CHAPTER 41-JAIL MONEY
"What if she doesn't even want to talk to us?" Craig asked his younger brother while they had been walking up to the Oceanside jail.
As Deran had told him before, he wanted to know the truth and find out who was lying. The problem he was facing was that all of them were going to lie in order to achieve what they wanted. Deran believed that he could on his own opinion after hearing both sides and he didn't want to be persuade but any of them.
"I doubt anyone besides J has paid her a visit so I'm sure she'll talk to us"
Most of the conversations J had with Smurf were over the phone but he had popped in at least twice to see her. He hadn't told anyone that, so it was going to be a surprise for Smurf to see her youngest son's show up without him.
As they checked in at the front desk, a male cop had led them into the room where other inmates were already on the phone. Craig and Deran tried fitting on the seat as it were only for one person, but Craig was fine with just bending down at eye level.
Both men had been nervous not only because they were in jail, but because they didn't want to face Smurf's wrath. They knew how angry she would be not only because of Baz's actions but also because of no one taking her side.
They waited quietly for their mother to show and as the cop led her out, she remained calm and collected. He took her handcuffs off, backed away and Smurf took a seat to stare at her boys through the glass. Deran hesitantly grabbed the phone and held it between he and Craig.
Picking up the phone she spoke, "You came to pay your mother a visit?"
"Hey Smurf...How's it going?"
"Oh, everything's going just fine, it's exactly where I want to be. Where is J?" She figured that it was his doing as she was convinced Baz had turned them against her.
"I have no idea, we're here to talk to you" Deran responded which piqued an interest in Smurf. "Everything that's been going on, everything that Baz has told us..."
"Everything he has been telling you is a lie. You're really going to believe your own brother over me?
She had easily got defended quickly and still had to be careful of her words. There was a hope in her that they knew the truth and the truth was that she was innocent. All she had to do was keep Deran and Craig from siding with Baz and Jessica because she knew that she could talk Pope into anything.
"What about all the stuff in your storage unit? You hid that from the family, he wasn't wrong about that"
"I kept it for when times got rough, that's why no one knew about it. If any of your siblings found out they would have wanted it immediately. Let's just say I hid it for safekeeping"
Craig looked over at Deran who had been focusing on the table in front of them. To him it sounded reasonable as Smurf had always protected the family no matter what. Craig was also gullible and Deran was trying his hard to see past it so he could get his answers.
The brunette Cody leaned in a little bit more so he could speak. "He said we're going to split everything equally, but how could you hide that much money from us?"
Their mother had smirked and shifted in her chair. "Let me guess, he gave you a good amount of money just to make you think that it was all in there, right" She hadn't waited for a response and continued, "You really think Baz out of all people is going to be fair? I can guarantee you that there's a lot more than what he's telling you"
She had noticed that the two brothers looked at each other when she mentioned him giving them money. Baz hadn't planned on giving them a cut yet as he still had a count everything, but he also didn't want to spread it out. The more they thought about it, the more it was unfair that he was sitting on the money and not sharing it.
"What do you mean? You have all this jewelry that you've been saving for years" Craig asked her.
"If I were you, I would question how much he's telling you. My number is around 5, I'm sure that's way off than what he told you. That's only for the cash... And I can tell that your big brother didn't share a piece of the pie"
The confusion now began of how much money was actually in that storage unit. Since J and Jessica hadn't known it was hers, Baz look like he was the only one to know the amount. Smurf now was turning them against him, but this time Baz was not in the wrong.
He had admitted to how much money there was, but he had yet to figure out how much she had in jewelry and gold. Baz wasn't even sure how much was there as he no longer could take it to the woman who used to sell it for them. It was now his job to figure out someone else so he could get the full amount in total. If Smurf was telling the truth about the cash, then Baz was definitely millions off but if he had been telling the truth then Smurf didn't know how much money was there.
Deran sighed heavily and moved on to his next topic. "You still put J in charge"
"Who else was I going to leave it to baby?"
"Maybe one of your sons? You seriously left it to Julia's kid, he has no idea what it's like being in this family"
"Oh, and you expected one of you to get it? You blow your money; Pope isn't stable enough and you can't make decisions without anyone's help. I couldn't leave it to your sister for obvious reasons and Baz already turned against me. J is family and he's been family ever since the day he was born
The Cody's could sense the hostility that was coming from Smurf as she was beginning to get irritated. While everything has been happening so fast, it left everyone with questions, but Smurf was not the type of person you could easily confront. Whether she told the truth was part of the puzzle, but she always knew the answers. She didn't accept confrontation and she didn't accept being blamed for anything.
