Chris’s House:
Chris had delayed going home after school if she could. She stayed late and missed the school bus she would have taken to go home. She knew as soon as she walked into the house, her stepmother would have chores for her to do. So, she waited till it was almost nine at night and headed home.

She spent most of that time digging through trash cans and dumpsters looking for soda cans and such. She knew her supply of crackers was going to run out soon and her stepmother wasn’t going to give her any money for lunch at school. She hated her stepmother and her stepbrother.

Her stepbrother always got money for anything he wanted. She had to either beg her stepmother for money, so she could get lunches at school or take money from her stepbrother’s hidden stash. Once she has several bags full of beer and soda cans, she cashes them in and gets about thirty dollars.

She heads towards the nearest grocery store her stepmother wouldn’t be caught dead in. She shops for food items she could hide in her closet, without her mother finding them. She hides some of the money in her backpack, so she’ll have lunch money.

By the time she arrives at the house. Chris notices the front door was locked. She takes her house key out and tries to unlock the front door. She manages to open the front door, as she walks in. She shuts the door behind her and heads towards her closet. She noticed her stepbrother was playing some computer game. The door to her stepmother’s bedroom was closed, which meant she was either asleep or watching tv in her bedroom.

Once Chris is in the closet, she shuts the door and turns the overhead light on. She removes the cover to the crawl space that she has been using to store her foodstuff and such. She puts everything away and places the cover back over the crawl space opening.

The rest of the night, she works on her homework. She didn’t have a lot to do, but she didn’t have anything else to do. She couldn’t surf the internet and she didn’t have a cellphone. She was planning on buying a pay as you go one, soon.

By midnight, she finishes her schoolwork. She yawns as she gathers her shower stuff. She had to keep her shampoo and conditioner in the closet with her. Because her stepbrother has in the past, either jerked off into her conditioner or added bleach to her shampoo.

While she is in the bathroom, she locks the door. Her stepbrother has come in while she was in the shower and stolen her clothes and towel. She had to run to her closet in the nude and soaking wet.

She relaxes in the shower and takes her time. Once she was finish showering and drying her hair. She puts her nightclothes on and heads back to her closet. She hated how her life was and wishes her father or even her birth mother were alive.

Chris lays down on her rags of blankets and closes her eyes. She needs to do something about her situation. She knew one of her friends had an aunt that worked at a law firm. Maybe, she could suggest something to her.

Chris closes her eyes and lets sleep claim her.

Nora Midnight Residence:
Nora had watched as Chris hung around the school until she was forced to leave. She wonders what her family life was like. She packs up all her stuff and heads down towards her new mustang. She still had her other one, but she wasn’t using it as a daily driver anymore.

She tries to recall from memory what they had back at the house and whose turn it was to cook dinner. A smirk appears on her face when she realizes it was Carol’s turn. Carol loved some of the Spanish dishes her mother taught Carol.

Carol spent the summer with her mother just recently and learned how to cook from her. She loved it so much, that she wanted to follow in her footsteps. So, she signed Carol up for cooking lessons.

Nora stops at the grocery store near her house and pick-up a few items for the house. After buying a few items, she heads home. She parks in the driveway and carries everything inside the house.

She noticed Tiffany was folding laundry. Little Maria was in the bassinet next to her. Carol and Melody were sitting at the dining room table doing their homework.

“Hi, mom.” Carol smiles at Nora.

“Hey, sweetie. So, what are you going to make tonight? Also, do you have everything you need to make it?”

“I was thinking about making Pisto and we have everything to make it.” Carol went through the refrigerator and the cabinets to make sure they had what was needed.

“Good, be careful using the knives. Don’t cut yourself, like last time.” Nora remembers the first few times Carol chopped some meat and vegetables.

“I’ll be careful, mom.” A smile appears on her face.

“Mom, how do you pronounce this word in German?” Melody walks over to show Nora the word.

Nora looks at the word/phrase “Vielen Dank”

Melody listens to how her mother pronounced the word “V-Vielen-n D-Dank-k?”

“Take your time, sweetie.” Nora knew Melody still stutters some.

Melody takes a deep breath and centers her thoughts. She hates that she still stutters, all because of the blow to her head from her father.

“Vielen Dank.”

“Very good, sweetie.” Nora hugs Melody. She knew it bothered Melody that she stills stutter.

Melody was happy that she got the word right. She also liked it when Nora and Kelly praised her when she did things right. Her father never did that.

Melody goes back to the dining room table and continues her homework. Nora heads towards her home office and put her school totes in there. She’ll work on grading the test she gave recently, later. She had a policy about spending time with her family.

Nora walks over to check on little Maria. She was sound asleep “how long has she been asleep, Tiffany?”

“Not long. She’s been kind of fussy today.” Tiffany looks at her sleeping daughter.

She was a little concerned about her. She checked her temperature and it was normal. She was just glad that little Maria was asleep.

Nora noticed that Tiffany was concerned. She puts her hand on Tiffany’s shoulder “let me know if you notice anything out of the ordinary.”

Tiffany looks up at Nora “I will.”

Around six in the evening, Carol gets started on dinner. Kelly shows up fifteen minutes later. She looked tired as she walks into the house.

“Rough day?” Nora walks over to her wife and hugs her.

Kelly lets Nora hold her. She felt better being in Nora’s arms.

“We just got a new case and it's going to be a rough one.” Kelly wasn’t a lawyer, but a paralegal. The law firm she worked for did all sorts of cases.

Nora just holds Kelly. If Kelly was this upset already then, the case must be really bad.

“Come on, let’s get you into something more comfortable.” Nora escorts Kelly to their bedroom.

“You need to get out of the house for the whole day and don’t come back, until late.” Clare looks at her stepdaughter.

“Can I have some money to buy some lunch and dinner while I am out, please?” Chris couldn’t figure out why her stepmother needed her out of the house all day.

“Money? You want money? Your fat and can stand to lose some weight.” Clare wasn’t about to give her useless stepdaughter any money.

“I’m not fat. All I’m asking for is just a few bucks. Just enough to buy some soda and maybe some crackers or hamburgers.”

“Fine! Here is five dollars. You don’t deserve it anymore. Now, get out of the house and don’t come back until late.” Clare turns and walks away.

Chris heads back to her closet and grabs her backpack. She figures she could spend some time at the library and work on her schoolwork. She also grabs a few cans of food to take with her. She buries them deep in her backpack.

“Hurry up and get out of here.” Clare was getting impatient and wanted her stepdaughter out of the house before her guest arrived.

Chris shuts her closet door and hurries out of the house. She starts walking towards the public library to finish her assignment for Mrs. Midnights' class. The first report she had worked on for Mrs. Midnight’s class had been turned in on Thursday.

Mrs. Midnight gave them another report she wanted them to turn in on Monday. Since it was the weekend, she had several days to work on it.
She tried to talk with her friend Jessica, but she didn’t come to school on Friday.

After walking for twenty minutes to the library. She goes in and sits at one of the computer stations. She pulls out some paper and a pencil and set them near the keyboard. She pulls the assignment sheet out and starts researching the assignment.

Chris spends the next four hours working on the assignment. By the time she finishes, her fingers were hurting her. She leans back in her computer chair and looks at the word document. She had everything typed up and all her references were listed and in order. She saves her work on the only thumb drive she had.

She glances up at the clock mounted on the wall and notices it was around two in the afternoon. Her stomach starts growling from hunger. She picks her backpack up and logs off the computer. There was a McDonald’s two blocks up from the library and a dollar store nearby.

Chris heads towards the dollar store first and buys a two-liter of their off-brand sodas. Afterward, she heads over to McDonald’s and buys two hamburgers. Instead of eating inside McDonald’s she walks over to a nearby park and sits on a park bench to eat her lunch.

While she is eating her lunch, she watches the people around her. Some of them were families out enjoying a nice day. Some of them were just out enjoying the sunshine and jogging. She spots a little girl walking with her parents as they walk past her. Tears form in her eyes as she wishes her birth parents were still alive.

She misses her mother and the fun they used to have. Her stepmother was mean to her and didn’t care about her. The only person her stepmother cared about was her son. She wipes the tears away from her eyes, as she tries to get her emotions under control. She saves what is left of her soda and put the bottle in her backpack.

She wishes she knew what time it was as she gets up and starts walking home. She wonders why her stepmother wanted her out of the house so badly. She thinks about it as she gets closer to her house. She notices there were a lot of cars, trucks, and some motorcycles parked at the house. She could hear music coming from inside and from the backyard.

The smell of barbecue being cooked drifted by her nose. She stops in her tracks, as she observes the fun people were having. She even notices her stepbrother, hanging with some of his friends from school.

Tears form in her eyes again as she turns around and walks away from the house as fast as she could. She didn’t know what she was going to do, about her situation. But she needed to do something.

She ends up staying at a women’s shelter for the night. She wasn’t going to go back tonight. Instead, she’ll think about going back tomorrow, instead.

As Chris laid on the cot she was assigned too. She looks around the room and notices that there were at least twenty to thirty women surrounding her. Some had daughters and young children sleeping with them. She wonders why these people were out on the streets.

She finally falls asleep like three in the morning, if the clock on the wall was right. She is woken up at six in the morning, the next day. She grabs some cheese toast and juice before she leaves.

Chris didn’t want to go back home, but what other choice did she have right now. The walk back to the house seemed long to her. When she opens the front door and walk-in. She notices the house was a mess. She heads towards her closet and put her backpack away.

Afterward, Chris heads into the kitchen to get the cleaning supplies she was going to need. She goes about cleaning the place, before her stepmother and whatever men she slept with wakes up. She starts in the kitchen and goes to the main bathroom next. The stench near the
toilet was overwhelming. She wonders how many drunks couldn’t aim right.

Once the kitchen and main bathroom were done, she picks up all the trash, empty bottles, and cans. She puts the cans in a separate bag and hides them in the shed. She peeks in on her stepbrother and notices he slept with some blonde hair girl.

She closes his bedroom door quietly and goes about finishing up cleaning the house. Once the house is cleaned, she goes outside and starts picking stuff up. It starts drizzling while she is outside.

She spots her stepmother standing in the door frame of the sliding glass doors. She was drinking a cup of coffee. She slides the glass door close.

When Chris is done cleaning the backyard up and picking up the front yard. She heads back to the shed and put the yard tools away. As she walks into the house “go to your room and stay there.”

Clare didn’t want the man she slept with last night to know about Chris.

“Yes ma’am.”

Chris covers up a yawn as she heads towards her closet. Once she closes the door, she secures the door and dries off.

Nora, Kelly, Carol, Melody, Tiffany, and her daughter were out enjoying the day out as a family. Nora shared the letter she received from Ginger with the family, just before they left. They were walking through the park, just enjoying the day together.

Tiffany had the day off from the restaurant she worked at. She was pushing the baby stroller with little Maria laying inside. There was a crowd gathering just ahead of their path.

“I wonder what is going on, up ahead?” Kelly was curious.

“Let’s find out.” Nora was curious as well.

They walk up to the group and notice there was a teenage girl, dressed in a flashy leotard sitting on a unicycle. She was juggling six batons that were on fire. The crowd was amazed at how she didn’t miss the batons and the tricks she was performing with them.

There was a battered suitcase that looked like it held the batons set up with a sign that said Donations are welcome. The teenage girl looked like she was enjoying what she was doing.

“Mom, can we donate to her?” Carol looks at Nora and Kelly.

“That’s up to you, Carol. If you want to, go ahead.” Kelly was thinking about donating as well.

“I want it too.” Carol opens her purse and pulls out a ten-dollar bill and toss it into the case.

Melody does the same thing. She liked what the performer was doing.

“Melody, toss this in there for me, please.” Kelly hands Melody a twenty-dollar bill for her and Nora.

“Okay, mom.” Melody accepts the bill and tosses it into the case.

They watch the teenage girl perform several more tricks before she stops and bow from the applause. Nora noticed that she was around Carol’s age and had several scars on her face. One scar went across her face, just above her mouth. The second scar started just above her right eyebrow and went all the way down the corner of her eye and onto her cheek. It stopped just above the other scar that went across her face.

