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“I really don’t want to tell anyone just yet.I’m still getting used to the idea myself.Having a baby in this family could be simply crazy.Your mom and grandma will be all over us, won’t they?”He told her that they loved her.“And I love them.So much.”
They spent the rest of the day going over things that they’d need for the new house.The government was picking up the tab on the house as well as furnishings, so Clay was all right with them shopping.Normally that was a thing that he most despised, shopping.
At four o’clock, they headed to his parent’s home.Dad was going to show him the issues that he was having with his computer, not that he couldn’t fix it himself.Clay thought that his dad was just making an excuse for them to have dinner together.They were just sitting down to dinner when his cell phone rang.Leaving the room to take the call when he saw who it was from, he stood outside on the back deck in the spring-like evening to speak to Alex Hardgrave.
“I’ve got your contracts, son.I’m so happy that you’ve agreed to come and work with us on this.Also, you should know that your back pay for the work that you’ve done for us so far is now in your account.Brock and I agreed that you should have been paid what a NASA employee should have been making instead of what they were paying you.”He said that he’d enjoyed the work.“Yes, I’m sure that you did.And I’m so very happy that we’ve had you around despite the men that you were working for.My goodness, we’re finding out things about those five men that I never would have thought of.Did you know that they would only put Jade on their outsourcing contract list rather than hiring her full-time?The things that she could have been doing for us.The two of you could have had all this taken care of by now.You know, the race to be the first of everything.Before I forget, however, it’s not on your contract with us.Your family, from now until there are no more Strongs left of your lines, will enjoy free access to all the places here in DC.It’s the least we can do for someone that done more for us in the last few months than had been done in the prior administration.”
“I’m glad to do it.And I know that my family will enjoy the free trips to the museums and such.Lizzy and I are going to make a list of all of the sites and make sure to visit at least one of them each time we’re there.Make a day of it.”Alex said that sounded like an excellent idea.“Lizzy thought of it.She’s forever keeping me in good graces with things.”They both laughed.“We looked over some of the furniture ideas that you sent along for us.And put a few things into the cart as you suggested.”
He looked at his dad when he came outside with him.He had a feeling that he’d been on the phone longer than he’d meant to and told Alex that he had to go and finish dinner with his family.Dad stopped him before he opened the door.
“We’re moving out of this house for Jenson to move in.However, he doesn’t want it.He said that he loves the home that he and Jade have and asked me to ask you if you and Lizzy would like it.It’s a big house, and your mom and I are just too lonely here all by ourselves.It’s entirely too big for just the two of us now.”He asked his dad where they were going.“To your house if you’ll allow it.”
“It’s big too.”He said it was, but not as big as the Manor house was.“I’ll have to talk to Lizzy.Like me, I think that she—well, all of us thought that Jenson and Jade would be moving into it.”
“I did as well.I’m sort of glad that he’s not, to be honest.It’s a big house but not the kind that he needs being a congressman.He’ll need a party room, and his home has that with the large ballroom on the upper floors.”He’d forgotten about that part of Jenson’s home.“So did I, to be honest.But he’s got a good point.The family home is not big enough for fundraisers and the like.Not like he needs.”
Going into the house, Dad brought up first about the Manor.He watched Lizzy’s face as Dad explained the same reasons to her why Jenson wasn’t going to be taking the family home.Then he offered it to them.Lizzy looked at him.She seemed as confused and excited as he was.
“What do you think, Clay?Would you like to move back into this house?”He told her that he would, actually, but so long as she was with him, he could live in a box and be happy.“You’re being sappy again.Really.Would you like to live here?For the rest of our lives?”
“I would.”Lizzy nodded and looked at his parents.“We’ll do it.For no other reason than it would be a great home to raise the next generation of Strongs.”
They didn’t mention the baby, for which he was both sad and glad for.It would have been a large gathering when his entire family found out.They’d be there all night, too, speculating on the gender of the baby as well as anything else that they could and would dream up to talk about.His family was good at that.Talking.
While Mom showed Lizzy through the house, he and his dad sat in his office and talked about the things that were going on with the Cartwright family.The elder man, Michael, was a piece of work.And dad believed that he was responsible for a great many deaths that they’d not been able to attach to his name as yet.
“Do you know if there is a tool made that can see what’s underground?I think there is, but for the life of me, I can’t find a thing about it.”Clay told his dad that there were ways of getting information like that from satellites.“So there wouldn’t be any reason for Cartwright to know that we’re looking into his property.I like that idea better.I’ve heard things about the man that frankly scares me.I know that his in-laws are around here.I wonder if he has any idea why they’re here other than the death of their sister.”
“Mick is stupid.”He thought about it.“No, that’s not right.He’s not intelligent by any means but not stupid.When he was in your office the other day, I had a feeling that he was just as terrified as anyone that I’ve ever spoken to.”Clay had a thought.“Could he be a victim of his father as well?And afraid of him?”
