Page 114 of Rigid

“Uh huh.”

She began to poke her pie with her fork. “She uhhm. She screamed. I remember that. She uhhm. She said…”

She inhaled a long breath and looked up. “Hey mother effer. Get off my daughter.”

I chuckled and cried at the same time. I quickly wiped my eyes and looked at her. “She said mother effer?”

She shook her head. “She said the other one. She screamed it.”

I hoped it was all she remembered.

“Is that all you remember?”

She shook her head. “I remember the sound of the gun. And then of her pulling him off of. She uhhm. She pulled him off me. And she talked to me. She called me my baby. And she said she loved me.” She met my gaze. “You call me baby.”

My throat tightened.

I swallowed hard and I nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“I remember the ambulance guys. They were talking on the way to the hospital. Said the guy was dead. She shot him in the head.”

“Eddie, it’s not anything that needs to be--”

“I’m glad she shot him, dad. I hate to say it, but I really am.” She huffed a sigh and raised her cast. “Look at me. I mean, really. Yeah, he needed to be shot.”

I couldn’t agree with her more, but refrained from giving an opinion.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” I said.

She smashed her pie with the tines of her fork, and after flattening it into a pile, she looked up and nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

I pushed my plate to the side.

Two months prior, marrying Sandy was unthinkable. Now, it was all I could think about. It had very little to do with Eddie’s question, though. I desperately wanted to do everything right, be married, have a family, and raise our baby in as conventional of an atmosphere as a 1%er and a former stripper could.

I looked at Eddie. “What if it was sooner, rather than later?”

“What if what was sooner?”

“Sandy and I getting married.”

She smiled. “Far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

Sandy

Eddie and Richard were on a date, and Smokey and I were on pins and needles since she’d left. While Smokey went to the bathroom for what seemed like the tenth time of the night, I sat and listened to the music.

The doorbell buzzing caused me to jump from my seat.

“Get that, will ya?” Smokey shouted from the bathroom. “Probably Cholo dropping off a check.”

I walked to the door, opened it, and gawked at who stood on the porch. He was dressed differently than he was at the police station, but I’d never forget his face.

Detective Watson.

My throat constricted and my mouth went dry. “Do you. Do you have a uhhm. A search warrant?”