Page 37 of Wire
Even before I finish my sentence she’s shaking her head at me. “No way. You won’t get rid of me that easy Wire whatever-your-last-name-is. I’m here for the long haul, just like you. Let’s see if we can’t get a hit on Snake and start running a background on that Officer Martin guy.”
I stare at her for a moment, touched that she wants to stay to help. “Harvey.”
“Huh?”
“My last name. It’s Harvey.”
She beams at me and it makes everything feel a little less shitty. We sit like that, me soaking in her smile while her eyesroam my face, for just a moment before we both turn to our screens and get to work.
Remy
“Miss Remy, are you tired?” I tip my head at the sound, taking in Jovie’s cute little face. Her brows furrowed with concern. “You have been yawning lots.” She says to me, this time raising her brows and nodding emphatically.
“I was up too late last night, Jovie.”
Wire and I sat up until well past my bedtime trying to look for any lead. Other than spotting Snake at a few places around town, we couldn’t find anything concrete leading us to where he and Hammer and whoever else has joined their gang are hiding.
However, at around midnight last night we struck gold. It seems the auctions are back up and running. This time it’s not the Russians, whose wings were clipped by Roman and his Bratva. Which is good news. The bad news is that we don’t know who is pulling Hammer’s strings. Typical.
“Well, you better go to bed nice and early tonight Miss Remy.” Jovie says, patting my hand and then heading off into the colorful bookshelves, no doubt looking for a new dinosaur book.
I take a quick look around and do a headcount of the children in my care, making sure I have them all. They have another 5 minutes of browsing before its dance party time, allowing me to drift back into my thoughts.
This morning, before I left for work Chewy set up a group call for the Com-Puta’s. She had somehow gotten her hands on the ME and forensics report for the woman that was found at Devil’s Big Tow. Not only had she been raped and beaten before being murdered; she had also been held captive for quite some time. She was malnourished and had scarring around her wrists from being restrained. My heart broke for her even more when the report stated that she had, at some stage in her life, given birth. Somewhere out there she has a baby that no longer has their mother.
I vowed then and there that I will find out who did this and I will make them pay. I know Chewy and Wire, heck, DRMC and the Death Riders will have my back on this. Hammer has lit a fire, a spark of something that I didn’t know I had in me, but now I can’t put out. I need someone to pay for all the awful things that have been happening. Shooting my dad, killing that poor woman, forcing others to smuggle drugs inside themselves on their way to their new owners. There is too much evil in this world and I want to fix that. What did Jovie say that day? Big things protect small things. Well, I’m going to be a big thing and I’m going to protect those who need it.
“Is it dance time yet, Miss?” Marcus, one of the boys, asks me, snapping me out of my thoughts of revenge. Shaking my head, I try not to snicker at myself. Me, Remy, the shy, invisible girl plotting destruction.
“Let me check the time, hmm?” Flicking my eyes up to the big colorful clock on the wall in the kids’ area.
“You’re right! It is definitely dance time. Let’s round up our friends.”
Between me and Marcus, we let everyone know to put all the books back on shelves, all their crafts in their backpacks, and everyone into the dance space. A smile blooms as I watch them organize themselves, using their ‘airplane arms’ to make surethey aren’t too close. With a nod from Jovie, I start the music. One boy asked for a Backstreet Boys song his dad likes, so all the kids are now grooving to music that is at least two decades older than them.
By the time the music fades out parents have started to arrive. The kids all give me clammy high fives and a few even give me a hug around the legs. I smile and wave as they say goodbye, holding hands with their parents excitedly telling them what we did today. They all trickle out until, as has become our norm, it’s just me and Jovie left behind.
“Did you eat today, Jovie?”
She pins me with her big brown eyes before looking down at her hands and shaking her head.
“Well, come on then, it’s picnic time for us,” I offer her my hand and then feel 10 feet tall when she beams up at me, putting her soft, little hand in mine.
I wink at Beth on the way past her front desk as she smiles at Jovie and nods my way. “I’ll call you when I see his car,” she mouths at me.
She’s been doing that since the night Jovie’s dad got aggressive. I give her a grateful smile and lead my little charge into the kitchen to gather our food before taking it outside to a little table set up for the librarian’s to enjoy on sunny days. It may be fall in Rose Grove, but the weather is still warm enough to enjoy the burnished gold and rich maroon leaves.
“Wow, I haven’t had a picnic since my momma was home,” Jovie’s face that was alight at the memory turns sad.
“Where is your momma, honey?”
She shrugs her little shoulders. “Dad said that she didn’t love me anymore, so she runned away but my momma wouldn’t runned away.”
The thought Jovie’s father saying such a thing to such a sweet little girl makes my blood boil.
“Your momma loves you. And I bet wherever she is, she is thinking about you every day.” I say gently.
She smiles up at me and then takes a big bite of the brownie that Debs made. The brownie that I triple checked was OK for children.