Alexander (13 page)

Glancing down at his notes, he wondered if he should tell Mr. Black about the old man and the boy. He’d seen a taxi come and go a few hours ago, but had been taking a leak and had missed if anyone had gotten out or into the thing. By the time he’d gotten his zipper up, the thing was pulling away. Then about twenty minutes later, the old man had left again. He’d figured the house was empty until about an hour ago.

He couldn’t begin to figure out rich people. So far as he was concerned, they were all nuts. Take Mr. Black. He had tons of stuff, big televisions, food in that big old house of his, but he seemed to always be looking for a way to get more. Jimmy looked over at his brother who was sleeping in the black SUV until his turn to watch for Mr. James.

They had nothing. Less than nothing, to be truthful. But they had a job, and sometimes, if they was real careful, they could go out with a pretty girl. ‘Course she had to be paid, and that’s why they didn’t do it much, but still it was enough for them.

He needed to follow this character James and he walked over to the car to get going. Jimmy started it up, did a u-turn, and followed. It never occurred to him that this James dude would know he was being followed and to take care. Jimmy thought everyone was too trusting and didn’t think this guy was any different. His cell phone rang as he was coming up behind the other man’s car at a light.

“
Have you found our friend yet?” Mr. Black said in way of greeting.

“
Didn’t know he was a friend, sir. Should I maybe tell him you wanna talk to him? Me and my brother, we’ve been doing it stealth like for the past few days. If he’s your friend, well, we co—”

“
He’s not my friend you fuck-tard. It’s just an expression,” Mr. Black snarled at him. Jimmy had a second of hot temper hit his system then he calmed as his boss continued. “Where the fuck is he? And I swear to Christ I will come up there and shoot you if you tell me you don’t know.”

“
He’s in the car in front of me. Got himself a big monster so it’s easy to follow. Don’t know where he’s headed just yet, but he is going there.” Jimmy looked over at his brother as he stirred. “He ain’t been at his house for a few days, just got back today. He ain’t got no security in yet, but there is some people working on the house. Construction guys.”

“
There was a boy with him. Do you see him? Is he with our target?” Jimmy tried to see if the kid was in the car, but he was sure he was in school, so that’s what he told Black.

“
Nah, he ain’t. The old man, he took him off to the school first thing. That kid goes to a fancy school for the gifted. They got them some tight security there.” Jimmy turned down the street when his “target” did. “He’s going to the mall. Can’t stand that place. Want I should wait in my car next to his or go in with him?”

Jimmy wanted to laugh at the man’s string of curse words. But wisely, he kept his laughter to himself and his mouth closed. This man had a wicked temper and Jimmy thought that even the two hundred or so miles wasn’t far enough away for him to get shot. So he waited.

“
I want you to report to me every day where he goes, who he meets, and how long he’s there. I want you to do this precisely and without any issues. Do I make myself clear?” Jimmy grinned at Mr. Black. “I’m paying you to keep an eye on him, and if he goes into the mall, then you fucking better be in there right behind him.”

After closing the phone, Jimmy left the car and entered the mall. It was a big place, Jimmy discovered, and it was looking like Christmas had done comed early.

