Star Bright (26 page)

He ran out the room, down
the flight of stairs and into the kitchen. Maria was standing by
the stove cooking bacon, eggs and sausages in a blue bath robe, her
hair damp and smelling of jasmine. Michael was at the counter
eating his breakfast, already dressed in his uniform, Izzy was in
her high chair chewing on a peanut butter and strawberry jam toast.
Normally Dave would take the time to admire the perfect picture of
his family, but he was late and had work to get done.

“
Maria why
didn’t you wake me, and where are my things?” he stood behind the
kids briskly tying his tie.

Maria placed a full plate
on the counter, poured some orange juice in a glass and set it next
to the plate, “You looked too peaceful to disturb.” she licked the
jam from her thumb and picked up her cup of coffee, “Good morning
Dave, there is your breakfast.” she said with a smile.

“
Maria I’m
late.” he shrugged on his jacket, “Michael is the only one who
seems ready, and he will be late because you aren’t
ready.”

“
Kids.” Maria
said completely ignoring him, “say good morning.” then she raised
the cup to her lips with half a smile.

“
Morning.”
Michael said with a full mouth.

“
Hi.” Izzy
sang out with a smile, waving the toast at him.

Dave kissed the top of
their heads, “Good morning.” then he turned to Maria impatiently,
“Thank you for laying out my clothes, now I need to go to
work.”

“
Eat your
breakfast.” she said coolly, combing her fingers through her
hair.

“
Maria, there
won’t be any more breakfast if I get fired.” he moved round the
counter to stand next to her.

“
I called
Carol and told her you will be late.” she placed her cup down and
pushed Dave to the stool in front of his plate, “Last night’s work
is already typed and emailed to your office and Todd has been
instructed not to start anything else until you get
there.”

Dave sat on his stool and
stared up at Maria stunned, “I passed out before I finished, you
tucked me in. Who made the calls and the emails?”

“
I did.” she
said proudly, “I told you I’d take care of it.”

Dave’s lips rose in a
sweet smile, “You are awesome.”

Maria shrugged her
shoulder and returned the smile, “All in a day’s work. I’m going to
get dressed.” She turned and left the kitchen with a new skip in
her heel, “Your things are in the living room.” she shouted over
her shoulder.

“
I already
told you she was the best.” Michael turned on the stool to face
Dave, “Now will you ask her to marry you? I’m tired of waiting.” he
whined.

Dave chuckled loudly,
“I’m trying.” cutting into his eggs. Now that everything had been
taken care of by super woman, the only thing he could do was bask
in the warmth that filled him and enjoy the morning with his
family.

Dave walked into his
office in less of a hurry than he was that morning. He found Carol
and Todd sitting at his desk chatting and laughing, “Good morning.”
he said as he walked to his seat.

“
Someone is in
a good mood today.” Todd said, swinging on the seat.

“
Todd, stop
that.” Dave said, sitting down.

Todd stopped and looked
at him, baffled, “You let Michael do it!”

“
Because he’s
a four year old kid, and you are a thirty year old kid.” Carol
jeered with a laugh.

“
That, and the
fact that I like him better than I do you.” Dave added looking
through the papers on his desk, “These are the documents Maria
emailed you?”

“
Yes, I
checked them and they are fine. You must have worked until the wee
hours of the morning.” she stood up and moved round the desk to
stand next to him, “They just need both your
signatures.”

Dave picked up his pen
and started signing the documents, “Maria typed it out and emailed
it to you.”

“
She’s really
good.” and then Carol exclaimed, “You don’t plan on replacing me
with her, do you?”

“
Careful
Carol, he did replace Amy.” Todd joked.

Dave glared at him for a
moment before he turned his attention back to signing, “Maria has
enough to do at home, and besides, I wouldn’t dream of replacing
you. You and Maria make life pretty easy for me in the office and
at home.”

Carol’s expression
softened, “Oh, you’re giving me a raise, you are so
sweet!”