Diane watches as the crowd that gathered to watch her, drop money into the baton case. Just from what she could quickly count, she figures there are about three hundred dollars. That was just counting the big bills she could see right away. She also noticed that a Hispanic woman was looking at her.

She recognized the other woman standing next to the Hispanic woman. Her name was Kelly, and she uses to work as a waitress up at Union Sixty-Nine club. She had heard that she got married several years back to a Hispanic woman. Standing with the two women, were three teenage girls and one was pushing a baby stroller.

Kelly spotted their entertainer looking towards them. The girl looked familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on where she knew her from.

“Do you know her?” Nora noticed her wife looking at the teenage girl.

“I think so. I can’t remember where I have seen her before.” Kelly normally could remember people she knew, but this time she couldn’t.

“Do you want to go and speak to her?” Nora looks at her wife.

“Yes. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Kelly walks towards Diane.

Diane notices Kelly walking towards her. She wonders what she wants.

“Excuse me, but do I know you?” Kelly stops in front of the baton case.

“No ma’am, but you do know my older sister. The two of you use to work together up at Union Sixty-Nine club.”

“Who is your sister?”

“Evelyn Brown.” A smile appears on Diane’s face.

“Now I remember you. You’re Evelyn’s younger sibling. I remember you coming up to the club and staying in the office doing your homework. How is your sister?” Kelly always liked Evelyn.

“She’s fine. She’s a police officer now and has a wife.” Diane likes her sister’s wife.

Her sister-in-law is the owner of a florist shop over off Peach Street. Sometimes, she helps out around the shop.

“Does your sister know you perform in the park?”

“Yes ma’am. She made me get a performer's permit.” Diane gathers all her stuff up.

“Well, tell your sister hello for me.”

“I will and it was nice seeing you again.” Diane starts walking towards the parking lot.

Kelly joins Nora and their children. She looks towards Nora “that was Diane Brown. I worked with her sister up at the club me and Christina worked at.”

“Do you know how she got those scars on her face?” Nora was curious.

“I didn’t ask her. I know she didn’t have them when she was younger, and when I worked with her sister.” Kelly now wonders where she got them.

“They don’t look very old.” Nora figures they were only one year or two old.

“Next time I see her. I’ll ask. Let’s go and get some lunch for our children.”

“Can we go to Van’s for lunch, mom?” Carol likes Van’s.

“I don’t see why not.” Nora didn’t mind Van’s.

Chris’s House:
Chris sits in her closet with the overhead light on, providing light for her. Occasionally, she could hear her stepmother’s voice talking to the man she slept with. She also heard her stepbrother and the woman he slept with as well.

She heard the man ask how the house and yard had gotten so clean. When her stepmother said that she had the maid and yard person come in and pick the place up. She got very upset, as tears leaked from her eyes. She hated what has become of her life.

She listens some more to the conversation going on between her stepmother and the guy. Since she was going to be stuck in her closet for most of the day. She grabs her schoolbooks and starts reading the next few chapters.

When she starts getting hungry, she pulls out a ramen noodle bowl and adds some cold water to it. She kept two gallons of water hidden in the same space as the food. She knows, she needs to microwave the noodles, but she didn’t have access to the microwave.

She eats the noodles cold. Chris knew she had other can foods she could eat, but she didn’t want to open them. An hour later, she hears the doorbell ring. She wonders who it could be.

“Mom! The pizza delivery person is here.”

Chris heard her stepbrother yell for their stepmother. She just cries as she puts her trash away. She falls asleep from all the crying she does.

Seven hours later Chris wakes up from her bladder waking her. She had to pee very badly. She gets up and opens her door slowly and listen. She doesn’t hear anything as she opens the door a little more and steps out of her closet.

Chris walks to the nearest window and notices her stepmother’s car was gone. She rushes from the window to the bathroom, just as her bladder decided to let go. She sits on the toilet seat and empties her bladder. She wonders where her stepmother and brother went.

Once Chris is done and has cleaned her hands. She walks into the kitchen to see if her stepmother left her anything. She looks in the refrigerator, but there wasn’t anything leftover from the party or from what they ordered for lunch.

She goes back to her closet and grabs her trash and put it in the outside trash can. She walks into her stepbrother’s bedroom and over to where he hides his money. She knew he never counted what he had. She removes a twenty-dollar from his stash and put it in her pocket.

She puts the rest of the money back and leaves her stepbrother’s room. Since no one was home, she sits in the living room and watches a movie. She does keep an eye out for her stepmother to return. The last thing she needed was being caught watching the television.

She spots the Sunday newspaper and starts looking through the job section, seeing who was hiring. Maybe if she could get a job and hide the money she made from her stepmother. She could move out and get a place of her own. It would be rough on her, but anything was better than being treated like a nobody in her own home.

Circle K Convenience Store:
Chris hands the completed application she had picked up on her way to school early that morning to the clerk on duty. She had inquired on her way to school if they were hiring. As it happened, they were looking for a part-time afternoon person to come in during the week and every other weekend.

She had filled the application out, while at school. She wasn’t worried about her stepmother finding out she was working here. Her stepmother hated Circle K and avoided them as much as possible.

“Excuse me, Mrs. How soon should I hear back about my application?” Chris wanted to know.

“Within a couple of days. The store manager will call you in for an interview.”

“Okay, thank you.” Chris turns and walks out of the store.

Chris starts walking, towards her friend’s place. Their place was nearby, and she hasn’t visited them in a while. She starts walking towards their place. As she is walking towards her friend’s house, she examines the prepaid cellphone she managed to purchase. She combined the money she got for the cans she took to the recycle center and the money she lifted from her stepbrother’s hidden stash.

She slips it back into her backpack. She’ll have to keep it hidden from her stepmother. After twenty minutes of walking, she spots her friend's house. Chris walks up to the house and knocks on the door.

Amy was getting ready to play a game on her Play Station 4 when she hears a knocking sound coming from her front door. She gets up and heads towards the door. She looks through the peephole to see who was on the other side. She spots Chris standing in front of the door. She opens the door “hey, Chris. What brings you to my neck of the woods?” As she stands aside to let Chris in.

“I was just wondering how things have been with you and I hope you don’t mind me hanging out with you.” Chris walks past Amy.

“I don’t mind. My mom should be home in a little while and I know she has been concerned about you.” Amy shuts the front door.

“I always liked your mother. She reminds me a lot of my mother.” Chris has known Amy’s mother since they were in elementary school.

Amy’s mother was a lawyer and was very good. She thinks about talking with her about getting emancipated from her stepmother.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Amy leads Chris to the den.

“I’m fine, but thanks. So what game were you about to play?” Chris sits her backpack on the floor, near the sofa.

“Burnout Paradise Remastered. I just got it yesterday. It was on sale at Game Stop.” Amy had been out window shopping with her mother when she spotted the game.

“Cool, how do you play it?” Chris sits down next to Amy and pick-up the second gamepad.

“Let’s find out.” Amy picks up her controller and starts the game.

Nora and Kelly:
“One, two, three, four walking like a man
Hitting like a hammer
She's a juvenile scam
Never was a quitter
Tasty like a raindrop
She's got the look
Heavenly bound
Cause heaven's got a number
When she's spinning me around
Kissing is a color
Her loving is a wild dog
She's got the look…”

Kelly sings along with the song as she heads home. She couldn’t wait to get home and take a nice relaxing soak. The client the firm was representing had a history that was a mile long. Normally, they wouldn’t take a client that had a record so bad. However, her bosses felt what the detectives on the case did, to apprehend the person went too far. They broke every law to arrest the person. They wanted to put the client in jail.

As she sits at the stoplight still singing in time with the song. An old fashion muscle car pulls up next to her. The windows of the car were blacked out, so you couldn’t see the occupants of the car. She just ignores the car, as she continues to sing along with the song.

When the lights turn green, she steps on the accelerator and proceeds down the road. The muscle car that had been beside her. It speeds past her and pulls right in front of her, without turning it turn signals on, and taps it brakes. She steps on her brakes to keep from hitting the ass end of the car.

“You son of a bitch.” She was glad that Nora made her take the defensive driving course. A few years ago.

She tries to go around the person, but every move she makes, he counters. Not only that, he had a more powerful car. When a turn comes up, that would allow her to get from behind the guy, she takes it. She knew all the streets around the house that Nora and her shared. After a few more turns, she pulls into her driveway.

She sits there in the car for a few minutes, to calm her nerves. She knew Nora would have given that person a taste of his own medicine. She wonders should she inform Nora about this incident. She grabs her purse, briefcase, and head inside the house.

Nora covers up a yawn as she leaves school. Today had been a long and eventful day. She had to suspend several students for bullying a young girl. The bullies had torn open her blouse, exposing her flat chest to several students in the hallway.

Nora knew the student and felt protective of her. She reminded her of Ginger when she first met her. She walks to her car and put her school bags in and get in herself.

Nora starts the car up and starts heading home. As she is driving, she notices that someone was following her. A sly smile appears on her face. Old habits were hard to break and her DSS training was a big part of her.

She decides to see who the person was and how good they were. She steps on the gas pedal and zig and zags out of traffic. She watches as the other car tries to keep her in their sights. She speeds past a box truck and manages to get on the other side of it before the car trailing her caught up with her. She stays next to the truck and manages to get behind the people trailing her.

She plays a little aggressive with them. She wanted to know who they were and why they were trailing her. She matches their moves without any problems. When she gets the opportunity, she speeds past them and pulls directly in front of them. She slams on her brakes, causing them to avoid hitting her.

Nora watches as the other car avoids her and takes off. She couldn’t see who they were, because the windows of the car being tinted extremely dark. Even the license plate had a tinted cover on it. She wonders who they were and why did they come after her, as she drives home.

“You thieving, stealing little slut. How dare you steal money from my son.” Clare grabs Chris by her hair and pulls her down to the floor hard.

Chris tries to pry her stepmother’s hand off her hair, as she is slammed down to the floor. She was hoping to enter the house, without being noticed. She braces herself as she hits the floor.

Clare kicks Chris a few times in her stomach while she is down on the floor. She looks down at her “go and get everything in your closet. You’re going to be sleeping in your father’s old workshop from now on. As for the money you took from your brother. I know how you are going to make it up to him. Now get up you little tramp.”

Chris gets up off the floor hurting from being kicked and slammed down on the floor. She moves slowly to her closet and gathers everything up. She makes sure she hides the food she has been buying.

Once she has everything, she goes out the back door and towards her father’s old workshop. No one has been in her father’s workshop, since he died. She heads back towards a back room, where her father used to store lumber and other items he bought.

Clare follows Chris into her husbands’ old workshop. She hated the place and use to hate to come out to it.

“You’ll be living in here from now on.”

“But it doesn’t have any heat or A/C.” Chris looks over at Clare.

“Well, you should have thought about that, before you stole from your brother.” She was lucky her father put a toilet in his workshop.

“Oh, by the way. You will be working off what you took from your brother.” An evil smirk appears on Clare’s face as she leaves the workshop.

Chris wonders how her stepbrother knew she was stealing from him. She goes about rearranging the storage area her father used. She could build a bed frame inside of it and maybe get a mattress as well.

It takes her half the night to get the place into livable conditions. She spots the space heater her father use to use. It would come in handy during the winter months. She could buy a fan or something to cool the place. She gets undress, after locking the door to her father’s
workshop. That was going to be the first thing she changes tomorrow when she comes home from school.

Chris lays down on her makeshift bed and slowly fall asleep. At least she had a decent dinner at her friend’s place. She hopes the manager up at the Circle K calls her.

Nora’s House:
Nora pulls into the driveway of her home. She made sure she wasn’t followed. It still puzzled her on who it was that tried to run her down. She picks up her school totes and head inside the house.

She saw that instead of cooking, Kelly had ordered pizza and subs. She knew the girls could eat two whole pizzas themselves. She spots the girls in the living room watching a movie and enjoying the pizza.

