Chapter 15 – She’s Somethin’

 

“Someone just banged on the door!” Jordy exclaims, not controlling his fear any longer.

“Go hide in the bathroom,” I demand.  “Take your sister with you, there should be a lock on the door.  Go now, but don’t hang up.  I want you talking to me until I get there.  It’s going to be okay, but you need to be quiet and tell me what you hear.  Can you do that?”

I hear the phone shuffle and him say, “C’mon.  Paige said we need to hide in the bathroom.”

“Are you in?  Lock the door, Jordy,” I try to keep my voice even, hoping I don’t sound like I’m in a panic, even though I’m in full-on-panic mode.

“Okay, we’re here,” he says.

“Good, can you hear anything?  What’s happening?” I ask as I make a quick turn and think I might only be a few minutes away.

“Just some yelling still.  But they’re not banging anymore,” he says.

“Is Cara calming down?” I ask.

“A little,” he says.

“You were so smart to call when you couldn’t get a hold of your dad.  He’s going to be so proud of you, Jordy,” I praise him.

“Really?”

“Of course, sweetheart.  Just keep your sister close.  I’m pulling in the parking lot now,” I explain.

“Okay,” I hear him breathe a sigh of relief.

I drive around and look up where Bekki’s apartment is on the second floor.  It has an outside entrance, the entire complex is much newer and nicer than mine.  I pull into a parking spot where I see three men standing outside the door, and even from here, their conversation appears intense.  All three are wearing jeans and a variety of old t-shirts, nothing too scary, but they’re big guys.  Who knows who they are or why they would be arguing outside Bekki’s apartment. 

“Okay, I’m here and can see your mom’s apartment.  I’m going to hang up now, but do not come out of that bathroom unless I call you back.  Do you understand?  I don’t care what you hear, do not open that door.  Can you do that?” I ask.

“No, don’t hang up!” he sounds panicked all over again.

“I’ve got to call someone for help, but I have to hang up the phone to do that.  I’m right outside in the parking lot.  Remember, I’m really close to you.  Keep talking to your sister, try and keep her calm for me,” I tell him.

“Okay,” he says, but doesn’t sound convinced.

“Keep your phone close and I’ll call you when you can come out to me,” I say.

“All right.  Um…bye,” he mumbles and we disconnect.

I dial and hit call immediately.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“My name is Paige Carpino and I’m at,” I have to look around to see where I am.  “Sorry, I’m at the Villa Pines Apartment complex on West Elm.  I don’t have an address, but my…um…friend’s kids just called me and their mom left them alone in the apartment.  There’re three men standing outside the door arguing.  The kids are seven and five, I told them to lock themselves in the bathroom, but the oldest said they were banging on the door.  I just got here and can see them from my car in the parking lot.  They look like they’re arguing.”

“I’m dispatching our closest units.  You said the children have been left unattended?” she asks.

“They said their mom left.  I’m a friend of their dad.  They’re divorced and when they couldn’t get a hold of their dad, they called me.  I haven’t had a chance to call him yet.  I’ve been on the phone with the kids and once I got here, I called you right away,” I explain quickly. 

“That was good.   What are the men doing now?” she asks

“They’re just sort of arguing.  Wait, one just pushed another one.  I can’t hear them from here, how much longer until the police get here?” my heart is beating fast, worried that Jordy and Cara are scared senseless and hope they stay locked in the bathroom.

“They’re close, looks like their ETA will be a few more minutes.  Can you describe them to me?” she asks.

I describe what I can see from here and remotely wonder why when you need something now, time seems to stand still. 

“Oh hell, they’re banging on the door again,” I panic into the phone. 

“Ma’am, the police should be there momentarily,” she tries to calm me down.

One guy puts his hand to the knob and starts shaking the door. 

“They’re trying to get in!” I say and without thinking, I climb out of my car.  “I’m going up there.”

“No, stay in your car, Ms. Carpino.  Wait for the police,” she insists.

“They’re trying to break the door in.  The kids are in there, there’s no way I’m staying in the car,” I say.  The guy who was shaking the door handle has gone to banging it with his shoulder, using all his big bulky weight.

