Ding Dong!! Is She Dead? (5 page)

Allie considered it her mission to bring cheer to others by making the people around her laugh whenever possible. “Today’s story was about a little girl of two, who was playing with empty pots and pans on her mom’s floor. The Mommy walked in and asked her, ‘What she are you cooking?’ The little girl replied, ’The Children.’ Her mother was horrified, ‘What do you mean you are cooking the children?’ The little girl rolled her eyes, ’Mom, I’m cooking Hansel and Gretel.’ Needless to say that the mother was very careful which fairytales, she read to her daughter from then on.”

Once, all the ladies had laughed, Allie directed the conversation back to her topic of beauty products that were on sale and which ones they needed. “So who has hairy warts that they need to hide with some great concealer?” It was so early that there were not many customers coming into the bank; so the ladies were able to pick out their orders without feeling hurried. The box emptied quickly as each lady claimed her order and gave Allie the next one. Allie was able to do her deposit, walking out of there with four new orders and two of her demo perfumes sold. Only eight more perfumes to sell so that she could make the weekly goal. She hoped that she would have enough time this week in between helping Megan with Sally to accomplish her deliveries this week. She wasn’t as worried about making tons of sales this week. Just knowing that she could be flexible when it was needed made this job wonderful. That was the best thing about this type of work; being able to rearrange the schedule whenever situations came to the surface without having to inform a boss or ask for time off.

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Back at the hospital early, Allie had managed to get everything from both yesterday and today taken care of. After lunch she planned to run and get the car seat, talk with her boss and see if he could live without her until Friday night when things got really busy at the bar. The doctor had already been in and seemed to think that with another night of rest, Megan might be able go home tomorrow. Although, the doctor wanted her to completely rest, Allie was not sure that would happen as much as they would like.

“I am feeling better and the doctor thinks that my concussion is gone, now I’m down to just a good old headache. I will still be careful the next few days so that I don’t reinjure it. I hate to impose, but do you think that we could stay with you for a few days until I get back on my feet?” Megan looked so vulnerable and there was no way Allie would ever refuse to help.

“Absolutely!” Allie remembered when she first came to Texas and those lonely days in WITSEC protection, she wouldn’t have wished that on anyone. “Who else can watch out for my friends better than I can? I really can’t think of anything I would rather do.”

“It should only be for a few days until I can move around. The Umbrella Shelter ladies were here this morning and they have an in between house so that we can get things situated for the short term. Thanks for being willing to take such good care of us when you didn’t have to.”

“Hey, I needed to watch princess movies. I had no idea my education had been so lacking. Now, I can get better acquainted with all of the new princesses that have arrived since I grew up.” Allie smiled at Megan. “I’m sure there were several we haven’t watched yet so having both of you ladies there will help fill in the gaps of my education will be wonderful.”

Megan had no idea about Allie’s family situation or rather the lack thereof. Allie couldn’t talk about specific people, but she was able to give her a vague sketch of the early years. It was nice to be able to talk about something other than the situation they found themselves in. At this point Mr. Jones walked in, giving them a break from the painful family memories.

“Hello ladies. Ms. Butts you are looking much better and more coherent today.” He flashed a white smile at Megan.

Allie was distracted by his smile, mentally asking, “Geez, how many times a day does this guy use teeth whitening stuff? His mouth practically glows. He seemed to be oblivious to the blinding shine that his smile gave off.” Allie tried to listen back in on what was happening.

“Ms. Butts, they have issued a warrant for your husband’s arrest, which they served yesterday evening about 8 p.m.. They had to call in the state troopers to make sure that everything was done properly. He did not resist, but it does look like he will be getting out at some point this afternoon if he can make bail. Now, because of his job situation the judge is almost certainly going to let him out on his own recognizance. Do you have any money or assets outside of what is in your co-owned bank account?” Jones was focused on Megan as if there was no one else in the room.

“No, he has always had control of it and the savings accounts. I mean I have withdrawal slips and a debit card, but I have no idea what we have in the accounts.” Megan was uncertain that they even had assets.

“Since you have been forced to leave for fear of your physical safety and have no monetary support, I have gotten permission from the judge to have the statements released to us. Megan, there is about $5000 total in both accounts. So the judge is allowing you to withdraw half of that into a separate account in only your name. This way you will have a little to get started on until the investigation is over and you can have a determined amount of child support.”

Megan looked terrified, “You have no idea what he will do if the money is gone. I’m only allowed to have money for the groceries unless he tells me what else to buy. I even have to give him the receipts so that he knows I’m telling the truth. Oh, this is so not good.” She started shaking her head and mumbling to herself.

“Megan,” Allie walked over to her taking her hand, “Sweetie, you will not have to answer to him again. The Judge is the one that is doing this, not you, so don’t you worry. They will make it work so that he can’t fault you. If he decides that you don’t need child support the judge can place him in jail or have it decreed to be taken directly out of his pay checks, right?” Allie looked to Mr. Jones who was nodding his agreement.

