Courted by Karma (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod) (25 page)

“
I’m glad you’re coming, but you are not slowing down. You’re still running circles around men half your age.” I grinned. “Trust me, I know.”

He
demurred with a rueful smile, “Not that I ever argue with a lady, but half my age?”

With a sidelong glance sweep of my
lashes, I replied, “Your right, Mr. Dos Equis Man, I really meant one third your age.” While he chuckled and shook a finger warningly at me, I reassured him, “Well, you come over anytime you’d like tomorrow. Hey, I have an idea. Mac is coming over around four as well, so why don’t I ask her to swing by your place on her way?”

Mr. Barkley
agreed with alacrity to this arrangement. “How do you say it, Anabel? My night vision sucks big time, is that right?”

I laughed and said that was exactly right.

We chatted for several minutes more about the recent events until, rising to his feet, Mr. Barkley was off to go meet a few friends for a late lunch.

At the
office door, he remarked casually, “Oh yes. I have made a list of possible candidates that are my first choices to be your new money manager.”

One of my recent meetings with
Mr. Barkley was on the subject of my Blood Money. He wanted to get me hooked up with a younger, reliable money man. I think he felt the Grim Reaper breathing down his neck. I didn’t like to contemplate his demise, but above all else, Mr. Barkley’s a practical man and he’s being annoyingly insistent.

I
looked up and met his gaze, but remained stubbornly silent.

H
e smiled kindly and took my hand. “Anabel, you are a darling, loyal girl and I want to assure you that I have no immediate plans to kick the bucket. By interviewing these candidates and making a choice now, when I am still healthy and in possession of all my mental faculties, it allows me the opportunity to watch over this youngster we choose. Doesn’t that make sound business sense to you?”

“Yes
,” I answered, but very reluctantly.

Sometimes change
was good, but sometimes change sucked dead donkey dicks. Or so my brother has been known to say. Right now, I could only agree with him.

After Mr. Barkley
kissed my cheek and left, I kept the office door ajar to hear if my help was needed in the store. Sitting at my desk, I checked my phone but hadn’t missed any calls. I resolutely pushed Luke’s earlier call out of my mind and texted Mac the request to pick up Mr. Barkley tomorrow. I called Jazy back, but she didn’t answer. I would catch up with her later when I went over to Mac’s at three. I decided to save peeking in the gun bag for my special reward after doing my grunt work.

For the next hour, I
worked at the computer doing the tedious tasks of payroll, general ledger accounting, and ordering supplies. I was deep into combing the wholesale book distributor’s catalogues I frequented for new titles to buy for February’s book order when I became aware of Anna’s distinctive voice somewhere outside the office door.

“Un
memento por favor.”

I didn’t take my eyes off
the monitor in front of me when I heard the office door close and Anna dropped heavily onto the small loveseat.

As I typed,
I murmured distractedly, “Are you coming in here to show off, Miss Mexico? You know I am linguistically challenged, so your skills are lost on me.”

At Anna’s continued silence, I
glanced over at her. She was slumped on the green velvet couch and staring straight ahead. Her face was white. She looked sick with apprehension.

“What?” I
demanded sharply.

Motioning with a thumb towards the store, she
brought her eyes up to mine and gulped. “Uh, you know my new tutoring pupil, Maria?

“
Not personally, but go on, what about her?”

Anna’s words tumbled out. “We haven’t
even started the tutoring lesson today.” I flicked a look at the computer clock. It was 1:20 now and the session normally ended at one. “Maria asked about you the minute she sat down. She wanted to know if it was true that you saved another woman from her bad husband intent on hurting her. When I said yes, thinking she was just being curious, Maria burst into tears and started bawling. I mean, we’re talking a hysterical storm lasting a solid twenty minutes here, June.” Anna rubbed a shaking hand over her face. “Long story short, she’s begging for your help. Her sister’s latest husband owes some moneylender guy a lot of cash. Maria says this brother-in-law, Jorge, is not truly a bad man, but he’s got a nasty gambling problem. He sounds like a weak-ass. He owes money to this old dude and can’t pay it back. He’s been threatened to pay up by this Sunday deadline or they’ll hurt Maria’s sister and him.” Anna whispered in fierce disgust, “This old dude that lends the money doesn’t care how he gets his money, he just wants it back. One of his enforcers is a douche bag pedophile, Junior. The niece, Blanca is her name, is only thirteen-years-old! Maria says she is very pretty. After this enforcer man saw Blanca, he told them he would take Blanca in exchange for paying off the debt. Maria is absolutely going nuts with worry her niece will somehow be forced to go with this man, or he will take her.”

