All familiar characters belong to Janet. I apologize in advance if there are more typos than usual.
"You were right. He's here," Bobby said in my ear.
"Alright. I'm five minutes out. Allow him to leave evidence of a forced entry if he hangs around, but do not shoot him inside the house. Mireya shouldn't have to move again because of that asshole. And don't shoot me when I get there."
"Don't be insulting. I'm better than that … and you know it."
"Don't be stupid," I countered.
"Never," he said after a laugh that rang of complete confidence, bordering on cockiness.
That would concern me, but my guys turn into invincible supermen right before a mission. Believing nothing can kill you does help you stay alive.
Suggesting we visit my parents in Newark was a twofold problem solver. I'd be only minutes away from a possible crime scene, and my wife will be occupied enough with my mother fussing all over her, she'll worry less about me.
"A word, Babe," I said, coming up behind her while she was watching my father teach Olivia how to repot a Peace Lily plant.
"Crap. Your plan worked, didn't it?" She asked.
It's been a relief to be able to discuss jobs with her rather than having to lie - or omit details - about them. Once again asking Celia to shelter her friend, we let word spread that a new man has been seen at Mireya's place. Cassian couldn't - and I knew wouldn't - stay away. If Bobby can keep his cool long enough, we can reframe this 'visit' and have the cops thanking us for stopping a break-in in progress.
"Yes," I told my wife. "That was Bobby. I need to go."
I can see every one of her emotions cross her face … fear, acceptance, pride, love, and more fear. I'd love to believe in the system and stay here with her, but I've been called in too many times to clean up the mess left when it failed people whose lives literally depended on it.
I took an additional moment to pull her to me for a hug and a too-quick kiss. "I'll be fine."
"You'd better be. I'm not raising two kids alone. Even with Julie as backup, I'd be screwed."
"I'm the only one helping you raise our kids."
"Thank you. It's stupid because this is your job, but I needed to hear that. Be careful."
"Always," I said after another kiss.
"I'll explain you leaving to your parents, just go help Bobby and get your butts outta there in one piece. And call me as soon as it's safe to. Stress isn't good for the baby."
"That's fighting dirty, using our son to get information faster."
"If it keeps you safe, I'm not above doing it."
She squeezed her arms around me and then prepared to let me go. It won't be for long I promised her as I left my parents' place and drove to Mireya's house right over in Hillside Township. Her neighbors are close, but her little white house is set far back from the street and has too fucking many 'decorative' trees for Cassian to hide behind.
I appreciate nature. I will even admit to needing the sound of ocean waves crashing and strenuous hikes high in the mountains in order to calm down at times. But everyone I'm close to will tell you I would rip out landscape shrubs with my bare hands if they'd all let me just so no asshole could use them like I'm betting Mireya's ex is right now.
I didn't drive down her street, I parked as far from the security cameras as I could at the convenience store located just before her turnoff. I crept up to her house on foot, trying to keep off the road and blend in with the surroundings. Steph still teases me about my all-black uniform choice, but black can disappear in broad daylight, the dead of night, as well as tonight's evening light.
Brown wasn't shitting me that he's good. He left only the bedroom light on so it appeared he and Mireya were home, but he could move throughout the rest of the house without being seen from outside. My guess is Cassian will be by the living room window trying to see inside if he still has a working brain cell. He'll attempt to break in through the door off the back deck if he's snapped like Morelli had.
I circled around to the back and wasn't surprised to see a shadow lurking on Mireya's deck. I willed Bobby to stay inside and let me take care of this, but I wasn't counting on it. Brown proved to be a professional by holding himself back until Cassian picked up one of the patio chairs and hurled it through the window that looked out onto the backyard.
I heard a dog bark a street away and then Bobby's voice shook the evening air. "Freeze, motherfucker!"
I used that distraction to reach the deck and take the five steps two at a time. While the asshole was staring down the business end of Brown's gun, I crept up behind him and slid an arm around his neck. One quick move with the other ended this fucker's reign of terror over a woman who didn't do anything except try to love him.
"What the fuck, Ranger?" Bobby hissed. "This was my responsibility."
"I disagree. This counts as unfinished business. He should've listened to me." I lowered Cassian's body to the ground. "Mireya has been my sister's friend longer than she's been the object of your affection. I get seniority. Enjoy the fact that he can't hurt her anymore and then call and arrange for her window to be replaced. I'll pay whatever they charge to get this fixed while we're stuck here. I want her house to look exactly like she left it. She doesn't need to see this."
