Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (46 page)

“
What’s wrong with you?”
Nash asked.

“
I’m a lying, cheating,
drug addict,” Charlie shrugged.

“
Sounds about right,” Nash
said.

Noelle held her breath and Delphie’s
eyebrows pinched together. When Charlie laughed, they joined
him.

“
I should tell you that my
friends were here last night,” Charlie said. “That’s where I
went... you know with your dad. But I didn’t break my promise. I
was going to meet them outside. They were downstairs when your Dad
came to get me.”

“
Jake and the guys were
coming home from hockey. They found the boys outside,” Delphie
said. “That’s why they were so aggressive.”

“
They’re really hyper after
hockey,” Noelle said. “Did they hurt your friends?”

“
Hurt?” Charlie asked.
“Scared them nearly to death. Me too.”

“
They still here?” Nash
asked.

“
They left this morning,”
Charlie said. “I checked. Razor and Jeffy went to work with your
dad. The other guys just left.”

Nash nodded.

“
I know it sounds weird
coming from me,” Charlie said. “But if I can do anything to help
Sandy, I’m going to do it.”

“
Help Sandy do what?” Sandy
asked as she entered the apartment. “Oh great! Charlie made his
world famous animal pancakes. Did you save a sheep for
me?”

Noelle ran to Sandy with Nash on her heels.
Sandy hugged and kissed them then stretched up to hug Charlie. He
held her tight. She kissed his cheek.

“
Look! My favorite.” Sandy
used her fork to pick up a sheep pancake. “I’m
starving.”

Delphie went to the kitchen for a plate.
Sandy sat down next to Charlie. Her sunny presence brightened their
breakfast. They ate and talked. Delphie began to clean up while
Sandy got ready to take Nash and Noelle to school. Ready to go,
Charlie helped Delphie with the dishes.

“
Ready for another day?”
Sandy asked Charlie. He could see the worry in her eyes.

“
I hope so,” Charlie
smiled.

“
That’s my Charlie,” Sandy
said.

There was a knock at the door and the big
red haired guy stuck his head in.

“
MJ’s going to take you,”
Sandy said. “He’s working out in that direction this
week.”

Charlie raised his hand in a wave. MJ gave
Charlie a toothy smile.

“
Come on,” MJ said. “Can’t
be late to rehab. You might miss the most important
thing.”

Following him out of the door, Charlie
didn’t respond. They were downstairs before MJ said:

“
What?”

“
I don’t know,” Charlie
said. “I think I got the most important thing last
night.”

Nodding, MJ smiled. They walked to his black
SUV.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and
EIGHTEEN

Who are you?

Wednesday afternoon — 3:40 P.M.

“
Why don’t you start?” the
group therapist asked. “Tell us who you are and why you’re
here.”

“
I’m Sandy. Mitzi’s older
sister,” Sandy said to the group. “I’m here to help Sis… I mean,
the help Mitzi get better.”

Sandy smiled at Sissy and took her hand.

“
I’m Charlie. I’m Sissy’s
older brother.” He took Sissy’s other hand. “I’m here to help
Sissy.”

“
You mean Mitzi,” the group
leader said.

“
She doesn’t like that
name,” Sandy said.

“
Is that true, Mitzi?” the
group leader said.

“
I hate the name Mitzi,”
Sissy said. “No one’s called me that since I was
little.”

“
And why is that?” the
group leader asked.

“
Because I hate the name?”
Sissy gave the group leader a confused look. “Sandy always called
me Sissy so everyone else did too.”

The group leader gave Sandy a hard look and
wrote something on her pad of paper. The family members continued
to introduce themselves.

“
Today, we’re going to talk
about enabling,” the group leader said. “For every addiction, such
as an eating disorder, there are family members whose actions make
the eating disorder worse. Their actions don’t create the disorder.
Enablers add fuel to the fire of the addiction.”

Sandy nodded. She’d been learning all about
enabling in the Alanon meetings she and Molly went to twice a week.
She caught Charlie’s eyes. It was good for him to learn about
addiction and enabling at the same time.

“
I wanted to focus on
something that happened earlier,” the group leader said. “Mitzi
doesn’t like her name. Rather than correcting the name herself, her
brother Charlie steps in to protect her. When I questioned Charlie,
Mitzi’s sister Sandy stepped in to protect Charlie.”

The group leader turned her attention to
Sandy.

“
I understand Charlie is
getting treatment for addiction,” the group leader said.

“
I’m in rehab for drug
addiction right now,” Charlie said.

“
How does it feel to be
responsible for both Charlie and Mitzi’s addictions?” the group
leader asked Sandy.

“
I’m not sure what you
mean.” Feeling a searing pain in her abdomen, Sandy put a
protective hand on her belly. “As an enabler, I may have
participated in their addiction but I’m not responsible. Isn’t it
correct that the person is responsible for their own
actions?”

Sandy heard the timpani of her rising blood
pressure in her ears. The group leader said something she didn’t
hear. She heard Charlie’s voice.

“
Are you all right?”
Sissy’s face appeared in front of her.

Sandy nodded. The group leader moved on to
yell at another family. Sandy watched the clock. She didn’t dare
get up or the group leader would be after her again. She had to
practice her deep breathing to keep from passing out in pain. She
felt someone move toward her.

Charlie.

“
I’m sorry,” she heard
Charlie say. “My sister’s not feeling very well. I’m going to
enable my sister to get out of this room. Come on Sis.”

With Charlie on one arm and Sissy on the
other, they helped her out of the room.

“
Is that woman still
screaming?” Sandy whispered.

“
I think so,” Sissy said.
“She’s just like that. It’s supposed to wear down denial. Or that’s
what my therapist said.”