The place was a three-level building with more shops in it than all of his home town of Shelbyville had all over it. And the smell of the restaurant was enough to make a body wish he hadn’t skipped his breakfast. It took him five minutes of wandering around before he found Mr. James. The man was in one of those nice, posh woman’s places. Grabbing himself a Danish and a coffee, Jimmy found a chair and sat down to wait.

~~~

Jack watched for his ride home. School had let out about ten minutes ago, but he wasn’t worried. He knew his grandpa Tom or Mr. Alex would be by soon. Jack wanted to get home; he knew that his mom was going to be there when he got there.

The house wasn’t really his home. He knew it was just a stopping place until his mom could find them another one. But he liked it. Mr. Alex had a pool and lots of room. The big television with cable had been fun at first, but Jack hadn’t ever watched all that much television before the fire and saw no reason to do so now. Then there were the guys from Stone Construction.

There were all sorts of things being done to the house. Jack thought that the rooms they were tearing down looked just fine before they started hacking at them, but didn’t comment. Sometimes adults terrified him. They didn’t like kids and especially ones that had no father and were poor.

He’d watched a man called Jared and another called Conley for hours over the weekend. Jack didn’t think they knew he was there so he sat quietly and tried to figure out what it was they were doing. When another big piece of white board came in the room, he watched as they set it against the wall and screwed it up. The drill had screamed out a noise as it set the screws. When Conley had turned to him, it was all Jack could do not to cringe.

“
You want to make a few bucks, kid?” Jack turned around to see who he might be speaking to. “You, I’m talking to you. You want to earn some pocket money?”

Jack stood up. “Yes, sir. No, sir. I mean…I can help you if you need me. But you don’t have to pay me. I’m just, I like watching what you’re doing.”

“
Yeah, we saw that. I need you to go down to the truck, the big green one with the silver tool box in the back. There’s a big box of screws on the lip. Here.” He handed Jack one of the screws from his apron. “This is the size we need. Got it?”

Jack nodded and took off. He was racing out the door when Mr. Alex came inside. He paused only long enough to tell him he was going to the truck. Mr. Alex told him to put his coat on. Laughing, Jack had found the boxes of screws, measured the ones in the box with the one he had, and hoped that he got the right one. He took the box up and was rewarded with an apron like they had on and a chance to use the screwdriver. Jack had been in heaven. He’d stayed out of the way as best he could and had asked only a few of the questions that had been burning through his head.

By then end of the day, he had ten dollars in his pocket and a promise of more next weekend if he wanted the job. That was still two days away and Jack couldn’t wait. His grandpa Tom walked up and sat down next to him.

“
Your momma is home. She looks good.” Grandpa Tom made no effort to get up and catch the bus home so Jack waited. “She’s gonna be a little tired for a bit so you don’t go badgering her for a couple of days.”

“
Yes, sir.” Jack didn’t know what that meant, but had a good idea. “Will we be moving soon, you think?”

Grandpa Tom looked out at the buses pulling away from the school. “Don’t think so. I wanted to have a talk with you, son. Man to man, all right?”

“
Yes, sir.” Jack didn’t like the sound of his voice, but he didn’t say anything. When he reached out and took Jack’s hand, he knew something was wrong.

“
First, I wanna tell you that your momma loves you. You know that, don’t you?” Jack nodded. “Well…if you know that then you know that she’d do anything for you. Anything. What she does now, it ain’t bad, it’s…”

Their bus pulled up and they both stood to get on it. Jack had his student pass and Grandpa Tom had his senior card. The two of them took a seat about halfway back and settled in. The ride would take about twenty minutes.

His mom had been honest with him. He knew who his father was. He also knew the man was his step grandfather. Jack also knew that he wasn’t supposed to know how he’d been conceived. But he’d heard his mom tell Vickie that he’d raped her that Steven had tied her to the bed after he’d drugged her and took her. He wasn’t quite clear on the taking part, but he knew it had to do with sex.

Jack looked up at his grandpa Tom and wondered if he’d taken anyone. He felt for some reason for all his talk about women that he hadn’t. When the bus stopped in front of Mr. Alex’s house, Jack stood to get off and waited for his grandpa Tom. He sat.

“
What is it, Grandpa Tom? What are you talking about?”

“
Never mind. Jacky-boy, I love you. Now get off this here contraption so I can get me to work. And behave. Alex has a good heart we don’t want to trample it with a bunch of questions, do we?” Jack shook his head.

