Chapter 10

By: MysticFantasy

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"It's ready." Jack announced from the dinning room as he removed oven mitts from his hands.

"Finally. I'm starved." Bobby said leading the way into the dinning room and taking a seat on the chair that use to be Evelyn's. He sighed a little but quickly masked his emotions flawlessly as Jack took his usual seat that was next to where he was sitting with Billy next to him and Joe sitting to Bobby's right.

"Dang. This looks good Jackie." Joe said placing a spoonful of rice onto his plate.

"Thanks."

"Good thing you learned Jackie." Billy said. "You won't starve like the rest of us."

"Funny thing is, despite he knows how to cook good stuff like this, look how scrawny he is." Bobby said with a smirk as he placed a few slices of chicken on his already loaded plate.

"Comes with the height." Joe said with laughter.

"True. All three of you look like you should stay the night at an all you can eat buffet." Bobby joked.

"And you could stay at a gym for that time." Jack joked back making Billy and Joe laugh.

"Traitors." Bobby smirked. "And we were getting along so well too."

Jack laughed at his brothers and they continued to eat. A few minutes went by and most of the food was already gone when Angel suddenly appeared with a young latin woman.

"Ya'll didn't wait for me?" Angel exclaimed.

"If you and Loco Ono weren't always at each other you would know that dinner time started almost twenty minutes ago." Bobby commented.

"Don't start with that man." Angel pleaded before turning to his girlfriend. "Sofi, these two are Jackie's brothers. That's Billy and that's Joe. Guys this is my girl, Sofi."

"Nice to meet you." Billy greeted while Joe simply waved.

"Nice to meet you both." Sofi said with an accented voice. "Angel told me about the two you. I hope that's alright."

"Sure." Joe said swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Good. I don't want to feel like I'm barging in."

"Why don't you feel like that with me?" Bobby declared.

"Bobby. Don't start." Angel pleaded.

Jack chuckled as the familiar argument started up once more between Bobby and Sofi with Angel trying to break them up.

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Billy finished off his beer and tossed it in the trash can before making his way to the living room where he spotted Angel and Bobby sitting on the couch going through a wallet they grabbed off one of the shooters from the other night.

"Who hired these guys?" Bobby asked looking at an I.D. "West Marine's? By the river right?"

"Yeah." Angel answered looking over Bobby's shoulder to look at the I.D.

"Alright. Let's go check it out." Bobby said getting up.

As they started to walk out of the living room Sofi appeared and stood in the doorway, blocking the men from leaving.

"Baby." Angel sighed.

"Now, sweetie, wasn't there a discussion about a dinner together? You missed eating with them and said that we could have dinner together." Sofi said.

"We got some important s**t to deal with, baby." Angel said.

"She's so la vida loca" Bobby mocked causing Joe to nearly snort out a laugh.

"Man, don't do that right now." Angel pleaded turning to Bobby.

"Shut up, Bobby. Don't start with that crap!" Sofi declared pointing at the oldest Mercer brother.

"Can y'all not go there?" Angel yelled.

"That's why you don't get a girlfriend."

"I don't need a different girlfriend every week."

"Please don't go there. Don't go there, please." Angel kept begging.

The entire scene was making it harder for Joe and Jack to hold back their laughter and Billy, under better control of himself, had an amused smirk on his face.

"You know what? I want a girlfriend like you." Bobby said as Sofi put her hands on Angel's shoulders and gave him 'the look'.

"Can we go?" Bobby asked looking at everyone.

"Angel. You said this time was gonna be different." Sofi said sadly as a small chuckle escaped Jack.

"Ay mami. You're breaking mi corazón. Chica." Bobby teased Sofi as she walked away then turned to Angel. "She's getting real comfortable here, huh? What are you doing? I thought you was a macho man. A tough guy."

Jack let out a small chuckle as Angel remained silent.

"You know, it's a real shame that these three are all I got for back-up. Billy, Joe, let's go. Say bye to your big sister Jackie. Let's go."

"You gonna leave me too?" Angel asked as they walked towards the door where Bobby just put on his jacket. "I just need fifteen minutes, guys."

Bobby, Billy and Joe went through the door while Jack turned around to face Angel.

"She's addicted to what Angel's dick did." he teased before shutting the door and causing his two blood brothers to break out into laughter.

"Told you it would get insane if Sofi showed up." Bobby said as Billy unlocked his car.

"No kidding. That was better than tv." Joe stated climbing into the backseat with Jack following him.