“You three look like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“We are mom. Are you going to join us?” Carol watches Nora.

“Where’s Kelly at, Carol?”

“She’s in your guy's bedroom. She looked like she was upset when she came home.” Carol noticed Kelly looked a little upset when she came in.

“I’ll go and see what’s bothering her.” Nora heads towards her and Kelly’s bedroom.

As she walks in, she notices Kelly was sitting on their bed. She walks over and sits down next to her.

“Do you want to tell me what is bothering you?”

Kelly looks at Nora when she spoke to her “someone tried to cause me to have an accident today on the way home.”

“Did they happen to be driving a dark muscle car with blacked-out windows?” Nora wonders if it was the same person that tried the same thing with her.

Kelly looks at Nora “yes. How did you know?”

“Because a car similar to the one that came after you, also came after me as well.”

“Could you tell me what the car was?” Kelly was curious as, why anyone would go after Nora.

“I think it was a Chevy Nova or Impala. It had the body style of them. Is there anything that the law firm you work for, is involved in?”

“We just took on a client that the police railroaded and broke all sorts of laws to apprehend.” Kelly knew Nora sometimes worked outside of the law and took matters into her own hands. But what these cops did, weren’t justified.

“Hhhmm, I wonder if someone is trying to stop your law firm and is coming after everyone involved.” Nora knew sometimes strong arms tactics would be used to make people back off.

“But I’m just a paralegal. I’m not the lawyer handling the case.” Kelly wonders why someone would come after her.

“And I’m married to you.”

“So, coming after you was a warning.”

“Maybe. Who is the lawyer handling the case?”

“Ellen Helmer. She’s been given the case. She has a daughter named Amy that goes to a private girl school.” Kelly has met Amy and thought very nicely of her.

“Are you helping her with the case?”

“Actually, yes. I have been doing some research into the statements and notes the detectives used to get search warrants and such.”

“Are they on the up and up?”

“Not really. There are statements wrong with what was given and what was said at the trail.” Kelly had found a lot of things wrong.

“That might explain why someone came after us today. You might want to call your boss and see if she had any problems.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Good, I’m going to change out of my work clothes and hope our girls left us something to eat.” Nora stands up and starts undressing.

Kelly stands up as well and start changing out of her work clothes as well. She hands Nora her favorite slumming clothes to wear. She also grabs her favorite clothes as well.

Once they are changed, they head into the dining room to see what was left of the pizzas.

“Thanks for coming to the Circle K.” Chris watches as the customer leaves the store.

She couldn’t believe she got the job a day after she turned her application in. The store manager had called her while she was at school and asked if she could come in for an interview after school. She had said yes and as soon as school ended, she practically ran to the store.

The interview didn’t last more than twenty minutes. Just as she was about to leave the store. The manager offered her the job and she started that night. Her shift ended at midnight and by the time she arrived back at her father’s workshop, she was dead tired.

She found out the next day, that the locks on the house doors had been changed. A note had been tacked to the door of her father’s workshop telling her that she was no longer allowed in the house for any reason. She was also informed that when her mother through a backyard barbecue or party. She was to remain in the workshop and hidden.

This was fine with Chris because most of her stepmother’s friends scared her. She was lucky her father had installed a toilet and a sink in the workshop. The workshop had a small water heater that provided hot water to the sink. So, she could take a sponge bath or build a makeshift camper’s shower like they use to use when she went camping with her father.

She had to rearrange the way the workshop was set up. Her makeshift bed was supported on nine cinder blocks she found stack behind the workshop. She was lucky her father had bought several sheets of three-quarter plywood. She trimmed one down and used it as the base on top of the cinder blocks. When she was moving things around in the workshop, she found the tote that had the camping gear in it. Inside was the blowup air mattress they used when they went camping. She placed that on top of the plywood and spread her collection of old blankets out on it.

If her stepmother could only see what favor she did her by moving her from the closet to the workshop. The camping tote had the two-burner gas stove they used while camping in it. She could now have hot meals. There were a few other items in the tote that would make it easier for her.

However, she was going to need to buy a heater soon. The temperature was slowly changing, and she woke up the other morning cold. Chris also had to figure out where she could wash her school and work clothes. She was down to her last pair of clean panties and one outfit. She knew some of her teachers have noticed that she has worn the same clothes three days in a roll.

Especially, Mrs. Midnight. Chris noticed that she has been keeping a closer eye on her. Just the other day, Mrs. Midnight, asked her to stay after class. Once all the students had left the classroom, Mrs. Midnight had asked if everything at home was okay.

She wanted to tell Mrs. Midnight the truth, but she didn’t want to feel the wraith from her stepmother again. The last time she had told a teacher what had been going on. Her stepmother accused her of being a lair and even had her stepbrother back up what she said.

Later, after the people from Childcare services left. She received a beating and was locked up in her closet for five days. The only time she was permitted to come out was to go to school. If she didn’t come home when she was supposed to, she received another beating.

So, she lied to Mrs. Midnight, but she got the feeling that Mrs. Midnight didn’t believe her. Mrs. Midnight had said if she ever needed help, to call her and she would come and help her. Mrs. Midnight had handed her a black business card with her number on it.

“Chris, have you restock the coolers yet?” George looks over towards Chris.

“Not yet. I was just finishing up fronting and restocking what we got in.” Chris puts the last item that was in the tote on the shelf.

“Alright, why don’t you watch the front of the store and I’ll handle the cooler.” George heads towards the coolers.

“Okay, George.” Chris hated the cooler because she didn’t have a coat that kept her warm when she was inside it.

The rest of the night, she tends to customers and refills the coffee containers. She at least got a free meal or discount buying food at the store. As for her laundry problem, she could use a laundry mat. There was one not far from where she was living. Chris figures she could use the old wagon she found in the workshop to carry her laundry back and forth.

The lawyer she spoke too, about getting emancipated from her stepmother. She said that she must show that she can support herself without any help from her stepmother. Also, her stepmother would have to be okay with it.

The last part would be a blessing to her stepmother. She would be thrilled not to have to support her, even though she hasn’t done anything for her since her father died. Technically, she has been supporting herself since his death.

At midnight, her shift ends. Chris takes home some hot dogs she made for herself. She puts the milk, juice, and soda she bought in the basket on her bicycle. She was glad her father had restored the old refrigerator he bought when she was younger. She shivers as she mounts her bicycle and starts peddling home.

Nora’s and Kelly’s House:
Nora and Kelly had talked about what happened several days ago. The car that had followed Kelly and tried to intimidate her wasn’t the same car that came after her. However, the car that came after Kelly, did come after her a few days later. The car that had originally came after her, it joined the second one.

They had tried to run her off the road, but they didn’t know how powerful her mustang was. When she bought her new mustang, she had the Shelby upgrade done to it. She never knew when the extra speed and power would come in handy. She was glad that she had the extra performance to outrun the other two muscle cars.

She did try to follow them, but an eighteen-wheeler had cut her off. By the time he moved out of the way, the two muscle cars had disappeared. She thought about contacting Hex to see if he could somehow track them.

Another concern she had was about one of her students named Chris Sumner. She has been showing up at school wearing the same outfit three days in a row. She also noticed that Chris has been falling asleep in her class lately.

When she asked Chris if things were alright at home. Chris lied to her and said things were fine at home. She spotted the lie right away and wonder why Chris would lie to her.

She checked with Chris’s other teachers and they said that they have noticed a difference in Chris as well. In some of their classes, Chris’s grades were starting to slip. They also noticed she wore the same outfits three days in a row as well.

Nora wonders what was happening with Chris? She’ll have to follow her after school and find out. Her thoughts are interrupted by the ringing of Kelly’s cellphone. She watches as Kelly reaches for her cellphone.

“Hello?” Kelly was still half to sleep.

“What do you mean the office is on fire?” Kelly sits up in bed with the cellphone next to her ear.

“I mean that the fire department is down here right now, putting the flames out.” Shelly couldn’t believe her office was on fire.

She had received a phone call from the security company that monitored the office. They had let her know the fire alarm had gone off and that the fire department was on their way to her office. When the fire department arrived, the office was in full blaze.

“Do you need me to come down?” Kelly was getting ready to get out of bed.

“No, just don’t come in tomorrow, until we find out what caused the blaze and be careful.”

“I will.” Kelly wonders who could have burned the office down.

Shelly ends the call and walks over to the Fire Marshal.

Nora looks at Kelly “what happened?”

“Someone set the office on fire.” Kelly looks into Nora's eyes.

“I wonder if this has anything to do with your current case?” Nora had a puzzled look on her face.

“Maybe.” Kelly puts her cellphone back on the charger.

She snuggles back down under the blankets and just looks at Nora as she puts her book down. When Nora was laying down next to her, she snuggles closer against Nora.

Nora wraps her arms around Kelly’s body and just holds her.

“Burr!” Chris was soak to the bone from the rain coming down.

She had to work a double shift at the Circle K, and it had started raining before she left. The thin jacket she wore to work, was soak. She kicks her tennis shoes off and runs over to the portable heater she bought at the thrift store with her first paycheck.

She hangs the clothes she had on, out to dry out on the laundry rack. That included the tennis shoes she just took off. She was lucky to find the clothes rack and were lucky it was on sale.

Once her clothes were drying, she puts on her flannel nightgown and slippers. She walks over to her father’s workbench and fire up the camping stove and empty a jar of spaghetti into it. She fills a pot of water and add a little oil to it and boils the water to cook some noodles.

She liked the fact that she could have a hot meal now. She turns her father’s old shop radio on and listens to a local station, while she cooks herself some dinner. The portable heater was warming the workshop up.

She stirs the sauce, so it doesn’t burn. She keeps the flame turned down on it. She had been looking around her father’s workshop and found his blow torch. She has used that to heat some toast.

Chris dips a spoon into the sauce to see how it tasted. She reaches for some spices she bought at the dollar store and added them to the sauce. She couldn’t afford a metal strainer but bought a plastic bowl at the dollar store and made herself one. She used her father’s drill to put drain holes in it. Once the noodles were cooked, she drains them and adds them to the sauce. She stirs them together. Chris scoops some out and put it in a bowl to eat.

She sits down on an upside-down five-gallon bucket to eat. Her insides start to warm up once the hot food goes down her throat and into her stomach. She takes a couple of slices of bread and uses it to scoop some of the sauce in the bowl.

She glances over towards one of the windows in the workshop. She covered it up with some plastic her father had in the workshop. She did the same to all the other windows, so she would have some privacy. She spotted her stepbrother looking through the window one morning when she took a shower in the camping shower. She was lucky, that he couldn’t see anything, because the camping shower had a shower curtain blocking her.

She was glad her father stocked up on things for the house or for whatever he was working on. The camping shower was connected to a wash dishpan that she could attach a hose to and run it outside to drain. Once she finishes her dinner, she puts the leftovers into a dish she could either take to school or have the next day.

She cleans her mess up and lays down on her bed. She found a nice warm quilt at the thrift store. She snuggles underneath it as she listens to the radio.

Nora’s House:
Nora was looking at the photos she took of Chris. She managed to follow her after school. She followed Chris to a Circle K that wasn’t too far from the school. She sat the whole time watching Chris see where she went after work.

Nora followed Chris back to the address that was on file at school but instead of going inside the main house. She watched as Chris went further back on to the property to a 10 x 20 wooden shed. That piqued her curiosity, as she left her motorcycle and sneaked up to the wooden shed.

She noticed through one of the windows, that it looked to be filled with woodworking tools. She spotted Chris over in one corner, which looked like it had been set up for someone to live. She watched as Chris went about undressing and slipping her nightclothes on. She also watched as Chris cooked some food on a two-burner camping stove.

She walks back towards the main house and notices that Chris’s stepmother and brother were enjoying a nice take-out meal. There were also several other people inside with them as well.

“So, that’s how things work around here? You treat yourself and your son to nice food and such and make your daughter live in a workshop.” Nora controls her anger as she sneaks back to her motorcycle.