I
blinked and stared at Anna without speaking. Her frantic words penetrated my brain, but up until thirty seconds ago, I was lost in calculating numbers and book orders. Now my mind was lost in calculating the bizarre horror of some stranger’s life. I couldn’t help contemplating my own bizarre life, as well. I never thought I’d use the word “enforcer” in any connection to my daily world. Now it’s come up twice in one day, and both times in connection with exploiting young girls. Three times, if you wanted to get technical about the root word of enforcer, since Jack Banner was in law enforcement.

It
was taking me a moment to switch gears, although there was never any doubt of my answer.

Saving the
February book order on my computer screen, I smacked a hand on the desk and said, “Okay then. Of course we’ll save Blanca. Let’s get cracking on a plan. Bring Maria in here, Anna. Does she speak English fluently, because you know I can’t speak…”

“Are you on crack?”
Anna interrupted loudly, glaring at me in exasperation. “I knew you’d say that! Of course her niece needs to be saved, Junior,” she went on in a pleading tone, “but shouldn’t we tell Maria to call the police, or maybe we could just call Chief Jack for her?”

I smiled evilly
at the thought of calling Chief Jack on a pedophile case and all the fun I could have, but then I focused. Anna gets irritable when she was scared, so I didn’t take her crack personally.

“
Anna, tell me the truth, did Maria already tell you she can’t go to the cops?”

Anna
had the grace to look a little guilty, but gestured impatiently. “Oh, alright, she did say that, but I was hoping it’s because she’s frickin’ hysterical.”

“
I’d be hysterical, too, if I knew Diego was being extorted to sell Stella off to some filthy enforcer to pay his gambling debts,” I murmured thoughtfully, already thinking about how we could help out this lady and her niece. “I doubt Maria’s wrong about bringing in the cops. From what I’ve heard, you never mess with the bad guys you borrow money from by going to the cops. The bad guys lay low until the cops go away and then you’re really screwed. Even worse, the bad guys tend to send simple messages to get their point across. An eyeball or a finger of a loved one usually does the trick nowadays.”

“
Nowadays?” Anna repeated in frowning confusion. Not waiting for an answer, she hurried on, “Crap, Junior, that’s what Maria is saying! They’ve already punched her sister around as a warning!”

“
Oh, her poor sister.” I shuddered. On TV, when a woman heroine gets punched around I was always amazed at how the girl can bounce right up and go chase the bad guy. If a grown man punched me full-strength even once, I’m certain I’d need two weeks off from work before I recouped physically. Then I’d need to take another week off to get over feeling sorry for myself. As long as I took it easy, I could probably go hunt down the bad guy to retaliate within a month. “They must be terrified. We should plan on saving Blanca by tomorrow night.” I shook my head. “Can you imagine marrying a man in good faith and then this is what your life turns into? Anna, are you positively sure you want to make that announcement tomorrow?”

Anna
rolled her eyes, but snickered.

“Okay,
okay, but when Reg comes home missing something,” I held up my hands and wiggled my fingers, “and tells you it was from a power tool on the job, never say I didn’t try to help you.”

I realized my
best friend must really be terrified, as well. Instead of making her usual saucy comeback, she could only manage a little chuckle before her face got pinched with worry again.