"Is it like that everytime she shows up?" Billy asked shutting his door and starting the engine.

"All the time." Bobby answered putting his seat belt on. "One piece of advise, don't stay the night. Disturbance of the peace."

Joe noticed Jack shiver in digust and got the idea. He cast his eyes out the window and watched the scenery go by as Bobby directed Billy which ways to go.

Detroit was different from Boston but Joe felt like he hadn't even left his hometown. There was something about being in Detroit that reminded him of Boston.

Maybe it was the way that almost everyone was currupt or the way that he was helping chase down another low life that did something to get on their hit list. The facts that he didn't know the area and that he was with his long lost baby brother and his new family were the reasons that Joe kept remembering he was in a different town.

"This is it." Bobby said as the car pulled up across the street from the house they were going to look through.

"You sure this is safe?" Joe asked as they all slipped black gloves on as they came to the door and Jack started to pick the lock.

"The guy is dead. I doubt he'll be coming back to check if he left the stove on." Bobby explained.

"Good point." Joe said as Jack opened the door.

"You're a little too good at that Jackie." Billy lightly joked as they walked inside.

"Check everything. There's gotta be some s**t around here that ties these guys to somebody else." Bobby said as he and Billy searched the bedroom, while Joe and Jack checked the living room.

"There's gotta be something around here." Billy said before he lifted up the mattress to reveal a variety of guns hidden underneath. "Bingo."

Bobby picked up a shotgun and cocked it to see if it was loaded.

"Here." Billy said picking up an empty duffle bag from the floor and handed it to Bobby who began to place the guns inside.

Billy walked out of the room and found Jack going through a pile of CD's and Joe looking under the couch.

"You find anything Jackie?" he asked.

"Camera." Jack answered with a small shrug holding up a small silver camera.

"Find anything else?" Bobby asked coming out of the room.

"Nothing." Joe answered getting up. "These guys were pro's alright."

"Let's get goin'." Bobby said. "We're just gonna have to go with what we can get from this s**t."

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"SIG Sauer, forty-five auto. That'll blow your back out." Bobby said examining one of the many guns that was spread on the table.

Billy picked up a gun from the table and looked it over.

"Nine millimeter Beretta." He said then picked up a second gun with Joe writing down the brand on a piece of paper. "Look at this Beretta. It's triple-action. Three bullets at once."

"They say dead men tell no tales, but they sure leave important s**t lying around." Bobby said then quickly pointed one of guns at Jerry who just walked into the living room.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing now?" Jerry asked sounding surprised.

"Just getting a head start on next years taxes Jerry." Bobby answered turning back to the guns.

"Look how y'all doing mama's house." Jerry exclaimed looking around the living room. "Come on! Look at this table, man! Come on!"

"You know what? You're right." Bobby said then turned to Sofi who was in the kitchen."Hey, Sofi. Why don't you do me a favor and clean up some of this s**t? Make yourself useful."

Bobby ducked when Sofi threw an empty pizza box at him.

"You missed." he laughed.

"Hey Bobby." Jack said handing him the digital camera he held. On the screen there was a picture of Evelyn Mercer walking down a street.

"Where'd y'all get this?" Jerry asked looking at the weapons.

"Our friend Stanly, the shooter." Billy answered examining another gun as Bobby looked through the pictures.

"Look at this." Bobby said looking at the screen to noticed Evelyn with her lawyer in different locations.

"Let me see that." Jerry said taking the camera from Bobby.

"They had to have been tracking her." Joe said looking over Jerry's shoulder.

"That's that guy. That's that lawyer guy. That s**thead said, he said he only met her once, Bobby." Jack stated.

"Hey, where the hell you been? I've been trying to call you all day." Bobby declared at Angel as he walked into the dinning room.

"Following up new leads." Angel replied quickly glancing at Jerry with a bit of a glare.

"Let's go. Jerry, you coming with us? Don't you wanna find out who hired them?" Bobby asked grabbing his jacket.

"Yeah, don't you wanna find out who killed mom?" Angel asked coldly.

"Of course I do, man." Jerry answered.

"Let's go. Stop bullsh***ing. Come on." Bobby said walking out of the house through the back door with Jack right behind him.

"Alright. Somebody gotta look after y'all clowns." Jerry said before looking at Billy and Joe. "Aren't y'all comin'?"

"No. We're gonna go get ammo for this stuff then check on our boys." Billy answered putting his jacket on. "Look after Jack for us. Alright?"

"I will." Jerry promised.