"Did Baz even tell you why I'm here?"
"Yeah, on murder charges because you killed Javi"
"That's what he says but you know I would never do that. He was like family to us, why would I want to kill him?"
It was hard to not come out and say anything, so Deran had to be careful of his words. "You know what he did to Jessica" He trailed off while giving a look to Smurf, so they were on common ground. "I just can't wrap my head around why you would trust that kid"
Ever since J came into the picture, Deran had problems with him due to him being the youngest. He was used to the attention but with the younger Cody around, he was no longer that. On top of it, he hadn't gotten used to him and didn't understand his motives at the time. Even though J didn't know it was Smurf's money, he still eagerly pulled a job with Baz and that rubbed him the wrong way.
She had ignored her son and looked over at Craig momentarily, wondering why he wasn't speaking. "Believe me, this will all blow over sooner than later. Everything will go back to normal once I get out of here"
"What about Baz and Jessica?" Craig asked quietly and glanced over at Deran.
"What about them?"
"How is everything going to go back to normal after what happened?"
Smurf flickered her eyes between them but didn't say a word. She was always going to be one step ahead of not only her children, but ahead of the betraying couple. She had some insiders that she had been working with and while Smurf claimed that things were going to be normal, things were going to change for the rest of their lives.
Is the guard came back over to tell her that the time was over, Smurf simply hung up the phone and stood up. She wasn't going to answer Craig, she wasn't going to answer any more questions from Deran, and she was going to get out of jail. For now, she was going to sit and wait but that didn't mean that her own job wasn't in motion.
When the youngest Cody Brothers left the jail, they discussed in the car what they were going to do about the money. They came to the same conclusion, that they were going to confront Baz on how much money he had taken and that they wanted a cut of it. They knew it wasn't going to end well but if there was more in that storage unit, they deserved part of it. Taking some out wasn't going to be a problem if he had been sitting on millions.
When Deran pulled into the driveway, he saw a familiar silver car sitting in there. That meant they didn't have to hunt him down, but they were going to confront Baz on what Smurf said.
They both had gotten out, while Craig lingered behind unsure what was going to go down. "You really think that Baz just going to hand over the money?
"He doesn't have a choice because I really want to get to the bottom of who's lying. He can give us a cut of it, it isn't going to kill him. Pope also deserves it, and so does J"
They moved around the house trying to find them until they settled on Smurf's bedroom. Baz had already began going through all of her things, making piles of clothes and jewelry. It was clear that he was packing her things up, getting rid of the old and coming in with the new.
That was one of the main reasons that Deran was having trouble trying to accept what was going on. He was only turning Smurf by trying to lead this family except Deran believed it was going to go straight into the ground. Jessica and Baz would be over their heads if they thought that their siblings were going to just move aside.
Baz turned around from the bed and nearly jumped when he saw Craig and Deran in the doorway. "Hey, you're not opening the bar today?"
"I've got it covered... Craig and I went to see Smurf this morning and she told us that there's more money than what you're telling us"
He rubbed the back of his neck while avoiding looking at his older brother. Deran was going to get straight to the point and not beat around the bush.
"You guys went to see her?"
"Yeah, we did" Deran took a deep breath and moved closer in the room. "To be honest, I'm having a hard time trying to figure out which one of you are telling the truth. You are saying one thing, just as saying something similar but then Smurf paints a different story. You two are in this together so I don't know who to believe at this point"
"You really think I would lie to you about this?" Crossing his arms and standing his ground, Baz could see the influence that Smurf was trying to play.
"Did Smurf really kill Javi?" Craig blurted out seemingly stuck on this part of the story.
"I already told you, she hired one of his guys to shoot him. Ask Jessica, we both watched his brain splatter in the desert. Not all of that blood just had on her was hers"
"That's the thing Baz, you constantly want us to talk to her. You and Jessica are a team and it's always reverting back to her. Her coming around the bar to make amends, her trying to paint the story like you guys did nothing wrong. How do I know that you both are telling me the truth, you guys don't understand that you're just running in circles and it's always one of you cleaning up the mess"
It was clear that Deran could see past the plan that the two of them had been trying to perform. On Jessica's part, she was going there to speak to them because she didn't want the family to fall apart, and her brothers hate her. At the same time however she knew that it was something that needed to happen in that Baz wasn't wrong for them trying to get everyone on their side.
