At Risk of Being a Fool (31 page)

“You
did
nark on me.” Ricardo’s bitterness cut through him. “Flaco, you piece of shit.”

“No! They guessed, just like I did. Come on!”

For a moment, he thought Ricardo would do it. He shone with that daredevil grin and sparkling black eyes, glittering with excitement. “Okay, Flaco, your way. Come on, boy. Follow me!”

Ricardo threw the pipe bomb to the floor, and soared down onto it, arms outstretched, laughter spinning wild, a demon flying into hell. Tonio leaped through the open wall, rolled, and ducked behind the tool shed as the building tore itself apart.

In the street, the car came closer and screeched to a halt.

“Mary, ohmigod, it’s exploded! Call 911, call the cops!”

The shooting star burned out.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

The face went straight to Jeanie’s heart, bypassing her mind. Husband, sister, sons, it was always that way. Recognition came first, a jolt to the heart, and then vision.

Brown hair lay close to his head, cropped short above Keith’s long face, and the flyaway ears. It baffled her that he could sleep that way, sitting in the chair, collapsed forward on her hospital bed, twisted sideways, as though he’d gone to sleep looking at her face. Six-foot-one, and thin as a rail, Keith lived every moment of his life at a dead run. In the past, his passions had been Dungeons and Dragons, skiing, and fencing. Just now, it was the dehumanizing life of a would-be actor in
Hollywood
. In a few years, it might be mountain climbing, or deep-sea diving. Or, she thought fondly, it might not.

It was thirteen hours of driving from
L.A.
, dead-heading it. He must have taken off instantly, when someone called him. It was so “Keith,” instant decision, action, and then a crash into oblivion. She didn’t touch him, didn’t want to wake him up, poor thing. Geoff would be here soon, no doubt. He was stuck with plane schedules.

Memory settled around her, a shroud of regret and depression.

Poor Quinto. When push came to shove, she knew it had to be Ricardo. She knew, too, that if she’d said the name first, neither Tonio nor Quinto would forgive her. Tonio wouldn’t budge, so she’d worked on Quinto.
Clumsy of me.
But she’d been hurting so badly. She hadn’t been thinking straight.

From day one, she’d seen Quinto’s hand sketching the two faces side by side, or facing each other across a sloppily written essay: Ricardo, his brother, and Danny Rivera, his mentor. There were two heroes, but only one Quinto. He was the prize in the engagement. Danny was winning, and Ricardo couldn’t bear it.

Keith’s eyes opened, blank and staring.

“Hello, angel,” she said.

Keith blinked, and life returned to his face. In twenty seconds, he was alert and focused. She’d seen this miracle in him since the day he was born. Geoff, on the other hand, required ice cubes down the back, and a gallon of coffee poured into the unresisting mouth. The two boys were night and day, chalk and cheese.

“Can’t keep you out of trouble for anything, can we?” said Keith, grinning.

Her own smile surfaced, irresistibly. “I’ve got to keep you boys alert.”

“I’ve got about a zillion things to tell you, to catch you up on things. Don’t talk, okay, or we’ll get sidetracked.” He waved a finger at her.

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“Where’s my notebook? Ah, here we go. I got in three hours ago. I checked your house to see about the pets. They weren’t there. Turns out one of your girls called Kherra at the Nest. Rita and Corrigan are both there, they’re fine, and they’ll stay there until you’re out of the hospital. Kherra says so. Got that? It was the first thing you were going to ask, wasn’t it?”

“Almost.”

“I can guess the next one, too. Geoff’s on the plane. He’s renting a car, and he’ll be down as soon as he can. He’ll get here this afternoon. He talked to Aunt Shell, and promised her we’d send a long e-mail with the entire situation. He also gave her the hospital phone number, and made her promise not to call you until this afternoon, our time. Oh yeah, while I was at the house, I found a package for you.”

Jeanie flinched.

“It’s not a bomb, I had the cops check it,” Keith said. “It’s from Julianne. She sent it a week ago. Funny, Julianne’s box getting to you right after this fiasco and just before Geoff did. Almost like she’s psychic, huh? Anyway, the box is right here.”

“Probably bulbs again.” Jeanie couldn’t help smiling at the thought.