“
I just need to catch my
breath,” Sandy said.

Charlie and Sissy helped Sandy to a chair in
the hospital corridor. Her abdomen radiated with unbearable
pain.

“
I’m calling Aden,” Charlie
said.

Sandy nodded. Sissy ran to the nurses’
station.

“
Can you help my sister?”
Sissy asked.

“
What’s going…?”

Sandy passed out.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 3:40 P.M.

Jacob looked across the kitchen table at
Valerie. She scowled at him.

“
What I don’t get is…” she
started just as he said, “Who the hell are you to…”

They glared at each other. Valerie sighed
and tried another tack.

“
Why didn’t you call me?”
she asked.

“
You were here when it
happened!”

“
I was here when it
happened but not when you quit,” she said. “As a board
member…”

Jacob groaned. She glared at him again.

“
What’s your problem?”
Jacob asked.

“
I don’t know why you’ve
just abandoned Lipson Construction,” she said. “You love the
company and the work!”

“
Remember the state of
Colorado is reviewing our contracts?” Jacob asked.

“
When have you cared about
the state?” Valerie asked.

“
Why are you on me!? Why
not go after Ava the evil secretary?” Jacob asked. “She’s the one
behind all of this.”

“
I just got home, Jake,”
Valerie said. “I’m pregnant and don’t want to over-tax
myself.”

Jacob gave her a sour look.

“
You’re driving everyone
crazy moping around here,” Valerie said. “Everyone has complained
to me.”

“
Everyone? Who?”

“
Well…” Valerie said.
“You’re driving me crazy.”

“
I’m trying to decide if I
want to get into rehabbing haunted buildings,” Jacob asked. “I
can’t decide.”

“
As your older sister, I’ll
decide for you.”

Shaking his head, Jacob leaned back in his
chair.

“
No,” Valerie beamed at
him. “You’re not going to rehab haunted buildings because you are
going back to work at Lipson Construction this summer.”

“
What about the
state!?”

“
The state is going to
resolve their issue this week,” Valerie said.

“
How do you…?” Jacob asked.
“Wait, what have you have planned?”

“
Planned? Me?” Valerie bat
her eyes at Jacob.

“
This is not going to be
good,” Jacob said.

“
Good?” Valerie said. “It’s
going to be great! Trust me.”

“
That’s exactly what I’m
worried about,” Jacob said.

Valerie laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 3:40 P.M.

“
Who exactly are you?” Seth
O’Malley asked the man in front of him.

He was standing on the
corner of 13
^th
Avenue and Cherokee.

“
Baxter Gaston. I work for
Westword,” the man said.

“
Westword…”

Seth looked up to see Delphie waving to him.
He smiled at her. The last thing he wanted was to be caught talking
to a psychic by some punk reporter for Denver’s illustrious
alternative paper, Westword.

“
You caught me at a tough
time,” Seth said. He watched Delphie approach. “I’m just about to
go into a meeting.”

“
Baxter!” Delphie said. “I
didn’t expect to see you here.”

Turning toward her, the reporter smiled.

“
Nice to see you, Delphie.
I was just talking to Detective O’Malley.”

“
Don’t let me interrupt,”
Delphie said. “We were going for some coffee.”

“
You and Detective O’Malley
are…”

“
Friends,” Delphie said.
“We’ve known each other a long time. His nephew is living with us
now. Nosey uncle wants a full report.”

Baxter laughed in response to Delphie’s
gossiping tone.

“
Then you won’t mind me
asking about the murder…” Baxter turned to Seth.

“
What murder?” Seth
asked.

“
The man who was murdered
last night downtown,” the reporter said. “They haven’t released the
name or any information about…”

“
Not my case,” Seth said.
“You’ll need to speak to someone else.”

With his arm over Delphie’s shoulder, he
directed Delphie away from the young man. They were a hundred feet
away from the man when he yelled:

“
Wait! There’s more than
one murder?”

Without looking back, Seth
and Delphie scooted up the steps into Dozens. They were seated near
the window on 13
^th
Avenue. Through the window, they watched the young
man decide whether to come inside to follow them or continue his
day.

“
Can I take your order?”
the woman behind the counter asked.

Baxter Gaston disappeared.

Seth blew out a breath. So far, they’d
avoided coverage of his mysterious serial killer. It couldn’t last
forever. The longer the killer went without press attention, the
more they drew him out of hiding. Some day he would make a mistake
and Seth would be there to catch him. Their waitress had just
dropped off Delphie’s green tea when he heard:

“
I don’t know anything
about last night’s murder, Baxter,” Delphie said to the approaching
reporter.

Defeated, Seth closed his eyes. The press
silence was over.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 4:35 P.M.

“
I’m sorry,” the doctor
said. “Who are you?”

“
I’m Charlie,” he said. “My
sister is in…”

“
Your sister Sandra?” the
doctor asked. “Are you here with an adult?”

“
Her husband is on his
way,” Charlie said. “I promise you. She’s my sister. I was with her
when… What happened?”

“
She’s spiked a fever and
her white count is up. She’s reported pain in her abdomen. We gave
her something for the pain and she’s sleeping now,” the doctor
said. “The baby is fine. Everything with the pregnancy seems
fine.”

“
Charlie!” Jill
said.

Jill, Heather and Tanesha ran to his
side.

“
What’s happening with
Sandy?”

“
Who are you?” the doctor
asked.

“
They’re Sandy’s best
friends,” Charlie said. “How could Sandy have pain in her belly and
have it not be about the baby?”

Jill shook her head.

“
Miss, why are you shaking
your head?” the doctor asked. “If you know something that might
help…”

“
No, I don’t know
anything,” Jill said. “She was sick last night and… Upset. I told
her she needed to rest but she...”