Page 34 of Bad to the Bone

She looks happy. I feel like I can breathe a bit better after her car disappears into the horizon. The phone rings in my hand and I answer it without looking.

“Are you still standing there like a lovesick boy?”

“Yes.” I’m unashamed.

“How did it go.”

“She looks happy,” I say, recalling the ghost of a smile that she wore as she packed the car and took one last look at the house.

“Good. Did you get what you need?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. The rest is up to you. Don’t let me down big brother,” Shannon says playfully. You’d never guess it by her tone, but she has proven herself to be the most vicious and meticulous person I have ever met. The CIA should recruit her.

I get back into the rental car I have been riding around in for the last two weeks. Its inconspicuous, and helps me keep my father’s “minders” off my ass while I do what needs to be done. I spent a lot of time thinking about Clarice and my father. Sure, he’s a small town mayor, and he comes from money, but I never once questioned how Tom Turner became Tom Turner.

In a world full of feature length origin stories, I never once questioned my own.

Of course, like most things in Linsmythe, if you do a little digging, a skeleton or two is bound to turn up. And that was all Shannon needed to launch a full scale background check into my father and his financials.

Money laundering. Tax evasion. Insider trading. He was using Linsmythe as his own personal black bank. Sure, half of the town lived in relative obscurity, but the other half...his half...they were living like kings. It wasn’t just the country ambiance and my father’s charm that attracted them to Linsmythe. Once Shannon had the evidence, she walked me through it, one step at a time. I still don’t know how she got it, and she promised never to tell me. The last thing I want to do is testify against my sister in court. I’m just glad she’s on my side.

The worst part has been trying to keep away from Kim. At first I stayed away from her because I knew that was the only way to keep her safe. Once we started investigating him I became paranoid. I couldn’t sleep at night, afraid he would make a move on her while she slept. So, I camped out down the block, watching her house from afar. I felt like a stalker, so I left her a rose to let her know it was me hiding in the shadows. That seemed to make her happy, so I kept doing it. As long as she stayed safe, I could focus on the task at hand.

As for me? I returned to my roots and did a little home invasion. Two weeks of skulking around my house turned up a treasure trove of photos, receipts, and large stashes of cash. Clarice was right, I had no idea who my father truly was or what he was capable of, but I was finding out. The final nail in the coffin came in the form of those DNA test results.

There was enough evidence here to put him away for years. I just had to wait until I was sure that Kim and Shannon were well out of the blast radius before I dropped my bomb.

“I have to take care of my mom, first.” I know I sound weak, trying to convince myself that talking to my mother would make any difference, and knowing that it wouldn’t.

“Be careful, Zayne. She may not be as innocent in all of this as you may want to believe. Women like that are WILLING victims.”

Shannon’s words ring a little too true for my taste, but I can’t let that stop me. We’re talking about my mom.

“I hear you. I just need to be sure,” I say.

“Okay. Call me if you need anything.”

“Will do, and Shannon...thanks for everything.”

“Whatever,” she quips before hanging up.

I check my watch before walking into the house. If I time it right, we can both be out of there and miles away before my father knows what hit him. The voice in the back of my head keeps warning me that I shouldn’t get my hopes up. This time won’t be any different than all of the others. She never stood up for me or herself. She never stood up against my father, even when he was wrong.

And maybe she isn’t innocent.

All of those thoughts flood my mind when I turn the corner and see her on the sofa, looking more awake than usual, flipping through a magazine.

“Hey honey,” she smiles. A real smile. Not a forced shadow of a smile that she usually drudges up whenever she sees me.

“Mom,” I take a seat across from her, hoping that this won’t be the last lucid conversation I have with her. “I know everything.”

“What?”

“This town, and dad, and all of his friends. I know everything.”

She looks at a loss for words, but she doesn’t deny anything. Even without going into the details we both know what we are talking about.

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