Page 67 of Whiskey Shivers

I felt so whole and so cherished, sosafein Hex’s arms, that I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

Hex…

Waking up with her in my arms the next morning after what had to have been the best sleep of my fuckin’ life was like a goddamn dream, only better, because it’d been real.

She’d been sore, and not in the right places, her collarbone giving her fits and makin’ her hurt somethin’ fierce. It could have been the sex, but it also could have been the changing weather. We’d managed to get to the dock just fine, the four of us, after buttoning up the houseboat butdamn. We were soaked, my lady shivering with cold.

I made it a point to turn on the radio for the drive home, to the AM station and the local news network.

“Why don’t you put on some music?” she asked me after only a little while, and it helped that that was when it happened.

“Justin McDaniel, the twenty-three-year-old man that was posing as a ninth grader in order to assault one of the teachers at Lakeside High School was killed Saturday afternoon in an apparent suicide at the Orleans Parish Jail. He was set to begin trial for the rape and assault of a female teacher at the school in the coming weeks. The district attorney’s office released a statement this morning, saying that while they’re disappointed that the teacher wouldn’t receive the justice she so richly deserves, they hope that this brings her some kind of closure and that she can heal more swiftly without a trial hanging over her head…”

I switched the radio off and she looked at me a little wide-eyed.

“Now when the cops reach you, it won’t be a lie when you tell them you heard it on the news first.”

“Suicide?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Police coverup at its finest. They don’t want to lose face and have to admit they couldn’t catch who shivved that motherfucker in the shower. Honestly, why investigate? Nothin’ of value’s been lost, and it would just be an expensive investigation to cost them a lot of money, only to have to spend even more money to house the guy that did it, when absolutely no one is sad that I did.”

She swallowed hard, and I reached over and put a hand on her knee. She put her hand over mine and gave it a squeeze and said, “It doesn’t seem real, you know? That that’s it. There is no more and it’s really over.”

“I hear you,” I said. “But that’s the way it is. The news only cares about it so long as it rakes in the ratings. The guy was just a disturbed individual that made a bunch of people in authority look real fuckin’ bad.” He sighed and said, “I know you’d like to think it’s over, baby, but it’s not. Their next step will be to do everything in their power to keep you from suing the shit out of the school and the district as you probably should be.”

She sat back in her seat.

“Sue?” she asked. “I mean, do I even have a case? Wouldn’t that make me lose my job?”

I shook my head.

“Hell no, they’d be stupid to fire you for anything. Not only would that put them on the hook for retaliation and wrongful termination, but they also don’t want to make themselves a straight-up villain in this saga when they just look incompetent as fuck right now.”

She looked thoughtful and when we got closer to the city where I knew that cell service cleaned up, I told her, “Why don’t you go on and restart your phone and see if you’ve missed anything.”

Sure enough, she hadseveralmissed calls – not only from the police tryin’ to reach her for a meeting but also from several ambulance chasing lawyers lookin’ to cash in. I told her to ignore the latter, but that I did think it was a good idea to lawyer up. I wanted to ask Cornelius for a good civil attorney. Someone a hell of a lot more trustworthy than what was blowing up her phone.

She was going to call the cops back and agree to have them meet with her, but I wasn’t too keen on them coming to the house. I didn’t want them putting two and two together with me there. Not that I thought they were competent enough to do it – most of the time not so much – but why tempt fate?

I sound boarded my thoughts and concerns off my Fable and she said, “Easy enough. I’ll agree to meet them at the station tomorrow, or when they come to the house, you just won’t be there. Go to the club or something.”

“Good plan,” I agreed.

“That or I lawyer up first and have them meet me at my lawyer’s office.”

I nodded. “I like that idea better, but I suppose that any of the above will do.”

After I got us home, I called Cornelius and got a referral to a good civil attorney, and we contacted them.

The next day, my girl met with her and the cops, who were indeed trying to notify her of McDaniel’s death. They went to her lawyer’s office to speak with my girl, at my girl’s request, and said they’d been cool about it. She said she’d thanked them, and that she’d heard on the radio on the way back from a weekend spent out with her friend in the bayou for her mental health. They bought it. She said they were very kind and understanding and didn’t give her any shit for having them meet her at her attorney’s, and that was all I cared about.

It was a load off my shoulders as I was at work and couldn’t be waiting in the wings as much as I’d like while she handled this. Not gonna lie, that low-key’d like to drive me nuts.

As for me, I’d gone into work and gave ol’ Curtis the skinny on my troubles over the weekend, although I heavily edited some things. I just told him I was out with some buddies of mine and things got outta hand between them and some other fellas, and I got picked up.

I figured it was better to tell on myself than have it go down any other way. I was pulled into ol’ Mrs. Donal’s office for a sit-down and she was none too pleased, though her disposition softened when I told her it was purely self-defense, which was the truth, and that I would be happy to do whatever she thought was best.

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