Love, Bullets, and Badges Ch. 02

"You could have been killed!" Carmen screamed at Elise.

"Not. In. Front. Of. Henry," Elise whispered, clutching Henry closer, protecting him.

Carmen looked at her daughter and the now confused and frightened Henry.

"You could have been killed!" Carmen whispered.

"Mom, please, not in front of my baby," Elise pleaded. "I'll call you tonight, all right?"

Carmen reached out a hand, stroked her daughter's face, then turned and walked back to her own house.

"Why was Maw-maw mad at you?" Henry asked.

"She wasn't mad; she was worried. Moms worry," Elise assured him.

Elise grimaced as she pulled up; she could see Mrs. Anderson's car, and inside the car, the dour faced woman.

"Hi Mrs. Anderson; I didn't know you were coming tonight," Elise called out.

"Called 'surprise visit' for a reason," Mrs. Anderson said, lugging her battered briefcase with her.

"Uh huh, remember, we have things we need to do when we get home," Elise said and unlocked the door of the house.

Mrs. Anderson stayed out of the way while Sam and Henry were cared for, and then graciously took a seat at the kitchen table as Henry colored.

"So, any questions?" Elise asked.

"Um, well, everything seems to be in order," Mrs. Anderson nervously agreed.

"You seem disappointed," Elise smiled. "Oh, want some coffee?"

"Oh, no, no ma'am, trying to eliminate caffeine from my life," Mrs. Anderson hastily said.

She opened her briefcase, looked at Elise, and then took out a few papers.

"Um, Ms. Simone, I, well, since you're already, since the judge gave you..." Mrs. Anderson said.

"Yes ma'am? Elise asked, confused.

"I have a four year old girl; we're removing her from her guardian; she's been physically abused, and though we can't prove it, we suspect there has been some sexual abuse," Mrs. Anderson forged ahead.

"Oh! The poor baby!" Elise said, shocked. "And she's only four?"

"And I was wondering if we could..." Mrs. Anderson said.

"I'm off tomorrow; bring her here," Elise immediately said.

Mrs. Anderson let the first smile she'd ever displayed to Elise crease her face.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she admitted.

"I mean, this is a two bedroom, I'll sleep on the couch," Elise decided.

"Okay," Mrs. Anderson said, standing. "Here, here's her case file; I'll leave it here with you."

Elise flipped the file open and nodded her head.

"Jennica Michelle Wilson," Elise read out loud.

"Thank you, Ms. Simone; you don't know what a relief this is," Mrs. Anderson admitted.

"Um, not that it matters, but is Jennica light brown or dark brown?" Elise asked.

"She's whi... Light brown," Mrs. Anderson smiled. "I'll call you tomorrow."

Elise's heart broke as she read the child's file. Her mother, Renee Kay Wilson was deceased, a drug overdose. The father was unknown; Ms. Wilson had been a prostitute. Jennica had been living with Renee's widowed father, William Eugene Wilson, a forty nine year old, chronically unemployed drunkard.

A neighbor had called the police when she glimpsed the girl's bare legs were covered in welts. William had beaten the girl with an electric cord for soiling her panties.

"God, please help me help this poor child," Elise begged silently as she read.

X.X.X

As promised, Elise did call her mother as Henry and Sam ran around the back yard, tiring both dog and master out.

"Really, Elise, what were you thinking?" Carmen asked.

"Guess I really wasn't," Elise admitted. "I just saw Mandy, remember? She was in my Algebra class? And she's pregnant and that guy had a gun to her head; good thing he pushed her away when I started backing up; I was going to have to kill him if he still had her."

"But they have men there," Carmen said. "You should have let them take care of that!"

"Carmen Marie Thibodaux Simone Davis; I cannot believe I just heard you say that," Elise gasped.

"How many daughters do you think I have?" Carmen hissed, ignoring Elise's outrage.

"One. One that's a cop and damned proud to be a cop too," Elise snapped.

"Well, I can see there's just no talking sense into you," Carmen said and hung up.

Carmen turned to her husband and snapped.

"I told you! I told you, I do not want my daughter working there! Didn't I? Next thing I know, sure enough, she's a cop! A God damned cop!" Carmen shrilled.

"Worse things to be," Dick said.

"Yeah, Dick, yeah there is," Carmen screamed. "She could be a DEAD cop!"

It was dark outside, but Dick still found a reason to go to the back yard. It took a long time to 'check' checking' the lawn mower and the weed eater for him to calm down.

He let himself back in the house. The downstairs was dark. He double checked the front door, brushed his hand over the stove to make sure none of the burners were on, and then wearily walked up the stairs.

It had been eight years since Elaine had lived at home, but he still paused for a millisecond outside of her bedroom door. Elise's old bedroom door was wide open; out of habit Dick looked in. He smiled sadly. In the middle of the bed was Bah Bear.

