CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Cruz
I’m still kind of shocked at what came out of my mouth last week and then it dawns on me—I treated her like I would’ve if she was never assaulted. In short, I teased her like she was ‘normal’ and not ‘broken’, which drives me crazy every time she says something along that line of thought. As I start my forklift to begin loading one of the trailers backed into the bays, I wrinkle my nose when I see what this task entails. It’s pet food, which is a pain in the ass to move because even though the bags are heavily wrapped, if I mess up, one of the forks could puncture a bag and create an absolute disaster area. Mike, one of the guys I work with, did that last week and there’s still a slight odor from the burst bags despite the fact that we usually have anywhere from twenty to forty trucks waiting to either be loaded or unloaded. Normally, dog food wouldn’t smell, but after he busted the whole pallet, I found out that in concentrated amounts, itdoesstink. Maybe it’s because the temperature inside the warehouse isn’t well-controlled, who knows? It’s why I’m wearing a hoodie as well as a beanie that I keep in my locker, since it’s always atleast twenty degrees colder inside than the actual temperature outside.
With my earbuds in, I hum along to my playlist as I successfully manage to get thirty pallets of dog food loaded so the driver can head out. Hearing a beep in my ear, I realize that Mindy is calling and decide now’s as good a time as any to take my last break of the shift.
“Hey, everything okay?” I ask.
“C-c-cruz,” she sobs, her voice shuddering so much I can barely understand her.
“What’s wrong, kitten?” I question, wondering if I need to leave even though I have at least two hours left on the time clock.
“There’s some man at the door, who says he’s your parole officer. Why would he come here at night?”
“Son of a bitch!” I seethe. “Don’t let him in, Mindy. Give me a second to send Dex a text. I’m going to switch my line over and call him as well. He knows damn good and well what my schedule is and there’s no way he’s coming inside when I’m not home.”
“H-h-hurry, please,” she stammers. The anxiousness in her voice has me seeing red. How dare he! This is outside of office hours, and even though he’s allowed to do random checks, he’s not allowed to do it at odd hours of the night. He needs to be reported because I’m sure he’s violating all kinds of things and toeing that legal line.
“Did you answer the door?”
“N-no, I saw the alert on my phone. The only lights on are the outside one for you, and the one over the stove, like I always do,”she says. “But I can’t see his face clearly, Cruz, he has a hat on and his head is slightly down.”
“Be right back,” I reply. Right now, I’m grateful that she seems to be calming down; I can understand her more clearly than when I first answered the call.
I quickly send a text to Dex asking him to go over and see what this asshole wants considering I’mnotat home and the jackass knows my schedule. I turn it into him weekly even though it never changes. I don’t work the swing shift. Once I get his response, I then call my parole officer, all set to light his ass on fire. “Hello? Who’s calling at this hour?” Mr. Douglass asks.
I’m so pissed off that it takes me a minute to realize that he sounds sleepy. “Mr. Douglass? It’s Cruz Dempsey calling, and I apologize in advance for doing so at this hour, but my wife is on the other line saying that you’re standing on our porch asking to come inside.”
He immediately sounds far more alert than he did when he answered the phone. “Cruz, I’m crashed out on my couch, for fuck’s sake. I know I told you I’d be coming out to see your new residence in the next week, but I damn sure don’t make night visits. I may be an asshole, and I know I give all my new parolees a lot of shit, but whoever’s at your house isnotme. Tell your wife not to open the door. Do you need me to go over there to make sure she’s okay?”
Fear now grips me because if itisn’thim, who else could it be? Dread courses through my body when I realize it can only be one person—Clark. Probably wearing some sort of disguise for Mindy not to recognize him. I’m sure his face is something she has memorized after the trauma he inflicted upon her. “No, our friends live across the road and he’s going over there now, but Iappreciate you being willing to do so. Dammit, I’ve got two more hours on my shift before I can leave, and I know this has freaked her out.”
“Let me call your supervisor and sort that out for you. She needs you right now,” he replies. “Expect Max to tell you you’re good to go in a few minutes.”
“Thanks. Can I ask one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“What changed your attitude concerning me? Because you’ve been a Grade A jerk since I got out,” I ask.
“Because a Ms. Butler reached out to me, said she’s your attorney and she’s investigating your wrongful conviction. After speaking with her, I did a little searching and found out that it looks like you were the hospital’s scapegoat and the town’s fall guy for what happened with the stolen medications,” he replies. “Fuck it, I’m going to go over and make sure she’s okay myself. I can call Max on the way.”
The whole drive home, my heart is in my throat, not knowing how much of a setback this will be for Mindy. Despite my fear, I still obey the traffic laws, because the last thing I want is to be pulled over for a speeding ticket. Finally,finallyI’m pulling into our driveway, where I see two men sitting on our porch. Dex and Mr. Douglass.
Parking, I quickly grab my insulated lunch bag and walk toward the two men who stand when they see me coming. “So, hopefully y’all introduced yourselves,” I say once I’m on the porch.
“We did,” Dex replies. “As far as who was here, it was someone named Clark. The reason Mindy didn’t know who he was is because he had his head down so she couldn’t see him clearly. I got over here while he was still knocking on the door and flat out asked him who the fuck he was and in what universe did he think it was okay to bang on someone’s front door at this hour. Mindy heard the conversation through the app and called the police since she’s got a restraining order against him, and they got here quick enough and arrested him for violating it.”
“So, why are you both outside then?” I question, although I bet it has to do with Mindy not being willing to open the door.
Dex gives me a look and says, “I didn’t think it was a good idea to stress her out any more than she already was, but Mr. Douglass here talked to her through the app and let her know that he would never be making night visits, plus he made sure that he looked into the camera itself so she knows what he looks like now.”
I look back at the driveway and don’t see any other vehicle so I ask, “What happened to his car?”
Mr. Douglass chuckles then replies, “The cops towed it. Now that you’re home, I’m taking off. You need to go check on your wife, Cruz.”
