Chapter 25 #2
“Since when? The good thing is, they don’t have to worry about your coming around in their life again.”
“How do you figure that?” he snapped, looking at her.
“These guys should take care of you pretty-damn fast,” she muttered, pointing to Tim’s new friend.
At that, the man behind him pushed him forward, but he had a grin on his face as he said, “You got that right.”
“So, what then, you made bail?” Pamela asked Tim.
He shrugged. “I talked to one of the other detectives, and he was much more interested in helping me out. So, it became a pretty simple process at that point.”
She stared at him, shaking her head. “You can’t be that stupid.”
He flushed and snapped, “I’m really tired of people talking to me that way.”
“You might be tired of it, but you were in jail for your own protection, dumbass. Who the hell is protecting you now?”
“These guys,” he said, pointing to his new friend. “I figured they were the ones who bailed me out.”
“They probably were.” She turned and stared at the stranger. “Are you here to hurt the babies?”
“Nope, I’m just here for the money.”
“You know that he only said that to get out of jail, right?”
“According to him, his wife has the money. So I’m looking at you.”
“That’s a lie. He wants to take the money and take off for parts unknown, trying to get away from you. The police recorded him saying that earlier today.”
He stared at her, then turned to Tim. “Is that right?”
“Of course not,” he lied, glaring at her.
“Are you trying to get me killed too? I’m not even his wife.”
“Who are you then? Who is she?” The man glared at Timothy.
“Not his wife,” she repeated, staring at Tim. “Seems you’re a piece of shit who thought you could steal money from these guys.”
“You know about the money?” his friend asked.
“No, I only know what Tim’s told the police. You knew he was talking to the police, right? They recorded everything. Dingo was mentioned.”
Timothy opened his mouth and started yelling at her. The other guy’s face flushed, and his gaze narrowed as he faced Tim.
For his part, Tim, who was now quite pale, stared at her. “I don’t even know who the hell she is.” He snapped, “What the hell are you doing in my house?”
“Your house? The one you couldn’t get inside with your key just a few days ago?
You left your wife and kids almost a year ago and have been living with your mistress ever since.
So I’m here, looking after your babies,” she bit right back, glaring at him.
“Trying to protect them from pieces of shit like you.”
“Oh, she really doesn’t like you.” The stranger laughed, but no humor was in it.
Pamela asked the stranger, “Would you have any respect for a man who deliberately throws his wife under the bus and lets her take the beating instead of him for stealing Dingo’s drugs and selling them?
Then, with his wife still fighting for her life in the hospital, Tim, the asshole beside you, comes back here again, hoping to come up with an excuse as to why the money’s not here? ” she asked, staring at Tim.
The man considered her, then Tim, adding, “She’s got a point. You really are a piece of shit.”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m a piece of shit or not,” Tim said, his tone ugly. “I needed to get away, and you needed the money. I can’t handle this anymore.”
“Right,” Pamela muttered. “You can’t handle the fact that you procreated triplets, then left your wife to look after them the entire time by herself, finding a mistress to console yourself, while you whine about how tough it is.
Christ,” she said to the stranger, “why don’t you just take him out and dump him off a pier or something? ”
He stared at her, then started to laugh. “I think I like you.”
She closed her eyes. “I sure don’t like Tim. He’s a liar, he’s a cheat, and he hurt Talia,” she declared, with a scornful tone. “He is full of complete BS. You should never believe a word this piece of shit is telling you.”
“I didn’t hurt her,” Tim snapped.
“Whether you put the boots to her yourself or not, you literally put her in the position to take a beatdown intended for you. And still all you can do is stand here and whine about how tough having triplets is,” she spat. “You’re such a worthless piece of shit.”
Hearing a baby cry, she flounced back over to them.
The gunman raised his hand, holding a gun, and said, “I can’t let you go anywhere.”
She turned and glared at him. “If you don’t let me deal with these babies, it’ll get loud in here. Do you want to hear that?”
“She really has triplets?” the gunman asked, his eyebrows rising.
“Yeah, triplets, … all girls.”
He smiled. “That’s something to be proud of really.”
“Exactly, but not to Tim. Not this piece of shit in front of you. Not only did he abandon them himself, he let their mother get beaten within an inch of her life. That’s how he treated them.”
“Man, that really is shitty that you let them beat her up.”
“What was I supposed to do? I didn’t have any choice at the time.”
“Yeah, so that’s also suspicious, isn’t it?” Pamela asked. Now you’re back here, where you think you can keep blaming your wife—who’s in the hospital because of you? What excuse will you give now?”
Tim lied some more. “She found the money, and she must have put it somewhere. She must have hidden it.”
“Oh yeah, she must have done something with it, right?” Pamela laughed. “No money is here. On the other hand, maybe it’s at your girlfriend’s place.”
Tim looked at her in alarm.
She snorted. “Oh, I see how it is. So, you’re willing to let your wife get beat to shit but not your mistress, huh?”
At Tim’s silence, she pointed at the gunman and shared, “Her name is Alice Quinn.” She knew she shouldn’t have mentioned it, but she felt that rage inside her grow.
