When We Were Married Ch. 06D

Finally, and it was only a little less difficult than cutting my arm off with a rusty spoon, I pushed her away and held her at arm's length.

"Why?" There were tears in her eyes.

"I was just glad to see you alive, Debbie."

"I...I just got off the phone with the Wilsons. I told them to keep BJ there with their son until the police get there. Now you tell me, Bill, what is going on here?"

I told her. She stumbled a little and I held her elbows to keep her upright.

"Oh my God. You're sure, they were watching BJ?"

"JSO identified you and BJ and the school has to be Mandarin High. They were stalking him, and maybe both of you."

She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly.

"No, No....not BJ. Is this-"

"I can't think of any other reason, Debbie. Someone who knows told me the head of the Mexican Cartel Menendez worked for is, concerned, about the possibility that it might come here. This might just be a warning to me, to scare me, or maybe they were planning to make me worry that they could come after you and Kelly after BJ. I don't know."

"The Mexican Cartel? Bill, what are you talking about?"

I realized that not everybody in the courthouse would be hooked into the gossip hotline and so I told her.

"I don't believe this, Bill. Why didn't you tell me? Let me at least get prepared for-"

"For what, Debbie? There's no indication the trial is coming here. I got word, strictly unofficial word, that there are people in Mexico who don't want it to come here, but there's been nothing solid until today. Do I tell you there's a possible threat against you and the kids so you spend every day worrying everytime you can't reach the kids on their cells, or when they go off with friends and forget to tell you? Do you want to live like that? Could you live like that?

"Suppose you decide to move away, get away from me and Jacksonville? Where are you going to move that they couldn't find you? How am I supposed to provide protection, or even know you're in danger, if you're in another city or state?"

She stared at me and whispered, "Why the hell did you join the State Attorney's Office Bill? You could have been making big money in private practice and we'd still be together and not looking over our shoulders for someone coming to kill us?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time. For what it's worth, there have been plenty of times over the last six months that I wished the same thing."

This time she hugged me. Even after Aline and Heather and Meagan and Jane, she felt good. Finally she pushed me away.

"BJ and Kelly should be here before too long. What do we do now?"

"You stay put, Debbie. It's easier to protect you in one place. I'd suggest your parents come here for the weekend too. If you don't mind, and it wouldn't be too weird, I'll stay here too. The cops will be trying to find out what the two thugs were up to and we'll contact the feds to see if they can come up with anything. We need to know exactly what these assholes were doing, and if there's a real threat or they were just trying to throw a scare into me."

"But – if they were here to scare us, who cut that guy's head off. And why?"

I couldn't tell her. I couldn't tell anyone, but I had an idea. Unfortunately, the only cell phone I had that I could use to contact the Old Man was in a drawer in my office and I was going to make damned sure that Debbie, Kelly and BJ were safe and surrounded by as many uniforms and weapons as I could bring to bear before I drove back to the office. I'd also need protection myself, just in case.

"You got coffee?"

"Some."

"Any made up?"

"No."

"You were the coffee drinker. The only coffee I drink is at Starbucks."

We just looked at each other for a moment and she said, "I still have some. I could brew up a pot."

"Was Doug a coffee drinker?"

"No, you bastard. Can't we call a truce, even now? If you have to know, Clint was a coffee guy just like you, any time of the day or night. You going to be pissed off about him, too."

"No, Debbie, and I'm sorry for the crack about Doug. Old habits die hard. Old feelings too, but a pot of coffee would be good."

The cell rang then and when I punched it I heard Myra's voice. Debbie could hear it too.

"Bill, please tell me the traffic is terrible and that's why you're not standing outside my door."

"I wish I could, Myra but...something's come up."

In the long silence I could hear her breathing. I could feel Debbie's glare and then felt it soften. When I looked up at her I didn't see the anger I'd been used to. There was something else there, something I couldn't put a name to.

"I'll get that pot of coffee going, Bill," she said, and turned and walked toward the kitchen.

"Was that her?"

"Yes."

Frost carried through the telephone lines.