Dave laughed and was
saved from telling her no when the phone rang, “Carol, the phone is
ringing.” She picked up the phone and held it to her
ear.

Todd’s expression became
serious as he spoke quietly to Dave, “What exactly do you see in
that girl?”

Dave’s eyes shot up to
him, “What do you mean?”

“
She’s nothing
like Amy.”

“
Thank God.”
he said, going back to his papers.

“
What I mean
is, she’s not the type us rich brats get serious with.” Todd knew
he was going into dangerous waters when Dave’s expression turned
hard.

“
So you are
saying she’s good to play with, but not to marry?” his voice was as
hard as his expression.

“
Well yes.”
when Dave’s jaw tightened he sat up quickly in the chair and rapped
out, “She’s always in jeans, tennis shoes and shirts or tee shirts.
Her hair is either in a pony tail, held back with a head band or
left flowing down.... by the way she’s sexier with her hair
down.”

“
Todd.” Dave
hissed out, interrupting him.

“
What I mean
is, she’s too simple, you and your family are very
sophisticated.”

Dave shot out of the
chair, about to give him a tongue lashing and physically throw him
out when Carol tugged at his shirt.

“
One moment.”
she looked up at Dave, “There’s a Mr. Johnson here to see you. He’s
on his way to your office.”

Dave sat back on his
seat, still very heated, but he had more important things to take
care of. The PI was back, but he couldn’t imagine what would make
him come personally to his office and not call him like they had
agreed on, “Okay, will you two please leave us alone?”

Carol put down the
receiver and gathered up the papers on his desk, “Todd, you can
sign these outside.” she spoke, leading the way out of the office.
When she opened the door, the tall stocky looking Mr. Johnson was
standing there with a stern look on his face. Carol jumped back
frightened, “You scared the living daylights out of me!”

“
I’m sorry.”
he spoke fast, “Excuse me.” he moved past them and stood in front
of Dave, his expression unchanged.

Dave stood up and looked
at him, waiting for the door to close so that he could find out
what hell had let loose in Maria’s life now. When the door closed
with a click he spoke, “What’s wrong?”

“
Ricky is
alive.” he spoke quietly, approaching each word with caution. The
woman Dave cared about was still in her nightmare and she had no
idea. The worst of it was, the nightmare was going to get worse and
was approaching fast.

Dave stared at him with
raised eyebrows, confused and bewildered. How could the police get
it wrong? They were so sure he was burnt to a crisp and now the ass
was still alive. His wonderful morning had just been ruined by the
devil himself.

“
Dave.” the
man spoke, drawing Dave’s attention back to him, “He’s here, in New
York,” Dave clenched his jaw angrily and placed his fisted hand on
the table, “We’ve moved from bad, to worse and now here comes the
worst.” Dave’s eyes bulged as his eyebrows creased in frustration,
“He’s the one who tore up the apartment.”

Dave punched the desk
hard, “Damn it!” he punched the desk again before he turned to look
out his huge window at the river. This wasn’t just bad, it was the
worst thing that could ever happen at the best time of their lives.
Why didn’t he just stay dead? Michael and Maria were in danger,
again. He turned and kicked his seat to the far wall, “Are you
sure, how do you know he’s the one?”

“
The owner of
the apartment is in the hospital, he was poisoned.”

“
Ricky.” Dave
said with such venom the PI felt guarded. He was glad he wasn’t
Ricky, because when Dave found him the burns on his skin will feel
like caresses compared to what Dave would do to him.

“
I wasn’t sure
who he was at first, but then the pieces starting to fall into
place once I found his picture, prior to his disfigurement. I
followed him here and that was the first place he went to when he
arrived in the city. I went back there yesterday and spotted you
and Maria leaving.”

“
Do you know
where he is right now?”

“
Yes.”

“
Does he know
where Maria is?” Dave asked, the question coming out in a fearful
quiver.

“
I don’t know,
I don’t think so or he would have already broken into your
house.”

