I Will Love You Forever Pt. 2 Ch. 09

He rarely went anywhere alone and for all practical purposes turned the leadership of the group over to Duke. He still had the final say in any decisions but for the most part, he remained low key and out of sight biding his time.

His cellmate 'junior' as Lawrence had taken to calling him had been watching him for several weeks not speaking unless he was spoken to first. He knew that Lawrence was up to something and wanted to know what it was not only because he was curious but also because whatever he found out would help him get out of prison early. The warden had made him that promise the day that he moved him into the cell with Lawrence.

Junior, aka Saul had really come to like Lawrence and felt guilty for his deception but he and his family came first. He had to get home so that he could help his family. As it was, they were barely surviving and the younger boys needed a man in the house.

He hadn't anything to report to the warden in a few weeks and he was getting nervous. How he was getting information to the warden was ingenious, he worked for the warden doing odd and ends jobs. Lawrence, seeing the advantage of it encouraged it and pumped him for information each time he returned to the cell. That Lawrence never accused him of telling the warden anything was surprising but he really didn't know anything important and he kept up his role of being the grateful kid who needed a friend.

Every once in a while, Lawrence would call him Kenny to which he always responded which seemed to endear him to Lawrence even more but not enough that he was forthcoming with any useful information. If anything, Lawrence had become more secretive.

Saul stood up, stretched and left the cell for his daily stroll around the yard. He no longer needed Lawrence or anyone else to go with him; everyone knew that to touch him was signing his death warrant. He walked outside, scanned the yard looking for someone in particular, and kept walking when he didn't see him. It didn't matter, he had no more information for him than he did the warden. After walking the yard several times, Saul sat down and waited for the lunch bell.

All he could do was wait and hope that Lawrence let something useful slip.

*******

Jacob saw Saul walking the yard but didn't make himself known. He knew that the boy had nothing to tell him and saw no point in jeopardizing the boy's life any more than he needed to. He went back into his cell and began to finalize his plan for revenge and for his death.

Over the past weeks, he had begun reading the bible again and begging god to understand why he had to do what he was planning to do.

"You understand don't you? Wasn't it you that taught an eye for an eye?" he prayed one night as his cellmate snored above him. "He's got to pay for what he did and if see fit to deny me access to you and heaven then so be it."

After that prayer, he fell asleep satisfied that he was doing the right thing.

The weeks passed slowly and he was getting impatient. He had found the perfect spot for his vengeance and even if they were interrupted, it would be too late for either of them. Each day that he walked, he carried a little of what he needed to the designated spot. The small pile of flammables steadily grew and in a few more weeks, he would have more than enough for what he intended to do. He wanted to hear Lawrence Goodman squeal like a stuck pig and beg for mercy. Nothing else would do.

******

The warden watched Lawrence, knew that he was up to something, and wished that he would just do it and get it over with so that he could be rid of his ass. He also knew that Jacob Lincoln was up to something as well and had finally figured out what it was-he was planning to kill Lawrence Goodman. For several weeks after he figured it out, Ellis pondered over what he should do with his knowledge and decided to use it to his advantage. He had given orders not to disturb Jacob Lincoln, only to keep an eye on him.

Ellis found himself to be every bit as nervous as he imagined Lincoln to be as he planned the murder of Lawrence Goodman. When all was said and done, he would be rid of Goodman and he hoped that the subtle message that he was sending out would be received.

*******

Penny and Joel took the news about not going back to school much better than Kenji had anticipated. He apologized repeatedly for the inconvenience and for inadvertently placing them in danger. Joel had finally had enough and spoke up.

"I think that you're wrong about that." he said. "If I remember correctly, the problem really began when you stood up for me. If you had kept going instead of stopping, we might not be here so if you have to lay the blame somewhere, lay it here."

"Joel, this isn't your fault." Kenji said.

"And it isn't yours." Joel retorted, "So stop acting like it is and put the blame where it belongs and that's with Andrew Kelley and those who think like him. The important thing right now is making sure that everyone remains safe and if I have to miss some classes in order for that to happen, then I will. Penny and I have talked about this and we think that we all need to stay together. The only place that's big enough and will give us all some privacy is Penny's place."

