Chapter 3 #2
“We pretty much sealed that deal growing up in our crazy Addison families, didn’t we, Vic?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Victoria said. “I should check on our stowaway.”
“Yeah, we gotta go,” Erin said. “Someone’s taking me out to Ronaldo’s tonight and then home for some bonding time.”
“Have fun.” Victoria locked the gate after them. “I’ll try not to wake you when I get home later.”
Erin didn’t turn around but simply raised one arm over her head and waved.
Victoria stopped by the security office to check the cameras again. None of them showed any open doors, which was good, but she also didn’t see Kimo’s unit on any of the cameras. She took a minute to study the paper map of camera placements. There it was. Camera twelve was out. What the hell?
“Another flag on the play,” Victoria said out loud.
She hustled out of the office to check on Kimo and the camera.
Upon closer inspection, she discovered that camera twelve’s wire wasn’t connected.
She didn’t fix it while Kimo was there or even let him know that she’d noticed it, preferring not to tip her hand.
She would continue to investigate all the red flags that Erin hadn’t seemed to notice.
Forty-five minutes later, she escorted Kimo out the gate and locked herself in the storage area alone.
She walked away slowly so she could make sure he got in his car and drove away.
He did. She made a mental note of the make and model of his car and would take note of the license plate at the first opportunity.
She grabbed a step stool from the office and then walked along the dimly lit rows of storage units to the back corner.
She reached up and nudged camera twelve’s wire back into place.
Innocent error or subterfuge? She didn’t yet know, but would be on guard, literally, to find out.
She willed herself to chill. Maybe she was seeing shadows where there weren’t any. But this was her beloved cousin’s livelihood, and she didn’t want anything to ruin it. Of all the cousins, Erin was the innocent one. Victoria? Not so much. Donny and Eddie? Not a chance.
At midnight, six hours into her twelve-hour shift, Victoria was bored out of her mind.
It was Friday fucking night. By this time, she should have a woman or two in her bed.
But she didn’t have a bed. And she now worked nights.
She needed to check out the scene at Venus Rising and see how much it had changed.
The fact that a lesbian bar was still alive and thriving in this day and age was surprising.
Obviously, there was a need for it. And she should be there, damn it.
She should do another round, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually stand up.
Camera twelve was now working great. Kimo hadn’t snuck back in and tried to sleep in his unit.
And he wouldn’t. Not on her watch, anyway.
She pulled out her phone and logged into Kinks.
A warm feeling spread through her. Madison had left her a message.
little_peanut: Hi, Daddy Vic! 1. I miss you.
2. You should visit. Come back for the Masquerade Ball in December.
3. I’m taking this course called Organic Chemistry.
The professor makes it so complicated. I just read the book and it makes sense.
4. I’m also taking the most amazing course in the world called Ohio Birds.
We have a field trip out in the wild soon.
We’re doing this annual bird count thing.
Miss Jaleesa is coming with me to chaperone (jk.
She’s a bird brain like me). 5. I miss you, Daddy Vic.
6. Okay, bye for now. 7. Wait! I forgot one. Write me back. Please?
Daddy Vic: You sound exceptionally busy, Squirt! I miss you, too. I’ll think about the masquerade ball. I have a good job here and a place to live, so don’t worry about me. Did you know there’s a dungeon here in Indianapolis, too? Almost like home.
She hit send before she realized that she’d just called Denton Heights “home.”
“Shit,” she said out loud. “It’s just going to take time.” Indianapolis had been her home for eighteen years, and it would be again. Her phone dinged in her hand. It was a text message.
Rowena: Come home.
Victoria hit the call button. “What the fuck are you doing up? It’s after midnight.” she said to her best friend.
“Friday night at the opera,” Rowena said. “Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. You would have hated it.”
“No doubt. Have fun?”
“Always.” Rowena said something low, probably to her submissive Minjung, and then said, “Come home, asshole. Why’d you run?”
“I didn’t run,” Victoria said. Even she heard the defensive tone in her voice.
“Call it what you want, but if it quacks like a duck—”
“Shut the hell up,” Victoria said. She and Rowena had this bantering way of speaking to each other, especially when hard truths needed to be said. “I’m making a life here.”
“You had one in Denton Heights.”
“Who wants me there?”
“I do,” Rowena said. “Madison does. Everyone does.”
“Pfft,” Victoria scoffed. “Doubt that.”
“It’s just going to take some time for all of it to die down, I think.”
Victoria had no response. She checked the cameras. All was well.