I walk as fast as I can without running, hoping not to appear in a panic. 

“Go back to your car,” the dispatcher demands.

“No,” I breathe as my short legs take the stairs two at a time.

I hear the banging on the door get louder as I head up the stairs.  The second I turn the corner, all three men stop what they’re doing and turn to look at me.

I drop my hand, but don’t disconnect the call.  I stop where I am, leaving some space between us and try to say as brightly as I can, “Oh, hey.  Are you here to see Bekki, too?”

The three men, who are bigger than they appeared from the safety of my car, look to each other and frown before looking back to me.  One guy has shaggy ash blond hair and the other two resemble each other.  They both have medium brown hair but one wears his short while the other’s is longer, almost to his jaw and slicks it back, sort of tucked behind his ears. 

“Who are you?” the long hair guy asks me.

“Me?” I ask, and for some reason I cannot think of a name that is not my own at the moment.  Who sits around thinking of the perfect alias for such a situation as this?  I’m pretty sure I could come up with a perfect scary state-of-affairs pretend name if I had the time and wherewithal, but of course I’m coming up blank.  “Oh, I’m just a friend of Bekki’s.  We had plans to grab dinner, but I’m late.  That’s why I’m all out of breath from running up here.  People keep telling me I should work out, those stairs did me in,” I breathe deep and try to fake-smile.

“You had plans with her tonight?” the ashy blond frowns.

“Yes,” I frown right back and try to buy myself some time, thinking the police must have stopped at Sonic for a limeade, it’s taking so long.  I do my best to sound put out, “Wait, who are you all?  She and I had plans.”

The guy with short dark hair, who’s also a fan of AC/DC’s Highway to Hell if his t-shirt speaks the truth—which I find a bit apropos at the moment—crosses his arms and says, “That’s interesting, because we had a meeting with Bekki, too.”

“Huh,” I mutter.  I go on, trying my best to get them to leave, “Well, maybe you got your days mixed up?”

“We didn’t get our days mixed up,” the blond says taking an aggressive step toward me. 

“Oh.  I’d be happy to tell her you stopped by,” I add, but before I get the last few words out of my mouth, I hear them. 

Sirens, ringing through the air getting louder by the second, like the sweetest music I’ve ever heard.  I’m pretty sure my dispatch friend sent the cavalry.  They’re coming in chorus, like a heavenly troop of angels.  If I could, I’d put it at the top of my playlist and for anyone who really knows me knows, if a song makes it to the top of my playlist it’s a really big deal.    I love my music. 

Bekki’s three scary friends and I all look to the parking lot to see squad cars filing in dramatically.  It’s like we’re at the climax of a really good police drama. 

I count four squad cars before I hear, “What the fuck?”

I look over and the three guys are all looking quickly to and fro between the police, me and each other.  I turn back to the parking lot and it’s plain to see the police officers are quickly heading our way.

“You call the cops?” the one with long greasy hair bites out angrily.

“Let’s get the fuck outta here,” his close-looking relative yells.

I try and look confused myself as to why the police are here, shaking my head a bit.  I’m pretty sure they don’t believe me, because the next thing I know I’m pushed to the side and land against the wall.  I feel the pain in the back of my shoulder right before my head snaps back hitting the brick.  Losing my balance, I fall to the side and my phone clatters to the ground, all my weight landing on my elbow. 

By the time I look up, the three guys are running around the corner and I hear lots of yelling voices.  I push myself up with a wince, pain shooting through my arm and move to collect my phone. 

I see the call is still connected and call out, “Hello?”

“Are you okay?  What happened?” she probes.

I look up to find an officer coming my way, talking into a radio and say, “I’m okay.  They’re gone and the police are here.  Finally.  I’ve got to call the kids to open the door.”

“Okay.  But next time, do what we tell you and stay in your car,” she says, sounding put out. 

Seriously?  Next time?  Holy shit—there had better never be a next time.

I don’t say goodbye and hang up to dial Jordy when the officer gets to me, stooping low to ask if I’m hurt.  I put my finger up, silently telling him to hang on and say to Jordy when he answers in his small, scared voice, “It’s all good, sweetheart.  You can come out to me now.”