"So, you're going to believe Smurf who has been hiding millions from all of us all these years? Jessica and I are only trying to do the right thing not only for the family but for everything that's happened to us in the past"
"And you two think that Smurf only did something to you guys?" Deran asked him knowing the damage that she did to everyone else as well. "You're just trying to turn all of us against her, you're doing the same thing that she used to do when we were kids. How many times did you and Pope beat the hell out of each other in the backyard because of Julia? How many times did Craig and Jessica fight because Smurf would let them take each other surfboards? That's all we're doing now we're fighting against each other because you're trying to tear us apart"
It was something that Smurf would do when they were kids, and it was no different than what Baz had been doing now. She was good at trying to turn them against each other whether by a little comment or a situation that happened. The last thing he wanted was to be compared to her, but after all they ended up the same as how they were raised.
Deran hadn't on there to start a fight, honestly that was the last thing he wanted to do except he was sick of going round and round without any more details. It had continued to go in a circle and at this point Deran was done doing it.
"I just want to know the truth. What happened? I mean, J now owns everything so what does that mean for everyone else?"
"You think I wanted that to happen? He doesn't deserve everything that we worked for. All that money from the jobs that we pulled, all the risks we took, she gave to J. I was going to be fair and split everything equally but that looks like it's not going to happen anymore"
Baz turned away from his brothers and continued to dig through her clothes. He was getting ready to lose it, but he knew he had a remain calm.
"Actually, you've got all the money Baz not J. He might have all the properties, but you still took all the cash and jewelry"
"How much is it? How much was really in that storage unit that you stole?" Craig chimed in, leaned on the door jam and back Deran up as much as he could.
"What? You think I'm holding out on you?" Baz asked and then whipped back around with a faint laugh. "Let me guess, Smurf decided to tell you that I don't care about this family, that I care about myself and I'm keeping all the money. Am I right?"
The two Cody's exchanged looks and Craig took the chance to talk. "She didn't exactly say it that way... She just said that there was more than what you're telling us"
"And we want to cut of it right now. If you have over a million in cash, we deserve to have some of it"
"Excuse me?" He couldn't believe how bold Deran was being, and it was actually the first time he had seen it. "Once I get everything sorted out, I'll give you a cut"
The blond shook his head no before talking, "No, we want the share of it now"
"Really? You guys show up to tell me you visited Smurf and now you demand money?" Baz asked back, while reaching for a suitcase that was sitting next to the bed. Scoffing in disbelief, he zipped it open and pulled out a couple stacks of cash. "Fine, this is all your getting now so you better make it last"
Tossing them onto the floor in anger, he left it up to Craig and Deran to grab the money off of the ground. Baz didn't even want to look at them because he knew that it was going to end badly if he did something. He stared at the ground and watched the boys pick the money up without any trouble and hurry out of the room.
The second they disappeared; Baz threw everything on the ground. All of Smurfs close had scattered the room and once he was finished it looked like a tornado had run its course. This wasn't the way he wanted any of this to go and this was the last straw of trying to convince everyone. Baz was done playing nice and it was time for he to lookout for himself and Jessica. Tomorrow, he was dragging J down to the lawyers, getting his stuff back and sorting through the rest of the money. Pope would get his cut; J would get his cut and that would be the last time they would ask for money for a while.
After the interesting blow up at the Cody home, Baz called Jessica and informed her that they were no longer going to convince everyone. That took her by surprise, and it also made her question what exactly happened. She figured that Smurf had a hand in it once he said they visited her, and Jessica could see how untrusting her brothers were being.
Jessica had begun putting two and two together that this family was not going to work. She wanted it to stay connected as much as Baz but there was no say that it was going to happen. Deran and Craig visiting Smurf was definitely a hard pill to swallow because Jessica knew how easily Smurf could manipulate them.
Jessica was at his house gathering things together for when they moved out of there. It was the last thing she had wanted to hear but things changed minutes at a time. She honestly wanted to keep things off of her mind for now and try to act like she could live a normal life for now. Jessica tucked herself away on the couch, made a cup of tea and try to relax. That was short-lived as Pope opened the front door.
Lena greeted her with a little wave which prompted Jessica to smile in response. "Hey Lena, Pope. You guys left so early this morning, what was the mission today?"
