Belinda glowered at George as he hit the button to restore Judge Judy’s lecturing. She headed for the front door, swung it open without even thinking, because she wasn’t expecting Sommer. She’d told him to call and they’d arrange a meeting tomorrow, by which time she was counting on finding a way to persuade George to unlock the safe.
It looked as though there had been a change in plan.
“Oh God,” she said. “I thought we said tomorrow. I need another-”
“No more time,” Sommer said, stepping in and closing the door behind him.
“Who is it?” George called out.
“My husband’s home,” Belinda whispered.
Sommer gave her a “So what?” look. “You do have the money.”
She tipped her head in the direction of her husband’s voice. “He found the cash, thought there was something fishy about it, and he won’t take it out of his safe until I tell him what it’s for.”
“So tell him.”
“I told him it was a down payment for a property. But he doesn’t believe me. George is a stickler for proper paperwork and receipts and documentation.”
Sommer sighed, looked off toward the family room. “I’ll show him some documentation,” he said.
And Belinda thought, What the hell, I’ve tried everything else.
Slocum got out his cell phone, hit a button, put the phone to his ear.
“Hi, Daddy,” Emily Slocum said.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Did you want to talk to Aunt Janice?”
“No, I just wanted to talk to you.”
Darren Slocum kept his eyes on the house up the street, hoping Sommer would return shortly. These situations made him very uncomfortable. He had no illusions about what kind of person Sommer was. He knew full well what he was capable of. Ann had told him what had happened on Canal Street, what she’d seen him do. Sitting out here in the car, wondering just how far Sommer might take things, it worried him.
But if Sommer got his money, if this went without incident, this could be the end. You’re all paid up, he’d tell him. Go find someone else to sell your stuff out here. With Ann dead, Slocum wanted out. No more purse parties, no more bringing in prescription drugs for Belinda to sell. No more home construction stuff for Theo Stamos.
Slocum wanted out. Out of this business. And out of Milford.
He figured his days as a cop were numbered. His bosses were still looking into that stolen drug money, the cash he’d used as start-up money for their business. Even if his bosses couldn’t nail him for it, the stench around him was only going to get worse. Maybe he’d hand in his badge. If he walked away, odds were they’d deep-six the investigation. Getting him off the force would satisfy them. He’d move. Maybe upstate New York. Pittsburgh. Get a job in security or something.
In those moments when Slocum felt shame about the path he’d decided to take, the choices he’d made, the people with whom he’d aligned himself, he phoned his daughter. A man who loves his daughter, he told himself, can’t be all bad.
I am a good man. My little girl means more than anything to me.
So, waiting for Sommer to show, he placed the call.
“Where are you, Daddy?” Emily asked.
“I’m sitting in a car waiting for someone,” he said. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“You must be doing something,” he said.
“Aunt Janice and I were on the computer. I was showing her how many friends I’ve got and what their favorite things are. I wish you’d come home.” Her voice was so sad.
“I will, soon. Once I wrap up a few things.”
“I miss Mom.”
“I know. I do, too.”
“Aunt Janice said we should go on a vacation. Me and you.”
“That’s a good idea. Where would you like to go?”
“Boston?”
“Why Boston?”
“That’s where Kelly says she might go.”
“Kelly Garber’s in Boston?”
“Not right now. She’s at her grandma’s.”
“Well, I think it’d be good for me and you to go someplace, and if you want it to be Boston, that’s okay with me.”
“They have an aquarium.”
“That’d be fun,” Slocum said, watching a set of headlights coming up the street. “See all kinds of fish and sharks and dolphins.”
“When do I have to go back to school?”
“Next week, I guess,” Slocum said.
The car was stopping across from the Morton house, pulling over. The headlights went off.
“Sweetheart,” Slocum said, “Daddy has to go. I’ll call you again later.”
Belinda led Sommer into the family room. George shifted in his leather recliner when he sensed her approach. He grabbed the remote, hit the mute button again.
“Hey,” he said, seeing only Belinda first.
“Someone here to see you,” she said.
George peered up and saw Sommer standing there. “Well, hello. I don’t believe we’ve-”
Sommer grabbed hold of George by the back of the neck, hauled him out of the chair, and propelled his head directly into Judge Judy. The plasma TV shattered.
No one got out of the car right away after the headlights went out. But Slocum thought he could make out the driver looking at the Morton house. Thinking about what to do, maybe.
Slocum thought, Who the hell is this?
The flat-screen TV shattered. George screamed. Belinda screamed.