Nora thinks about everything, as she headed back to her place. The other problem was identifying the cars that had come after her and her wife. She had some of her students who were into muscle cars and such keeping an eye for them.

She told her students that one of them had hit her other car and her wife’s car and wanted to find them. She would pay them for information if it turned out to be the cars she was looking for. She pulls her motorcycle into the garage and dismounts. She makes sure the garage door is shut, before heading into the house.

“You’re home late. Did something happened?” Kelly looks at Nora with a questionable look on her face.

“No, everything is fine. I was concerned about a student in my class.” Nora walks over and places a kiss on Kelly’s cheek.

“Oh? Is everything okay with that student?” Kelly knew her wife took an interest in her students.

“Yes and no. She has a roof over her head and is safe so far, but she is forced to live on the money she is making working part-time at a
convenience store.” Nora grabs a couple of hot dogs to heat up.

“That’s not much money. How bad is it?” Kelly knew how much money convenience store employees make.

When she separated from her husband. She had to work three jobs to survive. She lost the house she and her husband had bought when they first got married. She had to move into a cheap studio apartment.

“Well, she’s heating her meals on a two-burner, gas camping stove. She’s sleeping on an air mattress and living inside a 10 x 20 wooden shed, that looked like it had been set up to do woodwork in.”

“Does she have access to a toilet and such?”

“I think so. I couldn’t see much, because she had some sort of plastic sheeting covering the windows in the place.” Nora heats the hot dogs in the microwave.

“Are you going to talk to her about why she is living in the shed?” Kelly wanted to know herself.

“I will. As for finding out who those muscle cars belong to. I have several students in my class who are into the car scene looking for them.” Nora figures the student she asked, will have something for her.

“Do you think that is wise?” Kelly was concerned about the students.

“Yeah, because they have contacts in the muscle car and ten-second car scenes here in Memphis.”

“Well, I hope they are careful.” Kelly didn’t want anything to happen to Nora’s students.

Friday Afternoon, Nora’s Government Class:
April knocks on the classroom door before entering. She walks in and spots Nora sitting at her desk checking over papers.

“Mrs. Midnight, can I speak with you, please?” April hopes the information she has for Mrs. Midnight was right.

Nora looks up when she hears April’s voice. She knew April was one of the girls in school that got bullied because she came from a poor family.

“What’s on your mind, April?” Nora puts her grading pen down.

“I have some information for you on those cars you asked some of us about.” April had gone with her father to a car show and spotted the cars.

“Oh? What did you find out, April?” Nora pulls her note pad over to her.

“They belong to the Ionita brothers. One of the cars was at the antique car show over on Plum And fifth at Big Roy’s burger restaurant.”

“You said one of the cars was there?” Nora looks at April.

“Yes ma’am, I took a picture of it.” April pulls her cellphone out of her backpack and shows it to Nora.

Nora looks at it and it was the car that chased her down. She saw that April managed to snap a picture of the license plate. She writes the number down. She hopes it belongs to the car and not a stolen license plate.

“Thank you, April.” Nora smiles at April. She liked April.

“You’re welcome Mrs. Midnight.”

“April, how have things been going for you in school? Are you still being picked on?” Nora was concerned about her.

“Sometimes, Mrs. Midnight. Some of the older girls keep making snide remarks about my clothes and the fact I don’t wear any of the brand names like everyone else.”

“Don’t let those girls get to you, April. You’re a beautiful young woman and smart. If they keep bothering you, come and tell me.” Nora would hug April, but she couldn’t.

“Thank you, Mrs. Midnight.”

“Any time, April. Here, is the money I promise for finding out the information.” Nora pulls the money out of her wallet that she promised.

“Thank you, Mrs. Midnight.” April accepts the money. It was enough to buy the new dress she has been wanting and the shoes to go with it.

“If you ever need anything, April. Come and see me, okay?” Nora looks sternly at April.

“Yes ma’am.” April tucks the money away, before leaving the classroom.

Nora waits until April has left the classroom, before calling her friend, Lieutenant Hardcastle at the Memphis police department.

Memphis Police Department, Special Investigations:
Detective Hardcastle leans back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. He just got finished solving a cold case that has been sitting on the shelf for the past twenty years. Every cold case he has worked on, he has solved. It also helped, that he possesses a unique skill that gave him an advantage over his other co-workers.

As he is enjoying his victory of closing the case. His cellphone starts ringing. He pulls it out of his pants pocket and notices it was Nora Midnight’s number. He presses accept “Nora, what’s on your mind?”

“I need a favor from you, Tim.” Nora has known Tim for a long time.

“The last favor I did for you, almost got me killed. Remember, those two Iranian spies you needed to find?”

“Yeah, and I did say I was sorry, but that was a very important case. This one is important but safer, I hope.” A sly smile appears on Nora’s face.

“You hope?” Tim raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, I hope. I need for you to run a name, license plate, and a car.”

“Alright, send me the information. Is there anything else?”

“Yes, there’s a student in my class that is being treated like a redneck stepchild. I was wondering if you could talk with her and find out what is going on, please. She won’t tell me, but I know how good you are with teenage girls.” Nora knew Tim has a daughter and how well the two of them got together.

“You’re asking a lot, my old friend.”

“Hey, what are friends for?” Nora had a playful smile on her face.

“Moving furniture, painting my house and helping out in the garden and so on.”

“Well, next time you need something like that done. I’ll bring my children and wife to help out.” Nora knew Tim didn’t know she got married or had children either.

“You got married? Who’s the unfortunate woman?” Tim knew Nora was a lesbian, ever since she was a teenager.

“Ha! Ha! Very funny. Her name is Kelly and she’s a paralegal. She’s working on the Hamlet case.”

“Oh, boy! That is a big can of worms and there is a lot of important people that can get burned from it.” Tim felt sorry for Nora’s wife.

“Speaking of burn, someone set fire to the law office my wife works at. Any ideas who might scoop that low?”

“No, but if it was done by a professional, you're going to have a hard time proving it. Let me do some snooping around.” Tim figures with his gift he might be able to help.

“Okay, well I have to go. I’m sending you the information now. Let me know what you find out.”

“Will do, Nora. You keep yourself safe.”

“I will.” Nora ends the call.

She finishes the papers and grades she was working on, before calling it an evening. She puts all her school stuff into the tote bags she keeps them in and heads towards her car. Nora hears the engine of a motorcycle coming towards her. She turns around while dropping her totes and her purse. She spots a figure coming towards her and raising its arm. She jumps out of the way, as a bunch of bullets flies by her, striking the ground right where she had been.

She reaches for her gun that she normally keeps on her hip concealed, but realizes, she left it in her purse. She waits for the shooter to come back around again. She reaches for one of her totes and grabs her government book.

Bullets strike the ground near her. She takes the government book and throws it like a frisbee towards the shooter. The book hits the rider but doesn’t do anything to them.

“DAMN!” Nora moves out of the way again as the rider shoots where she is.

Nora spots April and she was directly in the path of the rider. She starts running towards April and tackles her to the ground. Just as she was tackling April, the rider fired one more time at her. Several bullets hit Nora in her back, near her left shoulder.

April looks up into Mrs. Midnight's face as she laid on top of her. She hadn’t realized that she had walked directly in front of the motorcycle rider.

“Mrs. Midnight, are you alright?” April was worried about one of her favorite teachers.

Nora felt that she had gotten hit but didn’t want to move yet. She looks down into April’s face “I’m not sure, April.”

Several teachers and students come running over to Nora and April. One of the teachers saw that Nora had been shot “don’t move Nora, you’ve been shot twice.”

The teacher looks at April “are you okay, April?”

“Yes ma’am. How is Mrs. Midnight?”

“She’s been shot, April. So, you’re going to be stuck under her, until the ambulance arrives.”

“Okay, Mr. Lewis.”

Several minutes later, the ambulance arrives and move Nora off of April. The bullets were still lodged inside her body. They move Nora carefully and put her in the ambulance.

“Nora, I’ll gather your things and brings them to the hospital.”

“Okay.”

The ambulance leaves and takes Nora to the hospital.

Nika looks at the pictures of the cars she had been hired to steal. The two muscle cars were parked inside a garage that belonged to the Ionita brothers. They should have paid what they owed to Big Al. She checks to make sure there weren’t any alarms on the garage side door as she picks the locks. She brushes aside a lock of her rusty red hair out of her eyes as she works on the lock.

After a few seconds of working on the lock, she manages to unlock the door and sneak inside. She looks towards the house to make sure the brothers were still asleep. She had watched them drink themselves to unconsciousness. She closes the door behind her and walks over to the two muscle cars she had been sent to retrieve tonight.

Nika checks them for kill switches. If she had two beautiful muscle cars like these, she would have a kill switch. She doesn’t find any kill switches or trackers either. The Ionita brothers were stupid to leave these cars unprotected. She walks over to the garage door and quietly opens it.

She pulls her lock picks out and unlocks the steering. She didn’t like destroying the locking mechanism on any car she steals. She pushes the first car out of the garage and down the street. She walks back towards the Ionita brother's house and pushes the second car down the street, after locking their garage.

Nika pulls her cellphone out and dials her friend Freddy’s number.

Freddy’s Apartment:
“Take that, sucker.” Freddy snipes the enemy in the game he was playing.

He shoots another player in the game that has been giving him a hard time, during the game. He rushes forward in the game and kills a few more people. Just as he was about to kill another player, his cellphone starts ringing. He picks his cellphone up and takes a look at it and notices it was Nika. He presses accept “Nika, what can I do for you tonight?”

“How would you like to make a quick hundred dollars?” Nika was keeping an eye out for the brothers.

“What do I have to do?” Freddy didn’t mind making a quick hundred dollars.

“Drive a car for me. Think you can do that, without drawing attention to yourself?” Nika knew how much of a showoff Freddy can be.

“Where are we taking the car?” Freddy logs off from his game.

“Big Al’s chop shop.” Nika knew Al wasn’t going to chop them, but he was going to store them there until the brothers pay what they owed.

“Alright, give me fifteen minutes.” Freddy heads towards his bedroom to change.

“Okay, hurry up. I’ll text you the address.” Nika text the address she was at.

Twenty minutes later, Freddy comes walking up to Nika. She was easy to spot with her rusty color-looking hair and her teenage looks.

“Took you long enough.” Nika looks at Freddy.

If anyone fit the type description of a geeky white boy, it was Freddy. He had wide brim glasses, short messy black hair, youthful looks, and a little overweight. The reason he was overweight, was because he managed to convince the government, that he had a disability. Which he didn’t, but he was good at lying and conning people.

“I had to finish my game.” Freddy looks at the cars she was standing near.

“Do these cars belong to who I think they do?” Freddy looks at the two identical cars.

“If you mean the Ionita brothers, yes. They owe Big Al and you know what happens if you don’t pay him.” Nika never wants to get on Big Al’s bad side.

“Yeah, he either sends Jake or Clint after you to remind you or he takes something of value until you pay him.” Freddy knew Big Al’s reputation.

“Well, let’s get these cars to him before he wonders what I am doing with them.” Nika starts one for Freddy to drive and she takes the other one.

Nika drives towards the warehouse district. The old warehouse that Big Al used for his chop shop uses to be used for used tires. Nika pulls up to the warehouse door and honks the horn.

The warehouse door opens wide enough for Nika and Freddy to enter. Once they are inside, the door closes behind them. Nika exists from the car and looks around for Big Al. When she spots him “here you go, Al. The brothers didn’t even know I was there.”

“Good! I’ll put this job towards your father’s debt. That means you’ll owe me one more job after this.” Al spots Freddy by the second car.

“Then we are even, and I don’t owe you anything else.” Nika didn’t mind pulling jobs for Al, but it meant she didn’t get paid for doing it.

“That was the deal unless you want to renegotiate the deal.” Big Al looks at Nika and wouldn’t mind having sex with her. She had a nice body and a beautiful face.

“No thanks. I’m happy with the current deal.” Nika knew what Big Al thought about her.