The fourteen year old Elise had slept with a teddy bear when Dick moved into the Simone household. Every morning, she would hide the bear under her bed, but every night when he would check their bedrooms, he'd see Bah Bear, safely clutched to Elise's chest.

One night, after Dick and Carmen had married, he checked and Elise did not have Bah Bear. He looked to see if the bear had fallen onto the floor and saw it, still underneath the bed.

Dick quietly pulled the bear out and put it into the bed with Elise.

The next morning, Elise, long blonde hair a tousled mess had sat down at the breakfast table. She looked at Dick and blushed hotly.

"I um, I don't need Bah Bear anymore," she said and looked away, embarrassed.

"Okay," Dick said, letting the matter drop.

Now, Dick looked at Bah Bear and remembered Henry's delight in finding out that Miss Leesey had slept with a bear when she was his age.

Bah Bear sat on the bed, waiting for the next child that would need him.

Dick sighed, walked into the bedroom he and Carmen shared. It was dark; the only light coming from the small television set in the corner of the room.

"I'm sorry," Carmen said quietly.

"Me too," Dick said.

"Baby, I don't want to fight," Carmen sniffled.

"Me either," Dick agreed and undressed.

"Hold me?" Carmen begged.

"If I hold you, I'll probably get scared," Dick said.

"Scared?" Carmen asked. "Scared of what?"

"Of you," Dick said. "I'll hold you then I'll get scared stiff."

"Mister, I think you better be afraid," Carmen smiled. "Be very afraid."

Chapter 12

Sam barked like a dog possessed when Jennica came into the house. Finally, Elise made Henry bring the yapping animal outside.

Elise looked at the small child, her heart braking all over again.

Jennica's hair was a dark honey blonde in color; Elise suspected, if the smell was correct, that the hair was actually a lighter shade of blonde. Her round eyes were flat; mud colored, and haunted looking. Snot ran freely from one nostril and she flinched and turned her face away when Elise bent to wipe at the mucus.

Her bare legs were mere sticks; Elise suspected that, along with poor bathing habits, the child also had bad eating habits. The whelps from her beating were still visible.

The child was dressed in a filthy shirt that showed a NASCAR logo, her shorts were filthy as well, and her small feet were shoved into cheap plastic flip-flops.

Mrs. Anderson and Elise showed the frightened girl around and finally went outside to join Henry and Sam.

Again, Sam started barking, but Elise had given Jennica a dog cookie and Sam quieted down.

"And this is Henry," Elise introduced the two children. "He lives with us too. Isn't that nice? You'll have a brother to play with. How about that, huh?"

After the two children and done dog ran around the yard for a while, Elise and Mrs. Anderson loaded the two children into Elise's car and drove up the street to Charlie's house.

Mrs. Anderson was clearly perturbed by Richard's dog, Nemo, barking at her until Iris shut the dog in the laundry room.

"What is with you white people and your damned dogs?" she snapped.

Elise looked at her for a moment, and then smiled.

"We 'white' people know how much it irritates you 'black' people," Elise answered.

"That is not... I didn't mean..." Mrs. Anderson stammered.

"But in case you forgot, Sam is Henry's dog, not mine, right Henry?" Elise smiled wider.

"That's right," Henry agreed.

"Are you my cousin too?" the three year old Carmen asked Jennica.

Iris, Elise, and the very helpful Henry showed Mrs. Anderson and Jennica Carmen's room and the living room where Henry, Carmen, and Iris spent the majority of their day on the days when Iris minded Henry.

"No ma'am!" Iris said forcefully when Elise brought up doubling her payment for watching Jennica and Henry. "Two hundred a week is already plenty enough!"

"You pay; you pay two hundred a week for baby sitting?" Mrs. Anderson asked, shocked.

"Well, yeah; she's got to watch Henry and Carmen and clean up, and cook and do laundry; I'd charge Two hundred a minute it was me doing it," Elise said.

"Two hundred is plenty; don't forget, Charlie pays me too," Iris said.

"Charlie? Not Dr. LaPointe?" Elise asked, eyebrow cocked.

Iris' pale face became even paler and she put her hand up to her mouth.

"Please, please don't..." Iris begged voice barely above a whisper.

"Iris, it's all right," Elise quietly assured the stammering woman.

"It's just that, oh God! I was putting Carmen down, remember? She had that fever? And I heard Charlie; he was crying and I..." Iris said, tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks.

"Iris!" Elise hissed, making the woman look at her.

Elise smiled and patted the woman's arm.

"It's all right; it was bound to happen," Elise said. "You're a drop dead gorgeous woman; he's a man. Human nature."

