Star Bright (34 page)

“
I’ll try, but
I’m not making any promises.” Maria closed her eyes, and for the
first time she happily welcomed sleep.

Dave sat by her side for
a while and watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful and her lips
were still smiling. He kept waiting for a sob, or her face to
crease like it happened every night they slept in the same room,
but nothing happened. He always watched her when she slept and she
constantly had nightmares which always made her wake up and make
her rounds around the house. He didn’t ask her about it nor try to
stop her, it was how she felt safe and he let her do it.

Dave and Edna took turns
staying at the hospital, ignoring Maria’s protests. She wasn’t
scared anymore, the boogie man was dead and there was no need for
Dave and Edna to keep guard and watch over her.

The kids had only come to
visit her once since she got confined. Michael had grown tired of
the excuses why he couldn’t see his mother, and was determined to
do everything possible to see for himself that she was alright.
After an hour of issuing ultimatums and threats that Edna and Dave
knew he was serious about, he finally got to see her. Izzy of
course had no idea what was going on, but she diligently repeated
the words Michael had instructed her to say and had his back in
their little revolt. Dave has always been looking forward to the
day his daughter would start speaking full sentences, but he never
expected them to be boycott chants.

Maria thought it best to
keep the whole incident from Michael, so they told him she had an
accident. Maria only accepted to see them when the bruises on her
face had yellowed. The suspicious little boy didn’t completely
accept the story, but he didn’t ask about it. He’d seen those
bruises before, and it scared him to think someone hurt his mother
again.

After the kids left with
Edna, Dave and Maria talked and laughed about the revolt until she
fell asleep. She felt content and at ease that Michael hadn’t
probed for more information about the accident, it only meant his
mind wasn’t running like a grown up anymore, he was a kid
again.

Dave was watching her
sleep when a loud crash and Miguel’s yelling made him turn to the
door. Miguel was choking Johnson and yelling at him in Spanish, all
curse words. He looked at Maria to see if the commotion had
disturbed her, but she was still peacefully asleep. He carefully
moved out of the bed and rushed out of the room, closing the door
behind him.

He pulled Miguel off
Johnson and held him against the wall, “What’s wrong with
you?”

Miguel was red with fury,
his lethal eyes glued on the gasping pale Johnson, “Why don’t you
ask him?”

Johnson stood up
straight, his hand still rubbing his sore neck. He knew what would
happen once Dave found out, he was definitely a dead man. Why the
hell did he get involved with this family? Oh right, the money was
good, and now he might not be able to enjoy it.

Dave turned to him, his
hold still on Miguel, “What is he talking about?”

“
Well...”
Johnson started.

“
How hard is
it to just aim and shoot?” Miguel yelled, trying to fight off
Dave’s hold.

“
I did! And I
didn’t say the man was alive, I just said I couldn’t find his
body!” Johnson yelled back, taking a step behind.

“
Yeah, because
a corpse can stand up and walk away!”

“
What?” Dave
let go of him and turned to Johnson, “What are you guys talking
about?”

“
Ricky,”
Johnson started taking a few steps away from them, “He
might,
and I mean
maybe
,” Johnson prepared
himself for an attack, “still... be alive.”

Chapter
Twenty

Dave could feel his anger
surge through him as he lurched at Johnson, grabbing his neck and
pinning him hard against the wall, “You idiot!” he yelled, “It’s
been over a week, and now is when you decide to tell
us!”

Johnson held Dave’s
wrist, “I have people looking for him and there are some in the
hospital now.” he choked out, “He won’t be able to come anywhere
near here if he’s still alive. I promise.”

“
No, I’ll take
care of this. Maria is not to know about this fool’s mistake.”
Miguel marched down the hallway leaving Dave alone with
Johnson.

Dave let go of him and
turned to the door, his fingers in his hair. This was going to
destroy Maria, she was finally free and if she found out that her
freedom was elusive, it would crush her. She was going to be even
more scared and she was going to run again, that he was sure of.
She couldn’t find out about this. Miguel said he was going to take
care of it, and Dave was sure he would. How long do they have to
wait until the nightmare is finally over?

“
How is it he
keeps resurrecting from the dead?” Dave half yelled, punching the
wall.

“
That’s what I
said.” Johnson spoke behind him, “But why do we keep assuming he’s
alive, maybe he had an accomplice or someone was kind enough to get
rid of the body for us.”

Dave turned and looked at
him, restraining himself from jumping him again, “Why are you still
standing here and not looking for that bastard?”

Johnson took the cue loud
and clear. Without a word, he rushed away. Dave took a deep breath
before he went back into the room. Maria was wide awake with a
confused look on her face, “Why are you guys shouting?”

Dave pulled his best fake
smile and moved to sit next to her on the bed, “A little
disagreement, nothing for you to worry about.” he pulled her to him
and kissed the top of her head.

“
It sounded
like you and Miguel were shouting at someone and not each
other.”

“
One of his
men.” Dave began a swift lie, “came into the building
armed.”

Maria exhaled, “I
understand why he feels the need to be here, but why do his thugs
have to be here too?”

“
Are you ever
going to forgive your father?” Dave asked, glad the subject had
changed.

“
I have.” she
leaned against him, “It’s just, I don’t know what the next step
is.”

“
A hug and an
‘I love you daddy’ would be nice.” He put an arm around her,
careful not to press down on her injured side.

“
After
crawling comes walking, then running, so how about we cool our
jets?” It would be easier to do that, forget everything and start
calling the man papa. Dave, Michael and Edna would love that, but
she wasn’t there just yet. She had accepted he was now a constant
in her life, but she didn’t trust him yet.

“
I know it’s
going to take some time to trust him, but you can be nice to him in
the meantime.”

