Page 113 of Beautifully Wounded

“Because I’m pretty fucking sure we have been. It looks like the Marx crew got directed to this warehouse too, and we split up to check some of the other locations only because Lewy noticed them all down, otherwise we’d all be here where I am.”

“I’ve got a bad fucking feeling about this,” Smitty mutters, “try to keep the Marx brothers on side. The last thing we fucking need is them deciding we’re their enemy when we fucking aren’t.”

Although the Marx brothers can be crazy motherfuckers, most of them at least have their heads screwed on right and are fair men. Their old man, on the other hand, well, he’s a fucking nutter. Seems to be getting worse the older he gets as well, so Smitty’s concerns are understandable, because even if Kendrick and his brothers don’t think we have a hand in whatever the fuck this is, it doesn’t mean Ewan won’t jump to his own fucking conclusions.

“Leave it with me,” I mutter before ending the call and rounding up the men.

Why do I get the fucking feeling shit is about to hit the fan?

25

My hands tremble as I peek through the thin curtain, trying to get a look at what’s happening out in the courtyard. I know Jols told me to hide in the bathroom, but then I heard yelling through the open window, and I need to listen to make sure everything is okay.

“Come on now. Everyone is sleeping. Can’t you come back later?” I hear Stocky’s voice, and my eyes find him standing before four cops, whose faces I cannot see, their backs to me.

“Do you seriously think we should believe over thirty men are sleeping at this time of day?” a deep authoritative tone asks, and my spine stiffens.

That voice…

Why do cops all sound the same? Do they teach them that at the police academy? Like a female newsreader is taught howto read the news with the same tone as all the other female newsreaders, are cops trained to sound the same too?

“It’s called a siesta.” Brody, the young guy that was doing a bad job of watching my door the other night, chuckles like it’s a joke, and one of the officers lurches forward and punches him square in the nose.

The crack of it travels all the way over to me, a gasp lodging in my throat as the Doxies standing around all release theirs in loud unison.

“Hey. Hey. Hey.” Stocky holds his hands up, gesturing for calm as Brody stumbles back, his hand flying to his nose where blood starts pouring from it.

Oh, my god.

What is happening?

“He’s just a dumb kid. There was no need to hit him.” Stocky points out, slowly sidestepping to put himself between the officer and Brody.

“Let’s stop wasting time.” That same deep authoritative voice says, and a memory slams into me.

“Let’s stop wasting time, Abbey. I know you don’t want anything bad to happen to your little sisters. So do everyone a favour, and just leave. If you don’t sign the statement, then this little misunderstanding never happened.”

No.

It can’t be him.

Surely not.

My trembling morphs into violent shaking tremors as tears prick the back of my eyes.

Calm down, Abbey. It’s just your mind playing tricks on you.

“Aligning with the regulations set by the state’s governing authority concerning the State of Emergency set in place due to the pandemic,” another authoritative voice speaks this time, and I notice how different it is from the first officer. “We have the right to search private premises without a warrant to ensure lockdown compliances. Anyone found to be in breach of the current governing laws could be issued fines up to twenty thousand dollars.”

“You can’t be serious?” Jols is the one to speak this time, stepping up beside Stocky.

“Oh, we are very serious.” The first officer sneers before rolling his shoulders back and yelling. “Start checking rooms!”

His bellow is loud, a few squeaks fly from some of the Doxies huddled together, and I get ready to run to the bathroom to hide, but when I see two of the officers move to the rooms across the other side of the yard, I stay in place, needing to know what’s happening.

“Officer, I don’t suppose you’d like a drink on this fine day?” an old guy asks, using his cane as he shuffles closer to the officers.

I’ve only noticed him once in the times I ventured out of the room. He’s never been in the crowd for the parties.

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