Chapter 1 #2
My belly dropped and I felt nauseous, but I straightened my spine. “What the hell, Frank? Why are you following—”
“I said no fuckin’ cops!” he yelled.
“I didn’t call the cops.”
His volume went back to normal, but his tone was exceedingly sinister. “Don’t lie to me. You were at a substation bright and early this morning, bitch.”
How did he know that?
“Admit it,” he yelled.
“I…I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t,” I stammered.
“You better not have. But Gary likes the look of your sister. You step one toe out of line and she’s gonna pay the price.”
“No,” I breathed.
In a demonstration of his split-personalities, Frank’s tone turned conversational. “You know, I’m not a bad guy.”
No, he took bad to new heights.
“So, we’re gonna leave your sister alone today, and since I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you until next Friday to scrape together last month’s payment.”
The question sat on the tip of my tongue. I was damned if I asked it and damned if I didn’t.
“Are you freezing the interest?” I asked in my sweetest tone.
He chuckled. “Fuck, no. You’re lucky I’m not increasing the interest. Get the money, Savannah.”
He hung up and I called Catalina. There wouldn’t be much she could do, but at least I’d be able to warn her about someone following her. I wasn’t certain Frank would leave her alone. The phone rang twice and then went to voicemail.
“Dammit!” I hissed.
This was not the time to reject my call. I tried Cat again, and it didn’t even ring once. Immediate voicemail.
“Shit,” I sighed.
The mounting tension made my neck tight, and I felt the need to stress-eat, which reminded me of my plan to hit the grocery store. Buying groceries wouldn’t help me get the money for Frank, but I had to feed my sister. If I hurried, I could get the groceries and get home before Catalina.
Mom’s maroon Buick wasn’t sitting in the garage when I returned.
I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Before I gathered the five grocery bags from the trunk, I tried Catalina’s cell again and got sent to voicemail.
Inside the house, I locked the door behind me, then set the groceries on the kitchen counter.
A moment later, the muffled sound of the garage door going up filtered into the kitchen as I hung my purse on the back of a kitchen chair.
“I’m home, Savannah,” Cat called, wandering into the kitchen.
“Hey,” I said.
Her eyes darted to the side, she set her backpack on the floor, and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Sorry I rejected your call earlier.” She pressed her lips together for a beat, then shook her head. “You might think I’m crazy, but I swear someone followed me to Firehouse Subs this afternoon.”
My eyes closed when I took a deep breath. On my exhale, I opened them.
“Wait… why do I get the feeling you—” Her head tilted. “Did you expect something like that to happen?”
I gestured toward the living room. “Let’s sit down.”
Her eyes widened with annoyance. “Let’s not. I’m tired of people telling me I need to sit down because they have bad news.”
I moved past her into the living room. “That’s fair, but I’m sitting down.”
Once on the couch, I launched into it. “Mom owed some guy money. He just found out about her death.”
Catalina stalked toward me and crossed her arms on her chest. “Right. It’s not our fault Mom died.”
I lowered my chin in a slight nod. “Yeah, but this guy… he’s—”
“Like Dad? Doesn’t give a shit about anything except himself.”
My lips twisted as I debated her words. “You could say that. He expects me to come up with the cash.”
“What? Why should you have to do that? Geez, the credit card companies didn’t even make you pay, right?”
“Not exactly, but his demands are illegal. So, I went to the police station while you were at school.”
She nodded. “That makes sense, but someone followed me, Savannah.”
I sighed. “Frank Darren called me a few hours later. Said he was watching you leave school.”
“What?” she yelled, uncrossing her arms.
I stood, then hurried to her and grabbed her hands. “He threatened to follow you, so you’re not crazy.”
She tore her hands from my grip. “And you didn’t think to call me?”
“I did call you. Three times, Cat. But it went to voicemail. This wasn’t something I wanted to tell you in a message.”
Her eyes slid to the side. “Yeah. I thought you were going to nag me about the dishes and stuff. When I got that creepy vibe, I cranked the volume on my music up to twenty-five.”
I fought off my grimace. Mom would have told her she’d be deaf by twenty-five. I wanted to tell her the same, but I didn’t want to remind either of us of Mom. Truth was, I was pissed at Mom, and Cat didn’t need that.