"You're at her house, when we were supposed to be going out tonight?"

"Yes."

There was a click.

I punched her number in. It rang until the message clicked in.

"Myra, please answer my phone or call me back, or I'll call for the rest of the night and when I get a chance I'll be over at your door to explain. Please let me. There's an emergency, a REAL emergency. I never would have bailed on you otherwise. Call me back."

I stood there for two minutes, two minutes that seemed a lot longer. The call finally came.

"I'm sorry, Bill. I'm acting like a crazy jealous girlfriend before we've had our first date, but when you said you were over there - it's just that she's like the monster in one of those movies that will never die or go away."

"It's okay, it's okay, but things have been crazy and I didn't have a second to call you. Here's what happened..." and I told her.

"Oh, God, Bill, I had no.....no idea. You say BJ and Kelly are safe and on their way, back to your old place?"

"Yeah, but we still have no idea exactly what's going on, so I'm going to stay here with Debbie and the kids for the foreseeable future. I think they're safer here than trying to run them to some safe house and I can't....leave them alone. I'm going to sleep on a couch, but-"

"No, you don't need to explain. They're your kids. She was your wife. You're going to stay there to protect them. I understand that. We'll....get together later. It's okay. We'll have another chance, and someday we'll laugh about this."

"I don't see it Myra but I hope. I shot your Friday all to hell and I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as I am. I'll grab a bite or see a movie. You pay attention to taking care of business. I'll talk to you later, Bill. Bye."

I walked into the kitchen where Debbie had the coffee maker perking and was taking some milk out of the fridge. I liked flavored creamers, but apparently Clint had been a black coffee guy. I'd have to tough it out.

She got a coffee cup out of the cupboard and without looking at me, said, "I...I hate to keep saying I'm sorry. I...don't know why I react that way. We're divorced and you know I've been with two other guys and there's no reason in the world why I should be upset that you're with other women, except that that cow Myra is an insult to the laws of nature. No. No. I'm just jealous of her and you together. I know how you are about boobs, or at least the way you were until Aline, and I figure if you get with Myra you'[ll never be able to wean yourself."

She looked up from the coffee maker and stared at me.

"Why are we so crazy, Bill? Other divorced couples are able to be civilized, able to walk away. Why are we this way?"

"I don't know Debbie, except that I still have feelings for you and it doesn't matter how much I try to pretend I don't, I do. I don't think you'd have been such a bitch toward me if you didn't still have some kind of feelings for me.

She held her hands out open palmed in a questioning gesture.

"So what do we do?"

One step would have taken me to her. A second step would have her in my arms, those fat, heavy, soft tits rubbing up against me, my hard cock rubbing against that pussy that had been my playground for so many years. We had cops all around and our kids and her parents would be bursting in the doors at any minute. So I couldn't possibly bend her over the kitchen table where Doug probably had taken her and fuck her the way I wanted to this instant, but I wanted to, yet couldn't. There was too much swirling around in my head. Doug and that night at UNF, Aline on the Bonne Chance, Heather bent over the desk in the empty office and Paula staring at me with those knowing eyes.

"Nothing."

I answered her question and then walked away from her into the safety of the den. Ten minutes later she brought me a cup and I drank it standing up and moving around, taking calls from Martin, Sheriff Knight, the Big Man and a half dozen others. A few minutes later Kelly came in with Roy and Cathy.

When they came in I sat them down in the den with Debbie and two uniformed cops just outside and told them what had happened. Cathy just put her hands to her mouth as if she wanted to scream and Roy put his arm around her. Debbie sat down and put her arm around Kelly.

"We don't really know what's going on at this point, don't know that there's a threat to BJ or any of us, but we can't afford to take chances either. These people have butchered whole families when they THOUGHT a trial of one of their guys was going to a particular prosecutor's office."

"Do you have any idea when we'll know what's going on, if there is a real threat?" Roy asked.

"The Sheriff's Office investigators are working the case right now. They've called in the feds, and our people in Mexico with the DEA are trying to find out anything. Hopefully, if it's a real threat, we'll know shortly and can take precautions. If this is just a feint, just to get us nervous, we'll know that too."

