Page 89 of Bad Seed

Judith blew her nose. “Call me Judith. We are cool. I want to come see Harley now.”

“You can’t. Not until the threat to her life is over. If the bad guy finds out she’s still alive and can’t get to her, there’s every likelihood he’d target people she loves to draw her out. The best thing you can do for her is abide by the authorities’ requests.” Then he winked at Harley. “Harley, darlin’, wipe the mayo off your fingers. Your mama wants to talk to you.”

Harley blew him a kiss and took the phone. “So, Mom, to quote the man…are we cool?”

“Yes. Is he as yummy as he sounds? What does he look like?”

“Yes. Six feet, seven inches of Scottish and Chickasaw ancestry. I’ll send a picture. Not of me. I still have the bandage above my ear and bacon grease on my face.”

Judith groaned. “You are such a brash, outrageous thing, and I’m beginning to realize I might be a little envious of your dash-and-be-damned attitude.”

“Hang on a sec,” Harley said, and pulled up the camera feature. “Brendan, turn just a little bit this way and smile for the camera. Mom wants to know what you look like.”

“Where’s my biker gear when I need it,” he said, and then put his hands on his hips and grinned.

Harley was laughing aloud when she snapped the picture, imagining what her mother would have thought if her first sight of him had been in Terminator gear.

She glanced at the photo, gave him a thumbs-up, and hit Send, then went back to the call. “I just sent you a picture.”

“Hold on, I want to look,” Judith said.

Harley waited, but not for long before her mother was back, and then all she could say was, “Oh. My. Lord.”

“I know. Listen, Mom. You know how Dad is. I’m not asking you to lie to him, but if he disregards any aspect of what you’ve been told, I’ll wipe the freaking floor with him. I have all I can handle without him turning into bully boy. Do you understand?”

“Implicitly,” Judith said. “I love you. Please, one of you keep me in the loop…and I can’t wait to plan the biggest wedding on the planet.”

“Oh. Are you and Dad renewing your vows?” she asked.

Judith laughed. “No, silly. I meant yours.”

“Well, don’t even start, because that’s not how it’s going to happen, and I’m not arguing about it. Love you. Gotta go.”

Brendan had seen the angry flash in Harley’s eyes again, but didn’t ask why. The war between her and her parents was too old for him to understand the nuances of her caution, and as long as no one was messing with her, he wouldn’t interfere.

She pointed at her pie. “I’m saving this for later, so when I put it in the mini-fridge, it doesn’t mean it’s leftovers. It’s still mine, okay?”

He burst out laughing, then wrapped his arms around her.

“Why do I feel like there’s more to your reaction than what I said?” she asked.

“Because that’s basically the same thing my mother and three brothers always said to me when they began putting leftovers away. ‘BJ, just because we didn’t eat it now doesn’t mean it has become your property,’ so I promise it will be safe. I’ll clean up. Lie down for a while if you need to.”

“No, I’m so close to finishing this. I want to work for a bit more. If my head starts hurting worse,I’ll quit…and thank you for enduring the family interrogation.”

He shrugged. “It was inevitable and it’s over with, honey. And I promise my mother will love you on sight before you even open your mouth, because she loves who her sons love.”

He began clearing off the table as she went back to work.

***

It was coming up on 4:00 p.m. when the sounds of an inbound helicopter filled the air.

Liz quit what she was working on and headed for the lobby.

Larry Beaumont was finishing up a report and paused to listen, wondering if the chopper was landing here or at Hotel Devon.

Brendan heard the chopper and walked out onto the balcony to make sure it wasn’t a Medi-Flight heading to the hospital. Those were the chopper flights nobody wanted to see.

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