The Never Ending Buffet Ch. 12

Thursday I stepped into Melissa's flower and stuffed animal filled room on my way to work. Mika was there with her, and the three of us talked for a while about the possible futures. I held little Jess and could not help but smile while she was in my arms. This was a hell of a great way to start a day. I kissed Melissa and Mika and told them that I would see them after work, either here, or if they let her go, at Mary's.

I was still tired after the long night, so it was a good thing that I didn't have much to do. I mainly supervised Dexter on a couple of installations.

Mika called just after noon, and told me that she was taking Melissa and the baby out to Mary's, so I could see them there.

That evening Melissa was holding court in Mary's family room, and Leimomi and Mandy were making dinner for everyone. It was a fun evening and the baby was smiling at all comers. She was a little charmer, and I didn't even get overly embarrassed when Melissa took out a tit to feed her. I was so pleased to see how my new friends had taken to Melissa, and how happy she was with her situation. The change in Melissa just confirmed what I had already figured out, I was in love with all of these wonderful women, and blissfully happy for the first time in years.

Friday afternoon Dexter and I were going to do one last service call before we called it a day. I was looking forward to meeting Amy at the skating rink for a late date, and I expected to have time after this stop to take a short nap to prepare for the date. The interesting thing was that this last service call was to Jennifer. She had told Sharon that the icemaker in her fridge was giving her trouble, so we were going to fix it. I owed a lot to Jennifer, but I still felt uncomfortable being alone with her, which is one reason that I had brought Dexter along. He also needed to learn how to deal with this situation. Repairing or replacing an ice maker is not a big deal, but if you screw up the mess can be extensive.

As we pulled up to her apartment, there was a bright blue Ford F150 4-wheel drive pickup sitting at the curb. The chrome add-ons and western motif decals on it confirmed that it probably belonged to Carla's ex-husband. She had described it to me sometime last week. Glancing up at Jennifer's door I saw a broad back in a fringed suede jacket disappear as the door closed. I could think of no reason for Carla's ex to be going into Jennifer's apartment that didn't involve trouble.

"Dex! We have a problem." I tossed him my cell phone, "call 911 and get some police here." If I had to apologize or pay a fine for a false call, okay; but if they were needed, they would be needed ASAP. I was reaching into the back seat of the Dakota as I said this to him. In the compartments under the back seat I kept some tools. Under the passenger side were the tire tools and under my side were a few wood chisels, and the mallet I had made for them. It was a 14" long piece of 3" by 3" hard white oak that I had carved into a mallet. I had thought at the time that it would make a nice weapon, and now I would get the chance to prove it.

I tossed the tire tool to Dexter and headed for the door. I had heard him talking to the 911 operator and assumed that he would be behind me. I stopped at the door and checked to see if it was unlocked. It was. I turned the knob, threw the door open, and stepped inside.

The first thing I saw was a man holding Jennifer by her hair in the center of the room. She was on her knees and he had a knife to her throat. I looked to the left and saw the man in the fringed jacket. He had a gun in his hand and was turning to point it at me. Not pausing at all, I brought the mallet down on his wrist, knocking the gun loose. It fired as he dropped it and blew the TV to smithereens.

The blast caused the other man to turn around to see what was going on. The mallet had bounced up when I hit the gunman so stepped past fringed jacket, slid my right foot toward the second man, and used the momentum to backhand the knife wielder on the side of the head with the mallet. I used the far side of his head as my potential impact point and he went down without a whimper. I turned back to the gunman and saw that Dexter had him under control. Dex was standing on the gun with the tire tool poised to strike.

I looked down at Jennifer, "are you all right Jen?"

"Thank god you're here Walter. When they knocked on the door I thought it was you and they forced their way in. Julio was demanding money, he said that after they got done with me they were going go see about Carla and Carmelita. The one with the gun is Carla's ex Juan, Julio was my husband. I'm okay; they didn't have time to do anything before you came in."

I had heard sirens approaching and as I turned to the door, I was told to drop my weapons and put my hands up. I did this and discovered that the mallet was hanging by the strap I had unconsciously put around my wrist, and that Julio had enough time to stick his goddamn knife into my left arm. I saw that and the blood pouring down my sleeve, and suddenly felt extremely faint.

"Do you mind if I sit down officer? I think I may need some help."

"Walter!!" screamed Jennifer. The next thing I knew she was on one side and Dexter was on the other helping me to sit on the couch.

Jennifer went into nurse mode, and took off yelling at the cop, "Call an ambulance, that bastard stabbed my Walter. I hope like hell his skull is cracked good."

That son-of-a-bitch was quick; I didn't even see his hand move. If I had hesitated at all, he would have gutted me.

BLAMM!!

When Dexter had jumped to get to me he had uncovered the gun on the floor, and Juan had gone for it, probably thinking that the confusion would hide his action. Unfortunately for him, the police woman in the doorway saw him and did not yell a warning or anything, she just shot him in the shoulder. I would have applauded her quick reactions, except that by then I was about to pass out from the pain and blood loss.

Her partner was looking at her in shock, "sorry Bill, but he was about to pull on your back."

