Chapter Eight

I slid out of bed and discovered both Givens and Diesel were gone. Tim had gone to Lula's apartment, which I preferred not to think about. I eyed my dead alarm clock. No big deal. Bounty hunters didn't have regular hours. The dead fridge was the landlord's problem. It wasn't like my fridge had a lot of food in it anyway. The light fixtures were also the landlord's problem. Probably I'd need candles for a little while. I made a mental note to get some. And then I realized no power meant I couldn't blow dry my hair.

There was no way I could stay here.

I had just tucked my hair into a half-assed ponytail when Givens let himself into my apartment and set two large cups of coffee and a box of doughnuts down on the kitchen counter.

"Your super says the power'll be back on this afternoon," he told me, helping himself to a jelly doughnut. "There's a crew here now on account of all the senior citizens in the building."

That would give me time to get light bulbs and a coffee maker. I eyed the TV, thought about the nice check I'd just gotten for the Dish brothers and weighed the embarrassment of driving the Buick against not having a TV. It was a tough decision.

As if he could read my mind, Givens jingled a set of car keys. "Ranger left us a loaner, which is good because I'm not sure how I'm gonna tell Art my car got electrocuted by an Unmentionable."

"At least you don't have to explain it to your insurance company." I grabbed a change of clothes and stuffed them into a bag. "Whatever you do, don't mention it to my mother."

"Why would I tell her?"

"Because there's hot water at my parents' house and I need a shower." I eyed him. "We're telling her the boiler blew."

Givens sighed. "Why don't we just go to Morelli's place?"

"Would you like to tell him about your car and what happened last night?" I countered.

"Good point."

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Grandma Mazur was standing in the doorway as we pulled up. Her face lit up as we pulled into the driveway and she stood aside to let us in. "The phone's been ringing all morning and your mother is ironing."

I stopped in my tracks. My mother only ironed when she was upset. "It was just a blown circuit -"

"It's your sister," Grandma interrupted. "She's left Albert. He's the one who's been calling all morning. Whatever you got going on, she don't know about it."

That was a relief, except for the part about Valerie but it wasn't the first time pregnancy hormones had gotten the better of my formerly perfect sister. The last time, she convinced herself she could marry Ranger. Heaven only knew what she was thinking this time. I hoped it didn't involve Givens. He had enough female problems.

My mother was in the process of flattening a pillowcase when we walked into the kitchen. She looked up at me and she was wild-eyed. "Go find your sister. Albert's home alone with the girls and I'm not sure how much more he can handle before he comes here."

"But -"

"Find her!"

"That's what we do, ma'am," Givens told her solemnly. He took my arm and guided me towards the door, whispering, "I think you might wanna skip that shower."

He had a point.

We got back on the car and I sat back, blowing out a breath, trying to figure out where Valerie might have gone. There were no missed calls or voicemails on my cell phone and the only two places she would have gone were my parents' house or - "Oh no!"

"We don't know that for sure." As usual, Givens was way ahead of me. "We need to talk to the clown."

"His name is Kloughn." I spelled it. "He's a lawyer."

Givens shrugged and started the engine. "I'm guessin' he ain't much good at it."

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My sister and her family lived in a tiny house they rented in Hamilton Township. The house was a lot like the one my parents lived in. It was an attached row house with a postage stamp front yard and a faded statue of the Virgin Mary keeping watch. The exterior was a faded yellow with trim that had been white once. Still, it was homey, except for the sounds coming from inside. I could hear baby Lisa's wails all the way in the street, over the sound of the engine and with the windows of the car pulled up.

"Maybe you oughtta handle this," Givens suggested. "Delicate family matters and all."

"You're a guy," I countered.

Givens' eyebrows rose. "And?"

Wrong argument. "You're scarier. He'll talk faster and we can get out of there faster."

"It better be real fast." Givens angled out of the car and followed me to the front door which flew open before either of us could knock.

"Thank goodness you're here!" Kloughn stood in the doorway, his eyes wild and his dress shirt untucked and covered in stains ranging from yellow to green to brown. "I need help! Please! You have to help me!"

"That's why we're here," I told him.

"Great. I need to get Mary Alice and Angie to school but Lisa won't eat and I have to be at the Laundromat before the moms get there with their first loads," Kloughn gasped.

"His office is next to a Laundromat," I explained, stepping past Kloughn. Givens didn't move. He was staring into the house, eyes narrowed at the eardrum shattering sound of Lisa's cries combined with Mary Alice and Angie bickering loudly. That's when I realized the big, badass marshal was afraid of my sister's kids. The thing was, they kind of scared me, too. "Come on."