"What about your roommates?" Patricia asked.

"Well as you know two of them are out of the country and the other one is gone for a few weeks." Penny replied.

Patricia looked at Kenji who was looking at Penny.

"How many people know where you live?" he asked trying to make a point.

"I don't know.... I see what you're getting at so what are you suggesting?" she asked.

"That we take the children to Nick and my mother and that we stay here." Kenji replied.

"What?" three voices said in unison.

"Think about it, we can take turns keeping watch and we can continue our studies." Kenji said.

"I don't know about this." Patricia said, "We don't know how long this is going to continue and the children will get homesick."

"Then you will go with them." Kenji replied calmly.

"No!" Patricia shouted. "I won't do it! I don't know what the answer is but I know that isn't it."

The debate went on late into the night with Kenji and Joel taking turns keeping watch for suspicious vehicles. Finally, Kenji made the decision.

"The children will stay with mother and Nick until this is resolved one way or another and you Kirei will stay with them."

"No..."

"Yes kirei, they will need one of us so that they won't be frightened."

"They might not be frightened but what about me?" she asked.

"We will talk everyday and I will see you as much as I can without endangering you. Penny can stay there as well."

"Kenji please, there has to be another way." Patricia said her voice tight.

"I'm sorry kirei but there isn't."

"Umm excuse me." Penny said quietly, "but could you explain to us why you can't or won't come with us? I'm missing something here."

"It is me that he is after." Kenji replied. "He will not come after you if I am not with you."

"Kenji, what if he takes one of the children?" Patricia asked, "Please think about this! In addition, what about Ralph? He's perceptive and he would know that something is wrong."

After arguing for another hour, it was decided. They would all go to Nick and Hana's house. It would be tight but doable. Patricia almost cried with relief and silently thanked Penny for pushing the subject. The next thing was to call Nick and see if it was possible for them to stay there. None of them remembered that his house was being watched as well as Will and Sally's house.

Nick reminded them of that fact when they called early the next evening.

"I still don't know whose watching the house but I do agree that you all need to stay together." he said. "Stay put for now and I'll call you back."

Kenji hugged Patricia as tight as he could without hurting her.

"I am sorry that I upset you." he murmured.

"It isn't you, it's the whole situation." She replied. "I just want it to be over with."

"As do I." he replied and then had a thought. There was one place that he hadn't thought about going to. He released Patricia with a kiss and excused himself to the kitchen to make a phone call. The time had come for his father to prove what he said about accepting Patricia and the children.

******

Hiroshi played with his son while Dai made dinner in the kitchen of their new home. It was much too big for them but the price had been right and he figured that they could close off the part of the house that wasn't being used. As of yet, Kenji, Patricia and the children hadn't been to the house and it wasn't because he didn't want them there. The business had done so well that Hiroshi paid off his employer who had originally bought the business simply because he was bored, bought it from him and had opened another nursery. The holidays were coming and he was especially busy making sure that he was ready for the season. Dai kept after him to invite everyone over but he was just too busy.

Tonight was a rare night that he was home early enough to play with the baby before he was tucked into bed for the night. The smells coming from the kitchen made his stomach grumble noisily. Having worked through lunch, he was hungry and hoped that dinner would be ready sooner as opposed to later. He could hear Dai's soft soprano as she sang a song in Japanese as she made their meal of fish, rice and steamed vegetables. There was a break in her singing when she came to the living room and spoke to him.

"Why do you not call your son while I finish making our dinner?" she asked quietly.

"I will as soon as dinner is over." he replied.

"After which you will sit in your chair and fall asleep." she half teased. "Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes, which is plenty of time for you to speak with your son and the brother to our child."

"You are right." Hiroshi conceded as he got to his feet and headed to the small room that he decided would serve as his office. The phone rang just as he reached the door. He frowned and hoped that there wasn't a problem at one of the nurseries.

"Hiroshi Takeda." he said crisply trying not to sound impatient.

"Father?" Kenji said.

