Rachel pointed at Jean. “You can run… but you can’t hide. There will be blood.”
“Mark my words, Dad. She’ll cloak the secret in little clothes and hats with smiles and grins. When Uncle Gus and Johnny don’t get the drift, she’ll blurt the whole thing out to them with that sigh of frustration she does.”
“I wish to remind you of something, Daughter of Darkness,” Rachel stated with calm assurance.
Jean giggled but Sonny perceived intent and stared down at his homework paper. “What would that be, Momster?”
“You didn’t take your phone or iPad with you to the escape route.” Rachel snatched both items from Jean’s side of the table faster than a cobra.
“No!” Jean rushed the table, only to confront the Momster in full parental mode. Jean smacked the snorting Sonny in the back of his head. “Why didn’t you cover me, Cracker? I can tell you figured out what she would do.”
Sonny straightened in his chair. “You’re on your own, Viper. I don’t take sides in McCarty parental authority disputes. I have immunity as long as I maintain neutrality, right Nick?”
“Absolutely.”
*
Nick drove into the Salvatore’s driveway the next morning. Sonny ran out the door. Inside of a second, he was sitting next to Jean in the backseat. Deke looked at him curiously from between the two kids. Gus sat next to Nick in the passenger seat.
“My Dad’s coming out to talk with you, Nick,” Sonny told him. “He and Mom are upset about the school episode. It didn’t matter how many times I explained in detail what happened, he suspects there’s more to it.”
Nick shrugged. “There is. We’re early. No big deal.”
Nick walked to the door after shutting the car engine off. Phil Salvatore opened the door as Nick approached. Clarice waited just beyond the entrance, arms folded in her usual annoyed stance whenever Nick visited. Nick walked through the door with a smile and wave.
“Good morning. Sonny said you needed to talk with me.”
“I called a school board member I know,” Clarice said. “She told me Florence Nazari quit her job teaching at the school and won’t be back.”
“Well… there’s some news to brighten my morning,” Nick replied. “She never should have been given a teaching position there in the first place. She’s an idiot. My dog Deke has more common sense than she has. Thanks for the update. I’ll bring Sonny back after the kids do their homework.”
“That’s all you have to say?” Clarice flashed Nick her openmouthed, arm dropping stare of incredulity - a pose, Nick knew, would have earned her a bitch slapping, or stun-gunned, if Rachel had been with him.
“What more is there to say? Her husband and his friends tried to kidnap Jean in broad daylight. The authorities have all of them in custody.”
“Florence was trying to introduce another perspective to the kids at school. She was an amazing teacher with fortitude.” Clarice created an alternate reality on the fly without hesitation.
“You’re good, Clarice,” Nick replied. “You should write fiction. Flo tried to brainwash the kids about the death cult. That’s about the only thing she was good for.”
Phil and Clarice both gasped. “Death cult? Really, Nick? Those words offend. Islam is just like any other religion.”
“No… it’s not. If you’re that damn ignorant about the world, Phil, just keep your mouth shut. If all you wanted to do was talk at me about the blessings of Islam and their poor misunderstood murderous horde, save it for one of your other politically correct nitwits. You can all drink the Islamist Kool-Aid together. You do understand you’re coming to the defense of people who threatened Jean’s life, right?”
“Sometimes Jean doesn’t know her place. She-” Phil grabbed Clarice to quiet her, seeing cold blooded killer surface in Nick’s face.
“Don’t say anymore, Clarice.”
“I’d advise you two useful idiots to not speak until your survival instinct kicks in. What’s this all about? I know it can’t be only because Clarice needed to spew her self-righteous phony crap at me.”
Phil cleared his throat. “We…we’re worried maybe this latest episode of yours will put Sonny in danger.”
“From whom… peaceful Islam?”