“Well, yeah. Don’t fuss about your mail; the cops opened it, not me. I wasn’t violating your privacy. Okay? Right. Looks like a bag of dirt, but there was a letter in there too. She’s not supposed to put first class letters inside of a parcel post package, but the cops decided to overlook it this once. The letter’s there by the phone. So, are we all set on family and pets? Okay to move on?”

“Keith, I love you,” she said, her eyes tearing.

“I love you, too. Now, there’s a phone message,” he said, not missing a beat, “from Mackie Sandoval. It’s long, you ready? First, Mrs. Otero took Dillon by the ear, and made him choose a kitten from the Humane Association.” He frowned. “Does that make sense?”

“Yes.”

“Good, I was afraid it was my handwriting. Sorrel says she called Kherra about Tonio, and Kherra says she’ll take care of him. Something about Kherra chasing him off from the Nest one night. I don’t know what that’s about, but my money’s on Kherra, whatever it is. Sorrel says she’ll be by to see you later when,” he frowned at his handwriting, “she’s finished blackmailing Cuthbert. Amazing. By the way, Aunt Shell says we’re supposed to get Sorrel a dozen bottles of nail polish in rainbow shades, and a couple of sets of airbrushed fake fingernails. Ugh. Geoff’s siccing Julianne on it. She’s going nuts with nothing to do but worry.”

Keith took a deep breath while turning the page. “More from Mackie: Rosalie’s Dad heard about the explosion on the radio, and came dashing down hotfoot to take care of his baby. Brynna’s still shaking in a corner, but Mackie’s got her in tow. Randy got Quinto released to Danny Rivera, and the two of them have gone fishing for the weekend.”

“Wow,” said Jeanie. “When Mackie gets moving, she doesn’t let up for anything. Randy’s not even Quinto’s parole officer. I wonder how he shifted Mr. Maldonado.”

“Maldonado’s the one that wanted to put Rita through a metal detector, isn’t he?”

“Well, actually, I may have exaggerated that incident just a bit.”

Keith grinned at her. “Don’t tell me. I liked your first version just fine. I read it to some of my friends, and they about died laughing.”

“How’s your father? Did you go by to see him?”

Keith’s face stilled. “I talked to Nadezda. She says he’s fine. Same as usual.” His face tensed, but Jeanie put a finger over his lips. She ruffled his hair, and ran her hand down his cheek.

“You need to shave, Mr. Movie Star.”

“No, I don’t. They’re only interested in my body—well, my arm, to be precise.” He raised an eyebrow and took on a haughty look. “Including my elbow in the most recent soap commercial, you might want to know.”

“Be still, my heart!”

He grinned at her and touched her hand. “I do love you, mother mine. You drive me utterly insane, but I love you.”

“The feeling is mutual, every bit of it, silly one.”

After an hour, she managed to chase him off to her house, where he could catch a nap. He’d probably stay up late writing to Shell. She was glad he’d talked to Nadezda, and that Edward wasn’t worrying about her. She touched the thought delicately, like a sore tooth, and shied away from it.

“Mrs. McCoy?”

Estelle wheeled herself in, holding herself at her most formal. She wore a bronze tweed suit jacket. From the waist down, a matching throw blanket covered her. Jeanie’s eyebrows rose, and then lowered. “Nice outfit,” she said. “Pendleton wool?”

“Naturally.”

“Naturally,” mocked Jeanie. They looked at each other.

Estelle coughed behind her hand. “You were right,” she said.

“About what?”

“About my girls, about Bright Futures. It wasn’t all of them. It wasn’t even one of them. It was Ricardo Cervantes.” She smiled. “You’re so easy to read, Jeanie McCoy. Yes, of course, Brynna was involved. I’ll never know how much. But I rather doubt, all in all, that she was to blame for much besides slipping out, perhaps arranging a drug deal or two. I suspect,” she said deliberately, “that she can be rehabilitated, though I doubt I could do it myself. We have no rapport.”

Jeanie discovered her mouth had dropped open. She shut it.

“Not, mind you, Mrs. McCoy, that I am by any means discarding the justice model in the juvenile system. I want to make that perfectly clear. Supposedly, they rehabilitated Ricardo Cervantes, didn’t they? Consequences for actions are the only provable—” Estelle’s gaze fell to the blanket over the stump of her leg, and her voice broke, “provable means of—”

“Of preventing recidivism,” offered Jeanie.

