, they were having pizza when the doorbell rang. Mandy was ready to tell anyone at the door they were all right, the neighbors had been coming over to meet them, but when she looked into the peephole, she couldn’t believe it was Demi. She spoke to him without opening the door.
“What do you want?” He laughed and told her that he wanted to apologize to her. “I accept and now go away. I’m having a meal with the boys.”
“Please let me in. My family is going to be checking in with me to see how it went over, and I don’t want to have any more trouble with them.” She opened the door quickly, hoping to knock his head around when she did. Instead, he smiled at her. “Is that a Creno’s pizza? Christ, I’ve not had one of them in years.”
As he went by her, she was handed another pizza box, this one from Adornetto’s Pizza. She’d heard of them, of course, but hadn’t been to the larger town to get one. There was a bag sitting atop the box, and she took it to the table with the other pizza to ask him what he was doing.
“He’s gonna eat with us. I invited him.” She wanted to ask when that happened, but she only sat down to have her own slice eaten. “He’s my friend.”
“All right, but next time, ask first. In the event there isn’t enough for all of us.” Glaring at Demi when he scarfed down two slices of pizza, she wondered if there was going to be enough now. “Are you taking the other box home?”
“No, it was my peace offering. Go ahead, have some of it.” He chewed the hot slice up and smiled again. “There are salads, too. They make the best salads if you ask me. There are four of them in the bag. The dressing is on the side.”
Her mouth watered for one of the salads as soon as she saw it. Lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes were on it, and she opened one up for the boys when they said they wanted to share. Demi had told her the dressing was homemade. It was the best she’d ever eaten, too. After eating hers, she noticed that the boys had as well, and Demi was putting his pizza on the table when she realized that the one that they’d gotten was gone. Christ, it had been nearly a whole pizza when she’d gone to the door. She was glad that she’d been able to snag a couple of pieces of the hot one.
The four of them managed to eat nearly three-quarters of the second pizza. It was mainly Demi, he explained how he’d been working out today and had forgotten to eat, but there was one salad left that she was going to take to work tomorrow for lunch if Demi didn’t take it with him. The boys went off to their rooms, they were moving things around the way they wanted them, and she got up to clean up the table.
“I’m so sorry for the way that I treated you today. It was uncalled for and rude.” She turned to look at him, and he grinned. “You’re not going to accept it, are you?”
“I told you that I would, but that doesn’t mean that I like you any better than before. You were rude and hurtful when I didn’t do anything wrong.” He said that he knew that, too. “Good. Now you can go.”
She was ready to toss him out of the house when Martin came into the room to ask for his help. His bed was in the wrong place, and since he was going to help, then they should be able to move it where he wanted. It just so happened that she’d tried moving the bed earlier when Teddy had wanted help, and it was just too heavy for her to do.
It took them nearly three hours to get the beds in the right place. Teddy had had an idea that he wanted his bed across the room from the two windows in his room, but it took up space in front of the closet. Demi never pointed out the mistakes that they were making, but moved them like they wanted. Even though she had her own room, her bed hadn’t been put together, and he did that too. It was handy to have him around when he wasn’t insulting her, she supposed.
At nearly three in the morning, she was ready to go to bed. She still had to work tomorrow, too. The boys were going to be staying with Locke’s wife, Alex, as she had chores for them to do, and they were excited about that. Mandy was going to be dead on her feet tomorrow; she just knew it.
Demi left them after her bed was together and told the boys that he’d go by Alex’s home to see them. Mandy didn’t know who was more excited about the meet-up: the boys or Demi. As soon as she locked the doors and checked on the boys, she went to her own bedroom and plopped onto the bed. She was out before she realized, too late, that she’d forgotten to change her clothing.
She was up before her alarm went off. Having woken up in her shoes and clothing, she decided to get an early start on the day. Almost as soon as she found the box of Jiffy to make pancakes, someone was at her door. It was Demi again. And he looked fresh as a daisy and ready to work again.
“I’d not realized that you’d have to work today when I got home. So I picked up some coffee for you and some donuts for the kids. They’re going to need the sugar when they get to Locke’s home. Alex is going to be working in the yard blowing up things for the holidays. I think she has about a dozen of them just for Halloween.”
The boys were up and dressed as she was finishing up her coffee. On the way home, she was going to pick up a coffee machine so she’d be able to indulge when she needed it. She wasn’t a coffee expert, but she did enjoy a good cup of it when she was really stressed or tired. Like she was right now.