"Agreed. And thanks. I would've taken him out ..."
"I know, that's why I didn't threaten to shoot your balls off when you expressed an interest in her. But I wanted to spare you from having this death between you. Just make her forget all about him, and what assholes like him do, and we'll call it even."
"Consider that already done."
"Good. I'll call this in while you handle the window cleanup. Stephanie will appreciate both of us showing back up at my parents' house to see for herself that we're okay, so don't take a 'call back in the morning' response from whoever you call."
"Got it."
I contacted the Hillside PD, reported the break-in, and informed them that the situation was handled and the M.E.'s meat wagon is needed, not an ambulance. Once they learned who they were talking to, they were more agreeable to my suggestions and didn't race here with lights flashing and sirens wailing. The back window-breakage was documented, the body photographed before it was removed, and I was assured after Bobby and I gave our statements, we'd be free to go on about our night. I didn't expect a different outcome, but I can't help but feel for all the domestic abuse survivors that will never get the peace - and the help to end it - that Mireya has.
If I weren't 'Ranger Manoso', things wouldn't have gone as smoothly as they did tonight. Mireya could have been facing years of stalking and continued abuse before Cassian was convicted, or he could've just killed her in a matter of minutes. My Grandma Rosa once suggested I run for something to help change the laws in the city of Newark or whatever place I ended up settling down, but my upbringing brought home just how stacked the deck is against the good guys. My company was my attempt to add more weight to our side of Lady Justice's scales.
"Thanks again for helping out with this," Bobby said when we were cleared to leave. "I'll talk to you in the morning."
I grabbed his shoulder. "Not so fast, Romeo. You have all night to comfort Mireya, but you are following me back to my parents' house so Stephanie knows that you're also alright. When she's worried, you all need to be worried."
"But Mir …"
"I'll call Celia after I let my wife know we're fine, and she'll tell Mireya that you'll be over soon. If she wants you to come over."
"Of course, she wants to see me."
"Make sure she knows she has a choice in the matter." I hit Steph's special spot on my cell. "Hey, Babe. We're on our way back."
"You and Bobby?" She asked.
"Yes. We got our guy. He was throwing a chair through Mireya's window when I got here."
"Is he still alive?"
"No. The police confirmed he's dead."
"I want to say more, but since I'm where I am, I'm just going to say good. Don't waste time getting back here. Olive is so far from being ready for sleep, it's not funny anymore."
"I'm bringing reinforcements. Uncle Bobby appears to have some residual energy to burn off."
I placed an even briefer call to Celia saying it was safe for Mireya to leave but advising my sister to try to keep her friend at her house at least until tomorrow. I tacked on a warning that Bobby wants to see Mireya tonight before I hung up.
I kept flicking my eyes to the rear-view mirror to be sure he didn't shoot to Celia's on the short drive back to Newark, but it's possible the men are even more afraid of my wife than they are of me. They know what I'll do to them, while Stephanie's responses remain unpredictable. Plus, once she's done with someone who upsets her, they will then have me to deal with.
"I'm here to see Olive and Steph, not because you told me to," Brown said on our walk up the path to my parents' front door.
"Tell the guys that tomorrow and they'll believe it less than I do."
His response was one meant for outside my mother's home. Inside he would've been immediately grounded for a month. Age isn't an exception to using respectful language in my Mama's eyes.
"Hey, Olive … Daddy and Uncle Bobby are back," Steph said into the kitchen. A beat later she had her arms tight around me. When I let her lips go, she addressed our guest. "I'm surprised to see you, Bobby. I thought for sure you would've made tracks getting to Mireya."
"So did I," he whined.
My wife hid a smile in my open jacket before she replied. "Did Ranger force you to come back with him?"
"I wanted to see Olive."
"Nice way of avoiding the question."
"And the truth," I added.
His pout turned into a genuine smile when Olivia came running into the living room and into my arms. "Daddy's wiff us!"
That statement was cute enough on its own, but she said it directly to me while she gripped my face in both of her damp hands.
"You are very lucky, Carlos," my mother said, reading my mind. "I helped Olivia wash those little hands of hers otherwise your cheeks would be covered in pear juice right now. She was helping me cut one up for a snack."
"Mama M. is worried my blood sugar will drop too low if I don't eat every five minutes," Steph explained, almost apologetically.
