Page 22 of Wire
“There’s a motherfucker that has been hanging around the towing yard. Messy, unkempt. Probably on drugs with how thin he is. Wondering if you could keep an eye on him? I scared him away the other day. He ran into that alley between us and that derelict place next door. But then Sniper spotted him again when he was leaving for a callout.”
Spinning to my screens, I pull up all the cameras we have on the yard. The tow business is always busy due to us being the only tow service in town. We have a yard attached to the main business where we keep busted cars for scrap and all that shit. Scanning the cameras, I mention to Tank that I don’t see anything.
“That’s because he’s a sneaky fucker. We think he’s getting in down the back, through the hole in the fence. We’ve patched it up but to be sure, do you think you could up security over there?”
“Sure thing. I’ll order some of the new shit that Gus and the Tombs have gotten in. They’re coming today to drop in some real slick comms watches, complete with tiny little ear pieces for us.”
Tank lets out a low, impressed whistle. “That sounds like military grade shit.”
I nod in agreement. I have an idea that whenever they contract to the FBI or CIA or any other agencies only known by initials, that Chewy demands they pay in tech. Thank fuck she attached herself to us because we get kick backs like all this good shit.
“Sure does. I’ll get this shit handled and then I’ll be out to install. Keep an eye on him, yeah?”
Tank nods and heads on out while I go back to checking my cameras in case I missed something. All I need is a clear pic of the asshole and I can run facial recognition on him. Another perk of knowing Chewy. Speaking of, I can hear low cursing coming my way and with the cadence of the steps and how heavy they are, I know Marx is on the warpath.
“I swear to all that’s fucking holy, if you don’t get away from me Chewy, I WILL ban you from this clubhouse.”
“Aw Marx, I very much appreciate it when you bust my lady balls.”
Looking over my shoulder, I see they are now in my doorway, Marx glowering at Chewy, who is beaming up at him. I try to make my face look as neutral as possible, but I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle.
“Wire! Give Chewy a job. Any fucking job.” He jabs his finger my way and I give him a half assed salute before he storms off.
“Best friend ever!”
Remy
I take a quick headcount to make sure all my afternoon kiddos are where they’re meant to be. Which at this time of the afternoon seems to be sprawled all over the floor and in various bean bags looking at whatever book took their fancy today. We’ve already done our craft for the afternoon, we made origami bookmarks with googly eyes. At one point, one of my most mischievous boys went around and stuck them to the fronts of a few romance novels featuring couples on the cover. While hilarious, I had to scold him and try to pick them off.
I drift my gaze over the kids once more, coming to a stop at Jovie. Over the past few weeks, she has become a bright spot in my day, and hopefully I’m one in hers. I have noticed that she has been looking increasingly disheveled lately. Her curly pigtails are looking more and more askew and knotted, as if she’s been sleeping with them in and she’s been in the same clothes for a couple of days now. I wanted to have a word with her dad, but he seems to never get out of the car to collect her, just swings the door open for her to climb in before peeling out. If his dangerous driving didn’t already worry me, the sunken in cheeks and wild eyes peering through the windscreen at me would have.
She must feel my eyes on her because big brown eyes find mine and she breaks out into a grin. Her little gapped tooth smile making me forget my worries for her and my dad.His recovery is taking longer than expected thanks to a nasty infection, but he’s now getting out and about a bit more, even if it is just around the compound. I was so happy when Savage agreed to leave him at DRMC to recover. I never noticed how far apart we had drifted once I moved out. Even Sunny has come to visit a few times on her days off, much to the chagrin of two bikers who have their eyes on her.
Flicking my eyes to the clock, I see that it’s time for the Library Dance party so I let my little friends know and we dance our hearts out very quietly to the three songs they all managed to agree on.
Before I know it, parents have started to trickle in, so I round up the kids, make sure they have their crafts and start with the goodbye high fives, handing them off to their waiting parents.
“You know I’m still surprised she left her with him. Why wouldn’t she leave her with family?”
“It’s because they have no other family. He’s all she has,”
“Hmph. Can’t child services get involved? We all know she’s not safe?”
I listen in as two moms whisper back and forth between themselves and I’m guessing they’re talking about Jovie. Luckily, she seems none the wiser as she sits waiting for her dad’s piece of junk car to drive up. He must be running late today because he’s usually one of the first parents here.
“Jovie, do you want to help me do some tidying while we wait for your dad?” I offer, wanting to keep her mind off why her dad hasn’t shown up yet. We make ourselves busy and soon enough the children’s library section is void of my after school programme kids. Glancing at the time, I see that he’s over an hour late. A small rumbling noise beside me has me glancing down at my little friend.
“Jovie, when was the last time you ate, sweetie?”
She rubs her nose for a bit and I can see she’s wracking her little brain to remember.
“How about a snack, huh? Follow me. I have something special in my lunchbox just for you.”
She beams up at me, and I feel like a superhero. Taking her into the small staff area, I open my lunchbox and thank the stars that I wasn’t that hungry today. I get Jovie set up at the table and hand her one half of my ham salad sandwich, a packet of chips and an apple.
“There you go! Have at it. I’ll wait right here with you.”
“But don’t you have kids to look after, Miss Remy?”