"Please, don't hate me," Iris begged.

"What? Now why would I hate you?" Elise asked.

"I'm not trying to take Lala's place," Iris hastened to assure Elise.

Mrs. Anderson approved of the arrangements Elise had made for Henry and Jennica's care during her work days.

"That's where my Maw-maw and Paw-paw live," Henry declared to Mrs. Anderson, pointing across the street to Dick and Carmen's house.

"His... I thought his..." Mrs. Anderson said.

"My mom and dad," Elise explained. "They're his Maw-maw and Paw-paw."

Mrs. Anderson buckled Jennica into her car seat while Elise buckled Henry into his car seat.

"Now, on the nights that Darren and I go out; he's my boyfriend," Elise said as she started her car. "Henry stays with Maw-maw and Paw-paw; you need to see their house too?"

"No; I think you've got it under control," Mrs. Anderson smiled.

"Good," Elise said. "Now, who's hungry for lunch?"

"Chucky Cheese!" Henry demanded.

"Grilled Cheese," Elise countered.

"Now," Mrs. Anderson said as Elise drove back to her small home. "Jennica is registered at Andrew Jackson; she starts Pre-K in..."

"Oh no ma'am!" Elise said forcefully. "No child of mine's going there! She'll be going to St. Richard's; just like Henry!"

"Now, Ms. Simone, the State only pays..." Mrs. Anderson argued.

"I don't give a damn what the State pays; my kids are not going to that zoo," Elise said and put the car in park. "I'll eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of my life if I have to, but they will get the very best education possible!"

"Well yes ma'am!" Mrs. Anderson smiled.

Elise smiled an embarrassed smile at the government employee.

"My mom; she sacrificed everything, I do mean EVERYTHING so Lala; she was my sister, Lala and I could go to St. Richard's and St. Thomas Aquinas," Elise said as they unbuckled the children from their car seats. "Before she was killed, my sister was a council member, representing Bender on the board of St. Elizabeth Parish. Me? I'm a cop. We didn't turn out too bad and I think a lot of it goes to the home life we had and the schools we went to."

"Lala LaPointe, Lala was your sister?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"Yes ma'am," Elise smiled. "Couldn't have asked for a better big sister either."

"Again, you know that the State will only pay eight hundred a month for their education," Mrs. Anderson said as Elise unlocked the front door of the house. "But if you're willing to pay the difference, I won't argue with you."

Jennica barely noticed when Mrs. Anderson left. She and Henry engaged in the mindless chatter of children while Elise quickly made their sandwiches.

"We have to pray," Henry demanded before Jennica could take a bite of her sandwich.

X.X.X

As Elise had suspected, Jennica's hair was a lighter shade of blonde. The child had stiffened tremendously when Elise said it was bath-time and had cried silent tears as Elise removed her stained clothing.

Elise tried to make the bath as quick as possible to minimize Jennica's fears.

"Can see we're going to have to do a little clothes shopping," Elise commented as she found the threadbare pajamas the child had.

Jennica sat, entranced by the silliness of the Disney Channel while Elise bathed Henry, then sat and quietly colored with Henry, until Elise declared it to be bedtime.

Again, the child tensed up in fear.

"No, no, Sugar Bear," Elise whispered to the child. "This is Miss Leesey's house. No bad people EVER come to Miss Leesey's house."

"They don't?" Jennica asked.

"No they don't!" Henry affirmed. "Miss Leesey's the police! Bad people come? She arrests them and puts them in jail!"

"That's right," Elise agreed.

They did their prayers, and then Elise read from her book of Fairy Tales. She then carried Jennica to her own bedroom and laid the child on the bed.

"Hello?" Darren's cheerful voice answered.

"Oh my God, Baby; I don't know if I can do this," Elise whispered, tears streaming down her face.

They chatted on the phone for nearly an hour before the stress of the day began to take its toll on Elise.

"Go," Darren said. "Go take your shower, go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Love you," Elise said.

"Love you twice as much," Darren countered.

"Nuh uh," Elise argued.

Chapter 13

"Are you sure?" Elise asked Ethel Yaks, the clerk of court.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the bone thin red head shrugged. "I think I can pencil you in for next Thursday; that be all right?"

"Really?" Elise asked again. "There's no way he can see me now? All I need is his signature on this adoption..."

"Next Thursday work for you?" Ethel asked.

"Fine, fine, I'll make sure I'm off that day," Elise sighed.

Ethel smirked as the attractive woman walked away.

Outside, Elise blinked back the tears of disappointment and hit the number 2 on her cell phone.

"So? How'd it go?" Darren's cheerful voice asked.

"Didn't," Elise said, close to tears. "His damned clerk of court said he was jammed today; some attempted murder case ran over or something and wouldn't even let me see him."