“Well, keep your cellphone nearby. I might have another job for you in a few days.” Big Al figures Nika would be perfect for the job.

“Okay, well see you later.” Nika walks over to her motorcycle and grabs a spare helmet for Freddy.

Nika hands the helmet to Freddy along with a hundred-dollar bill. She pushes her motorcycle out of the warehouse and once she is outside “thanks for helping.”

“Hey, I just made hundred dollars for twenty minutes of work. Where else can you do that?” Freddy mounts the motorcycle behind Nika.

He holds onto her small waist as he feels the motorcycle startup. Once they start moving, Freddy tightens his grip on Nika’s waist.

“Hey, easy on the waist.” Nika felt Freddy tighten his grip on her.

Nika will be glad when she finishes settling her father’s debt to Big Al. The only reason she was doing it, was because he was in jail. He got caught on the last job he did for Big Al and he still owed Big Al the money he borrowed. Since her father trained her, she was willing to settle his debt by doing jobs for Big Al.

After twenty-five minutes Nika pulls up in front of Freddy’s apartment complex. She turns to look behind her “here’s your stop.”

“Thanks, Nika.” Freddy dismounts and takes his helmet off.

“You’re welcome. Don’t spend the money all in one place.” A mischievous smile appears on Nika’s face, behind her helmet.

“I won’t.” Freddy turns and starts heading towards his apartment, after securing Nika’s spare helmet to her motorcycle.

Nika heads towards her place. It was an old gas station that has been in her family for generations. The front was still used as a repair garage, but one of the huge bays was converted into a small apartment. She pulls her motorcycle into the second bay, after opening the old fashion garage door.

Nika takes her helmet off and leaves it on her motorcycle. She unlocks a side door and walks into the small apartment in the next bay. She hangs her keys on the Harley Davidson key badge mounted next to the door. She covers up a yawn, as she strips out of her clothes and slip-on her favorite nightshirt. She still had a few cars that she needed to get done tomorrow.

She lays down on the sofa and slowly falls asleep.

“What do you mean, you missed?” Jordan looks at the two local assassins he hired to take Nora Midnight out.

“Look, I managed to wound her. Why do you have such a hard-on for a stupid high school teacher?” Ping looks at Jordan with a puzzled look on his face.

“Because she isn’t just some stupid high school teacher. She’s a trained killer and the people who hired us to take her and her wife out want her dead. Her wife knows too much about the case and Mrs. Midnight is sticking her nose into a matter that should remain private.” Jordan couldn’t believe how messed up this job was getting.

If the Ionita brothers had done their job like they were supposed to. They wouldn’t be in this mess right now. As for the other matter with his sister and her stupid stepdaughter. That matter will be handled soon, hopefully.

Jordan looks at Ping and Wong “I’m giving you two guys one more chance to end that bitch’s life. She has children, use one of them to lure her to you. When she comes to rescue them, kill her.”

Jordan hands a photograph of Nora’s children to the two of them. It had Ginger, Christina, Melody, Carol, and Tiffany with her newborn. It looked like a family picture.

“Which one do you want us to kidnap and trap her with?” Wong looks at Jordan.

“Choose, for yourself. It shouldn’t be that hard. At least four of them go to the school she teaches at. So, it shouldn’t be too hard to trap one of them.”

“Alright.” Wong figures the red hair one or the younger blonde one should be easy to grab.

Ping and Wong turn and leave Jordan’s office to scout out their prey. They wanted to get paid for this job and get the hell out of town for a while. They knew the longer they stayed, the greater the chances they would be caught.

D&M Garage:
Nika was underneath a car changing the oil in it when she feels her legs grabbed. Whoever grabbed her ankles was squeezing them hard, as she is yanked out from under the car. A huge foot is pressed against her chest as she looks at the two men standing and kneeling near her.
She recognized them right away, as being the Ionita brothers, Owen and Lucas.

“Bitch! Where are our cars?” Lucas had his big size thirteen boot pressing against Nika’s chest.

“They aren’t in my coveralls, you stupid gorilla. Where do you think they are?” Nika was trying to get her pocketknife from her pocket.

“You must be one dumb bitch, to think we wouldn’t figure out that you were responsible for stealing our cars.” Owen kicks Nika’s side.

Nika screams from Owen’s steel-toed boot, hitting her side. She manages to grab her pocketknife, from her side pocket.

“Don’t you just love it, when they scream, Lucas?” Owen looks down at the painful expression on Nika’s face.

“Yeah, it sounds so wonderful.” As he presses harder onto Nika’s rib cage.

Nika pops open the knife and stabs Owen in the side of his right leg. She feels Lucas lifting his leg to stomp on her chest, she slices across the front of his leg, as she rolls out of the way.

Owen and Lucas were caught off guard by Nika’s attack. Lucas falls backward from being cut and caught off guard. Owen looks down at his leg to see how serious the cut was. He tries to grab Nika as she rolls out of the way.

Nika hurries to get up on her feet. Her chest was hurting from Lucas pressing against it and her side hurt like hell, from Owen kicking it. She looks at the two of them “you dumb bastards, should have paid what you owed to Big Al, you dumb ass red necks!”

Nika was pissed as she watched both men. She knew problems like this arose, but she was hoping that they would have gone to Big Al to make some sort of arrangements with him.

“You are one dumb bitch, bring a knife to a gunfight.” Owen pulls out the concealed 9mm Glock he had and shoots Nika twice with it.

Nika feels two bullets enter her body. One hits her in the chest and the second one hits her in the left shoulder, shattering her collar bone. She drops to the ground onto her knees, dropping her pocketknife.

Owen walks over to Nika and looks down at her “I’m not going to kill you bitch, but I want you to remember what happens when you steal from us.” He shoots her in the upper right thigh.

Sirens could be heard coming their way. Owen walks over and helps his brother up off the ground. They walk over towards a black jacked up 4x4 pick-up truck they came in and get in. They leave before the police could arrive.

Nika watches as Owen and Lucas drive off. She could hear the police sirens as they got closer to her place. She vows that if she lives through being shot. She will get her revenge on the brothers.

Officer Hicks and Officer Swan arrive at the location they received sounds of possible gunfire. When they pull up to the old D&M gas station.
They spot a young girl in mechanics coveralls bleeding on the ground. They knew who the girl was right away. She was a known car thief and the owner of D&M repairs.

“Dispatch, we need a rush on an ambulance to D&M repairs. We have the owner Nika Sweetflower with several gunshot wounds. She has one to her chest, upper left shoulder, and upper right thigh.”

“Ambulance is on route, car 125.”

Swan looks at Nika and Officer Hicks “is she going to be okay?”

“If I can stop the bleeding. Grab my paramedic bag from the trunk of my patrol car.”

Swan runs towards Hicks patrol car and grabs his paramedic bag from the trunk. She knew Hicks had paramedic training from his time in the
Army. He and Officer King were the only two licensed paramedics on the police force.

She rushes back towards Hicks with his bag and drops it next to him. She watches as he grabs items out of it and goes to work, trying to stop the bleeding from the wounds on Nika’s body. The gunshot to her chest came close to puncturing the main artery going to her heart. If it had been a millimeter more to the right, it would have severed the artery.

“Where is that ambulance?” Hicks looks up at Swan.

“Dispatched, what’s the location of the ambulance?”

“It’s four minutes away, car 126.”

Swan looks down at Hicks “it's four minutes out.”

Hicks keeps working on Nika and manages to stabilize her, just as the ambulance pulls up. He looks up at the EMTs as they come rushing over to Nika’s body.

“I’ve managed to stabilize her. She has three gunshot wounds. One to the chest, one to her left shoulder, and the last to her right thigh.”

The EMTs noticed that Officer Hicks managed to stabilize the woman. The two EMTs get the stretcher and put her on it and load her into the ambulance. They leave and head towards the hospital.

Officer Swan looks at Officer Hicks “you’re going to need to change your uniform. There’s blood on it.”

“Yeah, I see that.”

Nora’s Hospital Room:
Detective Hopkins looks at Nora as she lays in the hospital bed. He couldn’t believe she had been shot in the parking lot where she taught at.

“Nora, who’s after you now?”

“I have no idea, Dennis. I’m not involved in anything important.” Nora looks at her friend.

“Come on Nora, I know you better than that. What are you involved in?” Dennis looks at Nora with a skeptical look on his face.

“Honestly, I’m not involved with anything. Here’s what has been happening to me and my wife lately. We’ve been followed and almost ran off the road by two green muscle cars belonging to the Ionita brothers. I and Kelly think it has something to do with the Hamlet case. Ever since her law firm got the case, things have been happening to her and me. The other thing I’m concerned about is a student in my class that is being treated as a red-neck stepchild. I asked Detective Hardcastle to look in on her and see if he can get her to tell us about why she is living in a 10 x 20 shed in the back yard of where she lives. I doubt that the person who came after me, had anything to do with that.”

“So, you think it has something to do with the Hamlet case?”

“Yes, I do. Everything that has been going on lately, has been because Kelly’s law firm accepted that damn case.” Nora was a little pissed.

“Well, until your shoulder heals. I’m going to ask you to sit this job out.” Detective Hopkins knew she wouldn’t listen.

Nora just looks at Dennis “you have to be kidding me. I’m not sitting anything out. The bastards shot me.”

“Nora, you don’t even know who they are. How are you going to go after them?”

“Tik Tok know who they are. There isn’t a deal or contract in this city he doesn’t know something about.” Nora knew Tik Tok had his fingers in everything in Memphis.

“You know Tik Tok? He doesn’t talk to anyone unless he knows you and can get something from you.” Dennis has tried several times to see
him.

An evil smile appears on Nora’s face as she looks at Dennis. She knew him, because of Cheshire and Jack Bounty.

“You have to know the right people, Dennis. He fears four people and I am one of them.”

“Well, if you are going to go and see him, I’m coming with you. Because right now you’re in no shape to be scary.” Detective Hopkins wants to ask Tik Tok a few questions about a former case he worked on.

“Fine, I’m not going to argue with you.” Nora figures having Detective Hopkins with her, might be an advantage.

“Come back here you prick!” Alex chases after the six-foot-tall white male she has been looking for.

He was wanted for jumping bail from her friend Jason at Six Shooter Bail Bound. She jumps over the trash can that Jason throws in her way. She slowly catches up to him and yanks on the back of his shirt. She steps aside as he falls backward onto the asphalt.

Jason reaches out to try and stop himself from falling backward. He hits the asphalt on his back and spots the bounty hunter he has been running fun looking at him. He can’t believe a five-foot girl with short white hair, streak with black highlights had taken him down.

“Why in the hell did you have to be a butt head and try to outrun from me? You must have realized I was going to apprehend you. Now, turn onto your stomach before I kick you in your balls.” Alex removes her handcuffs from their case.

Jason does as the young bounty hunter says. He hated the fact that she managed to take him down. He thinks about trying to overpower her, but as soon as she grabs his arm. He feels how strong she is.

“Alright, I’m going to help you up off the ground. If you try anything stupid, I will break your arms and legs. Do you understand me?”

“Yes. For a girl, you have a lot of anger.” Jason couldn’t believe how mean this woman was.

“That’s because I have a recital I’m late for and you are the cause of it.” Alex helps Jason up off the ground and forcefully walks him back to her SUV.

Her little sister’s dance class was putting on their recital today and she was missing it. She tries to never miss her little sister’s recital. They only had each other, ever since their mother ran off with her boyfriend. Their father had left earlier, because of their mother.

She heads to the nearest police precinct to drop Jason off at. Once she drops him off, she speeds towards the center hosting the recital and sneaks in. The recital was already in progress. She sneaks down to a seat that had been reserved for her.

Her sister’s dance class comes out dancing. She was so proud of her little sister as she watches her dance. Everything she did was for her little sister. She takes her cellphone out and records her sister.

When the recital is over, Lexis seeks her older sister out. She had spotted her when her dance class came out to dance.

“You made it!” Lexis was excited her older sister had managed to make it.

“Didn’t I promise, I would be here for your recital?” Alex hugs Lexis and holds her tight.