“Precisely,” said Estelle, recovering.

“Hey,” came a voice from the doorway. Sorrel strode in, glancing from Estelle to Jeanie. She hesitated, set her chin, and moved to the other side of the bed. “Sorry to interrupt, when you got a visitor and all, but I had to take the chance when I could get it, you know?”

“I’m glad you came, Sorrel. Were you hurt at all?”

“Not at all.” Sorrel looked rueful, and then philosophical. No miscarriage, she meant. “God, can you believe that shit Ricardo? All those bombs. He was making them in his apartment, did you hear that? He had a stockpile in there, seven or eight more, the cops said. They had to evacuate the building just so they could search the place. Crazy. When did he find the time, that’s what I want to know! Working a forty-hour week, doing community service, then flying the Five to get down here and bomb the shit out of everybody.” She looked at Estelle, and seemed to consider. “I’m sorry you got so busted up. I hated your guts, but nobody deserves that. Good thing the bastard’s dead.”

Jeanie remained speechless. Trust Sorrel to sum the whole thing up in a few sentences.

Estelle unbent just a trifle. “I appreciate the sentiment, Miss Quintana. However, er, crudely expressed.”

Sorrel rolled her eyes. “Some people never change, no matter what you do to them,” she remarked. “But me, I’m changing. My whole family’s changing. That’s what I wanted to tell you, Jeanie. I talked to Mama last night—”

“Mrs. Cuthbert agreed to this long distance call?” said Estelle in tones of polite interest.

“Estelle,” said Jeanie. “Hush.”

Sorrel grinned. “Well, yeah, actually, she did. There’s stuff going on there, at Futures, you know? Anyway, I talked to Mama, and she said she’d check it out.”

“Check what out?” Jeanie asked.

“Kherra says the Circle K by Oriole’s Nest has an opening for a clerk, and that’s what Mama does. And, I happen to know, ‘cause I called him, your landlord has a two-bedroom unit open in that complex down the street from you, the one with the little playground? Top floor, right-hand side. So, if Mama gets the job, she, Tiffy, and Grandma are all moving down at the end of the month. If I pass my test—oh, hey! You didn’t hear. I passed the Writing Test, Mackie found out yesterday, just before the bomb went off. Isn’t that great!”

“Wonderful.”

“Damned right. So that just leaves the math, and I figured maybe two more weeks, and then I’ve done the whole damned enchilada.”

“Sorrel, one thing. The court job ends when you finish your GED.”

“And that’s another thing.” said Sorrel, a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, “Kherra says—”

Jeanie was inured to the phrase, “Kherra says.”

“—they’re always short-handed at the Nest, and she can get me on permanently.”

Despite a felony conviction? Kherra was pulling major strings. “You don’t mind that?”

“Mind it? I’d love it. It’s best thing, Jeanie, I love it there. At the courthouse, they were always trying to find work for me to do, but at the Nest, there’s so much to do, and no one has the time. It’s a
real
job, Jeanie, not a play one.”

“Not just a lot of butt-wiping?”

Sorrel threw back her head and laughed, a long roll of glee. “I can’t believe you said that, Jeanie. Well, so what if there’s a few butts to wipe? Those old ladies are worth the trouble.”

“I’m proud of you,” said Jeanie.

“Yeah, well. You don’t mind?” Suddenly, Sorrel looked young. “Us moving in, down the street from you?”

“I’ll be delighted to have you and your family as neighbors. All of your family.”

“Yeah, good. So, that’s okay, then. Besides, this way I can stay with Randy, not have to transfer or nothing.” She looked at her sandals for a moment, looked up with a shy and delighted smile, turned, and disappeared through the door.

A faint frown creased Estelle’s forehead. “Jeanie? Did you ever find out about the baby’s father?”

“No. Kherra believes Sorrel thought he was the bomber, and she’s greatly relieved that he wasn’t. Beyond that, she won’t say. Randy’s figured out the pregnancy, but he’s keeping quiet.”

Estelle’s glance was speculative. “I hope Randy isn’t the father?”