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lawsuit.
The one where Mutual Life Insurance of Nassau had agreed to pay one Nancy Clearwater Bateman, beneficiary, a hundred thousand dollars on the life insurance policy taken out in the name of her son.
Samuel Clearwater.
Preppy
Dre had been acting strange since she’d gotten home. After Bo went to bed she grabbed a chair that she’d been working on reupholstering and flipped it upside down in the middle of the living room. Kevin and I watched American Ninja Warrior as she grunted and swore at the chair, wrestling with a staple that wouldn’t come loose. “You want my help?” I asked.
Dre didn’t answer and I wasn’t sure if she hadn’t heard me or if she was ignoring me. Finally, she threw down her pliers and stormed off into our room.
“What do I do?” I asked Kevin.
“I don’t know,” he said, taking a sip of his beer. “But you better fix it ‘cause chances are, it’s probably all your fault.”
“True story, man.” I got up and was about to go find Dre and fix whatever was bothering her when she appeared with a big purse, one I didn’t see her carry that often, slung around her shoulder.
“Hey,” she said, when she practically ran into me.
“Hey,” I said back. “Where you running off to?”
“Oh, I’m just gonna run to the discount fabric store and get supplies for the chair. I don’t have the right staples and the plier is all bent and wonky. Maybe while I’m there I’ll check out some new fabric for the couch too. I won’t be too long though,” she said all in one breath.
“They’re still open?” I asked, checking my watch. “It’s eight o’clock.”
“They’re open until ten,” she replied.
“It’s Sunday,” I reminded her.
“Um yeah, I was surprised they’re open so late too.” She looked over my shoulder. “Kevin can I take your car?”
“Uh huh,” he called from the couch, his focus solely on the TV.
“Why don’t you take mine?” I asked, offering her my keys. She dangled Kevin’s keys, which hung from his dirty rabbit’s foot keychain.
“Because I’d like to get there sometime today and if I took yours I’d be driving two miles an hour the entire way, afraid I might do something to hurt it,” she said. “I could play bumper cars with Kevin’s piece of shit and he’d never even notice.”
“Hey,” Kevin called out, still not turning around. “It might be true but that doesn’t mean it don’t hurt any less.”
She stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on my lips. Nothing about her reasons for leaving, or that kiss, felt right.
Not a damn fucking thing.
“Take Wolf with you,” I said.
“Don’t be silly. I’ll be really quick, no one is looking for me at the fabric store,” Dre said, darting out the door.
I stood on the porch and watched her pull out. She was really adorable if she thought she was going somewhere unprotected when a threat could still be out there. We’d eliminated everyone on the list we’d made but since we couldn’t be sure we took out the person responsible for trying to get to Dre, it would always be in the back of my mind. Which was why Wolf was still standing guard at the house.
“You want me to follow her?” Wolf asked.
“Nope,” I said, watching the taillights disappear around the corner before I pulled out my keys.
“You gonna let her go alone?”
I was halfway to my car when I answered.
“No fucking way.”
Dre
I didn’t know what I’d find when I drove to the address listed on the legal documents. Mostly, because I didn’t really know what I was looking for.
Never in a million years did I expect what was waiting for me there.
NEVER.
When the front door shut behind me I walked down the driveway back to Kevin’s car in a daze. I shifted my now much heavier purse and fiddled with my keys only to drop them when a voice out of nowhere scared the shit out of me.
“You’re a terrible fucking liar, Doc,” Preppy said, his voice laced with anger and something else that made me cringe and my stomach drop.
Hurt.
“I’m sorry but I wanted to check it...”
“Whose house is that?” Preppy asked, uncrossing his arms and standing up straight.
“It’s...I came here to see your mom.”
“My mom?” Preppy asked, taking a step back then looking up at the house. “Why the fuck would you want to come see my mom, and more importantly why the fuck would you lie to me about it?”
“I’m so sorry. I just didn’t want to get you upset if there was nothing to be upset about. I wanted to check things out for myself first.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Preppy asked, looking as confused as I felt.
I pulled the legal documents from my purse, the ones I’d printed off from the county, and handed them to Preppy who scanned them over. “What the fuck,” he whispered.
“She took out life insurance policies on you and on Kevin. She’s also been collecting disability and social security off both you since you were practically infants. Scamming the system left and right,” I started, bouncing from foot to foot. “I think...Preppy I’m pretty sure she was the one after me or who hired someone to come after me in order to get to you. I mean, the woman collected a hundred grand based on the fact that you were dead and I think she wanted you to stay that way before she either got arrested or they wanted their money back or both. It was just a matter of time. So she used me to get to you.”
Preppy lowered the pages and looked at me. “That doesn’t answer why you came here to see her. Why you DIDN’T come to me first.”
I took a deep breath. “I knew if you got to her first I wouldn’t exactly have the chance to talk to her and I wanted to look in the eyes of the woman who denied love to the most amazing human being I’ve ever known, mother to mother. I wanted to see her so I could better understand your pain. Better understand you before I told you all this and you got to her first.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Preppy asked.
“No. Not exactly.”
“What? She wasn’t home?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t say that,” I said, pulling out the box Nancy’s husband had given me from my purse.
“What’s in that?” he asked.
“Your mom’s remains.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Preppy
The sun beat its afternoon rays down on the top of my head as I stood in our driveway holding a small square of cardboard in my hands. I turned it over, examining every side. The box was no bigger than a toaster. Inside of it was all that was left of the woman who, by DNA only, was my mother.
I thought of a lot of different words when I thought about her and ‘mother’ in any form was not one of them. Cunt was usually the first word that crossed my mind.
“You sure you don’t want me to come?” Dre asked. She bit her plump lip. Awe, she was nervous for me.
I shook my head. “Nah, I’ll be quick about this shit and I’ll be back before Bo gets home from school. Besides, the bitch doesn’t need even more people wasting their time on her than we already are.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Like she didn’t know if she could believe me. I didn’t know what else I could do to convince her that I really was fine. That this was more of a disposal than anything else. My gaze shifted from Dre’s when I caught her staring over my shoulder. I turned to see my younger, and not nearly as handsome, brother stepping out of the house, a navy backpack slung over one shoulder.