Lexis returns the hug and holds onto her older sister. She knew her big sister would do anything for her.

“Yes, you did promise.”

Alex just holds her little sister for a while. She had to grow up fast and become the responsible one.

“Come on, let's go and celebrate your success.”

“Okay, are we going to the Golden Peacock?” Lewis holds her sisters’ hand as they walk towards the SUV.

“Is that, where you want to go?” Alex presses the remote as they get closer.

“Yes!” Lewis gets in on the passenger side, after tossing her gym bag into the back.

“Okay, maybe Narika will be working.” Lewis liked Alex’s new girlfriend.

“I think she is.” Alex liked Narika a lot and wouldn’t mind settling down with her.

As Alex is about to pull into the parking lot of the Golden Peacock. Her cellphone starts ringing. She glances at the name appearing on the screen and saw it was detective Hopkins. She presses accept as she pulls into a parking space.

“Hello Detective, what can I do for you?” Alex wonders what Detective Hopkins wanted now.

“I need you for a job. I’m helping a friend out, and she has been injured. I need for you to act as our backup.”

“You do know, I’m only a bounty hunter, don’t you?”

“Yes, but where we are going. I’m going to need someone who they don’t know. So, can you do the job for me or not?”

“Yes, I’ll do the job. I’m charging you my standard cost.”

“How about we put it, towards what you owe me.” Detective Hopkins kept Alex from going to jail when she was younger.

“Fine, but no more favors without paying me.” Alex was getting tired of not getting paid by Detective Hopkins.

“Fine, no more freebies. Next time I need you, I’ll pay you. Meet me at this address tomorrow.”

Alex’s cellphone beeps, letting her know a text message has arrived. She glances at it and knew where it was and who stayed there.

“Alright.” Alex ends the call.

She glances over towards her sister “let’s go celebrate.”

Nora’s House:
Kelly couldn’t believe Nora had gotten shoot at school. She helps her wife into the house, after pulling into the driveway and parking. Their children come out to help carry in the flowers, balloons, and plants she had received.

“Are you okay, mom?” Carol looks at her mother.

“I’m fine, sweetie.” Nora looks at carol with a smile on her face. She knew her family was concerned about her.

They had never seen her injured before. She walks inside the house with Kelly.

“Let me guess, you’re going after the people who did this to you?”

“Yes, but I don’t know who they are.” Kelly helps Nora over to their bed.

“So, how are you going to find out?” Kelly looks at her wife.

“I know who might know. So, I’m going to visit them tomorrow with Detective Hopkins going with me.” Nora looks at her wife.

“You must be crazy. You’re in no shape to be demanding information from people.” Kelly knew Nora could make a priest confess to any crime she wanted to.

“That’s why Detective Hopkins is going with me. He can be my bodyguard and my muscle as well.” Nora had to give Detective Hopkins credit for insisting that he comes along.

“Well, at least you’ll have some backup.” Kelly still didn’t like the idea of Nora going out by herself.

Kelly helps Nora get comfortable on the bed. Once Nora was comfortable, she goes about checking on the children. Melody and the others come in and check on their mother.

Nora reassures her children that she is fine and that nothing is going to happen to her. She could tell they were worried about her. Once Kelly shoos them out of the bedroom, she opens a letter from Ginger and reads it.

Chris’s Storage Shed:
Chris covers up a yawn as she walks into the storage shed. She covered her shift and the person who was supposed to come in and relieve her. She changes out of her work clothes and pulls her backpack up onto her mattress and takes her homework out to work on it.

Lately, her stepmother has been ignoring her, but she knew that wasn’t going to last. Her stepbrother played a dirty trick on her, just the other day. He had arranged for several of his friends to ambush her as she walked into the backyard.

One guy sprayed her with a water hose, while another grabbed her from behind. Once she was grabbed and secured. The water hose was cut off and another fellow came up and tore her shirt off, exposing her breasts and bra. She tried to fight back, but the guy holding her increased the pressure from his arms.

The guy who tore her shirt, pulled her pants down, including her panties. They noticed she was having her period, from the bloody maxi pad in her underwear.

Her stepbrother came up to her and ripped her maxi-pad from her underwear. He rubbed her face with it. Afterward, they took her and bent her over a lawn chair, and spanked her with a badminton racket. She managed to escape, after being smacked eight times on her bare ass. The guys just laughed at her as she made her way to the storage shed and locked the door.

She didn’t sleep at all last night, because of the pain. When she left to go to work, earlier in the day. She sneaked out, avoiding the path she normally took.

She tries to concentrate on her homework, but her ass was still hurting her from being spanked yesterday. She reaches into her backpack and pulls out a Goody’s aspirin powder and takes it. She couldn’t wait until she was old enough to move away from her stepmother.

She starts her homework and listens to some music while she works.

Nika’s Hospital Room:
The medical equipment hooked up to Nika beep as it monitor’s her vitals. Freddy looks down at Nika as she laid there on the hospital bed. He knew what she did was dangerous, but there was no reason for what the brothers did to her. She only did what Big Al hired her to do.

The door opens and a middle-aged man comes walking into the room. He was wearing a black cowboy hat, black tailored suit jacket covering a blue dress shirt. The shirt was tucked into a pair of black dress slacks. There was a lasso tie hanging from his neck and he was wearing a pair of black boots with a high gloss shine to them. The belt buckle he was wearing had a pair of small pistols on it.

Ted had gotten a call from the Memphis police department that his niece was in critical condition. He had been informed which hospital she had been taken to. When he walks into her hospital room, he notices a young man wearing a batman t-shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of cheap-looking tennis shoes, standing near his niece’s bed.

Freddy turned around to see who was coming into Nika’s hospital room. He spotted the gentleman and wonders who he was.

“Are you related to Nika?” Freddy was concerned about his friend.

“I’m her Uncle. How did this happen to her?” Ted walks over and stands next to Nika’s hospital bed.

“Some gorillas she repos some cars from.” Freddy had gone to Nika’s garage and looked at the security footage from her hidden security cameras.

Ted looks at Freddy “do you know who they are?”

Freddy looks at Ted’s face and into his eyes. He saw that Ted was observing him and that he wanted an answer.

“They are called the Ionita brothers. She was sent to repo their cars by her employer Big Al.” Freddy figures if this fellow was going to get
revenge for Nika. He should know who sent her as well.

“You said the Ionita brothers? Do you happened to know where they live?” Ted was planning on visiting them for what they did to his niece.

“Yes sir. I know where they live.”

“Good. Also, where does this Big Al operate from?” Ted was planning on vising him as well.

“I’ll give you that information as well, sir.” Freddy figures Al should pay for what happened to Nika.

Circle K:
Chris couldn’t believe how messy some of the customers could be. She mops up a mess near the soda machine some customer had made. They had walked off, while the machine was filling their cup and it overflowed from the cup and counter onto the floor.

She puts the wet floor sign out, so no one would slip. After she was done cleaning that mess, she had to go into the women’s bathroom and clean. Since she has been working at Circle K, the women’s bathroom has turned out to be the messiest to clean.

She goes into the bathroom and starts cleaning it. It takes her a while to clean, because of how dirty it was. By the time she is done cleaning it. She was ready to take a break. Just as she gets all the cleaning supply put away.

“Chris, I’m stepping outside to take a smoke break. Can you watch the cash register for me please?”

“Sure.” Chris watches as her co-worker steps outside.

Chris steps behind the counter and starts straightening up things. Her co-worker was lazy and always wanted till her shift was almost over before she refilled the cigarettes and such. As she is restocking the cigarettes, the bell on the door goes off.

“Welcome to Circle K.” She turns around to look at the person who walked in.

The person was standing in front of the counter and had a gun pointed at her. She couldn’t tell who it was, because the person was wearing a mask, that hid their looks.

“Give me all the money in the register or you’re dead.”

Outside the Circle K, parked across the street:
Detective Hardcastle has been keeping an eye on Chris lately. He was planning on going inside to talk with her when he spots something suspicious. Her co-worker had stepped out of the store and was over near the side of the building smoking. That wasn’t what had gotten his attention all sudden. It was the beat-up, rusty-looking van that had.

He spotted the person getting out and saw a gun tucked in the waistband behind the person. He pulls his gun and gets out of his car and move quickly towards the building. Before he goes into the store, he spots the person pointing their gun at Chris. He knew the store had a bell that went off when you opened the doors. He looks at the van the person came in. He takes his knife out and puncher the front tire.

Inside the Circle K:
Chris opens the register and starts taking all the money out. She places it in a plastic bag and goes to hand it to the robber. She presses the panic button under the counter. She tries to move slowly, to stall the robber.

“Hurry up bitch!”

“I’m hurrying.” Chris takes a handful of loose pennies and tosses them towards the robber.

The robber’s gun goes off. He miss Chris because she dropped to the floor behind the counter.

Detective Hardcastle rushes inside and fires his gun at the robber. He hits him in the arm.

“Chris!”

“I’m alright.” Chris stands up and looks at a rather large man pointing a gun at the robber.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Detective Hardcastle. Your teacher, Mrs. Midnight asked me to check up on you. She was concerned about you.” Hardcastle looks at
Chris, as he kept the robber in his sight.

Chris couldn’t believe that Mrs. Midnight, was looking after her. She wonders if Mrs. Midnight knew what was going on with her.

“Well, I’m glad she sent you.” Chris was happy Detective Hardcastle took down the robber.

Chris was tired by the time she and Detective Hardcastle left the store. Her co-worker had left earlier since they weren’t of any help. They hadn’t noticed the robber coming into the store, because they were too busy socializing on their cellphone.

Detective Hardcastle looks over towards Chris as he drove her home. He put her bicycle in the trunk of his car.

“How are you feeling, Chris?”

“I’m still freaked out.” Chris didn’t know how she should feel after what happened.

“Well, you’ll be safe at my place. I have a feeling there is more going on and your life might be in danger.” Something about that robbery didn’t feel right to him.

“Why would anyone want to kill me?” Chris looks at Detective Hardcastle with a puzzled look on her face.

“That is the million-dollar question. Who would benefit from your death?”

“I guess my stepmother would. My father would have taken a life insurance policy out on me and my stepmother.” Chris knew her father would make sure she was taken care of. Ever since his death, her stepmother has been treating her like a housemaid.

“How have things been between you and your stepmother? Are you two getting along?” Detective Hardcastle already knew the answer to that question.

“To be honest with you, Detective. I, my stepmother and brother don’t get along at all.” Chris couldn’t count how many times her stepbrother has abused her.

That’s not counting what he and his friends did to her just a few days ago. She still had the marks on her body from what they did to her.

“We’ll go by your place so you can get a change of clothes and your schoolbooks. Then, I’ll take you back to my place, where you’ll be safe.”

“Thank you, Detective.”

“Turn here, Detective.” Chris points to an overgrown path her father used when he brought lumber to the workshop.

“Okay.” Detective Hardcastle follows the path to a 10x20 storage shed.

Chris waits until Detective Hardcastle comes to a stop, before getting out. She walks to the storage shed and takes her key out and unlocks the place. She could hear Detective Hardcastle following behind her.

“Is this where you are living?” Detective Hardcastle looks at the place as he walks into the place.

“Yes, my stepmother put me out here, after she caught me stealing money from my stepbrother. She figured I didn’t deserve to live in the main house.”

The place looked like it had been set up to do woodwork. There were all sorts of tools and machinery in the place.

“Was your father a woodworker?”

“It was his hobby. He loved building cabinets, furniture and restoring old antiques. He was talented at it. He talked about quitting his full-time
job, to take up making and fixing furniture full time.” Chris knew how happy her father was working with wood.

Chris goes about packing an overnight bag with what little clothes she had. She makes sure she has everything she needed for school as well. Chris takes her favorite teddy bear with her as well.

While Chris was packing her clothes and what she needed for school. Detective Hardcastle looks around the place. He noticed Chris had done some work to make the place livable. She had managed to make herself a camper-style shower.