The donuts were a huge hit. She even had herself a muffin that was in the box to go with her brew. As the boys were telling Demi how they slept, she was about half-listening. Today was going to be a long one if she had to work without another cup of coffee. She looked at Demi when he said her name.
“Are you all right with me taking them to Alex’s home? I promise you I’ll drive carefully.” She asked him what he was doing. That she’d forgiven him. “I like the kids. We don’t have to like one another, but I do love the kids.”
“All right, but I have no desire to date anyone, especially you. No offence but like you, I have enough going on right now that I don’t have any time for myself, much less stroking an ego as large as yours seems to be.” If she’d not been looking at him, she might have missed the flare of anger. It was there and gone quickly. “I don’t want to fight with you here either. This is our home, even though you own it, and I want peace and quiet here, not just for me but for the boys, too. They’ve had enough stress in their lives without you being all pissed off all the time.”
“It’s no excuse, but I was working too hard. My brother made me close up my restaurant for a week so that I could get some rest. Last night, after leaving here, I slept better than I have in over a month, even though it was only for a few hours. I’m sorry, and I’ll keep telling you that until you believe me. I never should have taken my temper out on you.” She told him that no, he shouldn’t have. His laughter made her own temper flare up. “I’m sorry, but I love the fact that you’re not allowing me off the hook so quickly. Thank you for that.”
After the boys were ready to go, Demi said he’d drop her off at the new offices too. She didn’t want to be depending on someone, but she really was exhausted and needed something to perk her up. Getting to work on time was something that she strived for forever.
Getting the office open, she was surprised to see both Shipley and Jack come into the place. It was their offices and she only worked for them, but to see them in town at eight-thirty when they didn’t need to be surprised her. She knew that they didn’t laze around, even with all the money she’d heard they had, but it was nice to see them.
It took her nearly four hours to get the program running that they were going to use for the elderly when they opened up for classes. The ordering app for stores meant that anyone could order their groceries or other things in town and have them delivered directly to their home for a small fee. Or they could order and pick it up when it was ready. So far, she noticed that most of the users were using the pick-up part, and she thought that was wonderful.
The classes would be small. Only about four to the class. It would have been hard on her to have to teach more than that, as it was going to be hands-on for a while. The people who were coming in had to pay a small fee to the foundation for the classes, but it would also get them a discount on delivery from the stores. She loved that idea, too.
“I’ve got you something coming to your house today. Since we didn’t get you a coffee maker, I got one sent to you.” She told Jack that she’d spent enough money; she could get herself a coffee machine. “I know that. But we all had so much fun helping you out yesterday that we’ve been looking around for other things like that we can do. You know, help people out.”
“Well, I know that the washer and dryer are the handiest tools you could have gotten me. The boys have had to change into something cleaner at least twice a day; they get so muddy. I don’t know what I’m going to do when they get bigger and their clothing doesn’t fit in one load.” They all laughed with her. “I do love being able to do laundry at home rather than lug it all over town to do it at a laundry mat. Are there any of those in town?”
“There used to be one called Browns, but it went out of business about ten years ago.” Alex told her that the place just wasn’t doing any business. “It was in the center where McDonalds is now. At the complete other end of the parking lot.”
“If it was where you said it was, it’s no wonder. That place is really off the beaten path, as the saying goes.” She lived on the main street of town, about three doors down from the pizza place, as well as Demi’s restaurant called the Crockery Pot . “Demi told me that he’s closed up for a week to rest. I don’t know how much rest he’s going to be getting if he hangs out with my nephews too much. They had him lifting and toting things all night last night.”
She expected them to say something about the argument that the two of them had gotten into, but they didn’t. Nor did they ask her if she forgave Demi. She had, several times as a matter of fact, but they were talking about the programs that they wanted to teach, and she was glad for it. It was no one’s business but hers and Demi’s what went on between them.
As the day progressed, she didn’t feel so tired. Mandy knew that by the time bedtime rolled around at their home, she was going to be hard-pressed into helping the boys with their own bedtime. School started back up in a few weeks, and both of them had been tested in the grades they were in, and she was proud of them. They were in second for Teddy and first for Martin. And since they lived right in town, she’d be able to walk them to school and then herself off to work. It was a good plan, she thought.
~*~
Samuel was sick of being told he was in jail for a long time. He wanted dates to go by, not something like weeks and days. Also, he had the boys to take care of, too. The little piss ants were going to pay for telling on him about beating their momma. She weren’t worth spit if someone was to ask him about it, but he’d not meant to kill her.