I sighed. “All teasing aside, w
hen you borrow money from some backroom moneylender and don’t pay them back,” I waved a dismissive hand, “threats of bodily harm and extortion is hardly surprising news. They’ve got a business to run. How else are they going to collect what’s owed to them—a black mark on your credit score?” I wrinkled my nose disdainfully. “Nor is the exploiting of women and children to pay for a man’s mistakes a new concept. The pedophile man will probably keep after Blanca anyway, now that she’s in his penis crosshair sights. Statistically, it’ll be just a matter of time before the gambler husband gets in too deep again, even if he can get out of this little pickle. You took the same history classes I did in school, Anna. Didn’t you read your books?”

Temporarily d
umbfounded, Anna found her voice and gave a strangled yell, “History classes?” She protested on a wail, “I don’t know what school you went to, but I don’t remember assignments like this!” In her agitation, some brown strands have fallen loose from Anna’s pony tail and her round eyes were rounder in frustrated dismay. “Listen, Junior, it was really cool that you saved Larissa, and then shot at the Hammer when he tried to kill us, and then co-shot him dead when he tried to kill you and Reg, but you…I mean, we… just can’t go marching into Minneapolis and take on some Mexican bad dudes like we know what we’re doing. It’s not like we’re super heroes, for Christ’s sake!” She shouted in outrage, “Besides, tomorrow is Thanksgiving!”

“
Of course we can’t do it alone,” I soothed the upset Bride-To-Be. “Would you feel better if I called in Batman and Boy Wonder to assist, or perhaps you’d prefer I round up some Pilgrims and Indians?”

Chapter
X

“
Man In The Box” by Alice In Chains

Wednesday, 11/21/12

1:25 PM

Anna’s hands were loosely over her ears and she was steadily rocking back and forth on the loveseat. She was also making a keening sound low in the back of her throat, her hair was hanging in her face, and she’s glaring at me. I’m not taking any offense at her actions, indeed I barely noticed them. Throughout the years, that was how Anna routinely reacted anytime I came up with fun ideas that she thought would get our butts in the wringer, or possibly kill us. She was waiting to be convinced by me that we will not get caught, or die. Despite her current impersonation of an unstable mental patient, Anna has courage and was a daredevil. Sometimes, these traits just needed a little gentle coaxing and prodding to rise to the surface. I’ll say this for her, once she’s convinced we’ll live another day, there was no more enthusiastic partner in crime than my friend.

I explained my glimmer of an idea
how we could rescue Blanca immediately, and by association, her parents. Blanca’s long term safety needs remained unknown and would need to be determined upon receipt of more information. For instance, was her mother part of the problem or basically a good mother with bad taste in men? Anna stopped her moaning long enough to share a wry, heartfelt glance with me over that statement.

It’s been about two years s
ince I ticked Anna off and signed her up to start volunteering her tutoring services. During this time, we’d also started donating and delivering food and supplies to various organizations in Rice County. Along with all the good we’ve seen being done, this has also exposed us to some seriously ugly realities in life.

If you’ve ever been in a
woman’s shelter, or in a safe house providing emergency sanctuary for families escaping domestic threats, then you know there’s no walking away unscathed from the harsh truth of what some women and children endure in their everyday life. Professionals in occupations such as human services, hospitals, and law enforcement see this sort of thing routinely and build up a thick skin to keep dealing. For me, a single woman that owns a used bookstore in a small town, it has been eye opening and sickening.

A
bstractedly hearing the statistics that people from all walks of life suffer physical and mental abuse was one thing. Personally seeing a young mother swollen beyond anything recognizably human after being beaten within an inch of her life was another.

What
sickened me was finding out this particular woman took her kids and returned to the man that hurt her. It’s not like I couldn’t comprehend the twisted psychology that resulted in those warped decisions. After seeing the actual physical result of such a severe beating, it simply made it so much harder for me to shrug off her choice. I knew this was why I related to Larissa and her struggles to escape such a life. She’s choosing to fight for herself the best she can. A grown woman or man, no matter how messed up, still gets to make that choice.