Billy and Joe left the house through the front door and climbed into the mustang.

"What are you thinking bro?" Joe asked as they pulled away from the house and drove down the street.

"You see the way Angel looked at Jerry?" Billy replied. "Angel knows something and it looks like Jerry has something to do with it."

"What are we gonna do about it?" Joe asked.

"For now we play it cool and do what we have to to keep Jackie safe. If Jerry's behind what's going on then we gotta let Bobby and Angel handle it. We're just gonna be concerned about Jack most of the time. If Bobby needs us for anything we'll help but if he doesn't want us being part of it then we won't worry about it."

"Alright." Joe agreed with a single nod.

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The next morning Billy and Joe walked into the house with the key Jack had given them the day before. They walked in and right away heard voices upstairs.

"I know you need to stay your a** on that porcelain." Angel's voice declared. "This is gonna require a little finesse and given your prior reputation as a hothead you're gonna be the first to f**k up."

"I wrote the f***ing book on finesse!" Bobby's voice yelled. "Wait for me to wipe my a** Angel! I'm coming with you! Angel! Get me some fucking toilet paper, Jack. Angel!"

The said brother walked down the stairs dressed in warm clothes and spotted the two Darley brothers.

"You guys just heard how our mornings start." he said putting his jacket on.

"Sounds a lot more fun than ours." Billy commented. "Jack?"

"Just got out of the shower. Probably getting dressed." Angel answered. "I'll see you guys later. I got some stuff to take care of."

Billy watched Angel leave the house before he and Joe walked upstairs. They went to Jack's room where they spotted their youngest brother buttoning his jeans.

"Hey Jackie." Billy greeted.

"Hey guys." Jack greeted with a smile. "Ya'll missed out on some crazy stuff last night."

"Seems like it from what we just heard." Joe said sitting on the edge of his brothers bed as Jack continued to get dressed.

"It's like that every morning." Jack said pulling a shirt on. "Someone's always yelling at someone. Became a second wake up call."

The two brothers chuckled before Bobby appeared.

"Hey guys." he greeted.

"Hey Bobby." Billy greeted back. "Got the ammo we needed for those guns. Bag is in my car."

"Awesome." Bobby exclaimed.

"How'd it go over with that lawyer?" Billy asked.

"Not what we expected." Bobby answered. "Turns out that he was dating our mom but they kept it a secret because he didn't want to make her look bad. Luckily he didn't get mad that I broke a window and Jack hacked into his computer."

"Jackie, how much of breaking and entering to you know?" Joe joked.

"He's sneakier than you think." Bobby said with a smirk.

"Guess he gets it from both sides." Billy figured.

"I had to have gotten it from somewhere." Jack replied.

"Need us for anything today Bobby?" Joe asked.

"If you guys don't mind, there is something." Bobby answered. "Need a councilman questioned."

"Which one?" Billy asked.

"Name's Douglas." Bobby answered. "Apparantly he shut down Jerry's warehouse project for some reason. We need to know why and who ordered it. Jackie and I were gonna do it but with Green on us already it's getting a little risky and I don't want anything happening to the fairy."

Bobby chuckled as a pair of rolled up socks hit him with Jack giving him an annoyed look.

Billy smirked at his youngest brother before turning back to Bobby.

"We'll check it out for ya." he said. "Want us to come back here or should we meet somewhere?"

"Gotta wait for Angel to tell us what he's looking into. Probably gonna meet somewhere. I'll let you know." Bobby answered.

"Alright then. We'll go ahead and check it out." Billy said.

"Be careful guys." Jack said and was pulled into a one arm hug from his older brother.

"Don't worry Jackie. We will be." Billy assured. "Come on Joey."

Jack watched his brothers leave with their voices saying something about taking two other members of the gang with them.

"They'll be alright Jack." Bobby said. "If Billy alone is anything like me, they'll be ok."

Jack weakly smirked.

"You have no idea how alike you and Billy are." he said softly.

Bobby smiled as he ruffled Jack's still damp hair before they went downstairs to wait for the news of what was going on.

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"What do you think he found?" Jack asked as they walked toward a bowling ally in the middle of the afternoon after Billy and Joe had informed them of their 'talk' with Douglas.

"I don't know, but it's something big." Bobby replied.

"How can you tell?" Joe asked holding the door open.

"By the sound of his voice. I know my brother." Bobby answered as they walked inside where they quickly spotted Angel sitting at the concession stand. They made their way over to him and ordered a few beers.

"What's going on Angel?" Bobby asked looking around as the cashier handed them their drinks.

