CHAPTER 15: BROKEN HEARTS AND FRIED EGGS
Victor could smell James approaching and he had his back to the door which was for him out of character. But it was only a diner and not busy at that. But for some reason he wasn't all that surprised that Logan had tracked him down. He was rather good at that. But this was quick even by Victor's standards.
"Hey Vic." Logan said, approaching Victor quickly. "Sorry I overslept." Logan went on keeping the charade of meeting someone.
"That's okay, James. Been eating, not missing you at all. Got company as you can see." Vic said not even looking up at his visitor.
"Yeah, I can see that." Logan said looking at Vic's company. She was beautiful and she had a familiar look to her. She looked at him and he noticed that her eyes were Vic's. He was starting to get confused. "Another relative, I don't know about there Vic?" Logan asked.
"Nope. She's not a relative. Well, not yet." Logan heard the grin in Vic's voice even though Vic had yet to raise his head and up and look at him. Victor was slicing a huge hunk out of a rather thick steak. Logan's mouth watered.
"That looks like a good steak, Vic."
"Is," he muttered between chews.
"Mind if I join you?" Logan said, and sat down next to Bell without waiting for an answer.
"Victor, aren't you going to introduce us?" Bell asked. Victor finally looked up from his steak.
"Oh, yeah," He said clearing his mouth. "Bell, this is James...James this is Bell." He made the introductions real short. Logan reached his arm out to Bell which she took and shook his hand.
"Hello," Bell said politely.
"Hey, there." Logan answered. "Known Vic long?" Logan asked, making conversation.
"No, not long at all. Actually we just met the night before last." Bell said, putting some pancake into her mouth. The waitress came over to the table.
"I see you've settled in. What can I get you?"
"I'll have what he had. Three minutes on one side, two and a half on the other. Eggs over easy and orange juice, coffee." She took his order and left. He waited for something to happen. Lately when he stopped for something he was always rescuing the ladies...He searched the diner...quiet, not a rowdy in the place, unless you were counting Vic, and at the moment he was behaving himself.
"So, how do you know Vic, Bell?" Logan asked.
"Well, James...Victor saved my life. I owe him everything." Bell said looking a Vic with something more then gratitude.
"Really, since when did you go into the knight in white shinny armor routine, Vic? Well, long fur coat in your case." Victor actually looked up at Logan for the first time. Logan could almost hear the growl build up. But it didn't, instead Victor elected to ignore him and went back devouring his steak.
"Good, you were listening. I thought you were going to ignore me all morning." Logan actually laughed. Victor said nothing and took a drink from his glass of milk. Bell was watching and taking all this in. It seemed really familiar to her. She and her older brother were a lot like this.
"Are you guys, brothers, or something?" Bell asked.
"Yeah, James here is my baby brother...a real live pest."
"I'm going by the name of Logan, if you don't mind." Logan said firmly.
"Again?! I really hate that name. Besides, what wrong with your name? Bell's last name is James, and she seems to like it."
"I never said there was anything wrong with it, I'm just Logan now."
"Did you have it changed legally?" Victor asked. He waited. He knew what the answer was. Logan said nothing. They sat in silence. "I didn't think so." Vic said somewhat satisfied.
"I prefer if you just called me Logan from now on." Uh on, there was that look in Vic's eye...Maybe he should have not said anything.
"Whatever you say, Jamie." Victor grinned sadistically.
"My name is Logan now." He was being stubborn he know Vic was going to get vicious now.
"Whatever you say, Jimmmy." He trilled. Vic was having a good time at his brother's expense. Logan sighed. He wasn't going to win this one.
"Fine. You can call me James." Bell was trying hard to keep from laughing. She didn't succeed. Her hearty laugh filled the diner and other customers grinned and wondered what the joke was that would get such a laugh. Both Logan and Victor were caught up in her contagious laugh and joined in. Whatever hard feelings that were between the brothers evaporated in Bell's mirth.
A man on the TV shouted: "Mutants are a danger to society and they must be registered and they should not...will not...be allowed to walk among us unidentified in a decent society!" Bell's laugh was cut short and she glared at the TV, the coffee mug she had been holding broke and hot coffee spilled all over the table. She ignored the burn of her coffee and jumped to her feet.
"Kelly, you damn hypocrite! What would you know about decent!! You murderer!!!" She stood glaring at the TV like it was a deadly enemy.
"Bell, are you alright?" Vic asked concerned. He heard a growl build up inside her and it threatened to escape.
"No! No I am not! How can he go on about dangerous mutants and decency whe he himself kills without remorse or conscious? The nerve of him!" The other customers were staring at her with concern. Was this the same woman that was laughing so carefree only moments earlier?