"Kenjiro? I was just about to call you! It has been far too long! How are my daughter and grandchildren doing?" he asked.

"They are well." Kenji replied, "How are Dai and my little brother?"

"They are well," Hiroshi replied. "Your classes are going well?"

"Yes, Patricia, Joel, Penny and I are doing well and school is part of the reason that I am calling."

"What is it? Do you need money?" Hiroshi asked.

"No but we need something else."

Hiroshi forgot about dinner as Kenji told him about the group at school, how he knew the murdered student and ending with Andrew Kelley.

"You must come here." Hiroshi said before Kenji could ask the question. "And Joel and Penny must come too." he added grateful that he could do something to help improve the relationship with his son.

"Are you certain?" Kenji asked. "I have no idea of how long this will continue."

"I am sure and you are welcome to stay for as long as you need to. The only thing is that there are no beds in the other rooms but we will figure something out." Hiroshi said already thinking.

"I don't know how to thank you." Kenji said the relief evident in his voice.

"It is I who should be thanking you." Hiroshi replied. "I have not been the best of fathers and I am pleased that you are giving me a chance to help. When will you arrive?"

"Is tonight too soon?" Kenji asked.

Hiroshi hung up feeling exhilarated. He was finally doing something to earn back some of the honor that he had lost in the eyes of his oldest son. He practically ran to the kitchen to give Dai the news. She smiled at him when he told her that Kenji, Patricia, the children and their friends were coming to stay with them.

"Then we had better eat and get the rooms ready." she said secretly relieved that they were coming. She was becoming concerned about Hiroshi and worried that he was slipping back into his old mindset. Kenji's phone call had just prevented that and for that, she would be eternally grateful to him.

*****

Kenji went back to the living room and announced that they were all going to his father's house.

"Is he alright with this?" Patricia asked.

"He offered before I could ask him." Kenji replied. "Joel, how long will it take you to take Penny home and get back here?"

"Two hours tops and that includes stopping at Abby's for my things." Joel replied.

Kenji nodded, "That gives us plenty of time to get the children ready and ourselves as well. I don't need to remind you to exercise caution." he said.

"No you don't and we'll be back in two hours." Joel said taking Penny's hand and leading her toward the door.

After they were gone, Kenji called Nick and told him where they were going.

"Good thinking although I have to confess that I'm surprised that he offered. When you call John, Hattie and Abby don't give them an exact location. It'll be safer for them that way." Nick paused and continued speaking, "I know that this seems like overkill but I would rather be overly cautious than not cautious enough."

Kenji didn't disagree with him and said so. After he hung up, he helped Patricia gather their things and the children and waited for Joel and Penny to come back.

******

Ernie sat at the dinner table and picked at his food. His stomach churned as he thought about his role in the whole 'melting pot' issue. That could have been him that Andrew murdered. He found that even though he had no friends per se, he was glad that he was out of the group. He also realized that in a round about way, Becca had saved his life. The desire and need to hurt her had long passed and he hoped that she was doing well.

He pushed the peas around on his plate not noticing the concerned looks that his parents exchanged.

"Ernie, what's bothering you?" his father Jack asked after a long silence and a supportive nod from his wife Nora.

He was going top say nothing but changed his mind. He needed to talk to someone even if it was his parents. He knew that they would be disappointed if not angry but then he could move on.

Two hours later, they knew the entire story. He left nothing out and by the end of it, he was crying.

"That could have been me!" he exclaimed, "Andrew could have killed me for disobeying him! I guess I got off easy compared to Milt Vaughn."

"Alright son, slow down." Jack said gripping Ernie's arm.

"Tell us why you joined this group." he said softly.

There was no trace of anger in his voice, which almost made it worse as far as Ernie was concerned but he tried to answer the question.

"I... I guess I wanted to belong somewhere." he said looking down. "I guess I thought that Andrew was it. At first it was just talk, I mean we never hurt anyone other than some name-calling and then things started to change. The thing with Becca Cartwright was the thing that essentially got me kicked out of the group and as odd as it seems, I'm glad that it happened."