I lean against the wall and cringe, thinking I’ll probably have a bruise on my shoulder and say to the officer, “The kids are coming out.  Their mom left them home by themselves and they’re scared.”

The officer narrows his eyes and shakes his head as he radios more garbled police language through the radio with a bunch of codes that I don’t understand.  I do hear the words, “unaccompanied minors, abandoned and EMS,” before the apartment door flings open. 

The next thing I know, Jordy and Cara throw themselves at me on the hard ground where I’m sitting against the wall.  They’re scared, trembling and Cara’s crying outright while Jordy’s barely managing to hold it together.  I wrap them up in my arms and breathe a sigh of relief, forgetting about the pain in my head, shoulder and elbow.  

I look up to the officer and say, “I need to call their dad.”

He looks down with a warm smile, “We’ll do that.  You’re busy with something more important right now.”

I squeeze the kids tighter and nod, telling him how to get hold of Cam.  And for the first time throughout the entire debacle, I think about how Cam is going to react to the mother of his children leaving them alone, not to mention the company she’s keeping that put his children in harm’s way.  I pull the kids in close, thinking I’m a big fat chicken because I’m thankful the police are going to make that call instead of me, and I’m not even the one he’ll be angry with. 

Yep.  Big fat chicken. 

*****

I pull into fucking Bekki’s apartment complex, listening to my tires squeal as I come to a stop next to a group of cop cars and an ambulance.  Why’s there a fucking ambulance here?  They didn’t tell me anyone was hurt. 

I’m surprised I didn’t get stopped on my way, breaking every law to get here as fast as I could.  I don’t know much, other than my kids are okay and are currently with a friend of mine who got to them during a scuffle outside my ex-fucking-wife’s apartment.  My “friend,” also known as Paige Carpino, got to them before the police could, but got caught up in the scuffle first. 

And all because fucking Bekki left my seven- and five-year-old kids by themselves. 

It’s all I could do not to come undone before I got here. 

I run up the stairs, taking them three at a time and find a group of police officers talking in the breezeway.  They all turn to me at once.

“Cam Montgomery.  You called.  I’m their dad,” is all I say.

One of the officers gives me a chin lift and moves out of the threshold where the door is standing open to Bekki’s apartment, saying, “They’re in here.”

I move through the doorway and crackling of police radios only to see Paige sitting on Bekki’s couch with my kids glued to her.  Cara’s sitting in her lap, snuggled in tight with Paige’s arm wrapped around her and Jordy’s attached to her other side where she’s holding him close, his arms circling her waist.  A guy dressed in an EMT uniform is sitting on the coffee table in front of them with a tiny flashlight, examining Paige’s eyes. 

“What the hell?” I growl and as soon as I do, they all look to me.  Cara jumps out of Paige’s lap in a flash, running to me.  Jordy doesn’t move a muscle but his eyes tear up and if it’s possible, he burrows further into Paige.

I pick Cara up as Paige looks on with apologetic eyes and says softly as she shifts Jordy closer, “It’s all okay, now.  The kids aren’t hurt, they’re fine.”

“What happened to you?” I ask frowning and move to them with Cara in my arms. 

“She isn’t showing any signs of concussion.  I don’t think she hit her head hard.  Her shoulder and elbow took the worst of it.  She shouldn’t need to come to the hospital unless she wants to.  She has full range of motion, some swelling that will turn into ugly bruises, but other than that she’s good,” the EMT answers me. 

“I was bumped, I’m okay.  Really, it’s all good,” she barely smiles.

“Would you quit telling me everything is good and fine?” I say.  “Nothing looks good and fine here, Paige.  You’re hurt, not to mention sitting on my ex-wife’s couch and my kids are scared out of their minds because their mother left them alone.”

“Cam,” she whispers and I feel Cara tense in my arms.  “They’re fine.  It’s over.  You need to talk to the police so you can take them home.”

I pull in a breath and turn to the officer, “Where is my ex-wife?”

“We’re trying to figure that out ourselves.  We need to ask you some questions,” he looks to Cara before finishing.  “Alone.”