"Bell, what did Kelly do, that you would make you call him a murderer?" Victor asked. He had his suspicions. He saw James' face darken. He too had a bad experience with Kelly.
One of the customers threw the question at Bell as well. "What did the Senator do that you would accuse him of murder?" The man in the casual suit asked.
"Well, what do you call someone who gets into a heavily armored vehicle and races down a city street at 65 miles an hour intoxicated? And rams into another car killing the passengers. I call that murder, wouldn't you? How dare he sit in a Senate seat and make laws, when he doesn't even obey the ones already on the books?" Bell started to pant heavily and tears fell down her face. Her fists were clenched into tight balls and it looked as if she was ready to punch a hole thru the set.
"Were there any withnesses?" The man asked.
"You're looking at one. Yeah, he came out of nowhere and he didn't even see us. It was over before I could do or say anything. My folks were gone. I lay in the back seat trapped inside...broken, bleeding...when I saw him come over to the car and look into it. It was amazing...not a scratch or bruise on him, he staggered over to the police car that came to the scene. That stagger wasn't from any injury...he was legally drunk...past drunk. But since he was a Senator, and the driver of my car...my father was dead, he was able to cover up the fact that he was the one running the red light...not my father. I was in the hospital for nearly a whole year. My recovery was hard and I lost almost every motor and brain function I had in that accident. But I can remember that night as if it happened yesterday. It was the only thing keeping me going. To some day make him accountable for his crime. I tried to bring a wrongful death suit against him, but he had already thought of that." She took a deep breath, everyone was listening closely. Victor swallowed hard. Logan had shut his eyes in pain.
"Let me guess," Logan said harshly. "He made it look like it was your father's fault." Logan said. Bell turned to him. He nodded. "Yeah, me too, ran my wife off the road one night...she died a few days later. He was able to get away with it. Influential friends, relatives got him out of it and nothing was proven. Hell, it never made the papers. He managed to convince the authorities to let it be. Woman loses control over car on lonely road. Yeah, I know what he did to you. Let me guess, you had to pay your own hospital bills."
"He made sure that the insurance wouldn't honor the policy because he convinced them that my father was drinking. He couldn't, his condition wouldn't allow him to have alcohol. But since Kelly was a powerful Senator and my father was only a Professor at the University, his version was the only palatable one. Me...well, you know I had so much brain damage that my memory couldn't be trusted. Maybe on some things, but not on that...I remember it precisely. He wasn't satisfied to take my parents and my mental and physical faculties..he had to make sure I lost my job that was orginially beneath me. Af the time of the accident I was studying for a science degree. I can't remember which one, by my brother said I would have done so well. Now, I'm not that bright anymore. I spent the last three years trying to pay my hospital bills. When I couldn't; I decided to go for the wrongful death suit, hoping a lawyer would help me out. Oh, he helped me out alright! He turned on me and went to Kelly himself. The last I heard..he was being paid rather well. Well, as for me...I lost my job, had my bank account frozen and evicted out of my apartment. I was paid up for three months!" Her audience was looking flabbergasted at her.
She wasn't done, she started up again. "Well, after I found out that my lawyer turned me over; I did my own research into Kelly. Did you know I wasn't the only one in the last five years he'd done this to? He ran over some kids on bicycles. They were 9 and 11 year old brothers on the way home after a game. They were on a bike trail...a bike trail...way away from the road. It didn't save them; he had run them down too, drinking while driving. And he has the gall to say mutants are dangerous. I haven't met a mutant that dangerous, have you? Now there's a family that can't get justice for their boys. He got himself out of that too. No time served...no fines paid...and he still has his license to drive."
The silence in the diner was profound. Senator Kelly's rhetoric could again be heard. To the diner's customers he didn't sound all that good anymore. Without being asked, one of the waitresses turned the channel to a movie.
Bell was standing, heaving silent sobs of grief and anger. Vic stood up and embraced her.
"Come, Bell sit..." Victor turned to a waitress and asked her to bring a glass of milk for Bell. She nodded. She returned shortly with the milk and Victor urged Bell to drink it. She did and she calmed down some.
"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have let go like that." Both Victor and Logan assured her that it was all right. She felt a bond with James now that they had a common experience. She went back eating, because she was hungry. Her body had just gone thru an extremely intense change and it needed nourishment. And pancakes were known comfort food anyway.
Logan's breakfast was served to him shortly after and the trio ate in relative peace, with only a few stolen glimpses by the other customers.
One in particular, the man in the casual suit had listened to the story with rapt attention. Well, well, well, the sainted Kelly was a vehicular murderer. Thought the man. Not one but at least by the woman's story and the man's conformation of one other, a total of five people have been his victims. He now had a starting point to begin his investigation. Three years ago, five years ago, a good enough place to start probing. Gotcha, Kelly! He smirked behind his coffee cup.