"I cook for those I love. And I love you, dear Stephanie and my little nieto growing inside you now."
Stephanie thought Mother's Day would be a good day for us to announce to everyone that we're having a boy, so my mother is still talking in 'grandchild' terms rather than the specific gender of that grandchild.
"I'm so glad I came here instead of being somewhere else where I'd at least be acknowledged," I heard Brown say behind us.
"Nonsense, Bobby," Mama Manoso told him, kissing his cheek affectionately. "Your handsome face is always a welcomed sight."
"You know just how to make a grown man jealous," my father told her, but also came over to give Bobby the attention he clearly requires.
"I gotta ant," Olivia told him, pointing to the purple elephant on the front of the pajamas she'd been changed into.
I already know it was a proactive and hopeful move on my wife's part, praying the drive home will help our daughter fall - and then stay - asleep for the night.
"Uncle Bobby is an uncle, not an 'ant'," Steph joked, finding herself extremely funny. "And you were close, Olive. Your pj-animal is an elephant, not just an ant. Ants are teeny, tiny insects … and really gross."
"I da showed dem," she told me and then held out her arms to her Uncle Bobby.
"Feel free to squeeze really hard," I advised.
She did, giving Bobby a hug around his neck not unlike what I had just subjected Cassian to. Difference is, Brown survived the attack.
"You give the best hugs, Olive-Pit," Brown told her.
"Hugs/chokeholds … they're one in the same in our family," Steph said, not knowing just how accurate she is.
"Are you boys hungry?" My mother asked us.
"I'm good," I answered.
"I could use a snack," was Brown's response.
My men will never pass up an opportunity for a home-cooked meal. One prepared by mother is likely the real reason Bobby didn't fight me on coming to Newark. He loves Olivia and is well on his way to feeling the same emotion towards Mireya, but my mother's cooking is an addiction unto itself.
"You can give that sweet baby girl back to her parents and come on into the kitchen with me, Bobby. I'll fix you something much more substantial than sliced fruit. I know you won't tell me not to."
"I didn't want you to go through any trouble for me," my wife said, trying unsuccessfully to reason with my mother.
"I'll eat anything you put in front of me Mrs. M.," Bobby told my mother.
Steph made the universal 'kiss ass' sound, which got her a kiss from Olivia.
"Thank you, Olive. Mama needed that."
When my mother's front was pointed towards the kitchen and her back was to him, Brown stuck out his tongue at Stephanie.
"Very mature," I told him.
He laughed for the first time tonight and I was reassured hearing it. Although we've seen many bodies over the course of our career, causing a large percentage of them ourselves, taking a life is never easy after it's done. It may be necessary, it may be something that doesn't require thought to do, it may be the right thing, but you still have to live with it every moment you live afterwards. But as far as I can see right now, Bobby isn't acting in a way that should have me worried.
"Hi, Dada," Olivia said, waving at me from Stephanie's arms. "We play."
"For a little longer," I told her. "And then we have to get home to Mo, Gunny, and Mado."
"Mado seeps in my bed," I was told.
"Mado sleeps wherever she wants to," I said. "Our bed one day. Your big girl bed the next."
"She silly kitty."
"She certainly is."
I tensed at hearing my parents' doorbell ring. I don't like surprises, but unexpected visitors at my parents' house aren't unusual. My father proved that by walking to the door with an anticipatory smile on his face.
"Mireya, what a pleasant surprise," we could hear him say a beat later. "Come right on in."
"Celia said Bobby is here …"
"He is. My beautiful wife is filling him up with food as we speak."
She momentarily paused, seeing my parents had company other than Bobby, but she recovered fast. "I'm so glad to find you here. Thank you for everything, Carlos. I don't know what I can do to repay you for …"
"Just be happy," I interrupted her to say. "That's all we want for you."
"It Pincess Jazzy," Olive stated, staring hard at Mireya and then glancing back at her Mama's face for confirmation.
Steph looked pained, not sure if it's offensive to tell someone they look like a Disney princess.
"It's alright, Babe. Mireya has been compared to Princess Jasmine ever since the movie came out. She's argued it every single time, but she doesn't get angry over things like that. Mireya, you remember my wife Stephanie and our princess-spotter Olivia."
"We met briefly at the wedding," she said, "but there was a lot going on at the time."
"There was," Steph agreed. "It was a great day."
If Mireya's appearance here is any indication, that day was also the start of something solid between her and Bobby.