"What about the student whose hand you helped break?" his mother asked, "is he alright?"

"Yes, he's fine... I still can't believe that I did that to him." Ernie replied.

"What are you going to do about this?" his father asked.

"I know what I should do but how do I face them after what I've done to them?"

"That's for you to work out." His father replied. "But Ernie, we're disappointed. This isn't what we taught you."

The pain of hearing the disappointment in his father's voice was worse than a physical slap.

"I know and I'm sorry." Ernie replied.

"I appreciate that but we're not the ones that you need to apologize to. You've already started to make things right by going to someone and telling them what happened but I don't think you'll be at peace until you talk to this group that you call the melting pot." his father said.

"I know... do you think that I should tell the police about Andrew?" Ernie asked already knowing the answer.

"I think that you should tell someone." his father replied.

While his mother cleared the dishes, Ernie called the police station.

*******

Detective Briscoe was about to head home for the day when his phone rang.

"So much for an early night." he growled as he picked up the phone.

"Briscoe." he snapped. "Who is this?" he asked. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

He hung up the phone, grabbed his jacket and headed for the home of the latest person who believed that Andrew Kelley was the one who murdered Milton Vaughn. The first question that came to his mind was whether Nick Alexander or the FBI agent had paid the young man a visit. He hadn't missed the familiarity between the two men even though he hadn't said anything. He also knew that the relationship between Kenjiro Takeda and Nick was much more than it appeared and wondered about it. He didn't get the feeling that it was a homosexual thing and the way that the Japanese touched his wife didn't support that theory but still...

Twenty minutes later, he was parking his car in front of the home of another person who thought that Andrew Kelley was capable of murder.

********

Andrew cleaned the gun and angrily put it back in the box. He had gone back to Hathaway's house hoping to run into the Jew bastard that had humiliated him by sending him packing like a child. It was a big risk but one that he thought worth taking. The difference between this time and when he killed Milt was this time he hadn't been afraid. However, he knew that he needed the element of surprise but he had been the one who had been surprised.

He took his time getting to the house on constant lookout for his target; he touched the gun in his pocket relishing its weight and the feel of the cool metal against his fingers. He was almost to the house when he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey kid, you don't listen so good do you?"

Andrew froze, touched the gun in his pocket and turned to face the man who was smoking a cigarette as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Get out of here." the man growled as he blew cigarette smoke in Andrew's face.

Andrew pulled the gun out of his pocket and aimed it at the man who didn't even blink but continued to smoke his cigarette as he watched Andrew.

"That's one of those Japanese pistols isn't it?" he asked flicking his cigarette ashes to the ground.

Andrew didn't answer as he raised the pistol aiming at the man's heart. Still the man didn't react. He continued smoking his cigarette while keeping his eyes on the gun.

"You know," The man said as he took another puff of his cigarette, dropped on the ground and stomped on it, "you just lost your opportunity to kill me."

Before Andrew knew what was happening, the man had moved and was holding the pistol in his hand. He removed the bullets, put them in his pocket and handed the gun back to a stunned Andrew.

"Shooting a man unawares is the work of a coward." He said and walked away leaving a very angry Andrew staring at his back.

Andrew stood there for several minutes angry and humiliated before he walked home. He looked at the shoebox that contained the gun and tried to figure out what to do. The only bullets that he had left were in the pocket of the Jew and he had no idea of where he could get more. As he sat on the floor of his room, Andrew realized something; he was impulsive. Everything that he had done was done without giving any thought to the ramifications. Confronting the Jew was a case in point. He had gone in search of the man without a real plan; all he had cared about was the result. It was time for that to change.

**************

Two weeks had passed since Milt Vaughn's murder. There had been a massive turn out for the funeral that included Andrew and the rest of his gang, Kenji, Patricia, Penny and Joel. The two factions sat on opposite sides at the church each keenly aware of but not acknowledging each other. Ernie sat with his parents staring straight ahead. The thought that it could have been him in the casket beat at him as warm tears ran down his face. He and Milt hadn't been real friends but he had been an ok guy.