Looking to Cara, I say, “Go sit with Paige and your brother.  I’ll be right outside talking to the police and then we’ll go home.”  Cara hangs on tighter and it’s all I can do not to throw a fucking chair through a window.  I soften my voice, “Go sit with Paige, baby.  Let me get this done so we can go.”

“Okay, daddy,” she utters her first words, her voice small and scared. 

She slides down my body and Paige holds her other arm out for her while looking at me.  The EMT is packing up his stuff while giving instructions, “If you start feeling dizzy or nauseated, you need to go to the hospital.  The bump on your head is small, you should be fine.”

Paige looks to him and nods as she pulls Cara into her other side, grimacing. 

Fucking hell.

I turn to head back out the door, pulling it shut behind me and say, “What the hell happened?”

The officer goes into detail about the shit that went down tonight because of fucking Bekki.  My blood boils as I think about my kids being scared and how they could have been hurt.  And I think I just might boil over when they describe how they saw Paige being tossed to the wall by the thugs she confronted to keep my kids safe.

“Dispatcher told her to stay put but she waded in anyway, kept emergency on the line.  They couldn’t hear much, but she tried to stall them until we got here.  We scared them and they knocked her around trying to get by.  We’re still trying to piece it all together.  We caught one and are holding him on an outstanding warrant, but the other two got away.  He’s in the process of being booked as we speak.  We’ll know more when we can question him, but we want to know what they have to do with Ms. Montgomery.  Figure we’ll find out more when we find her, but she’ll be taken in for Child Endangerment.  You have any idea where she is?” he asks.

“No clue,” I answer.  “But you can bet I’m calling my attorney as soon as I get home.  No way are my kids ever coming back here.”

He reaches into his pocket.  “I’ll need your contact information.  Already have Ms. Carpino’s.  She might need to come in for more questioning.  Your son filled us in on what happened before we got here.  I hope we won’t have to question the kids again.  Here’s my card in case you need anything else from me.”

I take in a big breath as he hands me the card and seethe, “My fucking ex-wife left my kids?”

“Yeah,” he confirms what I know.

“And she waded into that shit by herself?” I tip my head toward the apartment.

This time he shakes his head no, but looks exasperated, “Apparently.”

I look out to the parking lot trying to grasp the whole fucking situation. 

“She your girlfriend or something?” I hear and look back to the cop.

I cross my arms and breathe out before saying, “She’s somethin’.”

“She was smart and did the right thing.  Until she waded into that mess with three men who could decimate her, that is.  That wasn’t smart, but your kids were in there alone and she seemed hell-bent to not let anything happen to them.  I’m not sure if you’re lucky or not, that one seems to have a mind of her own,” he grins. 

“I’m learning that,” I say under my breath.  “Can I take them home now?”

But before he has a chance to answer I look down and see fucking Bekki drive into the parking lot.  She hurries out of her car and starts to panic as she sees police everywhere.  When she looks up and sees me, realization washes over her face that she’s been caught.

“That’s her,” I say to the cop, but he’s already started moving, talking into his radio.  Two other officers quickly exit the apartment and follow.  They meet Bekki at the bottom of the stairs where I head after them.  As soon as I see her, I rumble, “You left them alone.”

“Cam, no.  I can explain!  It was only for a little bit, I had no choice.  I had to go back to work—it was important!” she starts to scream as the police toss her purse to the ground and move her to the wall, frisking her.

“Is your name Rebekah Montgomery?” the cop asks.

“What?  Um, yes,” she rambles.

He pulls his cuffs out and starts to Mirandize her as she starts to cry, going on and on about how she couldn’t help it and she’d be back soon. 

They yank her around and I look at my fucking ex-wife who has put me through hell for years and say, “You can kiss your kids goodbye.  I can’t believe even you would pull this shit.  I’ll do everything in my power to make sure they never have to see you again.”

“Cam, no.  Please!” she screams as they pull her to a cruiser, stuffing her in the backseat. 

I turn to the cop, “Can I take them home now?”

“Yeah.  We’ll keep in touch,” he says.

I move to fucking Bekki’s apartment, I hope for the last time ever, to collect my kids and Paige.  I need to get them the fuck home.