His temper was usually at its worst when he was drinking. Not that he was sober all that much, but he was easy to rile up when he was into his fifth beer or so. She should have known better than to harp on him about a job when he was drinking. It just pissed him off that she had wanted him to get a job when she was getting all that welfare shit that she was getting. It was more than enough to get him some good beer and some money on the side, too.
After she’d go to the grocery store, he’d take the rest of the card money and turn it in for cash. There would be a lot of it, too. They were getting about nine hundred a month on the card, and that would mean that he’d be getting about half of it for himself. Christ, she’d pitch a bitch about not having any card left at the end of the month but he told her that she needed to spend it better. He’d asked her all the time, did he have to go with her to get things so she’d do it up right? Now she was gone.
With her being gone, he knew that he was going to have to figure out a few things from now on. One of them being the kids. He’d have to make sure that they got what they had coming, and that made him laugh. But he knew too that the house needed to stay in good condition or he’d lose out on that too. That was something that Besty told him all the time. The inspections could be at any time, with only a few hours to a couple of days’ notice.
Not that he was supposed to be living in the house. He’d divorced Besty when she’d been big with the youngest. He didn’t know if she knew it or not, he’d just tell her to sign off on the paperwork and then he’d go and file it for himself. It was why he wasn’t supposed to be living in the house. She got a nicer one on account of him not being around all that much.
Because Besty was so good at the system stuff, he’d allowed her to get one of them cash cards too. It was to pay for babysitting and for transportation, since neither of them drove back and forth to the grocery or doctors’ appointments. He took that from her, too.
Samuel would take the card with the promises of watching over the kids when she had something to do or had to go to her doctor’s appointment. But he’d just send them in the yard and hope nobody stole them. Then again, he’d not lose all that much sleep over them being gone; they were a pest, always wanting something from him like food or water.
The one time that he’d put them in the back yard with a bowl of water and a package of crackers, she got powerful mad at him. She’d called the police on him for abusing his kids. She never did that again, and neither had he, but Samuel didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. It got them fed and watered, didn’t it?
“Your attorney is here. Do you want to speak to them here or in a room?” Samuel told him a room, anything to get out of the stuffy jail cell. He’d asked for a fan, but they didn’t have any. He’d even offered to pay for one if they’d wait for the next check to come in from his wife. Even though she was dead, there were things that he needed, and he figured that since he was going to be responsible for his kids, then they’d just give him something. “Back against the wall, inmate, or you’re not going anywhere.”
“That’s the stupidest rule ever, you know that, don’t you? Why do I have to walk all the way back there only to walk all the way back to leave? What? You afraid of me or something?”
“You stink.” Well, that was just rude, but he was out of his cell right now, so let it go. “Turn around with your hands out so that I can cuff you. Either that or you can go on sitting in here while there is nice air conditioning in one of the rooms.”
Samuel kept his mouth shut with the officers. They’re the ones that brought him his food, and he didn’t want anyone spitting in it or, worse yet, not bringing him anything at all. He’d learned the hard way being in jail as much as he’d been that you don’t fuck with the hands that feed you. They could be a mite on the stingy side, too, when it came to getting extras on your tray if you wanted them too.
The man sitting in the chair when he’d been brought looked like he’d just gotten out of grade school. Again, he didn’t bring that up. He had learned that lesson, too. If they didn’t like you for whatever reason, they’d not help you get out of jail sooner rather than letting you rot there. He sat back when he was chained to the table.
“My name is Richard McGee. No, I’m not going to be getting you a cell phone. I’m not going to be bringing you in dirty magazines or pictures for you to look at. I’m here to represent you, and that’s all.” He asked him about his food card money. “I’ll check on that for you, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up about getting one. You’re in here because you murdered your ex-wife, and they tend not to give out food cards to convicted felons.”
“I’m not convicted yet.” He showed him his record, where he’d been caught stealing a car. “I thought that got wiped off your record when you did your jail time. Like a freebie or something.”
“No, they don’t do that. It’s on your record for life. What do you have to tell me about Besty Jameson and the night that you killed her?” He said that he had allegedly killed her. “No, you confessed to the police when you were picked up. You even asked them if they’d turn their back so that you could finish the job and kill your sons, Theodore and Martin Jameson, minor children of yourself and your ex-wife.”
“Oh yeah, I remember that now. No, I didn’t mean that. You’ll have to get them to not bring that up at the court thingy. I don’t want to go back to prison. I have me two kids to watch over. That’s why I’ll be needing that stuff my wife got from the system. She was getting a right good amount too. About five grand a month when you count the house we was in.” He made notes but didn’t tell him he’d work on that. “What would it take for me to get myself a car to drive around? I have those two boys that I’m going to have to take to school.”
