Chapter 10 #2
“One of the nurses told Howard that he needed to back off on the painkillers. He was taking them for the slightest pains. That’s not the way that she said it, of course, but you could tell that it didn’t make him happy at all to be told no on something.
” Devlin looked at Ivan when he spoke about the argument that he’d had with the doctors.
“I heard about that. He was telling them that he knew more about medicine than they ever would and that his body was a temple. The man had to be a hundred pounds overweight, and he told us that he had high blood pressure.”
“Stupid person.” Sen sat down on the couch next to Ivan and smiled.
“I don’t know how I feel about him being dead yet.
I know that he was my father, but for the most part, he had nothing to do with raising me.
Neither did my mother, for that matter. She stayed out of my life until I was older, and that suited me just fine. ”
“I’m here for you if you need anything. So you know, he did tell me that if you didn’t do what he wanted, he was going to take you out of the will.
I’ve not seen it as yet, but I would imagine that he had a lot of hoops you would have had to go through to get the money in the first place.
You might be better off if he had taken you out.
” She told them that she didn’t care one way or the other.
Her uncle had left her well off, and she didn’t have any worries.
“But for your mom. We’ll have to see what happens when she get out of jail.
I have no idea what sort of demands she’s going to put on you about him, but I think I’d be prepared if I were you. ”
“I will be. I think over the last several days I’ve been shown a lot of things that I didn’t know before.
Like the temperament of my father, for sure, but also my mother.
I think I’m going to be washing my hands of her as well before this is all over.
She’s told several people at the jail that she wants me dead, not to mention a few of the officers who are there.
That has to carry some weight, don’t you think?
” Devlin said he’d try to get her a longer stay, but didn’t know who the judge was.
“If it’s Rainer, then I think he’ll believe me when I tell him that she’s threatened me. ”
“He might not be able to be there for you at all. He’s too close to you, so that would make it a conflict of interest on his part.
” She said she’d never thought of that. “I don’t know how it works with judges.
I’ve personally never run into that kind of situation before.
However, lawyers can’t, and I’m sure you have heard that before working where you do. ”
“I think you might be right. I remember looking into that once for one of the other partners. The judge said that he wasn’t able to try the case because of his sister-in-law being a part of the defendant’s case.
” She looked like she was thinking hard on something, and he let her while he spoke to his brother.
When she spoke then, she remembered the case.
“No, I’m sure that a judge would have to recuse himself from a case since I work for him.
That might come back to bite him in the ass if he were to do that. ”
“Then she’ll have to wait until another judge can take her case.
That could take a while.” She asked if she’d have to stay in jail while they waited on that.
“That I know for sure. Yes, she’ll have to wait until some judge can preside over her case without any troubles.
That could be as much as another month. Or longer.
” She said she would hope for that. “Don’t rely on me for being right on that.
I’ve seen where a judge could come from another county to do a case just because the first judge was ill.
It will depend on the caseload of the second judge. ”
“Well, I don’t care. I hope she has to stay in jail for a long time.” Sen stood up, and the two of them did as well. “I need to take a nap. I’ve enjoyed taking a snooze in the afternoon, so I’m going to go up and try to rest. You two have fun.”
After she was gone, Ivan watched her as she walked away. Devlin said his name twice before he turned and looked at him. He asked if she was going to be all right. Shrugging, he said that he didn’t know for sure, but he thought that she was better than she’d ever been.
“That’s good.” Ivan said it was and smiled at him. “You’re looking sappy again. What’s going on with you? Did you deliver any more puppies?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did, but that’s not what has me ‘sappy’ as you called it.
I just realized how much I love my mate.
And yours is out there waiting to make you just as sappy.
” He said that he didn’t want to be sappy all the time.
“It’s a great feeling. One that I hope you have on your face for the rest of your life.
It’ll suit you, little brother, and I hope she’s just as sappy as you are. ”
~*~
“I’m going to kill her and her husband off as soon as I get out of here.
She should have come to see me at least once a day since I’ve been in here.
There is no telling what she’s done with his money without me around to make sure that she doesn’t spend it willy nilly like she does.
” However, Debra knew in her mind that Sen never spent a dime willy nilly; it was her that spent money stupidly.
“But hey, once I get it, I’m going to be on easy street. ”
“So you keep saying.” The officer had brought her something to eat and hadn’t walked away when she started talking to her.
It was all right with her. Debra was getting sick of her own company and needed someone to pay attention to her.
“There’s extras today if you want them. I have extra cake and sandwiches to have.
But you can’t have both. Decide now so that I can let the other officer know which one you’re taking. ”
“The cake.” Nodding, the officer left her to her meal.
They weren’t that bad, but she always thought that there could have been more of it.
Breakfast was plentiful, but lunch was a lot to be desired.
It was usually one sandwich with a piece of fruit and a slice of pie or cake.
She could have all the coffee or tea she wanted, but it was like drinking sludge, and she didn’t want more than a cupful with her meal.
“You’d think they’d want to take better care of me since I’m going to have all that money. ”
She didn’t know how she’d gotten it in her head that her brother had left Sen a great deal of money.
He’d never acted like he had anything more than a hundred bucks on him at any time.
It was more than she had on her, of course, but he never had credit cards on him.
He’d told her once that he didn’t believe in paying for things on credit, so he didn’t have any.
Everybody had credit cards. Even she had them, and she was broke all the time.
Debra thought about the last time she’d spoken to her brother.
It had been a fight as usual, but this time it wasn’t about Sen but money.
He’d told her that she had plenty enough coming to her, and without any kind of house payment or utilities, she should be on easy street.
Perhaps he was right, and she should have been, but she so liked to spend money.
And she thought that she was really good at it, too.
Laughing to herself, she thought of the look on Robert’s face when she told him how broke she was by the end of the month.
He tried to tell her that the money wasn’t going to last forever, she’d better be saving a bit of it back so she’d have something to live on.
She’d tried that once, and it didn’t work out for her.
Being on a budget was something that she’d never learned.
Now that the money had dried up, she’d rather kill someone than have to work out a way to have spendable money all the time.
Sen should have been taking care of her.
Debra didn’t have any friends. She knew people, but she’d not depend on them to come and help her if she was in a jam.
Sometimes that was just sad to her that she didn’t have anyone that she could depend on, but she’d get paid again, and all thoughts of having lunch with someone other than Sen would go away.
But of late, Sen wouldn’t have lunch with her either.
Something about rent being due or something along those lines.
Whatever. She was going to get out of here, then she’d be as rich as her brother had been.
Or at least she hoped so. Whatever Robert had left Sen, he should have known that she’d put up a fuss about it and would have to kill her daughter.
It would be his fault too if she ended up killing her, and she’d not go to jail.
He should have known that she’d do anything to get to the money. She’d knocked him around enough for it.
But that hadn’t worked out for her either. Debra had spent a month in jail when she’d knocked him around. And had his hospital bills taken out of her next check before it ever got to her. Which didn’t help her situation out at all when she was broke all the time.
She never really beat him, but did use a ball bat on him when she’d been there that day.
She’d been pissed off that none of his mail had past due written on it.
All of her credit card statements had that written on them every month.
That’s when he told her that he didn’t have any credit cards and had never used credit at all.
If he wanted something, he paid for it. She did the same thing, but after a few weeks of having something that she thought she wanted, it was no longer shiny to her.
That was how she came to be broke all the time and her credit cards past due. She just loved to spend money.