“
How do you
know she’s at my house?”

The PI smiled, “It’s a
little obvious don’t you think? And anyway, I needed to know her
where abouts in case I needed to warn her before I warned
you.”

Dave nodded, his mind
already stirring up a plot to keep his family safe. It wasn’t just
Michael and Maria anymore, Izzy was in this too. He was sure Ricky
would hurt her, just to hurt Maria.

“
Do you want
him dealt with?” The PI asked with very little reservation. As
proper and principled as Dave was, he was sure he would put his
values aside just this one time.

Dave stared at him,
purposefully hesitating to keep from making a mistake. Of course he
would gladly sign Ricky’s death certificate, but it wouldn’t be the
right way to handle it, “Watch his every move. Have people watch my
house, discreetly, just in case he decides to stop by. Next week is
the kids birthday, have more men there. I’m not going to give him a
chance to get anywhere near them, I’ll find a way to put him behind
bars for the rest of his life.”

“
Prison isn’t
always a full proof guarantee, but if that’s what you want, I’ll do
as much as I can. Until next time.” he turned and walked out the
office.

Dave dragged the seat
back and sat down facing the huge window. For the first time he had
no idea what to do. Johnson was right, prison wasn’t a permanent
solution, but as much as he hated Ricky, he couldn’t bring himself
to kill him, he wasn’t that kind of man. But he knew someone who
was, and exactly why he was risking his freedom. He would do what
Dave couldn’t, and all Dave had to do was call Edna.

Dave smiled in
realization, that’s why Edna was in New York, Miguel must be with
her and of course with one thing in his mind. Ricky had someone to
fear more than Dave. Miguel was going to do worse things to him
than Dave would.

Maria walked from store
to store buying things for the party. She went to the bakery and
ordered Cinderella and Batman cakes then went to a party store and
bought pink and blue decorations, and her last stop was at a
catering office. This was both Izzy’s and Miguel’s first birthday
party and she was determined to make it memorable.

She shifted Izzy on to
her other hip and carried food samples in her other hand and walked
out of the office. She was feeling exhausted after her late night
and the whole morning of shopping. She wasn’t going back to the
cafe to get Dave lunch, instead she’d just warm up the leftovers in
his office and try the food samples. She didn’t think she could go
back to the cafe after what happened.

She wanted to forget it
ever happened and avoid everything that would remind her of it. She
couldn’t go back to the whimpering state she was in before, she had
a family and a new life and she wasn’t going to be able to live it
if she lived with the fear of it happening again. Amy was bound to
send her terror squad back for her, and she wasn’t going to keep
working there and be a sitting duck, waiting for further
harassments. She would go back and quit and just dedicate her time
to her family.

She opened the back of
the Prado and carefully put the food containers in a corner behind
other party favors then closed the trunk. When she turned to face
the traffic, a cold chill ran down her back and her knees buckled
under her. She felt a familiar fear consume her as she stared at
Ricky standing across the street smiling at her. With a whimper of
distress she turned around hoping it was just a figment of her
imagination. She leaned against the car for support, closed her
eyes and took a few deep breathes.

Izzy’s small wet palm on
her cheek forced her to open her eyes. She looked into her big,
beautiful, blue eyes and willed herself to find refuge in them. She
turned back around slowly and searched the streets for Ricky. When
she couldn’t spot him, she wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or
scared.

She kept stroking Izzy’s
hair back and kissing her forehead nervously, “He wasn’t really
there, it was just my imagination. We are safe, very safe because
he isn’t here, he isn’t in New York.”

She pushed her legs to
move to the side of the car. She opened the back door and put Izzy
in her chair, and buckled her in with shaky hands. She moved to the
driver’s door and got in. She sat there for a few moments, pacing
her breath as she tried to calm down. She couldn’t panic, she had
nothing to fear, Ricky was in Jacksonville, and if he was here,
Edna or Jane would tell her.