She could only hope that somebody was willing to help Alice Quinn because this situation would now be at her feet. “Or did you break up with her too?”
“I broke up with her a long time ago,” he stammered, and she heard the desperation in his tone as he glared at her. “I haven’t seen her in weeks.”
“But now you’re suddenly trying to visit your wife in the hospital. Why?”
“She’s got this damn house in her name,” Timothy yelled, followed by a dry laugh. “I need to sell it.”
“You don’t need to sell it because you got all that money from selling Dingo’s drugs.”
“I don’t have the drug money.”
“You did,” she declared, with a glare in his direction. “So, whether you admit it or not, the fact of the matter is, you sold the drugs, so you had the drug money. Whatever you did with either is completely on you.”
“Do you think he had it?” the stranger asked, waving his gun.
“I’m pretty sure he had it,” she stated, disgust in her tone. “Why wouldn’t he? We only just recently found out that drug money was involved.” She turned to glare at Tim. “What the hell?
He was starting to get angry too. “You don’t know anything about it.”
“No, I sure don’t. I just know I don’t trust you.”
The gunman laughed. “That’s at least a smart answer.” She turned and glared at him too, and he just glared back. “Watch it, lady.”
She shrugged. “I know you’re not here for me, yet, if I make myself difficult enough, you’ll be here for me.”
He looked at her and smiled. “I really do like you.”
She groaned. “I doubt that,” she countered, with a sigh. “Now, can I go to the babies or not?”
“I don’t hear them,” he said, and, oddly enough, they had stopped crying.
Just then, one of them started to cry again.
He nodded. “You can go to the babies, but you do not get to leave this house, do you hear me?” he asked. “I’m telling you now, if you do, I’ll come after you.”
“Right, more threats,” she muttered. “You two really do belong together.”
“No, we sure as hell don’t, but this asshole stole money from my boss, and, if I don’t get it back, I’m the one who’s in trouble.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” she said, frowning. “That’s how the buck gets passed, isn’t it? And, if you don’t get it back, your boss is then in trouble?”
“Yeah, that’s how it works, … and no way I’m prepared to get into trouble over this piece of shit,” the gunman noted, pointing at Tim.
“Yeah, me neither,” she declared, turning her glare on Tim. “You’ve really built up quite the fan club, haven’t you, Tim?”
“Just shut up,” he yelled.
She sneered at him and turned to head to the crying babies. The gunman followed, with Tim in tow. She walked into the spare bedroom downstairs with the big playpen in it, and the gunman stopped, saw them just waking up. “There really are three of them, aren’t there?”
“Yeah, they are triplets,” she stated, “and they didn’t do anything to deserve any of this.”
“Hey, I ain’t into killing babies,” he muttered.
“So, that’s one step too far,” she asked, “yet beating the crap out of their mother wasn’t?”
He flushed at that and shrugged. “Sometimes things just have to be done.”
“No, they don’t,” she declared, frowning at him. “Sometimes somebody needs to step up and stop this bullshit.” Then she turned and added, “You guys do whatever the hell you’re going to do, but I’ve got innocent babies to deal with, so please stay out of my way. And don’t scare these babies.”
And, with that, she turned her attention to the triplets and picked up Lisa One. “Easy, baby,” she murmured as she cuddled her. “And you’re wet too, aren’t you, honey?”
“They’re always wet,” Tim muttered, disgust filling his tone.
“They are babies, and that’s what they do,” she snapped. “What’s your excuse?” Timothy flushed and she nodded. “Yeah, keep your spewing to yourself. You can’t even tell them apart, can you? That’s what kind of a no-good father you are.”
He glared. “Nobody can tell them apart.”
“That’s not true,” she muttered, hoping it wasn’t true. “You know perfectly well Talia can tell them apart.”
He shrugged. “She always could, but I sure couldn’t,” he muttered.
“In order to tell them apart, you have to understand who they are,” she stated.
And, with that, the baby started to cry again, and a second one started to stir. She turned and looked at the gunman. “You want to just take Tim somewhere? This ass-wipe is upsetting the babies.”
“But if he’s their father, that should settle them down, right?”
“Yeah, well, you can see how they feel about that.”
By then, all three babies were fussing, the crying gradually getting louder and louder.
The gunman motioned to get Tim out of this room.
“See? All they do is cry,” Tim snapped. “I would be happy to never hear that sound again.”
“Good luck with that,” the gunman replied, laughing. “On the other hand, chances are pretty high that you won’t ever hear that sound again.”
With that, she got busy while she could, her hands nervous and fidgety as she worked her way through changing the babies, but she didn’t know what she was supposed to do afterward. She knew that Leland was somewhere nearby—and Anderson too—but neither one of them had shown up yet.
As soon as Leland had warned her, she had already twisted the doorknob, and he had slipped back into the shadows. She hadn’t seen any sign of him since that. Just as she finished changing the third diaper, she heard the softest of sounds behind her.
She pivoted and saw Anderson. He gave her a gentle smile, put a finger to his lips, then waited in the shadows.