Wavy shrugged.
When Dad came home from work, he and Mom went into the den and argued for half an hour. Then Mom came out and called Aunt Val. The phone rang for ages, before Aunt Val answered. Mom’s whole face clenched up and she said, “Some man came here today to pick up your children. He said his name was Kellen. I was under the impression that Jesse Joe Kellen was a very young man, since Wavy told us he was her boyfriend.”
There was a long pause, as my mother wound the phone cord around her finger and then released it. Her face relaxed a little and she laughed.
“Of course, I know girls get crushes, but I am not about to hand your children over to some stranger who claims you sent him.
“Yes, not a stranger to her, but she’s only ten. She can’t be expected to look out for herself. It is not—”
My mother was going to have the last word until the doorbell rang. Dad answered it and the sound of Kellen introducing himself ended Mom’s conversation with Aunt Val.
Donal had been playing with his cars on the floor, but he was up in an instant, running into the front hall. When Kellen stepped into the room, he had a giggling Donal slung over his shoulder. Dad shrugged at Mom and said, “Are you kids ready to go?”
For once, Wavy led the packing. As Mom watched from the doorway, Kellen held the bag for Wavy to put Donal’s things in.
Next to my bed was a pile of Christmas presents that technically belonged to Wavy, including a blond Darci Cover Girl Model doll, two stuffed Smurfs, and a Mork and Mindy lunchbox. Ignoring all of that, Wavy pulled a book on constellations out of the pile. She handed it to Kellen with a smile and said, “For you.”
Mom had been particularly proud of that book. Something Wavy would like. Obviously she did like it, if she was giving it to Kellen, but my mother acted like Wavy had spit in her face.
After they were gone, Mom called her friend Sheila and said, “I just don’t know what to do about my niece.” I think she only said it to be saying it, because I’d heard enough of her fights with Dad to know there were only three things we could do about Wavy. We could let her and Donal come live with us, we could call Child Protective Services, or we could “leave well enough alone.” I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it was always the decision Mom and Dad came to.
3
KELLEN
August 1980
All Liam said about the pickup in Nagadoches was, “Your job is to be the biggest, scariest son of a bitch in the room.” I shoulda known it wasn’t gonna be that simple. What was supposed to take two days took four and when it was over, I’d done the one damn thing I’d always told Liam I wouldn’t do. I killed somebody.
Driving home, I told myself it was different from Liam sending me to kill some guy on purpose. I didn’t go down to Texas planning to kill them two Mexicans. They tried to kill me first. That was bad enough, but then Vic’s car broke down, and there we were on the side of the road with twenty kilos of coke in the trunk. Plus the cash for the buy.
Vic drove this white ’74 El Dorado Biarritz with red tufted leather seats. The car was waxed and polished and Armor-Alled like a showroom model, but under the hood, it was a goddamn mess.
“How long has it been since you changed the fucking oil?” I said.
Stupid bastard shrugged.
I’d been trying to keep my temper under control lately, stop getting in fights, but I couldn’t believe he was that stupid. I punched him.
“What the fuck?” Vic screamed, catching blood from his nose before it could drip on his shirt.
“You tell me what the fuck, you driving around in a car that doesn’t run. Do you think we can just flag down the highway patrol and get a tow?”
I pushed the car off the main road, sweating through the last pair of clean clothes I had. Then I spent two hours wedged up under the car, trying to get the bitch started.
We limped it to the next town, but there was no way that car was gonna make it back to Powell. So I called Danny at the shop and said, “Bring the flatbed.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to get a tow from there?” Danny was a good kid, but he smoked too much dope.
“Bring the tow truck. Tell Liam we’re running late.”
Six hours later, we had the car on the flatbed and got headed back to the ranch. I drove. As tired as I was, I was too pissed to put up with Danny or Vic driving. People said I was stupid, but at least I could follow some basic rules. Like don’t go on a drug buy in a car that might break down.