“Get a job. When you get out of prison. I’m not saying that you’ll get life, but I’d not count on you getting out anytime soon. You murdered someone, and that’s not going to get you out of prison for a long time.” He asked about his kids. “A Mandy Wilson is caring for them. She’s been granted permission by the state so long as she has a job and a place for them to live.”
“She ain’t gonna take my kids no place. They’re mine.” He said that he’d murdered someone, and the courts more than likely wouldn’t allow him near them, especially after saying that he wanted to kill them as well. “I was just joking around. You tell them that so that I don’t have to spend extra time in here. You know as well as I do that they’re better off with their parents than with some stranger. And she’s not fit to have them around either.”
“Do you know something about Ms. Wilson? From what I’ve been told, she’s passed a background check and has had the Ericksons vouch for her. That’s a good family. Also, she was your ex-wife’s sister, wasn’t she?” He said he didn’t care about them. “Well then, tell me what you know about Ms. Wilson so that I can look into it. It can’t be something that you make up, either. Whatever she’s done, it has to be factual, not something that you’ve made up to get back at her.”
“I’ll think on that then.” He hadn’t even known that his wife had a sister until she showed up one day. And that was about the time that his wife had started getting uppity about things. Telling him that he needed to get a job so that she could get off of so much welfare. Didn’t make any sense to him. Why wouldn’t a person want to get all the freebie stuff she’d been getting? That was all on account of her sister putting her nose in where it didn’t belong.
His attorney wasn’t giving him the information that he wanted. According to him, he should plead guilty to get a lesser sentence than life without parole. He didn’t want to be in jail at all, but he said that wasn’t going to happen. Not with this. As it was now, if he would plead a deal, say he’d done it, then he’d get life and a parole hearing in about fifty years. Christ, he’d be too old to do anything if they did that to him.
“Look here. I want you to make it so I only have time served. I don’t care how you do it, but you will or I’m going to do to you what I did to my wife. But I’ll make you suffer more.” He started gathering up his things and shoving them into his briefcase. “We ain’t done here. You never did tell me what you were going to do to keep me from going to prison, and you will by god or I’m going to get out and take care of you.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Jameson. I hope you have whatever life you deserve. I’m going to petition the courts to be allowed not to help you. You just threatened me.” Samuel was confused and told him that. “You’re confused about threatening me? Or simply confused about all of this? Either way, I’m not going to give you what I can simply because you said those things to me. I knew this was going to be wrong as soon as I read over the report. Goodbye, sir.”
Before he could ask about who else was going to be coming back, he was shuffled out of the room and to his cell in a matter of minutes. There was no conversation from the cops that took him back, nor would they let him use the phone. Damn it all to hell, somebody better be explaining to him what was going on or he was going to be pissed off. Again.
Things were off in his cell, too. Like his bed wasn’t made up, but it looked like someone had started to make his bed. There was fresh toilet paper on the stand where his commode was, and on the little table that he had, there was some paper. Of course, no pencil or pen, but he by god had paper if he wanted to fly an airplane. He started banging on the cell bars to get someone to tell him what was going on.
“What the heck do you want?” The officer seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and it startled him a bit. “You stop that noise or I’m going to take away your extras.”
“What extras? I got nothing in here to write with. The toilet paper isn’t the good stuff like my wife used to buy. Hell, I can see right through it.” Ignoring what he’d said, the man told him that he had shower privileges in ten minutes. “Well, where is that? And what sort of clothes am I going to be putting on? This orange thing is smelly.”
“It’s smelly because you are. When was the last time you took a bath or a shower?” He told him that he didn’t like getting wet all over, he just did a whores bath. “I have no idea what that means. Get yourself cleaned up or we’re going to take you out back and scrub you down with the hose.”
“A whores bath? As many times as you’ve arrested women of the night, and you don’t…it’s them washing their delicate parts between customers. Christ, I can’t believe I have to tell you that. What the hell are you doing here if you’re not arresting whores? Why, just the other day I had me one and she cleaned herself right up with one of them moist towels things you get in a bag. Christ, ole mighty, you’re dumber than a rock.”
“You’re to get yourself cleaned up all over your body and hair. You have five minutes to get ready.” He didn’t like to be rushed into anything, so he told him that. “It’s that or the hose, you can take your pick.”
He decided that he’d take the shower. He’d been in this jail before, plenty of times, and if they pulled the hose on you, it would tear skin off on account of them using a fire hose to get you clean. Nothing survived that kind of bathing either. No, he was going to take a shower the old-fashioned way.