She had a small kitchen setup, to cook some food. She had taken several milk crates to make cabinets to store canned food and such. He had to give Chris credit for making the place nice.

“I’m all done.” Chris looks towards Detective Hardcastle.

“Good. Does your stepmother ever come out here?” Detective Hardcastle walks over to help Chris with her bags.

They head back out to his vehicle and put her bags in the back seat. Once Chris was inside the car, Detective Hardcastle turns around and heads back the way they came. He spots Chris's stepmother’s car in the driveway.

“Seems your stepmother is home.”

“She won’t notice me gone.” Chris covers up a yawn.

“Maybe.” Hardcastle’s gut was telling him other wised.

Tik Tok’s Place:
Nora and Detective Hopkins show up together at a three-story brick building. The place used to be an old hardware store but was converted into a local food mart.

“Which floor is Tic Tok on?” Detective Hopkins has never been this close before.

“Third floor.” Nora notices that cameras have been added to the building.

“So, how do we get there?” Hopkins gets out of the car.

“Why, through the front door.” An evil smile appears on Nora’s face.

The two of them walk towards the front of the store. Nora gets some strange looks, because of the way she is dressed. Her black skintight bodysuit and gun holster stick out.

They walk through the front door towards the back of the place. People move out of their way until they come to an elevator. Standing on either side of the elevator entrance were two Latino males.

“Move or I’ll put you two in the hospital.” Nora looks at the two men.

The two men look at each other and open the elevator door. One sweeps his hand forward when the door opens.

“I guess he wants us to come up and see him.” Hopkins starts walking towards the elevator.

Nora follows behind him. She stands next to detective Hopkins as the elevator door closes.

“So far, so good.” Nora had a smile on her face.

“Maybe.” Hopkins was wondering why no one was stopping them.

After a few seconds, the elevator stops, and the door opens. Standing on the other side was a huge Latino guy.

“Give me your weapons.” He had his gun pointed at the two of them.

“I don’t think so.” Nora moves fast and strikes the guy directly on his chest, palm first.

Mateo goes flying backward from the palm strike to his chest. He didn’t expect the Spanish-looking woman to be so damn fast. Another guy moves towards Nora, but Hopkins intercepts him and knocks him out.

Nora pulls her gun with her uninjured arm and points it at the first guy. She looks at him “now where is Tik Tok?”

“I’m over here.” Tic Tok looks at Nora Midnight and the man with her.

“Good, because you know why I am here then?” Nora doesn’t put her gun away.

“I know and I’ll tell you what you want to know.” Tic Tok looks at Nora and knows if she wanted to, she could kill all his men.

Ionita Brothers Residence:
Ted watches the address he had been given to him by Nika’s friend. He was going to punish the brothers first and then go to see the person who hired his niece. Afterward, he was going to have a talk with his niece and try to get her to stop stealing cars. She was a good mechanic and she shouldn’t be wasting her life and skills, doing something so illegal.

He takes a sip of his coffee and watches the monitor. The high-power camera he had aimed at the address recorded everything. He glances at his watch as he sat away down from the address. He was going to make these brothers pay for hurting his niece. He wasn’t going to kill them, but he was going to make them wish he had killed them.

After a few hours of waiting, he spots two similar cars pull into a garage. A few minutes after that, two men come walking out with some women carrying cubes of beer. A sly smile appears on Ted’s face as he watches them walk into the house.

He waits till it starts getting dark before he stealthily moves towards the house. He peeks in and notices that the brothers were treating the women roughly. One brother was holding the head of one woman against the groin area of the other brother. It looked like the woman was having a hard time breathing.

The other woman that had enter the house was hanging by her breasts on her tiptoes in the middle of the room. As Ted continued to watch, her body would shake every few minutes. He could tell the woman was in pain each time she was shocked. All he could see from his vantage point were wires going to her crotch area.

When he turned his attention back to the other woman. He noticed she was being held by her long black hair by one of the brothers who held her head. He starts raping her and when he was done with her. His brother would take over.

“Well, that changes things.” Ted was going to be easy on them to a certain degree, but after seeing what he just saw. All gloves were off.

He waits until they pass out from drinking too much. The woman that was hanging in the middle of the room, they had fun with as well. After both of them had used her body. One brother plugged both her holes with butt plugs. They moved the wires attached to her groin area to the butt plug he put in her anal opening.

After the brothers pass out from drinking the two cubes and several bottles of Jack Daniels. Ted breaks into the house and checks the women first. The woman that had been raped by both brothers was going to need medical attention. The other woman he noticed had black and blue marks all over her body. It looked like she had been whipped by a cane or something.

He noticed that the wires connected to the butt plug were connected to a shock box. There was a timer on that could be set to deliver a shock. He disconnects the wires, after turning the shock box off.

He finds some rope and ties both brother's hands behind their backs. He finds the keys to their car and carries them out to their car and dumps both bodies in the trunks. He noticed they put a kill switch in their car, to keep it from being stolen again.

Ted knew if he could spot it, his niece could as well. He starts the car up and heads to a location he had already scouted and set up to teach these men a lesson.

Melody and Carol, Mall:
“I can’t believe mom got shot.” Carol looks at Melody as they walked from one store to another.

“Mom does seem to m-m-make enemies real e-e-easily.” Melody has been working on her speech.

She still stutters, but she has been seeing a speech specialist to overcome it. She knew Kelly and Nora were very proud of her.

“Only when someone is dumb enough to come after her or us. I would hate to see when mom is pissed.”

“I wonder how momma Nora became so dangerous?” Melody knew her mom was a former DSS agent, but she has proven to be more than that.

“Aunt Cheshire trained her.” Carol liked Cheshire and her cousin Tizzy.

They haven’t met Cheshire’s newest children yet. They continue to shop and enjoy the day. Carol has been dressing more and more like
Melody because she liked her big breasts. She was trying a new estrogen pill that would increase her breasts.

“Let’s go over to Applebee's and get some lunch?” Carol figured they could enjoy a nice meal.

“Okay.” Melody didn’t mind. Applebee’s was just across the street from the outside mall.

As they are crossing the huge parking lot. A black van starts coming towards them.

“We better move it, Melody.” Carol grabs Melody and starts running towards the edge of the parking lot.

Ping and Wong have been looking for the red hair girl, but they never saw her leave the house. However, they did see the blonde hair girl, along with another girl. They had watched as the two girls visited different stores. When the girls started walking across the parking lot, they figured they could grab them.

As Wong speeds up to cut the girls off. Ping opens the side door and manages to grab Melody. He tries to pull her into the van.

“Let my sister, GO!” Carol punches the guy holding Melody.

Melody grabs the guy that had her and falls backward out of the van with him. She had her fingernails dug into his arm. She lands on her back with him on top of her.

Carol pulls the taser out of her purse that Nora gave all her children to use and taught them how to use it. She uses it on a patch of exposed skin on the back of the guy's neck. Melody was getting out from under the guy.

Wong stops the van and jumps out to go and help Ping. He wraps his arms around the blonde hair girl and tries to pull her off of Ping. He manages to pull her off of Ping.

Carol felt grabbed from behind and pulled back. She raises her foot and brings it down hard on the person holding her. She elbows the person as hard as she could with her elbow.

Wong felt the wind knocked out of him, as he let go of the blonde-haired girl. His foot was hurting from her stomping on it. Then he had the wind knocked out of him, as her elbow connected with his abdomen.

“Take this, you creep!” Carol sprays the attacker in the eyes with the pepper spray she grabbed out of her purse.

The strength of the spray was a police-issued. Carol made sure to spray right in his eyes with the spray. After spraying, she hits the guy right in his throat as hard as she could.

Melody looks at the guy on the ground and stomp as hard as she could on his groin area. She was going to make sure he never got up. Her mother taught both of them to hurt their attacker as much as they could, so they couldn’t chase after them.

Several huge guys go running over to them. They had spotted the girls being attacked and started running over to them. When they get to them, they had to pull the teenage girls off their attackers.

Tik Tok’s Office:
“Hello, Tik Tok.” Nora walks into Tik Tok’s office with Detective Hopkins right behind her.

Nora had an evil smile on her face as she looked at Tik Tok. He had a bald head with several tattoos covering his head and face. A black magnum-style mustache covered the upper portion of his lips.

She knew he came from Argentina and grew up in the gangs down there. His father and uncle were important people in the Argentina government. She met them once during a conference in Germany. They both had young wives that couldn’t have been his mother.

“What do you want, Nora?” Tik Tok hated Nora Midnight and cops. He hated cops more than he hated Nora Midnight.

“Information.” Nora knew if there was a hit that has been put out, Tik Tok would know about it.

“What type of information and why did you bring the pig with you?” Tik Tok looks at Detective Hopkins as he stood next to Nora.

Nora looks at Tik Tok like a mother does when a child is being rude “you’ll be nice to Detective Hopkins, or I’ll put your favorite collar back on you.”

Tik Tok just looks at Nora and knew what collar she was talking about. The last time he lied to her and tried to play it tough. She subdued him and slapped a collar on him, which shocked him. He nearly died from her shocking him.

“What type of information do you want?”

“Who put a hit out on me and my wife?” Nora wanted answers.

“A guy named Jordan Kling. He hired a bunch of local assassins to take you out.”

“Why?” Nora wanted to know what she was targeted for.

“Why do you think? You stick your nose to matters that don’t concern you. First, your wife is handling that lawsuit against the corrupted cops and secondly, you are sticking your nose into a family matter that you shouldn’t be.”

“Are you talking about the Hamlet case?” Detective Hopkins looks at Tik Tok for an answer.

“What else would I be talking about, Detective?” Tik Tok hated cops.

“So, someone wants to kill me because I’m trying to help a student of mine? Why? What is so special about Chris?”

“Don’t know, but you’re sticking your nose into family business. A family with connections to some dangerous people.”

Detective Hopkins looks at Nora “do you know who he is talking about?”

“Yes, he’s talking about a student in my class by the name of Chris Sumner. From what I have observed about her, she’s being mistreated and being made to live out of a shed.” Nora cared about all her students.

“And someone is trying to kill you for helping a student?” Hopkins couldn’t believe that.

“Give me the names of the assassins who were dumb enough to take the contract on me and where I can find the person who hired them.”

“What’s in it for me?” Tik Tok looks at Nora.

“How about I let you continue what you are doing and stay out of your business?” Nora smiles evilly at Tik Tok.

“And you?” As Tik Tok looks at detective Hopkins.

“How about I don’t arrest you or your friends there for some of the illegal substances I spotted walking in?” Hopkins had spotted a few bricks of cocaine.

“Fine.” Tik Tok writes down the names of the assassins and where they could find Jordan Kling.

He hands the paper to Nora “I hope I don’t see you ever again.”

“Behave yourself and you’ll never see me. However, I can’t make the same promise about Detective Hopkins or the Cheshire herself.”

Tik Tok goes pale at the mention of Cheshire’s name. He knows if she or her partner ever came to Memphis. Someone was going to die.

Detective Hopkins saw Tik Tok go pale at the mention of a person named Cheshire. He wonders who the person was and why the name alone caused such a reaction.

“Is there anything you want to ask Tik Tok detective?” Nora looks at Hopkins.

“There is.”

Detective Hardcastle Resident:
Chris covers up a yawn as she gets out of the car and follows Detective Hardcastle into his place. She could tell that the place was warm and welcoming. She spotted pictures of his daughter throughout the ages. She looked like she was an active person and enjoyed sports and such.

“Detective, where is your daughter?”

“She’s attending college in another state.” Hardcastle was proud of his daughter.

She was attending college on a sports scholarship. She worked very hard to impress the recruiters. All her sacrifice and training paid off.

“You must be very proud of her.” Chris looks at Hardcastle.

“I am. Now, let’s get you situated.” Hardcastle escorts Chris to a spare bedroom.

Chris follows behind Hardcastle to the spare bedroom. When she walks into the room, she noticed that it had a nice king-size bed in it.

“Oh, I can’t wait to sleep on that.”