“You don’t think that Mick is the one having sex with those babies then.”It wasn’t a question, but Clay thought that it did deserve an answer all the same and told him what he thought.“All right.Now that you feel the same way as I do about things, I’m going to tell you what I unearthed today when I was going through records.Mick was in and out of the hospital when he was a baby.Right up until he was about seven.I don’t know that the abuse stopped then, but he was no longer getting looked at there.And back when he was a child, things like sexual abuse weren’t talked about or even worried over as much as they are now.There is no way that he would have gotten by with that nowadays.”
“So the mother knew as well.Do you think that Mattie knew what was going on?”Dad thought that she would have had to of known.“I guess you’re right on that.With all the wounds on those little girls, she would surely have had to of noticed something was wrong.”
He also thought about how the two women had been fighting over dresses for the girls.And the fact that Jane had had a gun on her when she’d gone shopping.He asked his dad if they knew if the gun was registered to anyone.Dad told him that it belonged to Michael but that Jane was also registered as a secondary user.
“She went there prepared to kill Mattie.”Dad said that it looked like it to him.“Christ, Dad.Do you suppose that she was going to see someone about what was going on, and they got her out of the way?Or was it just getting her out of the—they wanted the girls full time.The grandparents.They didn’t want to have to keep up appearances of getting a weekend with the girls and would have them all the time.Do you suppose that Mick knew about that, or were they planning to get rid of him as well?”
“I think that you’re on the right track with what you’re saying.”Clay sat there in stunned silence while he thought of all the implications of what he knew about the family already.“I’m afraid that I’m in over my head with this one.Even with all the research we’re doing and finding, I’m not sure that I could run a successful trial and win.Because to me, that is going to be the only outcome that will get the girls in a safe place.”
For as much as he hated the idea that his father thought he was in over his head, he wasn’t so sure that he wasn’t correct.There was a great deal at stake with this thing they were gathering up information on.The lives of two little girls who had been abused enough, too, were counted in that information.Clay found himself being proud of his father right then.More so than he’d ever been before.
~*~
Barkley was enjoying being around the Boone family.They were all smart and had a great sense of humor.Even their sister, Carrie, was fun to be around.The best part was she gave as good as she got from her siblings, and Barkley thought that was the best part.Not that he teased her all that much.Being around her made him realize, too, that his sisters-in-law weren’t so bad compared to her.Not that she was nasty mean, but she didn’t ever hold back when she had something to say.
He’d never been around a woman with her family before.Neither of his sisters-in-law had a family that he could have interacted with.When he realized that families weren’t like his, close and wealthy, he’d been trying his best to keep his body intact.All women, after he turned sixteen, decided that he was prime for the plucking, and they wanted to be plucked in the worse sort of way by him.
Barkley was a flirt.He knew that.It was legendary that he could get a date or two on the same night with both girls knowing about the other and not having a problem with it.Or so he’d thought.
He’d been seeing this girl in high school that seemed nice.Everyone seemed to like her.He soon found out that it was him they liked, and they were only tolerating her.Her personality was wonderful, and he had enjoyed hanging out with her.On occasion, she’d get too clingy or want more than he was willing to give, and they’d have a fight.Mostly it was about money and him not giving her any.But she would come back a few days later and tell him she was sorry.That got old quickly.
While on a date with another woman, he was knocked on the back of the head with something hard.They’d been at the movies and had had a good time.They were walking out to his truck when he’d been hurt.It hadn’t knocked him out, not completely it did make him too dizzy to stand up for very long.When he was finally able to get around enough, he saw that the women were fighting each other.And viciously too.
After the police had been called, he was taken to the hospital first.No matter how many times they separated the two women, they’d be back at it again.After getting fifteen stitches in the back of his head, he found out that the women had fought with their nails and teeth.Even whatever they could find around them to use.The first woman had a broken arm and ankle as well as several hundred stitches on her body, mostly her face.While the jealous one had a broken ankle and a broken hand, as well as being shot by the police when she resisted arrest.To this day, he found himself looking around for the ridiculous woman.Just in case she was ever freed from prison.She’d been found guilty of attempted murder on his part, and the same for his date.He’d see the first woman once in a while around town.But all they did was say hi or nod and move on.
Barkley often wondered if the woman had blamed him for what had happened.He hoped not.Nothing he’d done would have encouraged the crazy woman that they were anything more than hanging out.He’d only been seventeen.Much too young to make any kind of long-term commitment, he’d told her.However, when taken to court, she told the judge that he’d raped her and she was going to have his child.After a ten-minute break to have her blood tested, she was taken to prison, and he was a much smarter kid when it came to picking dates.