"Was that councilman helpful?" Angel asked.

"Oh, yeah. A real upstanding citizen." Joe answered a bit sarcastically before taking a drink of his beer.

"You remember a punk named Victor Sweet?" Bobby asked Angel.

"I remember a Malcolm Sweet." Angel answered.

"Victor was his nephew. Used to deliver things for his uncle. Firebombs and beatings. You remember. Malcolm used to love to humiliate him all the time." Bobby explained.

"Yeah, I remember that dude." Angel said with a weak chuckle.

"Apparently, Victor got sick of the a**-whuppings and sunk his uncle into the river. He owns the whole neighborhood now." Bobby continued.

"Hey, Bobby um…word around town is that Jerry owed a lot of people some money." Angel said softly.

"What are you talking about?" Bobby asked confused.

Angel looked passed Bobby.

"Recognize that dude over there with the fat head?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's Evander Pearson." Bobby said as they watched a man bowl with his daughter. "He used to be alright. Jerry and him used to hang during the union days."

"He goes by Evan now and he's working for a guy named Victor." Angel said.

Bobby looked at Angel putting the pieces together in his mind.

"You guys are coming up with this pretty quick." Billy stated finishing the rest of his beer.

"Yeah, we should have been cops." Bobby replied taking a sip of his drink. "What are we doing here Angel?"

"Holy s**t." Jack said standing up.

The five stood up and moved to look at what Jack had noticed across the ally. Evan and Jerry were standing together in the middle of a lane with Jerry pulling a manila envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Evan.

"I found out Jerry got a big insurance check for mom's death." Angel stated.

"Forget Jerry. We're gonna find him later. Come on." Bobby said walking away from the counter with everyone following him onto the lanes.

"Yo, Evander! What's up?" Bobby yelled as they approached him.

"Muriel! We leaving. Game's over. Let's go." Evan ordered his wife and she and the kids hurried to put their coats on. "It's nice to see you boys but we were just leaving." he said standing with his arm around his daughter.

"You ain't going nowhere." Bobby said. "What were you talking to my brother Jerry about?"

"Nothing. Just saying hello. Me and Jerry go way back from the union days. You know that, Bobby."

"Angel tells me you're one of Victor Sweet's boys now." Bobby said. "Hear he's running s**t like his uncle used to. Treating you like a house ni***r."

"What are you thinking Evan? The dude's a punk." Angel added.

"You've all been gone a long time fellas. Times change." Evan explained.

"What's in that envelope?" Billy asked glaring at Evan.

"What envelope?" Evan replied appearing to be a little intimidated by Billy.

"Oh, you wanna play that f***ing game with us right now?" Bobby asked reaching for his gun.

"Y'all gonna do this here?" Evan asked a bit surprised.

"Right here. Right now." Bobby answered. "I'm sure you remember how impulsive I can be when someone p***es me off."

"Give me the envelope and take a walk." Angel demanded. "Now!"

Evan handed the envelope to Angel.

"Go ahead, Evander. Take the kids home. We'll see your a** again real soon." Bobby warned. "Let's go guys."

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"You alright Jackie?" Billy asked sitting on the edge of the bed where Jack was lying on his side.

"Yeah." Jack answered softly.

"Come on Jack. Tell me what's buggin' ya." Billy said. "Is it the stuff about Jerry?"

Jack hesitated for a second before answering.

"I don't wanna believe that he had something to do with mom getting killed." he muttered quietly.

"Well hopefully he didn't." Billy said placing a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder. "You'll find out tomorrow."

"You're not gonna be here when he does?" Jack asked sitting up.

Billy shook his head.

"Me and Joe are gonna sit back." he explained. "This is something that you guys gotta settle as brothers. We can't get involved in it."

Jack nodded.

"But we'll come by later if you want. If things don't go bad that is. To tell you the truth Jackie, I don't think Jerry had anything to do with what happened to Evelyn."

"You think so?" Jack asked with a bit of a hopeful tone in his voice.

"Yeah." Billy answered. "He doesn't seem like the kinda person who would take someone out just to help himself."

"I hope you're right Billy. I don't wanna believe that Jerry fell back to his old ways." Jack said.

"Don't worry Jackie. Everything's gonna get sorted out tomorrow. Then we'll go after the guy that killed Evelyn."

Jack nodded and accepted the hug his brother brought him into.

"Other than a little yelling nothing's gonna happen tomorrow." Billy said softly. "Everything's gonna be ok."