“Listen,” Rowena said again, this time more quietly, “Madison is having a hard time over you leaving like that. I am, too, honestly. I’ve got all your shit in your room here, but not you.”
“You asking me out?” Victoria said with a laugh.
Rowena got the humor, she always did, and said, “Oh, shut the hell up, Victoria. I know you need time to gather your thoughts. So, get to gathering. See a shrink if you have to but come home.”
Victoria ignored the shrink comment and said, “Once I get an apartment, I’ll send for my shit. Or come get it. Whatever.”
There was silence on the other end.
“Hey, I’m working,” Victoria said. “I gotta go.”
“Miss you.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
“Come ho—,” Rowena was saying as Victoria hung up.
Her friend meant well, but she had no idea how it felt to be the community fuck-up.
Six more hours later, her shift was finally over.
Miguel relieved her. He worked part-time with a rotating schedule, so Victoria could get two nights off a week and Erin could get whatever time off she needed.
She was the big boss, after all. She told Miguel she had basically nothing to report, except walking Kimo out at precisely 7:02 pm.
She almost mentioned the camera twelve issues, but decided to keep that one close to the vest because she wasn’t sure who to trust. She had recon to do first and would recheck the next night.
She was one block away from Erin’s apartment when her phone rang. She glanced down at the caller ID. Oh, shit. It said, “Inmate call from Stateville Correctional Facility.”
She picked up. “Yes,” she said to the automated voice that asked if she wanted to take the call. After a few clicking sounds, the call went through. “Hey, Dad.”
His laughter was a welcoming sound, as much as she’d hated him for a while. “How are you settling in? Your Uncle Jimmy said Erin hired you.”
“Yeah, I’m doing good there. I’m figuring shit out.”
“Uncle Jimmy keeps me stocked with phone cards, but you never know when these calls cut out. I wanted to hear your voice, and even though there’s not much I can do for you from here, I’m still your dad and want to help.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said. “I’m okay. We Addisons always land on our feet.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “But sometimes it’s on the back of someone else.”
“I hear that.” And she did hear what he was saying, loud and clear.
It was unspoken knowledge that her father had taken the fall for a poorly planned job they’d tried to pull in Chicago.
She never found out, and never wanted to ask, what they were trying to steal at the shipping docks up there, but her father was the one that had gotten caught.
And he never snitched. That was a prideful Addison trait.
You could be a grade-A asshole, but as long as you weren’t a snitch, then all was well.
“I just want to caution you, Vic,” he said, his voice crackling over the line. “Those idiot cousins of yours. Don’t get involved. You wouldn’t like it in a place like this.”
“I have no intention of having anything to do with them, Dad. My days of following their lead are long gone. I haven’t even seen them yet, actually.”
“You will,” he laughed. “Your Aunt Jenny loves any excuse to cook. And tag, you’re it.” He laughed again. “What I wouldn’t do to be there with you.” This time, his voice sounded wistful.
“I should come visit you, Dad.”
“No,” he said quickly. “As much as I would love that, I don’t want you anywhere near this place. Ever. You hear me?”
Ahh, there was the tone she knew and didn’t love as a kid. “Yes, sir,” she said, automatically slipping back into her childhood. “I won’t. How many more?”
“Five with good behavior,” he said. “I’m working on that. I got a job in the kitchen, you know. Remember when you worked KP in boot camp?”
“Sure.” She smiled. That had been one of her lies. She never told him she’d been a lunch lady in an elementary school, and simply said she’d been working KP. And he bought it. Lying ran in the family.
“Have you called your mother?”
“Why would I?”
“She’s your mother.”
“She’s living her vida loca in France or Spain or somewhere.”
“The Netherlands,” her father corrected. “And again, she’s your mother. Family first, Victoria.”
“If you say so.” Yes, she was bitter. Her mother left when she was ten.
Just up and left, saying she wanted nothing more to do with Tommy Addison, the hardworking contractor with a small-time criminal habit.
But didn’t she realize, didn’t she understand that when she left Tommy Addison, she also left ten-year-old Victoria? Apparently not, so good riddance.
They talked for a few more minutes, and then her father’s phone card ran out.
It had been good to talk to him. She hadn’t done much of that in Denton Heights.
Maybe once a year around Christmas. And honestly, she was relieved that he didn’t want her to visit him in prison.
She’d come close to getting sent to one herself, thanks to her cousins Tweedledee and Tweedledum. But still, she was no snitch.