Of course I couldn't tell them that I had a pipeline to better information than the feds or our intelligence services probably had, if I could get to the cell in my office and the Old Man was answering.

Just then BJ came in flanked by two cops, his friend and the Wilsons. Debbie grabbed him and enveloped him, kissing him until he went "MOMMMMMMM!" and she finally let him go. A moment later Kelly had him and he put up with her a little bit longer and then he pushed her away.

"You guys are acting like I went and died. What's going on?"

I told him. He gave me a stunned look and said, "They were watching me? Taking pictures? You're sure? Is this for real?"

"Real enough to get one man killed and probably two if we ever find his body."

"What do you think they were going to do?"

I told him and the others what they had done to the Texas prosecutors' families. He went a little pale. I didn't blame him, or any of them. This kind of thing didn't happen in our world.

Mr. Wilson asked, "What about us?"

"You're going to go home with a police escort and I'll talk to Knight about having a cop stationed at your house. This manpower thing is going to get expensive, but I'll see it we can hit up the feds to pay part or all of the associated manpower costs. This is really more of a federal than a state responsibility even though they're going to try him in a state court because it's easier to put them to death in a state with an active death penalty like Florida – or Texas.

"However, I don't think the cops will need to stay with you guys or that you'll need to change your lives because I don't think you'll be in any real danger."

"You can say that after what you just said they did to those families?"

"My family might be in danger, but I don't think they would bother you. Even the Cartels can't kill EVERYBODY with the slightest connection to one of their targets. I don't think they'd have any reason to go after you, which is one of the reasons I think you need to get back to your home and not spend a lot of time around here."

When they had left, we talked and decided that the Bascombs would stay in the house with us at least for the weekend. While we were standing there I called Knight and Edwards, asking them to get the authorities down there to put a couple of men into my mother's home and watch them over the weekend as well. I called Mom and told her and Charles what was going on and that I didn't really expect the Cartel to strike that far away even if they had plans, but better safe than sorry.

"Bill, you take care of Kelly and BJ....and....Debbie. But you be careful too. I've already lost..."

"I know, Mom, I'll be careful."

It had been over 30 years, yet I knew that day was still fresh in her mind, and nothing would take it out of her head until the day she closed her eyes for the final time. I wondered in passing if it ever bothered Charles to know his wife loved another man that much after all these years but he must have been able to live with it or they wouldn't still be together.

With all the arrangements made, I told Debbie and the kids that I had to go back to the office. I didn't explain, just said it was important.

"Be careful, Dad," Kelly said, coming to me, hugging me and kissing me on the side of the face.

Debbie stunned everyone by grabbing me and kissing me full on the lips.

"Remember you're not bulletproof," she said, backing away.

"I'll try not to forget. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

It was nearly 10 p.m. when I headed out in a police cruiser with another riding shotgun behind us. Knight and Edwards had both insisted on double coverage, just in case.

"This isn't just for your benefit, Bill," Austin told me before I walked out the door. "You're a symbol of this office, of the judicial system. We're not going to let those bastards kick us in the balls again."

The courthouse was spooky, as it always is late at night, an island of light in the darkness, harsh white light casting deep shadows. Both Miller and Costa, the patrol officers riding with me, got out of their cruisers first, checked out the area in front of the courthouse, then called down the cleanup crews to unlock the front doors and let us in. A couple of them surreptitiously crossed themselves when I walked past them - my legend was growing.

We rode the elevators to the top floor and both officers preceded me. I made them wait outside my office while I unlocked the drawer in my desk that held the Old Man's dedicated cell. I punched in his number and waited while it rang, and rang, and rang.

Oh well, I know he didn't sit around waiting for my calls. I hadn't called him that often and I'd had to wait before. I didn't say anything. He'd know where the call came from.

It was 10:45 before I got back to the house. Everybody was still up, as I'd expected, watching television, surfing on the Internet, listening to music or, in the case of Cathy, Roy and Debbie, just talking. I walked in and it was only awkward for a few minutes. In ten minutes we had moved into the den with coffee, tea and the baked chocolate chip cookies for which Cathy was famous.

