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“OK Tuesday, how about you get comfortable, close your eyes, and talk me through what you remember of that day?”
Rhodie has sat his large ass behind me. I can feel the heat of him along my back, as I’m sat with my legs crisscrossed, facing his dad on the couch. I don’t mind though; I feel safe with both of these large men, so I lean into Rhodie a little and close my eyes. Usually, I’m disturbed by smells and sounds, but everything is incredibly quiet. It’s like everyone is too scared to make a noise in case it distracts me. It’s very thoughtful of them.
“I remember I had school that day. Nicola Marchetti dumped applesauce on me at lunch because she said I was staring at her jock boyfriend, but I wasn’t.” I hear more than a couple of grumbles and growls at this recollection. “I remember going to my locker to grab my spare t-shirt. I always had a backup because of my clumsiness. That one said ‘Geeks have bigger hard drives’ It used to crack me up.” I hear a few snickers in the room and Wire says,
“Damn right, we do!” before I hear someone slap him.
School was a real ball-ache because of the bullying, but it made me appreciate what I had at home even more. I never rebelled against my parents or caused any teenage drama because I knew how good I had it. Home was my safe space.
“After school, Mom made me a snack and then I remember going up into my treehouse to chill out. My windows overlooked the Voronovs. I remember watching them argue not long before that day, and since then I’d been a little more pervy than usual. That day they seemed fairly settled, but I saw them bustling around the house. They looked like they were packing suitcases and getting ready to go somewhere.”
“That tracks Dayz. I saw them leaving the police cordon early the next day. They told the police they had a work trip to make, but we never saw them again. I kinda thought maybe after what happened to Mom and Dad that was them getting outta Dodge, but maybe they were always going away?” Tav adds in. I keep my eyes shut but nod at him, or where I think he may be standing.
“Hmm, maybe they knew someone was after them?” I let my question hang in the air because at this point we are all in the dark.
“Good girl Tuesday, you’re doing good, love. What about that evening? Can you tell me what you did after dinner?”
“Hmm, I ate with Mom and Dad. Tav had already left to go to his party, and he was sleeping over at his friend’s house. After that I went to my room; I spent loads of time in there. I read, then did my usual nighttime routine before getting into bed and reading again.” I take a few breaths and fall into the image in my head. I was reading “Catcher in the Rye,” because I hadn’t read it in school yet and I liked the idea that Holden Caulfield hated phoneys, as did I. “It was late, I had heard Mom and Dad head off to bed, and they called good night to me. I was meant to be asleep, but I was like 5 chapters away from the end of the book, so I figured I’d keep going.”
“Good girl, keep picturing that night in your mind. Describe to us what’s going on,”
“I heard a sound. I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t want to move out of bed either. I heard Dad walking past my room, and then not long after, I heard Mom’s footsteps. Hers were always a lot lighter and for the life of her she always stood on the slightly squeaky part of the floor by the bathroom” “
“She always did. No matter how many times Dad told her to avoid it,” I hear August’s deep voice murmur. I smile to myself. That’s a good memory.
“I could hear voices coming up from downstairs. I tried to ignore them, but they were seriously interrupting my reading. I figured I’d tell them to keep it down. There’s no yelling or anything, so I figure it must be one of my dumb older brothers.” I crack a smirk and one of my eyes opens to see August and Tav roll their eyes.
“The voices were coming from the kitchen area. I couldn’t recognize the other voices, but Mom sounded scared. She kept saying, ‘We don’t know who you’re talking about! We don’t have a niece! Please, just leave and we won’t tell anyone’ I could hear Dad trying to keep Mom calm. I remember hearing a noise like someone dropped a slab of steak on the floor, and then a grunt and Mom crying harder. By this stage, I was standing in the dining room. I couldn’t see into the kitchen but I could hear better. I heard shuffling coming my way, so I hid under the table.” My breathing getting faster and even though I’m telling my brain that I’m fine, there’s no danger, my body isn’t listening. A large, calloused hand wraps over mine. I like the feeling of it, it helps me feel grounded. I feel a kiss on the top of my head before I hear Rhodie’s deep voice in my ear.