"Uncle Pope took me to the park and then afterwards we went to see Grandma Smurf"
Jessica nearly choked on her sip of tea when she heard that last sentence. Baz have made it clear that none of them were to talk to Smurf, but it looks like nobody had listened to what he said. Lena was just a pawn in the game and didn't need to be involved with what was going on.
"I'm sorry?" Jessica turned to face the little girl before turning her attention directly on Pope. "Are you crazy?" She asked him, clenching her teeth together.
"Look, she's been asking me where Smurf is and if she's going to be in jail, it's fair that Lena can see her one more time" He told his younger sister before taking a glance at Lena as well.
It was hard for Jessica to back Pope up, but he wasn't wrong. Since Smurf had been taken care of Lena after Catherine's disappearance, the little girl did need some sort of closure and to know the truth.
"Baz is going to kill you if he finds out" She knew the outcome, even though Pope really didn't care. He was still going to do what he thought was right but with Baz already mad at the other two, this was a bad combination.
"So don't tell him, Lena already promised she'd keep it a secret"
"Daddy won't really kill you, will he?" Lena asked softly looking between her aunt and uncle.
"It's just an expression Lena, I don't mean he really would. How are we not going to tell him? You know he's going to find out"
"What are we not going to tell me and what am I going to find out?"
All three of them had turned their attention to the kitchen as Baz as had snuck in from the back door. He stood there, looking at the group while Jessica and Pope exchanged a look. They didn't expect him to be there whatsoever, and both were hoping that he'd find out later down the line.
Jessica grabbed Lena's hand and walked towards the front door. "Why don't you go outside and draw on the sidewalk with your chalk?"
Lena obviously had to be out of the house for this conversation, or as they would start a screaming match. They waited until Lena agreed and she hopped out into the afternoon sun.
The blonde got back to the couch, shifted before sitting down. She turned to see Baz and took a quick breath. "Okay, please don't get mad right away at this"
That made him narrow his eyes at her as he could tell they were leaving out something important. Pope walked towards the coffee table, crossed his arms and spoke. "I took Lena to go see Smurf this morning"
"You took my daughter to a jail?" Baz nearly shouted, not being successful in keeping his composure. "Where in your mind did you think that was a good idea Pope?"
"She's been asking me lately where her grandmothers been. I wanted to show her that Smurf was going to be gone for a long time"
"You really thought it was a good idea to show Lena that Smurf is in jail?"
"Before this blows out of proportion, Lena deserved to know the truth. I'm not saying it was right to take her there, but she did spend a lot of time with her with Catherine being gone"
Baz quickly turned his attention over to Jessica when she spoke. "How did I know that you were going to defend this?"
Jessica raised her eyebrows in surprise at Baz's tone. It shouldn't have been much of a shock because he was clearly pissed off, but Jessica's intention was not bitter. She knew this blow up was not going to end well and Pope was the last one that they had to get through to. Severing the ties with him was dangerous but she also wanted to defend her older brother as well.
"I just said that I wasn't defending him Baz, but I know your temper, and this is just going to end up horribly. Lena is just outside; she doesn't need to hear this"
"She's going to forget about it in a couple days. She didn't even look interested to be there" Pope chimed back in, ready to defend his actions once more.
"Of course, she's not, she's 8 years old" Baz walk towards them but stopped once he reached one of the kitchen stools. It was clear that he was fuming, and he was trying to hold himself back. "Next time you want to do something like that, you better run it by me first"
"That's going to work really well because every time I try to get a hold of you, you never answer your phone. Just like last time when Lena nearly got crushed by a car, where were you at?"
"I was out trying to find you because you completely bailed during the party. You come back that night acting like a crazy person, bring out a shotgun and order everyone out. What's going on with you? What's going on in your head?"
It was now Pope's turn to take a couple inches closer to Baz which only made Jessica worry. She leaned forward and placed her coffee mug on the table just in case she needed to jump in. That wasn't a rare occurrence as all four brothers fought and needed interference at some point.
Pope pointed at Baz harshly and talked, "You should have been there watching Lena, or you should have" He had taken a quick glance at Jessica before continuing on. "What am I thinking? What are you two thinking? You're trying to run this family into the ground by putting Smurf in jail and thinking that you're going to step into her place"
Jessica raised her hand to cut Baz off before he spoke as she had something to say. "Okay, I'm jumping in right now. I already said I screwed up with Lena and I'm sorry for that, I know that isn't an excuse. Baz and I are not trying to ruin this family, that's the last thing I really want to do"
Before she could continue defending herself and their actions, Baz now stepped into the room and nearly got in Pope's face.