There were glances shot back and forth that told me things unsaid were being thought, but as we talked about the things that I'd been working on, carefully leaving out the Donnally saga, Debbie started talking about the travails of riding herd on a crew of young, ambitious, horny male and female lawyers. There was laughter and it almost felt like the old days.

Then Cathy gave me a look that needed no words and I silently shook my head. I had thought Debbie and her father didn't catch it, but the looks they exchanged told me they had. That was the trouble of coming out of a 20-year relationship - it was hard to hide your feelings and thoughts.

"I always thought you'd missed your calling, baby," Roy told Debbie. "You should have gone to law school like Bill."

She glanced over at me and her words had no venom or regret in them, although I expected that.

"Maybe, but it was more important to work so that Bill could get through law school. We always knew he was going to be the primary breadwinner. I have never regretted staying out and working at the bank. It actually helped me when I decided to go into business education."

I looked at her and wondered if she felt the same way now. She'd given up five years of her life when I was advancing myself to work at a bank executive job, raise a little girl, and keep me happy. It had worked out pretty good, but I wondered if she now regretted putting my life first.

At 11:30 p.m. Roy yawned and held his hand out to Cathy, saying, "Come on old girl, I need my beauty sleep."

She grinned at him and said, "I don't?"

"Never," and the look he gave her told me that Debbie had put them together in Kelly's bedroom, moving Kelly in to sleep with her while BJ kept his own bed. There were two beds, which we'd put in a few years ago for the times when he'd want male friends to sleep over, in his room, but I doubted she'd put Kelly and BJ in the same room

As Roy pulled Cathy to her feet and they looked at each other, it hit me harder than I thought it would. They were who I had always thought Debbie and I would be in another 20 years. Now we never would be.

As they left the den Debbie gave them a look that made me think she might be having the same thoughts I'd had. There was a definite sadness there.

"Did you find out anything?"

"No. Everybody is still checking things out. If and when I find out anything, I will tell you first. I promise."

She stood and, as always, it was a symphony.

"Well, I'm going upstairs to try and get some sleep. Will you be alright down here?"

"Always have been."

She turned to leave, then swiveled to face me again.

"They told me you almost killed yourself a dozen times trying to get here tonight. I – I'm touched that you were that....concerned."

"Being divorced doesn't change some things, Debbie, not at all."

We stared at each other for a minute. There were a hundred things I wanted to say, yet I couldn't think of one of them.

I slouched on the couch after she left and clicked on the Television From Hell. The local news was over so I found CNN, checked the headlines, then switched over to Fox. I listened to the world's woes and felt the house all around me, like a living thing. It felt like it was in my blood, every square foot had been a part of my life. As long as I stayed away, I had kept the memories at bay. It was as if all this had happened in another life.

Nevertheless, it was my life.

I had begun to convince myself that this old life was behind me and I'd begun to feel like I was settling into the single life. I'd begun to think that the day would come when I would look at Debbie and not see her through the eyes of the 20-year-old who had fallen in love with a gorgeous woman on first sight.

However, like Michael Corleone in one of the 'Godfather' flicks, "they had pulled me back in!"

I had started out the evening as an increasingly well adjusted single man lusting after a very big breasted woman whom I'd never seen naked, but was looking forward to, and I'd ended it as a divorced father living a lonely life forcibly separated from everything I'd ever cared about.

I was sleeping on the couch the way I had hundreds of times before over the years when the Old Man's cell phone rang. It must have been ringing for a minute or two but I shook the sleep out of my eyes and keyed the talk button.

"Mr. Maitland, I apologize for being away on business. Did I wake you?"

"Yes, but thank you for returning my call."

"I think I know the reason for your call."

"Why am I not surprised? I assume that the man with no head lost it to your people, and you probably know what river we should drag to find his partner?"

"He sleeps not with, fresh water, fishes, to use a line from that great old classic Godfather film, but salt water fish - whatever is left of him. Sharks tend to leave very little uneaten."