With a quick kiss to his soft cheek, he got off the bus and walked up the driveway to the house. He hurried now. Jack couldn’t wait to see his mom and tell her about his job. He walked into the kitchen, a place where he’d been meeting her since he’d been going to school.

After what seemed to him to be a hundred million hugs, she finally let him go. He was sitting in the chair in the kitchen. Jack watched his mom cut up the vegetables. Her hands were shaking and her face looked like she’d been bawling. He hated it when she cried because it made him feel so useless. He pulled out his papers and showed them to her.

“
I got an A on my history exam today. The other kids were mad at me because I messed up the curve again. I didn’t let it bother me.” She read every answer on the test as he knew she would. “Do you think Mr. Alex will let me hang it on his refrigerator like we did at home?”

“
I’m not sure, honey. This is a bachelor’s home, not ours. He may not care for things on his refrigerator. Why don’t we hang it someplace where he doesn’t have to see it if he doesn’t want to?” Jack took the paper back and put it with the others. What was the point of having a refrigerator if you couldn’t hang papers on it?

“
When you think we’ll be leaving?” He saw her get hard in the back. He wished he hadn’t asked. “I mean we can stay as long as Mr. Alex wants us too, right?”

“
I don’t know. I’m going to go find a job tomorrow. And Miss Caroline said I could come and work for her again. I’m going to be cleaning Mr. James’ house too. That’ll be our room and board. And we aren’t guests here; we’re only here because he’s a generous man so you mind your manners.”

Jack nodded. He looked down at the plate of veggies his mom always made sure he had when he came home from school. He didn’t care for carrots, cooked or raw, but he ate them because she didn’t want him to get sick. He played with one stick as he thought about his job.

“
The guys who work here, Mr. Stone and Mr. Conley, they gave me a job the other day. They told me that I could work for them every weekend so long as you said it was okay.” He continued when she didn’t say no. “They said to tell you that I’d be safe with them. They are gonna show me how to make a living like a real man.”

He heard her burst of laughter and it made him smile. “You won’t be a pest to them, will you? They have a job to do too, you know?”

He was already nodding before she asked. “No, ma’am. Mr. Stone said I’d be fetching and towing for them. He said he’d buy me a root beer someday too. They paid me last week. Ten whole dollars.”

“
I think you mean fetching and toting for them. See that you mind your manners. And the money.” Jack held his breath. He was sure she was going to tell him he had to save it all. “You make sure that you thank them for it.”

~Chapter
14~

Saturday dawned bright and cold. Heather had been in the house for three days and three nights now and was no closer to finding a job than she had been before. She was released to go back to the bakery on Monday morning and was very happy for it. The house was spotless from top to bottom because with nothing better to do, she’d been cleaning up. And she was still sleeping in the servant’s room.

She tried to not think about his leaving her the other day. He’d not spoken of it since then and neither had she. In fact, they seldom spoke at all. She had been humiliated. More than that, she’d been hurt.

Now she was in the kitchen making muffins for the workers. She’d been up since before five and had already made several dozen. When she was upset, she had always turned to baking and she had been extremely upset. She turned to find Jack watching the back door for the first sign of his new boss.

“
Mom, do you suppose I can be a construction worker when I grow up?”

She hid her smile.

“
I mean, Mr. Stone owns his own company and everything. I think it would be cool.”

“
I’m sure you can do anything you set your mind to. But maybe you should wait until you’re older and get a job on one of the crews. You might decide it’s not for you. That’s why teenagers get jobs in the summer. It’s kind of like they’re trying on jobs for later.” She’d heard that on the news the other morning. “Besides, I think Mr. Stone might not like the competition.”

Jack nodded. He was watching the door like it was going to burst open at any second. She wasn’t sure what the men looked like that he’d worked for last weekend, but there were certainly enough of them around. He sat back down on the chair with a huff every time it opened and it wasn’t the men. She could almost feel sorry for Mr. Stone. Jack had a list of questions to ask the man when he got here.

Heather looked up when Mr. James walked in. She didn’t move when he started for her and when he reached around her for the coffee pot, she felt all the air in her lungs swish out. When he stood leaning against the counter drinking his coffee, she started to leave the room. He stopped her.