Page 108 of Past Due

“Besian and I aren’t you and Mom. Our relationship—our love—is different.”

“It’s not,” he argued. “It’s all the same.”

“Maybe,” I said, not wanting to fight with him. “You and Mom weren’t always so miserable. I can remember how happy you both were. When you used to sing her songs and make her laugh and dance with you in the kitchen,” I insisted. “Do you remember that? You doing your best Sammy Kershaw impression while you sang Queen of My Double Wide Trailer?”

Spider’s glower faded, and he actually smiled. “Shit, I can’t believe you remember that. You were so little.”

I moved to the left side of his bed and carefully grasped his hand. “I remember all of the good times we had as a family. The bad stuff, too,” I admitted, “but the good stuff the most. You’re the only daddy I ever had, and I love you. I wish you had been there to give me away,” I confessed tearfully. “That’s one of my only regrets about the way we did it.”

“If I had been there, you wouldn’t have gone down that aisle,” he said cruelly. “I would have dragged you out of there kicking and screaming.”

“Why do you hate the idea of me marrying Besian so much?”

“Because this isn’t the life you were supposed to live!” he shouted angrily. “Jesus Christ, Marley! If you had any idea the things I did to make your life better! The things I did to make sure you could go to college! You were supposed to meet a lawyer or a doctor or a politician. You were supposed to get married, move to River Oaks or the Woodlands or Piney Point and live a quiet, respectable life.”

“That’s not the life I want.”

“You don’t know what you want! You think being married to that man is going to be easy? You have no idea what he’s really like. You don’t even know him!”

“I know that I love him, and he loves me.”

Spider laughed harshly. “Love? You think that man can love you? I’ve known Besian a long time, sweetheart, and the only thing that man loves is money.”

“That’s not true.”

“You really think you’ll ever be enough for him?” Spider asked meanly. “You married a man who has fucked every stripper in this town, and you think that love is going to be enough to keep him faithful? To keep him loyal?”

I swallowed hard at the hateful things he spewed. “I didn’t come here to fight with you.”

“Why did you come?” he snarled. “If it’s to ask me where your whore of a mother is—”

“No, that’s not why I came,” I interrupted. “But, if you know where she is, I hope you’ll tell me because coming home last night and finding a dead body in my kitchen that looked just like my mother was not a very nice experience.”

Spider’s angry scowl vanished. “A dead body? In your house?”

I nodded sadly. “I spent hours at the police station being questioned about Mom and the body.”

“Was it Kim?”

I shook my head. “No, and I didn’t recognize the dead woman either. Wherever Mom is, she took all of my money. She hasn’t answered any of my messages in almost two weeks. She’s not using her phone. Her car is missing. If she’s alive, she’s probably in trouble.”

“Kim’s always been in trouble,” he grumbled. Then, soberly, he said, “I don’t know where Kim is, but if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Wherever she is, she better stay there. Away from you,” he added. “Whatever mess she’s made now will only get you hurt.”

“And what about the mess you made?” I asked, forcing him to accept his part when it came to putting me in danger.

“There wasn’t a goddamn thing at the club that could have warranted a raid,” he snapped. “Yeah, there was a shootout, but they shot first. We didn’t have shit on the premises. A couple of guns? Sure, but they were legal. No drugs. Nothing stolen. Nothing illegal. That place was clean.”

“Then why did they raid it?”

“Clearly, someone set us up.”

“I don’t think you should say anything else,” I hurriedly quieted him. “Not unless you have a lawyer in here so your conversation is protected by client-attorney privilege.”

“I doubt my public defender is going to give two squirts of piss about my suspicions.”

I cringed at the awful way he described his possible lawyer. “You won’t have a public defender. We’re hiring you a proper defense team. One that works federal cases.”

“Save your money. I don’t want a fancy lawyer.”

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