"You know what Pope, if Smurf were still here, you'd still be under her thumb. Everything she said, you did. She killed Catherine; she deserves to be exactly where she's at. She has screwed us all over and you think that Smurf deserves a chance to continue doing it? This is all her fault, this isn't mine, this isn't Jessica's, this is all Smurf,"
"And you did the same exact thing. How many times did Cath get on you for listening to Smurf? How many times did you leave her here by herself to take care of Lena because you ran to our mother, or even Lucy for that matter? You are always the favorite, what Baz wants he always gets. You're just trying to rub it in all of our faces, by stealing all of her money, dating Jessica, and taking over this family"
"Well, someone had to do it because none of you at the balls to"
The two brothers were practically foaming at the mouth as Jessica watched quietly on the couch. She didn't think that it was going to get physical but that thought went right out the window. Pope had acted first by shoving Baz back into the kitchen. That prompted him to fire back with a punch to the face which made Pope stumble backwards as well.
Jessica had no choice but to jump in and she quickly ducked in between them, hoping that they weren't going to start fighting over her. "That's enough!" She screamed as loud as she could, and Baz took the advantage to try and reach past her to grab at Pope once more.
She turned her back to him in order to put her hands out so Pope wouldn't charge at either of them. Her older brother wanted to do something, but he didn't want Jessica to get hurt. Baz however had a different idea and tried pushing Pope back when he stood right up to Jessica. Her problem was that she was shorter than the two of them and they could just start a brawl over her.
The blonde Cody swiftly turned around and shoved him back as hard as she could. It didn't do as much damage as she hoped but it at least got Baz away from the two of them.
"God dammit, I just said enough! I don't want to hear anymore, enough is enough. This is the last thing any of us need and do you want Lena to walk in here and see this? Everybody takes a second and think about this. I don't want our family falling apart and that is exactly what we're doing. I'm sick of fighting with all of you, we are supposed to be a family!
She was unaware that she was shouting and that the people outside, even Lena had probably heard everything she said. Dealing with Deran and Craig was already hard on her, but with the money, Smurf and the baby, Jessica had enough stress piling on her. She had been doing her part is being the rock in the family, but no one had been listening to her, she had had enough.
The only sound that now flooded the house was her heavy breathing, Pope and Baz were staring each other down. Luckily neither of them had gotten hurt but there was nothing they could say that wasn't going to continue the argument. Pope took a glance at his younger sister and then backed out of the house, knowing that was the best thing to do.
Baz leaned off the counter when he heard Pope slam the door shut. "Can you believe him?" He asked Jessica calmly while smoothing out his shirt.
She spun in a circle quickly, her blue eyes now turning red with anger. "Don't you dare try to play innocent in this Baz, you know exactly what you were doing. You wanted to prove your point to Pope, your last sentence says all of it"
"Was not everything I said the truth? Everyone knows that because they would have done what I did ages ago"
Jessica placed her hands on her hips with the hard shake of her head. She knew that the others would have never tried anything, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.
"First of all, you can put your ego back in the box because you're talking to me. Second, I would suggest trying to keep it together around everyone because you're only creating more problems. Third, Pope is always going to do what he wants and lastly, you're lucky I don't kick your ass right now"
"I'd like to see you try that" He commented with a smirk and stepped back in the kitchen. It wasn't hard to make Jessica mad and Baz was only egging it on. "Yeah, he can leave my daughter out of it if he really wants to do what he wants"
Running a hand through her wavy locks, Jessica went back to her cup of tea and took a long drink. She would have rather had a bottle of vodka in her hand but that was an obvious drink she couldn't have. She was doing her best to calm down but with all that went on that day, her nerves were all over the place.
"I'm going to talk to J tomorrow, we're going to go pay that lawyer visit" He said, waiting for her to turn around before he continued. "He's going to go whether he wants to or not, and without Smurf's warning"
"You really think he's just going to sign over the rights?" Jessica knew that J was playing this smart and that this wasn't going to end easily.
"Everything that bitch took, I'm going to get. I want what's mine and what belongs to me"
Jessica could hear the poison in his voice once again as this was something she was getting used to. She knew that he wasn't the only one stressed about the situation, but things could have been going differently around everyone. Craig and Deran were already on the outs, and it looked like Pope was on his way. Despite J being the bigger issue, the rest of the siblings weren't going to go down without a fight either