Maria turned to look up
at him, “What do you mean?”

“
Your words to
him are always less than five, when he comes next to you, you
freeze or make an effort not to pull away and you pretend to be
asleep when you’re alone with him.”

Maria felt embarrassed
that Dave had noticed all that, but she wasn’t going to force
herself to like him, “Okay Sherlock Holmes, what do you suggest I
do?”

He kissed her lips
lightly before he leaned back on her bed and pulled her against
him, “What you did with me. I could see you were uncomfortable
sometimes when I was around you without the kids, but we still had
long, fifteen word conversations.”

“
That’s
different, I liked Izzy and Michael liked you and you were funny.”
she weaved her fingers with his then brought them up to her lips
for a kiss, “And the lost look in your eyes was familiar to me and
yet you still made me feel safe around you.”

“
What lost
look?” Dave asked, perplexed.

Maria laughed, “You might
have everything in your life under your control, but when it came
to Izzy, you were always scared and lost.”

“
That’s true,
but you handled that situation for me like a pro.”

“
Well, it’s
the least I could do. You’ve done so much for me and Michael. You
put him in school, gave us a home and kept us safe and
happy.”

“
Not exactly.”
The cheer in Dave’s voice was completely gone. Was there an
accomplice or was Ricky still alive? Which of the two was worse to
deal with, the devil they knew or a stranger they had no idea was
in the picture in the first place. For all he knew, he could be
someone close to them just waiting to pick up where Ricky left
off.

This nightmare was never
going to end.

Maria raised her hand and
placed it on her cheek, “I shouldn’t have run off alone, so what
happened isn’t your fault.” she rubbed her slung arm gently with
her fingers before she weaved them with his. She remembered how she
got the gash on her hand, but she couldn’t remember how her
shoulder got dislocated, “And besides, if you were there, he would
have killed you. I’m happy how things turned out, I may be bruised
and broken, but what matters is that I’m safe and
happy.”

Dave’s jaw tightened at
the thought of Ricky and his side kick. He would gladly trade
places with Maria, but the only card left to play was killing Ricky
and making sure he stayed dead this time. He placed his head on top
of hers and put both arms around her, “You’ll always be safe and
happy, and that I promise you.”

“
So, does that
mean you’ll take care of my ‘papa’ situation?” She asked hopefully.
Whatever solution he had to make her comfortable around Miguel and
keep everyone happy, she’d take it.

Dave laughed,
“There is nothing I can do to fix
that
for you and anyway, you are the
only one who can take care of your ‘papa situation’.”

Dave stared blankly at
his laptop screen. His work seemed very insignificant, considering
what was going on in his life. With Ricky out there just waiting
for another opportunity to try and kill Maria, and Maria still in
the hospital under the illusion that she and Michael were finally
safe, why the hell should he be worrying about someone else’s
problems!

“
Dave.” Carol
started cautiously.

“
Whatever it
is, I’m not in the mood for it!” He yelled banging his laptop shut
and shoving his chair back as he stood up.

Carol stood half in the
door, deliberating how much of a risk taker she was, going into
Dave’s office when he was in that state, ready to take out his
aggression on anyone dumb enough to go near him. “It’s just that,”
she took a step in staying close to the door, “there is a man out
here who says he has information on Ricky.”

Dave turned sharply to
Carol, surprised and relieved. Finally, Jackson was beginning to be
worth all the money he was paying him, “Show him in.” he said,
anxiously crossing the room to stand in front of his
desk.

Relieved, Carol smiled
and opened the door wide so that the man could come in. The man had
a hat on that sat low, covering his face and he wore a long trench
coat and its collar stood up high, covering his cheeks, leaving
only his lips visible.

Dave stared at him
suspiciously. He never trusted anyone who found it necessary to
hide behind anything, and Humphrey Bogart here was sending off all
the warning bells.

“
Carol, shut
the door behind you.” Dave spoke, his eyes fixed suspiciously on
the man, “How may I help you, or better yet how can you help
me?”

The man waited for the
door to close behind him before he spoke, “You are the complete
opposite of what I thought you would be.” he said with a laugh,
pulling the collar of his trench coat down and taking his hat off,
“but trust Maria to bag the whole package, young, handsome, rich
and a name equated to Big Foot or Elvis depending on how one looks
at it. You are one hell of a bad ass Dave Greer.”

He looked at Dave and
cursed the fact he wasn’t an old man as he’d hoped. He looked rich
and he looked way more attractive in his expensive clothes, which
made Ricky’s resentment towards him grow even bigger. It was no
doubt Maria fell into his lap, the man looked like he had some
serious money.

Dave’s shock quickly
developed to a fiery boiling rage that flowed through him like
lava. “Ricky!” He uttered the name with such venom he could taste
the bile on his tongue.

“
The one and
only!” He said, with a wide grin, raising his hands to show himself
off.

“
What do you
want?” Dave spoke through a clenched jaw. He clenched his hands in
tight fists as he approached Ricky slowly, ready to beat the crap
out of him.

“
I just want
what is mine.” Ricky said, seriously, “My woman. You can keep the
brat, but not Maria.”

“
Considering
you just escaped death, why on earth would you come here to get
killed?” Dave said, taking two more steps towards him.

“
I like some
excitement in my life. Speaking of excitement.” Ricky pulled a
picture of Izzy from his pocket and held it up, “Doesn’t she
look...”

Before he could finish,
Dave’s fist took the rest of his words right out of his mouth. But
the punch was quickly returned by Ricky. They scuffled for a few
more seconds before Dave charged him. He hit him squarely on his
lower torso, where he had been shot. Ricky screamed and stiffened,
paralyzed in pain, which was only made worse when Dave carried him
through the window and on to Carol’s desk, breaking it with both
their weight.