“Absolutely correct, since you are the victim and there is a chance with his connections that he could make life difficult; the Judge is worried that you might have to seek shelter in a neighboring town or county. As long as you inform the shelter of your whereabouts the Judge is going to be lenient about you leaving the county. These are special circumstances since he has the resources to find you easier than most men. That is why he has issued a court order to split the money in half closing your joint account and opening two separate ones in your individual names. Also, he has signed the papers allowing guardianship to go to Ms. Foster in case anything happens to you. Sally will automatically be given into Ms. Foster’s care so that she does not go to a state facility or back into Mr. Butt’s care. While these are drastic measures, the Judge feels that they are warranted considering the amount of damage he did to you in such a short amount of time. Legally, he can only work off of what is presented in court and not off of his own personal feelings. These are only temporary orders so it will go before another judge who can make it permanent. This will go to a different district court or even state court depending on what charges the D.A. decides to bring against Mr. Butts. Custody and the final divorce decree will be final in a few months, but this will allow you to have a better position depending on the charges. Hopefully, it will allow you a no contest divorcee since he could be in jail. Any questions so far?” Amazed that he had even stopped for breath, Allie couldn’t think of anything. She looked to Megan to see if she understood all that had happened. Megan was nodding her head in agreement, so it seemed that it would all work out rather smoothly.

“What do I need to sign to make all this happen?” Megan seemed to realize that she might have to approve something to make all of this work out. “I would like to press charges and go ahead and file for divorce. If I don’t do it now and I go back to him, then I might as well just kill myself because that is what he will do to me.” Megan didn’t know exactly what everything meant, but she knew that she needed to protect Sally any way that she could.

“When you file today it will help to make sure that by the time he goes to trial, your divorce will be final and it will be an extra layer of protection for you against any thing he might do trying to get back at you.” Mr. Jones seemed certain as he handed Megan the documents to sign.

He also handed Allie one to sign saying that she was willing to be a guardian for Sally in the event something happened to Megan. They both finished signing the papers without reading them and gave them back to Mr. Jones. Allie hoped that they had trusted the right man to make sure that Megan and Sally stayed safe.

“Thanks ladies. It has been a pleasure. I will come by in the morning and make sure that everything is going okay.” Becoming suddenly business like, his entire demeanor changed. He seemed to remove himself emotionally now that all of the legalese had been taken care of. As he walked out the door they both followed him with their eyes.

Allie voiced it first, “He is hot! Girl, I’m glad that you are still married because he has been very attentive to you. He is working very hard to make sure that you are well protected. I don’t think that most women have this much protection in place when they leave their abusive husbands. I know that Mike is a serious threat, but he does seem to be going above the call of duty.”

Megan looked flustered. “I’m not sure that I will be ready for a new man anytime soon. I am used to having a man who controls everything. Mr. Jones is cute, but he was just taking care of us as a client. I wouldn’t read anything into it. He was just doing his job. I just hope that he can handle what Mike will try to dish out.” She was certain that Mike would fight to keep them; she just hoped that Mr. Jones didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

“Hey, I wasn’t rushing you. I didn’t expect you to jump his bones. We were simply appreciating what good ‘ass’ets the man has.” Allie winked at her letting her know it was okay to still have a sense of humor. “I’ve got to go get a car seat and swing by my work before I pick Sally up, so I’m going to head on out. I will bring her by when she gets out. I figured we would hang out for a little bit and then we will go out to get something to eat, if that is okay with you?”

“Sure, I trust you to take care of her. I had forgotten about not having a car seat, so thanks for taking care of that as well. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Megan tried to smile, but leaned back exhausted. “Let the nurse know that I will take some of those good pills so that I will be feeling better when Sally gets here.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Allie saluted and left to let the nurse know.

Chapter 5

Allie picked up Sally, who wanted to go check on her mom, the very first thing. Allie was glad that they could spend time with her for the afternoon. Allie thought just being together would be a good idea so that both Sally and Megan would feel much better about the situation. Allie and Sally only stayed until dinner was brought in leaving Megan to eat in peace.

After they left, Sally was in a hurry because there were so many more princess movies to watch. There was also an entire day that needed to be relived thru Sally’s eyes. A quick dinner at McDonald’s, then they headed home to do the reading for Sally’s home work. With the promise that she could watch the movie they had picked out after her shower. Sally hurried to finish so that they could get started. Since Sally could take her own showers now, Allie let her. Sally was in such a hurry that Allie had to do a little damage control to make sure that she got all the shampoo out of her hair. Dressed in pjs, Sally got settled down onto the couch so that they could watch Brave. Sally was asleep before her the opening previews were finished.

Allie left the movie going and decided to start work so that the next day would be a little easier to handle. Allie started with putting orders together on her kitchen table. She needed to get them sorted out so that she could deliver them the next day. An order had arrived this morning, which she had set aside till the chaos had calmed down. Sorting and bagging it didn’t take long, so Allie set the boxes full of orders next to the front door when she noticed someone lurking outside the bushes.

This person seemed to duck down when she walked by. She hadn’t closed the blinds yet, so she took care of that now. Hoping that she had just imagined the person, she went to the kitchen window to look out over the parking lot to make certain what she had been seeing.

Allie thought she saw Mike walking back to his car, but since it was dark out there was no way to know for sure. Since, whoever it was appeared to be leaving Allied decided that there was no point in calling the police.

Just to be extra cautious, Allie went ahead and locked the dead bolt and chain. She put a chair under the door knob so that she would hear if someone tried to get in. Gathering her shoes, keys and wallet, she put them altogether in her backpack so that if something happened she wouldn’t be searching all over for what they would need to leave with. She also packed Sally’s backpack so she would have a set of clothes and shoes in case they had to run out in an emergency.

Hoping that these extra security precautions would be enough, she went back to work. She had to put her orders in the computer so that it would be finished in case something else came up in the next few days. She had just submitted it an hour later when she heard scratches at the front door. Quickly getting up she looked out the peephole and saw Sally’s dad, Mike, standing just outside.