Dexter was thinking fast too. "Good shot Ma'am, serves him right for grabbing the gun after you warned him not to. You might want to secure that weapon sir," Dex said to the male officer, who was still standing there, lost and confused.

The man jerked into action, grabbing the gun as Jennifer came running back into the room with a first aid kit.

"What the hell is going on in here, and has anyone called for an ambulance yet?"

Dexter explained to her what had transpired, stressing the warning given to Juan. Jennifer was working on my arm as the female officer called for medical aid. She then came over to Dexter.

"Thank you for standing up for me, but you don't need to. It was a valid shooting situation and I'll be cleared for it."

"Yeah, but this way it will be easier, no need to have an investigation."

"We got a dead one here," the policeman said, "This guys skull is caved in big time. Idiot over there will live, but this one is gone. What the hell did you hit him with?"

I held up my right hand displaying the mallet hanging from my wrist. "This."

"Can you tell me what happened miss?"

"Sure, I was expecting Walter here to come over and work on my icemaker. He is the service man for Wilks' appliances and Sharon said that he would be by this afternoon. When I heard a knock on the door, I thought that it was him. I opened the door and my ex husband was there with his brother. They pushed me back and forced their way in. Julio had a knife and Juan was showing a gun. Julio grabbed my hair and forced me to kneel. He held the knife to my throat and said that he needed money and would hurt me bad if I didn't get it for him. He also said that when they were done with me they would go to take care of Juan's whore wife and bastard daughter. Suddenly the door slammed open and I heard a gun blast and a scream. I guess that was Juan, the asshole shot my fucking TV. Then I felt Julio take the knife away from my throat and turn away from me. There was a kind of a thump sound and he dropped to the floor. I couldn't actually see anything because Julio had my head held back and he was blocking my view of everything else. Walter saved my life, I know that."

The corpsmen were coming into the room then, and one of them brushed Dexter away from me and took his place. The other one went to look at Juan. I motioned Dexter over to Jennifer.

"Hold onto her Dex, she is going to realize how close a call she had in a minute, and will need some reassurance; you will too."

The medic led me to lay on a gurney and told Jennifer that she had done a good job on me.

"Dexter, call your mom and take Jennifer over there in my truck. She does not need to be alone tonight. Have Sharon call Amy and see if she will meet me at the hospital to take me home. Just leave my truck at the shop; I'll pick it up later."

"Oh crap Walter; you want me to tell my mom that I let you get hurt? She'll have my guts for garters." He paused for a moment at the look on my face. "What the hell are you smiling about Walter?"

"Sorry Dex, I was just imagining Sharon in garters and stockings; a most enticing thought." The shot the medic gave me must have been taking effect. "Do what I asked please, I'll make it okay with your mom."

That was all the time I had as the paramedics were pushing Juan and me out the door. What I did have time for was to see the look of wonder on Dexter's face as he held Jennifer against his broad chest. I couldn't see her face as she had it pressed against him, trembling. Very interesting.

I should have known better than to think that just Amy would show up. By the time I got out of X-ray, the waiting area was filled with females. Amy, Leimomi, Mika, Carla, Carmelita, and Mandy were all present and accounted for. Mary had stayed home with Melissa and the baby. I was told that I had no options and that we were going to see them, and I would be staying at Leimomi's.

I wouldn't need to stay in the hospital for the night, as the wound was relatively minor, but before I left I had to go through the gauntlet with the police. An officer and a detective took me into an empty room, and for over an hour we went through the situation again and again. I had to explain how I had known whose truck was parked at Jennifer's and how I knew the women involved. I tried my best to protect the reputations of the ladies, but I think that the detective had some suspicions. He had seen the cluster in the waiting room after all. When they were finally through with me, I was told that there would be an inquest into the death of Julio Gomez where the witnesses and I would be required to testify as to my actions. The detective assured me he didn't believe that there would be any repercussions, as my actions were totally justified. It was obvious that my intent had been to disable Julio, and that his death was an accident. We would also have to testify at Juan's trial for the assault on Jennifer, and the investigation of the shooting by the officer.

After that ordeal, I was definitely ready to go to bed. Most of the ladies had left by then. Leimomi and Mandy were going to take me with them, and we would stop at Mary's.

"You don't need to do all this Leimomi. Just take me home and let me rest. The doc patched me up and I am good to go. I'll be ready to go to work Monday." I hate it when I get like this, I was exhausted, and the meds had worn off enough that my arm felt like a sore tooth. I was getting whiney and short tempered, and she didn't deserve that kind of treatment just for trying to take care of me.

"Like hell you will Walter. You are staying with me and Mandy and I will take care of you. Carla is going to go by your place and get you some clothes; you will go back to work when we say you go back."

I could see that there was no use in arguing, I would just be overruled. At Mary's I was explaining what had happened to Mary and Melissa when Carla arrived with my clothes. After she left, Leimomi took me to her house and helped me shower, and then she put me into bed and climbed in with me. I snuggled up to her and soon fell asleep trying to figure what I was going to do to make it up to Amy for having missed our date.