Chapter 16- Dissolution
The house was nothing spectacular, and Helen offered him no information. She remained quiet as she pushed the speed limit to get to the home, to be met with an ambulance, sirens off, and a lone police car. Concern covered her face as she parked the Explorer. She looked over at Apple.
“Unholster, for now,” she said.
He didn’t question because the look on her face made him hold his questions and thoughts.
At the front door, Helen tapped lightly and let herself inside, announcing she was ‘coming in.’ An EMT worked beside a body, seated on the couch.
Apple could see the person, and Helen blocked his view as she bent, taking the hand of the victim.
“Did you give the police officer a description of the man that did this to you?” Helen asked.
When she moved to the side, Apple was able to see the person. He couldn’t hide his shock. It took a moment to collect himself, looking at the woman he knew well.
“Pear?” he said, moving to her side. His arm went around her shoulder as she winced in obvious pain.
Helen stood, taking a good look at the woman who had been worked over. The two other girls were not present, and neither was the one she was sent to fetch and deliver to Pear. Her hackles were rising, and her anger began to return.
Pear said, although her words were muddled with her swollen lip, “Not men. Two women. They took the girl.”
“And the other two young ladies?” Helen asked.
“They were in the basement doing laundry when they arrived and kicked in my door,” Pear said. “She must have a tracker in her for them to find her here. We’ve been homeschooling, so she really hasn’t left the house since you dropped her off. I didn’t think it was safe.”
Helen’s attention went to the police officers. “Do you have everything you need to file the report?”
“We do, although we aren’t clear on why two women would randomly show up to kick in Ms. Muldrow’s door to take a child in her care,” the officer said.
“I mean, I’m not a police officer or anything, but it seems to me that is the behavior of a pimp coming to collect his high earner that ran away and tried to get free of him,” Helen said staring at the man whom she deemed as an idiot with a badge.
“Was the girl a prostitute?” the man asked.
“Are you asking if a teenage girl, who unwillingly sold her body for room and food, who has no parents and was put in the system, who was abused by foster parents, and who mistook the kindness of a stranger who turned her out, was a hooker?” Helen asked the man.
The officer visibly shrank as she stared at him. His female partner touched his arm. “If we have any further questions, we will reach out to Miss Muldrow.”
Helen didn’t bother to look back at them as they left. She turned her attention to the EMT providing care for Pear. The bruises would heal, but the wounds to her pride would take longer. Of the EMT, Helen asked, “Does she require an overnight stay under medical supervision?”
“No, the head wound will require icing to keep the swelling down, and the other bruises just need an ointment to keep the wounds clean,” he said. “Keep her awake for a while with that knot on her head.”
“Thank you,” Helen said, seeing him out.
She secured the front door and took a good look at Pear.
The women had worked her over. Her eyes blinked a couple of times as she stared at the beaten Technician.
Apple sat beside Pear, offering comfort.
However, his discomfort came from watching Helen.
She transformed from the caring woman who baked an amazing peach cobbler better than his Charleston born and bred black mother, into the Technician he knew as The Cranberry.
She pulled out her phone and dialed one.
“State your need,” the voice said.
“First and foremost, Pear needs some self-defense classes,” Helen started. “Two women worked her over pretty good and took the package she believes was tagged with a tracking chip.”
“Your assessment?”
“She will survive, but her pride is going to be wounded,” Helen said, moving closer. “The right eye is partially shut and will leave a nasty shiner when it heals. Her nose is out of whack but not broken, she’s missing two teeth, has a busted lip, and a split earlobe.”
Helen walked over to Pear, snapping her finger beside the split cartilage as Pear looked at her with the good eye with a look of WTF?
“She took a hefty blow to the side of her face, splitting the lobe, but not the drum, plus a knot on her noggin,” Helen said.
“Thoughts,” the voice said.
“I know who has her and where they took her,” Helen said. “It is in your backyard at Grosse Pointe Shores.”
“Again, your thoughts?” the voice said.
“I want to go in and fuck some shit up, but I can’t come into play in your yard without your permission, and I’m going to need some clever help,” Helen said.
“State your need.”