"In a sec," Givens answered quickly. "Lemme talk to Kloughn. You know, guy stuff. Might give us some insight on why your sister took off."

Guy stuff. Not two minutes before, Givens was rolling his eyes at the idea. Now he was using it to his advantage. Luckily, this was Trenton, not Kentucky, and I knew Kloughn. I cut my eyes to him. "Is there guy stuff you need to tell Givens?"

Kloughn thought about it. "Well...no...I mean, I'm a guy, I guess, but..." He looked at me again, caught my expression and hastily concluded. "Not a thing."

"Get your butt in the house," I ordered Givens, "and help me get the girls ready for school." As he brushed past me, I reminded him, "And no shooting."

Givens rolled his eyes at me and stood in the living room, hands on hips, staring at the toys, clothes and baby paraphernalia. Stuff was everywhere. "You sure Valerie ain't buried alive under all this?"

I resisted the urge to kick him. "You're talking about my sister."

"Sorry it's such a mess," Kloughn apologized. "I never realized how much work this is for one person and I'm in the middle of a big case -"

"You are?" Kloughn rarely had cases and none of them could be called big. Mostly, he wrote the occasional will.

Kloughn drew himself up and stuck out his chest, which would have been impressive if he wasn't also jutting out his giant gut and the stains on his shirt. "There's a new power company starting up and the owner says if he likes my work, I could be the general counsel. I'd love to be a general counsel. Don't you think I'd make a good general counsel, Stephanie? Valerie thinks so. Oh! You have to find her!"

Givens was moving slowly through the living room towards the kitchen where Mary Alice and Angie were bickering. Their fighting stopped as he walked in.

I peeked in and saw them staring at him, wide-eyed. He had that effect on girls of all ages, including Baby Lisa, who'd stopped her shrieking to stare, too.

"You girls got ten minutes to get dressed for school or I'm callin' my friend the truant officer and he's gonna haul your butts off to juvie," Givens announced, pulling out his cell phone. "I got him on speed dial and he's got a really fast car. So you'd best hurry and be ready in nine minutes, just in case."

There was a moment of stunned silence and then Mary Alice and Angie fled the kitchen, leaving their breakfast untouched.

Kloughn stood there, mouth agape. "That was...that was..."

"Mean," I finished. "Really mean. You didn't have to scare them."

"Worked for my Aunt Helen," Givens shrugged. He nodded towards Baby Lisa in her high chair. "You gonna do something with that one, Kloughn?"

He didn't have to be told twice. Kloughn grabbed the jar of baby food and started spooning it into Baby Lisa's mouth. To her credit, Lisa started eating without protest. I shuddered to think what Givens might have done if she didn't.

Satisfied, Givens inspected the counter, decided it was safe and leaned against it. "What did you and Valerie fight about before she took off?"

"It wasn't a fight," Kloughn protested. "We never fight."

"Okay," Givens agreed, "What was she pissed off at you about?"

This time, I did kick him. "Jeez, Givens!"

"We ain't got time to be delicate. Those kids are gonna be ready in eight minutes." He narrowed his eyes at Kloughn. "Spill."

"She...she called me fat," Kloughn said and then he burst into tears. "She's never called me fat before. She always called me her sweet cuddle-umpkins." He sniffled noisily and then burst into huge sobs. The crying set off Baby Lisa.

"Shit," Givens muttered.

"Now look what you did." I kicked him again.

"I ain't gonna start crying," he hissed at me, "so stop with the kicking."

"Oh no! Albert's crying!" Mary Alice stood in the doorway, holding her pink backpack. "Again."

"He cries a lot," Angie agreed.

This made Kloughn cry harder.

"Were you mean to Albert?" Angie asked Givens.

Mary Alice folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. "He's a meanie!"

I stared at my nieces in horror. They'd dressed so hastily that Angie was wearing a sweater with pajama pants and Mary Alice was wearing a summer dress with her purple Ugg boots. Neither of them had brushed their hair. I turned to Givens. "They can't go to school like that."

"Why not?"

"Because somebody will call Child Services!"

"They're going to take us away and it's all the mean cowboy's fault," Angie sniffled.

"Nobody's takin' you," Givens attempted but it was too late. Both girls were sobbing. The baby was sobbing. And worst of all, Kloughn was sobbing. "Shit."

"You said a bad word!" Angie stopped sobbing and stared open-mouthed at him.

"He's a bad man," Mary Alice agreed, sniffling.

Givens looked helplessly at me. "I don't know shit about girls," he whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "No kidding."

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