Page 29 of Lord Have Mercy Part Four: Big Son

Maggie’s eyes flashed, and some deep-seated part of him that would always be the son of a formidable woman quailed beneath her look.

Before she could light into him, Reese shrugged and said, “She’ll be fine. She’s smart, and Tenny’s…Tenny.”

His phone screen pinged and lit up, and he scanned it. “They’re out and headed back.”

Colin let out a deep breath. “Thank Christ.”

Alex’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he reached for it in a hurry, hoping it was Dandridge with an update on the school front. Instead, the screen readMom. He hit decline with a twinge of guilt, but he couldn’t afford to be playing a round ofhi, baby, how are you, how’s work, fine, how are you.

But before he could put the phone away, it rang again. And then again. And again.

Dread pooled in his belly. Tina wasn’t the sort of mother who hassled.

“You gonna get that?” Colin asked, annoyed.

Alex thumbed to answer. “Hey, Mom.”

There was a pause. Then: “Hi, honey.” Her voice was friendly, but the timber of it was all wrong. Too high, stressed, but like she was trying to play it cool. “How are you?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Can’t a mother call her son?” Her laugh was hollow. “I heard you might be in town. Is that right?”

On the other end of the line, he heard movement, a low hiss of a voice that wasn’t Tina’s.

“Am I on speaker phone?” he asked.

“No.”

That voice hissed something else he couldn’t make out.

“Are you at home?”

“Yes.”

“Is someone with you who shouldn’t be?”

“Uh–” She swallowed audibly. “Uh-huh.”

“Fuck. Okay. Don’t panic. Stay there.”

“That’s sounds great, hon,” she said, and bless her heart, she was doing a good job at feigning brightness. “I’ll see you soon.”

Three faces looked at him expectantly, and for a moment, blood rushing to his head, pulse filling his ears until he could no longer hear the traffic outside or their neighbor’s too-loud TV, he wondered if this was a little like what Ava had felt when she arrived at the school and learned that Remy was missing. No: beentaken. His lips were numb, and panic spread like pins and needles across his skin, blanketing, but not yet engaging his adrenal glands.

Maggie sat forward. “What is it?”

When he tried to swallow, he realized his mouth was hanging open. “I’m pretty sure Boyle’s holding my mom hostage.”

~*~

When Tina told the crazy bitch holding the gun on her that Alex had agreed to come, she grinned broader than ever, makeup caking in the lines around her eyes, and stepped back to lean against the front of the sink. Gun still trained on Tina’s chest, she dug her own phone out of her cleavage and dialed.

“Hey, baby doll,” she greeted whoever was on the other end of the line. She smirked. “You’ll never guess who I’m having a little chat with.”

The words were muffled, but Tina could tell it was a man on the phone, his tone one of flat dismissal.

“No, wait, wait.” The woman’s smirk fell. “No, hey, listen. This is good. I figured out how to get that agent to come to you. I’m sitting here with his mama, and–”

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