Helen looked at Apple and Pear. “We have three nines, a crossbow, and a Bowie knife. I think I can make it happen without bullets, but I need the catering truck, which should be on the way to set up for the party, to be hijacked.”
Pear and Apple both said at the same time as Azrael, “Catering truck?”
Helen provided her two potential caterers that serviced the address at Grosse Pointe Shores.
She also provided Azrael with two potential wine wholesalers that had delivered to the same address.
Helen also mentioned checking for incoming flights of high-powered women coming from Florida to possibly Windsor (YQG) and private car services to Grosse Pointe Shores.
“How do you want this to proceed when this information is secured?”
“Hijack the catering truck and take the food to the homeless,” she said. “Secure the sommelier, take his shipment, and place it somewhere safe until I get there. It is a good four hours for the drive. I can make it happen in three.”
“And when you arrive, what support do I need to send?” Azrael asked.
“Send in Pear’s equivalent for the girls,” she said.
“Some may not see you as rescuing them. Unless the women customers are caught in the act, the police aren’t going to believe anything freaky is happening unless there are dicks involved, so a good cameraman to take some photos of the customer base will help. ”
Azrael asked, “And you, what is your plan?”
“To be a customer seeking a particular, unwilling product. I get showed to the room, my bodyguard Apple is going to punch a bitch in the face when I send him the signal, which should coincide with the arrival of blue lights running on silent, and I walk out the front door with the girl.”
“You make it sound easy,” Azrael said.
“It is,” Helen replied. “Permission to roll out.”
“Four hours is not a big window.”
“You told me you have resources, so let’s go fuck up some shit,” Helen said, looking at Apple.
“You’re scary,” Apple said as she ended the call.
At the same time a tap came at the door, which Apple answered. He seemed to recognize the woman and man. A step to the side allowed them to enter. The man began to work on the kicked in door, and the woman began to take care of Pear.
Helen took her hand. “You know I’m going to find the one that did this to you and put a bullet in that bitch,” she said.
Pear teared up. “You are so loving. Thank you. Please, make it hurt. She punched me in my titties. What sort of woman does that to another woman? That is just rude.”
“No worries; we got you,” Helen said. “Description.”
“Standard Butch, tattoo on the right hand of a hammer, green eyes, dirty blond hair, shaven sides of the head, about five seven and ugly,” Pear said.
“Just the one?”
“The other went for the girl, drugged her, and tossed her over her shoulder like an old rug,” Pear said.
“Be back tomorrow,” Helen said, looking at Apple. “We’re rolling.”
Apple nodded, giving Pear a wink and following Helen to the car. She plugged the address into the GPS, and they were off and what he felt was a grand adventure. He prayed Oscar was having one as well.
****
OSCAR HELPED SET UP the tent, but to him, it looked a little off. He was acting a bit squirrely and Mustang didn’t like it. He brought the cots inside the tent, along with the two chairs they would use for fishing.
“Talk to me,” Mustang said.
“I dunno. It feels weird,” Oscar said.
“Weird how?”
“These kids, all of ‘em are white. I’m the only brown boy here,” he said. “They have been doing this since they were little with their Dads, and this is my first time. They’re gonna know you aren’t my dad, and I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m gonna feel stupid.”
“Or you can take this as an opportunity to learn how to do these things,” Mustang said. “For all you know, you may not even like this kind of stuff, but you have to try and see if this is your vibe.”
“My vibe?”
“Yeah, you may only want to do this because I asked and you wanted another shot at showing me how you’d be a good son, knowing I like this stuff,” Mustang said.
“Oscar, in order for us to have a good relationship or even a friendship, I will need to like you for who you are, not for what you’re doing to make me like you, for liking the things I enjoy doing. Does that make sense?”
“It does, but I do like making furniture and building stuff. I want to try canoeing because it looks cool, sitting in a boat, going by your own steam,” he said. “That I want to try.”
“We have some time before the sun sets if you want to put it in the water. They will start the fires for wiener roasting at five, so whaddya say?”
“I say let’s do it,” Oscar said, reaching for the smaller of the two life jackets.
He could swim enough not to drown, but he wasn’t a strong swimmer.
To him, he felt like a little fish in a pond much larger than he was accustomed to being in, floating about life, but everyone had to start somewhere. He was starting here.
****