“It’s ok Chewy, you’re safe. You’re doing a great job, babe. If you need to stop, just say so.” I snuggle back into him, his warm, strong presence helping me to relax. I take another deep breath before getting back into the moment.
“My breathing sounded so loud in my ears. A man was talking loudly, telling Dad not to pull any shit or he would shoot him. That must have been Alan. Although in all my years stalking the person who killed my parents, he never once looked or sounded familiar to me.”
“That’s fairly normal, sweetheart. Your 13-year-old brain has been trying to protect you. It put everything away really tight, never to be thought of again, until something recently triggered a memory.”
I nod, taking onboard what he’s saying.
“So, I’m guessing the man yelling at Dad was Alan, because he didn’t have an accent. The accent guy just kept asking questions about their niece, and Mom was crying hard because they didn’t have a niece. I crawled out from under the table and moved beside the huge buffet we had in the dining room. From this angle, I could see into the kitchen. Mom and Dad were on the floor. Dad was lying with his head on Mom’s lap and he had blood on his face. Alan kicked him and Mom lay over him to protect him.” I shake my head to clear the images. There’s a tight pain in my chest and it feels like I can’t breathe. “Alan then says ‘Nado, they don’t have any information. Do you want me to make them talk?’”
“Nado Kraykowski. We have an ID. Good girl Dayz,” I hear Gus murmur and I feel him gently touch my hand.
“No, I hear the accent guy say. Get rid of them. Make it look like a robbery or something’ I could hear Mom getting really upset and then… nothing.”
Rhodie
I want to wrap my arms around Chewy and pull her into my lap. She’s done so well. I can tell this is hard on her. She has tears streaking down her cheeks, and she’s shaking slightly, but I don’t want to distract her as she still seems to be deep in her memory. I whisper in her ear that I’ve got her, that she’s doing so well, that she can stop anytime she wants, but she squares her shoulders and carries on.
“Alan must have used a silencer because I never heard a bang, but I did smell burning and then the smell of blood. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t look away. I stood looking into the kitchen and I saw Nado walk past the doorway opening. He was on the phone. He was speaking English but I could kind of hear the person on the other side. It was a man. He also had an accent, but not the same as Nado’s. Nado was saying, ‘Couldn’t get anything out of them. They denied they had a niece.’ Then I remember vaguely hearing the other voice say, ‘Find my daughter! They stole her from me and I want her back!’”
I look around and see my dad and brother both have matching frowns on their faces. The Tombs brothers look similar. We have an ID on Nado Kraykowski being there that night, but now we need to know who he was working for. Kraykowski is Polish, so his boss being Polish is slim given that they spoke English to each other. This whole thing is pissing me off. As soon as we get one answer, another question appears. Suddenly, Chewy goes quiet and still. Her voice is low when she speaks.
“I watched Alan mess up the kitchen. He was moving stuff around and told Nado he was going to head upstairs and look for jewelry. I turned to hide back under the table, but I ran into someone. It was Nado. I don’t know how he got past me or how long he’d even been there. I never even heard him finish his call. He grabbed me by the arm and shook me, asking me where my cousin was. We don’t have any cousins, both of my parents are only children. I told him that. He stopped shaking me, pushing me up against the wall. He told me I was a pretty girl and he could make a lot of money out of me. But first, he wanted to see what I could do. "
Oh fuck no, please don’t tell me that fucker Nado touched her. Please no. My gut is churning at the thought of it. I look around the room and every man in here is vibrating with nerves and anger. Her brothers and Pops look like they could kill, as do my brothers and dad.
“Tuesday, it’s okay love, it’s okay if you want to stop,” Mad Dog’s voice soothes. She shakes her head no, her eyes tightly closed.
“He touched my cheek and then his hand went to the buttons on his trousers. I knew what was going to happen because we learned all about stranger danger in school. He was going to make me touch his penis, and I remembered that penis’ were very sensitive, and if a stranger was going to molest us we had to attack. The chant was ‘nose, throat, balls’. I was too short to reach his nose and throat but I could reach his balls, so I waited for my moment.” I can see everyone in the room holding their breath.