"Oh, damn, that's a shame," Darren said. "Get another date?"

"Yeah, next Thursday," Elise agreed.

"Well, I've already got the reservations at La Scalia's; we'll just go and celebrate next Thursday tonight, okay?" Darren said his voice light and cheerful.

"Yeah, I guess so," Elise smiled, walking down the steps of the courthouse.

"La Scalia's?" Jack asked as Darren hung up.

"Yeah, it's a special night," Darren smiled.

"So, she's adopting that little n*gger, huh?" Jack asked.

"Jack, you are one big ass hole; know that?" Darren said and pulled up in front of the Dead End Bar.

"Aw yeah, love this place," Jack enthused.

Darren waved in greeting as Tita gyrated to Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love.' The dancer smiled and waved back, peeling her black faux leather bra off.

"Pepper salad any good?" Darren teased Kirsten.

"Was until I dropped it on the floor; don't tell no one, okay?" Kirsten smiled. "Why? That's what you want?"

"And an ice tea, unsweetened please," Darren said.

"Give me the volcano burger," Jack said.

"Yeah right," Darren snorted.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Like you can eat that," Darren scoffed.

"Bet you a hundred bucks," Jack said.

"Twenty," Darren said. "Kirsten, give me one of them too."

"With the pepper salad, or instead of?" Kirsten asked, digging the ground beef out of the cooler.

"Instead of," Darren said.

"You'll be sorry," Darlene, a red headed dancer sang out as she poured herself a diet coke.

"Love your hair like that," Darren complimented her.

"Y'all want fries or onion rings with that?" Kirsten asked, forming the patties.

"Onion rings," Darren said.

"Fries; onion rings make my breath smell bad," Jack said.

"What you worried about? Ain't nobody kissing on you anyway," Darren said.

"Ah ha!" Elise said, smacking Darren on his rear end. "Thought I'd find you in here! Perving on all those half naked girls running around, huh?"

"Oh, they got half naked girls here?" Darren asked, looking around.

"Hi, needed a hug and a kiss," Elise said quietly.

"Hi; don't worry," Darren said. "Thursday's just a week away."

"So, what you getting?" Elise asked, watching Kirsten drop the patties onto the sizzling grill.

"Volcano burgers," Kirsten volunteered.

"Well, give me my hug and kiss before you eat that," Elise demanded.

He did hug her tightly and gave her a kiss on her lips.

She smiled at him, and then walked out of the bar.

Jack watched as Elise walked away, and then grinned at Darren. Darren's face flushed with anger. If Jack noticed, it did not stop his smirk.

"And, here you go, gentlemen," Kirsten said as she put the plates in front of the two officers.

"I'm going to sit right here and watch," Tita said as she struggled into her snug top.

"Son of a bitch!" Darren coughed as the first mouthful went down, burning his esophagus.

"Aw, too spicy for you?" Jack teased.

He bit into his own burger and immediately felt beads of sweat pop out on his forehead.

Jack struggled to swallow; his throat tried to refuse the peppered mouthful.

Darren swished some iced tea around in his mouth, stuffed a few onion rings in his mouth, and then took another bite of the burger.

"Damn, Kirsten, that is just insane," Darren laughed as he forced the second mouthful down.

"Uh huh; I do like the grilled jalapeños though," Kirsten agreed and poured a mug of beer for a customer.

"Can't do it, amigo?" Tita teased as Jack tried valiantly to force the second mouthful down.

"Eat some of the French fries with it; makes it a little easier," Darren suggested.

Ten minutes later, Darren gratefully put the last bite into his mouth and swallowed. Jack glumly put his own burger down; there was more than half of it left.

"You win," Jack said and fished out a twenty dollar bill.

"Thanks," Darren said and handed the bill to Kirsten.

"You're the best," Darren smiled and got to his feet.

"Come on, Sweaty Smurf," he taunted Jack and Tita and Darlene laughed.

Outside, Jack looked over the roof of the car at Darren.

"I got to say; you're about the luckiest bastard I ever met," Jack complimented.

"What you mean?" Darren asked, still fanning his sweating face.

"I been trying to get a date with Elise for years; you just walk up and get one," Jack said and opened his car door.

"Uh huh," Darren agreed. "How about an ice cream from Clark's?"

"And that bitch Amber? Fuck, Asked her out about a hundred times, nothing," Jack went on.

Darren pulled up to Clark's Drive-In and smiled as the young girl skated out to the cruiser.

"Hi," the bubbly blonde chirped. "Welcome to Clark's!"

"Hey, give me a vanilla cone," Darren said. "Jack?"

"Vanilla's good," Jack agreed.

"Want them dipped?" the girl suggested.

"Dipped in what?" Jack leered.