Chapter 24 Morris
MORRIS
“Stay with the girls,” I bark, leaping out of bed.
“No, Morris. No!” Alice is scrambling out of bed, fumbling for her jeans.
“He’s close, and he doesn’t know we’ve seen him.” I look to Leo. “Does he? Can he see the cameras?”
“I don’t know,” Leo admits. “I could watch him on the cameras, but the little light on the front of them might turn green if I’m watching.
Right now, it’s a solid red dot, just like any other appliance.
I’m pretty sure if he’s looking around with a flashlight, he’s seen the cameras. I can’t say for sure.”
“I need to go.” I’m already dressed, and my phone’s in my pocket. “I can make it to the building in less than ten minutes. Alice, stay here with your daughter. It’s not safe. Let me handle this.”
“Fuck that!” Alice shocks me and, by the looks of it, Leo and Lia too. “This is my husband, and you’re my boyfriend…old man…whatever! I want to see this through, Morris. No more running.”
I nod. “Let’s earn your patch, sweetheart.
” I point to Leo. “You, stay here. I’m counting on you to keep Lia and Zoey safe.
We don’t know what this asshole’s got planned, but if he knows where the building is, you can be damned sure he knows how to find this house.
” I take Leo’s shoulder in my hand and pull him close.
“Keep. Them. Safe. I’m counting on you.”
Leo’s eyes are wide, but his lips are set in a determined line. “I will, man. You can count on me. Do you want me to call 9-1-1?”
“Not yet,” I say, shaking my head. “I want that cocksucker all to myself first.”
I fly toward the building, not giving a shit if I get pulled over for speeding. At this hour, I’ll risk it. I know whatever he’s planning, he’s likely doing alone, so my best hope is for the element of surprise. I cut the lights on the truck as I slow.
I can see a car parked off to the far side of the lot, almost hidden in the unlit tree line. I pull over right next to the car, blocking it in as best I can with my truck. He’ll be able to get around me, but that’s only if he makes it back to his car.
As soon as I park, I see the orange. Flames.
“Jerry!” Alice is out of the car in a flash, screaming at the top of her lungs. “You motherfucking asshole, you set a fire!”
I can’t see shit, but since I know he’s gotta still be here, I turn the wheel of the truck and flip the headlights on high beam.
The building isn’t engulfed in flames, but it looks like there are two fires. One coming from inside one of the storefronts, and a smaller one that lights up the night sky from someplace behind the building.
Then it hits me.
It can only be one thing.
Leo’s grandpa’s truck.
Alice disappears in the dark, running toward the fire and screaming bloody murder for Jerry to come out.
I dial 9-1-1 and report the fire, giving them the address of this place.
I tell them it’s arson, and the suspect is still on the property, that we caught him in the act.
Then I drop my phone, because I know damn well I’ve got a matter of minutes before law enforcement arrives.
And if I have any hope of tearing this motherfucker’s face off and calling it self-defense, I’ve got probably three minutes to find him.
But I don’t have to look too hard. I hear screams and the sounds of a violent struggle coming from behind the building.
I race back there and see Alice holding a two-by-four she must have picked up from someplace near the dumpster. She’s swinging it like a baseball bat and swearing.
“I’m gonna kill you, you bitch,” Jerry says. “And your filthy loser boyfriend. And then I’m gonna find your no-good kid, and I’m gonna tell her what a goddamn whore of a mother she had!”
Alice runs full speed toward Jerry, swinging the board toward his face.
“I dare you, Jerry, you piece-of-shit coward. I never loved you. I’ve always hated you! Now, come here and try to hurt me. You just try, you worthless piece of shit!”
She races toward him again and again, lurching and swinging, but she misses every time. He dodges and weaves away, but he stays close enough to taunt her with more threats.
“Fuck you and your sister and your friends and your goddamn daughter!” His words are ugly, and they match his face, twisted and mottled in the blazing light from the fires.
I hear sirens in the distance, and I know we’re out of time. Almost.
Jerry hasn’t seen me yet, so I creep quietly around the burning truck and come up from behind him. Alice sees me approach but doesn’t say a word. She keeps screaming at him, swearing, and swinging her makeshift bat at his face.
“Fuck you!” she screams again. “I hate you!”
Jerry does the thing then that will be his undoing. He races forward and slaps Alice, full on the face. He lands a perfect blow that sends her staggering backward. She drops the board and falls to her knees, gripping her face in her hands.
“Big mistake, fuckwad,” I say. Just as Jerry straightens and pulls his hand back to land another blow, I grab it, twist it, and hear the crack that lets me know his poor little arm won’t be striking my baby ever again.
He shrieks like a cat whose tail’s been run over by a car. “You fucking broke my arm! I’m pressing charges, you goddamn maniac! You broke my arm!”
“You hit my baby, you motherfucking douchebag,” I say, making sure to twist his arm a little harder to drive home the point. “And you’re burning down my building. So, I think the charges that are going be filed are gonna be against you.”
“Fuck you!” Jerry tries to wrestle away from me, but all he can do is shriek in pain every time he moves.
“Alice,” I call calmly. “Baby, are you okay? I don’t really wanna let this guy go before the cops get here. Can you reach your two-by-four?”
Alice is standing up, and while it guts me to see, blood drips down the side of her face where Jerry hit her and his ring cut her cheek. But the look on her face leaves no room for sympathy. No room for worry. Alice’s face is a mask of raw emotion. Rage. Fury. White-hot anger.
She nods and grabs the board from the ground, staggering forward, her eyes looking from Jerry’s dick to his face. I love this woman. She’s actually trying to decide where to land her blow.
“Take your shot while you’ve got it, baby,” I say. “Time’s running out.”
The flames are crawling toward the stars, and the sirens are growing louder and longer. Help is close.
Then Alice does something that surprises me. She drops the board. She walks up to Jerry and looks him in the eye. Her face is sweating and bloody, her hair stained red and mangled from the furious swings she took at him earlier.
She watches Jerry, evaluating her move, and as much as I want to twist—just one more flick of my wrist and I’ll nearly tear the dude’s arm off—I don’t. Something in me holds back. Knows that this moment is between Alice and her tormentor. This moment belongs to her.
“Fuck you, Jerry. I hope you rot.” She steps slightly away from us and kicks him as hard as she can in the junk.
I almost feel the impact of her kick in my nuts. Jerry screams like a bitch and drops to his knees. The pressure on his arm, which I still hold firm in my hands, causes a second agonizing scream to tear from his lips.
“Sorry, babe,” Alice says, her voice caustic with sarcasm. “But I learned it’s a lot better to never leave a mark.” She shrugs. “Then there’s no proof.”
Jerry is coughing and dry heaving, rolling on the ground when the fire trucks arrive.
A squad car isn’t far behind, and they take Jerry into custody while the fire marshal takes Alice and me aside to ask some questions.
She pulls out the app on her phone and shows them the still images the doggie cams caught.
Jerry sneaking into the property. Trashing the inside of the stores.
And then setting fire to the building, Leo’s truck, and even the dumpster, but that stupid motherfucker couldn’t get the dumpster to ignite.
That extra couple minutes he struggled to set fire to the dumpster are probably what kept him there long enough for us to catch him in the act.
Serves him right.
The photos seem to be all the evidence they need. When they take Jerry away on a stretcher, he’s accompanied by two cops and handcuffed to the gurney.