“Why would Mom do this?” Cat asked.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve been asking myself the same thing. I want to get rid of Frank, but it seems the only way I’ll be able to do that is by paying him.”
“This sucks,” Cat muttered, voicing the thought I’d had on a loop all day.
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“What are the cops gonna do?”
I met her brown-eyed gaze. “I didn’t report it, honey. I got the paperwork, but I have to name Frank. He’d already threatened me. Just for me being at the station, he proved he could get to you.”
Cat flopped onto the couch and slouched. “What’s he gonna do? Sell me to a human trafficker?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if he’s smart enough to do that, but he threatened to send some of his drug buyers here.”
“Here?” she yelled again and sat up.
“I’m not gonna let him hurt you.”
It took a moment for the anger to seep out of her expression. “You think Dad might know him?”
“Possibly. Last night Frank mentioned Dad. Didn’t care that I had nothing to do with him.”
Cat went silent and still.
I tilted my head. “Have you been in touch with Dad since the funeral?”
“No. But I’m pretty sure Mom still cared for him.”
My brows furrowed. “Well, yeah. If Dad could have cleaned up his act, they likely would have gotten back together.”
She shook her head and grabbed a throw pillow, hugging it to her belly. “No, I mean… I overheard her on the phone with him. It sounded like more than that.”
My lips twisted to the side. “She hadn’t seen him recently though. That’s what Dad told me at the funeral.”
A shameful look crossed her face, and she stared at her lap. “Dad spent the night here the week before she…”
“The week before?” I asked, to help her stay focused and not cry.
She looked up at me. “Yeah. I was supposed to spend the night at Bella’s house.
She didn’t tell me her parents were gone and her boyfriend, his friend and some other girl were spending the night, too.
Not only was I the fifth wheel, but it also wasn’t my scene, and I came home around midnight to find Dad raiding the fridge. ”
My stomach sank. “Wish you’d have told me that sooner.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t think much of it at the time since she and Dad had a knock-down drag-out fight around noon. She swore she was done with him.”
That was Mom and Dad. It was so routine, I’d named it the ‘Beth-and-Doug Waltz.’ He sweet-talked her, they had sexy times, he’d try to bolt, she’d start yelling, he yelled back, and she would swear she was done being used.
“I hate to ask, but what’d they fight about? Was it money?”
She scoffed. “She wasn’t thrilled about him raiding the fridge at night because he got the munchies. And she felt used. Again.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded.
“Why do you ask? Does Dad actually owe the money? That asshole needs to take it up with him if he does.”
That question nagged at me, too. “I don’t know yet.
My guess is that Dad will expect me to get money out of the house.
Like a loan or selling the house to get the money, but it doesn’t work that fast. At least not as fast as this bastard wants his money, and I read the document he gave me. The interest is outrageous.”
We were both quiet for a moment.
“What are you gonna do? Sell the house?” Catalina asked, her tone full of worry.
“No. Don’t you worry about it.”
Selling the house wasn’t an option, because the mortgage was upside down. I’d had my boss, Rita, look at some of the statements to make sure I was reading them right. There were two mortgages, which meant Mom owed more on the house than it would sell for in this market.
“You sound like Mom.”
I glared at her. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
Her lips tipped up. “I know. So, how much money are we talking about?”
I grinned. “You focus on finishing your junior year, Cat. One of us needs to make something of ourselves.”
Her head reared back. “You’ve made something of yourself. You help people every day.”
I rolled my eyes. “I clean houses, Catalina.”
She nodded. “Yeah. And that helps people— you just aren’t always there to see how it helps.”
I reached out and gave her shoulder a playful shake. “Okay. Get your homework done. I’m making tacos.”
“We have no shells.”
I stood and stared at her. As much as Mom and Dad raved about my beauty, they overlooked Catalina. She was the whole package - smart, witty, empathetic, and gorgeous. No doubt she’d break tons of hearts after high school.
I shook my head. “I shouldn’t share this, but I’m stressed as hell. We don’t need shells when I bought Doritos on BOGO today.”