A smile appears on Hardcastle’s face “why don’t you put your things away and I’ll order us some dinner.”

Chris hugs Hardcastle “thank you for everything.”

Hardcastle returns the hug “you’re welcome.”

Nora and Detective Hopkins were walking out of Tik Tok’s place when her cellphone starts playing the ring tone assigned to Kelly. Nora pulls the cellphone out of her pouch and answers it.

“What’s wrong, Kelly?”

“Melody and Carol were almost kidnapped this morning.” Kelly was down at the police station with the girls.

“Are the girls alright?” Nora was worried about her girls.

“They are fine. They did you proud and you should see what they did to the kidnappers.” Kelly saw the two men that tried to kidnap her girls.

They were all beaten up and red face from Carol using the pepper spray. She used the whole bottle on the kidnappers.

“What did the kidnappers look like?” Nora wonders if it were the same ones that shoot her.

“Asian and dressed in black leather and were traveling in a van. Officer Hayden down here at the Fifteenth Precinct is handling the case.” Kelly was watching Officer Hayden as he talked with the girls.

“Alright, tell the girls I’ll be home soon and that I love them and you.” Nora was pissed that the assassins went after her girls.

“I will. You be careful and I love you too.” Kelly ends the call.

Detective Hopkins saw how pissed Nora got from talking with her wife. He waits until she is done talking before asking what was wrong.

“What’s wrong, Nora?”

“The assassins that went after me, tried to kidnapped my girls.” Nora was ready to kill someone.

“Are your girls okay?” Detective Hopkins could see that Nora was upset.

“Yes, they beat the assassins up. Still, you don’t go after another person’s family.”

“Not everyone follows your code, Nora.”

“I know, but a message needs to be sent to Jordan Kling. I want the fear of god to be put into him.” Nora knew she could call Cheshire or Jack, but she had someone else in mind.

“Well, you aren’t in any shape to deliver that type of message, Nora.” Detective Hopkins knew Nora wasn’t in any shape to be her normal vicious self.

“No, but I know who can.” Nora pulls her cellphone out again and sends a text message to Sasha.

“Nora, you know you can’t take the law into your hands.” Detective Hopkins spots Alex parked down the street from Tik Tok’s place.

Nora just looks at her friend “I won’t allow him to threaten my family. Me, yes. I accept that fact. However, you go after my family, that is declaring war with me. I won’t allow anyone to do that.”

“I understand that. Who did you just text?”

“It’s better that you don’t know.” Nora didn’t think Sasha wanted it to be known about what she does.

“I hope this person isn’t this Cheshire person that you mention.” Detective Hopkins had a feeling he didn’t want to meet this person.

“Detective, if I called Cheshire or even her partner, you wouldn’t know it. They are people that don’t leave evidence that they were ever in town.” Nora knew Jack and Cheshire would come in and do what is necessary and leave.

“How do you know people like that?” Detective Hopkins knew Nora was a former DSS agent, how does she know the underworld so well.

“Because one of them trained me. I was more than your standard DSS agent.” Nora has never told her friend about what she did.

“Oh! That answers a lot of my unspoken, questions.”

“Wait here, I see someone I know.” Detective Hopkins walks down the street towards Alex’s vehicle.

Alex has been quietly watching the vehicle that Detective Hopkins and his friend came in. She didn’t know who the other person was, but she looked dangerous. She glances at her dash clock to see what time it was and timed them.

Several people came and went while Detective Hopkins and his friend were inside. No one approached Detective Hopkins's car while they were gone. No one noticed her either. That was her major concern while waiting for Detective Hopkins to come out.

When Detective Hopkins came out of the building, they went in. Something didn’t seem right. The woman had her cellphone out and was talking to someone. She noticed her facial expression changed several times.

She noticed that Detective Hopkins had spotted her. She continued to watch him and his friend. After a few minutes, he started walking towards her location. When he got close to her vehicle, she rolls the window down.

“What can I do for you, Detective?”

“How did things go while we were inside?”

“No one approached your vehicle, Detective. I do have a question for you. Who’s the Spanish-looking lady dressed in the skintight jumpsuit?”
Alex was still watching the woman.

“A very dangerous friend of mine. She knows Tik Tok very well.”

“Well, if she is so dangerous. Why did you need me here?” Alex wanted an answer to that question.

“Because she’s been injured.”

Alex noticed she was watching them. She also was texting someone from the look of it.

“So, does this mean we are even?” Alex wanted to make sure.

“Let’s just say, you are close. Any job after this, I’ll pay you half your rate.”

“You don’t play fair, Detective.” Alex hated being in debt to Detective Hopkins.

“I know.” Detective Hopkins turns around and walks back to his vehicle.

Detective Hardcastle’s Residence:
Chris stretches as she slowly wakes up. The alarm on her prepaid cellphone had gone off, even though today was a no-school day. She stares up at the ceiling and slowly recalls everything that happened yesterday at work.

Most robberies she has heard about, the robber only wanted the money in the cash register and anything else they took off the shelves.
However, the guy that robbed the store she worked at, tried to kill her. She shivers just from thinking about it. If that wasn’t bad enough,

Detective Hardcastle had seen the bruises on her body where her stepbrother and his friends had abused her.

Hardcastle had asked her to tell him everything that happened that day. He also had taken pictures of her body as evidence with her
permission. After she had soaked for a while, he helped her make the bed in the room she was currently in.

Chris gets out of bed and slips on her slippers and robe. She heads to the bathroom first to take care of her morning business. Afterward, she heads towards the kitchen and notices Detective Hardcastle was cooking breakfast.

The smell of hickory-smoked bacon was drifting in the air. She noticed a mixing bowl full of batter was sitting on the counter next to the stove. There was also a bowl of cinnamon caramel apple slices sitting in a clear bowl and a clear bowl of freshly cut strawberries.

Hardcastle notices Chris as she walks into the kitchen. He had just gotten done mixing the batter for his famous pancakes.

“Morning, Chris. I hope you slept well last night?” He had checked on Chris, before turning in himself.

“I was in dreamland last night. What are you about to make?” Chris was curious what the batter was for.

“My famous pancakes. How many would you like?”

“If it's no problem, how about six?” Chris loved pancakes. She used to make them all the time with her father before he died.

“Six it is then.” Hardcastle ladles six pancakes onto the hot buttered griddle on the stove.

While the pancakes sizzled, he takes the cookie tray of bacon out of the oven and set it on a hot plate. He scoops the bacon off the cookie tray and lays them on a plate.

“Do you like apples or strawberries on your pancakes?” Hardcastle turns to look at Chris.

“Apples pleases.” Chris had pulled a stool out and sat down at the counter to watch Hardcastle cook.

“Apples, it is then.” Hardcastle scoops up some caramel apple slices and through them on the griddle to reheat.

He flips the pancakes into the air and catches them. He used to do that trick all the time for his little girl when he made breakfast for her. When the pancakes were ready, he scoops them up and lays them on a plate. He then tops them off with the caramel apple slices. He adds a couple of strips of bacon to the plate.

“Here you go, Chris.” He hands the plate to her. Along with some silverware as well.

Chris accepts the plate “thank you.”

Chris cuts into the stack of pancakes and takes a bite. It tasted so good as she ate it.

“Your daughter must have been one of the luckiest girls around.” As she stuffs another bite into her mouth.

“She was more of an omelet person.” A smile appears on Hardcastle’s weathered face.

“Well, I love pancakes, and these are the best I have ever had.” Chris picks up a strip of bacon and folds it into the pieces of pancake.

“So, tell me, Chris. Why do your stepbrother and mother hate you so much?” Hardcastle was curious about that.

“My brother that’s easy. He’s a spoiled brat. His mother always doted on him when he was growing up. As for me, I think it's because I remind her so much of my father. I have a lot of his looks and traits. When he died, she inherited the house along with whatever money there was in the bank account. The problem is, she doesn’t have access to the account my mother left me.”

“Your birth, mother?” Hardcastle stacks some pancakes on his plate.

“Yes sir. I can’t access it until I turn twenty-one years of age. My mother’s side of the family is filthy rich. My birth mother inherited a lot of money from her father and gave half of it to my father. She set up a college fund for me and a trust fund as well. When she died of cancer, whatever money she had left in her account, I inherited.”

“What was your mother’s maiden name?”

“Moroun, I think. Mary Ann Moroun. My grandfather was very strict with her, but he loved all his grandkids.”

“What happens to you, if you should up and die or disappear?” Hardcastle was starting to see why Chris was treated the way she was.

“I don’t know. I would guess it would go to my stepmother or any children I may have at the time.” Chris has never been informed by the family lawyer about what happens to the money, should something happen to her.

“Does your stepbrother get any of the money?” Hardcastle takes a bite of his pancakes.

“Nope! He only gets whatever his mother gives him. Which is normally the child support she gets from his father.” Chris knew her stepmother still got child support for her brother.

Her stepmother didn’t get alimony anymore because she got married. Since her father never adopted her stepbrother as his child, his mother still got child support.

“Interesting.”

Somewhere on The Mississippi River:
Jordan Kling slowly wakes up and finds himself naked and hanging from a crane over a body of water. It was nighttime and there was no moon out.

“Well, it's about time you woke up.” Keith looks at Jordan Kling as he hung over the Mississippi River.

“Who the fuck are you and why I’m naked and hanging here?” The last thing Jordan remembered, was walking to his car and after that nothing.

“Well, to answer your question, Mr. Kling. You went after a certain person’s family and tried to kidnap her daughters.”

“So, you’re working for that bitch, Nora Midnight?” Jordan looks at the well-built muscular, tall guy with dirty blonde hair.

The rope that was holding Jordan loosens and he drops some towards the water. His feet were inches away from the surface.

“I would be careful with what you say, or I might loosen my grip.” An evil smile appears on Keith’s face.

“I’ll double whatever she is paying you.” Jordan didn’t know who this man was, but he didn’t want to die.

“That’s a tempting offer, but unfortunately, it goes against my code. Also, you don’t have enough money to pay me off for what you attempted.” Keith loosens his grip and lets Jordan drop into the river.

After a few minutes, Keith pulls Jordan out of the river. He lets him hang about two feet above the surface.

“Now, you’re going to tell me everything you know and why you tried to kill Mrs. Midnight and one of her students. If I don’t like what you say, I’ll let you drop into the river, until your dead.”

“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything?” Jordan didn’t think the man before him was serious.

“Because you value your life and I’m betting you won’t disappoint me.” Keith lets go of the rope one more time.

Keith watches as Jordan squirms around in the water. He looks at his watch and after a few minutes, he hauls him up out of the water.

“Start talking or you’re going for another dip.” Keith makes sure he has the recorder on. This way he can give the information to Mrs. Midnight and let her decide what to do with it.

Warehouse:
The Ionita brothers wake up and find themselves stripped naked. Lucas finds himself bound to a wooden sawhorse, sitting on top of the angle of it. His hands were bound behind his back and the metal angle was cutting into his ass and scrotum. Standing across from him was his brother Owen, and he had a noose around his neck standing on two wooden crates.

“Hello, boys. I hope you are enjoying your accommodations.” Ted looks at both men.

“You made a mistake going after my cousin, Nika. You also broke the rules when you tried to murder her. So, I’m going to make you pay for trying to kill her. Since you like to inflict pain on women. I have arranged for you to experience what it is like for you to experience the pain.
First, Mr. Lucas. You are going to be slowly shocked to death. The electrical current is going to be administered to a device hooked up to that metal plate you’re sitting on. The device is hooked up to a timer. The timer is set for five minutes intervals. So, every five minutes, an electrical charge is going to travel into your body. Each time, the charge will get more intense. It will raise in power level until you are dead. As for your brother here.” Ted turns to face Owen.

“You are going to experience the same thing. Except, you are going to try and keep yourself from falling off the crates. If you fall off, well you die. Simple as that. So, let the fun begin.” Ted presses a remote to start everything.

Nora’s House:
Keith pulls up in front of an old house in downtown Memphis. The house looks like it dated back to the early 1900's. The address his cousin Sasha had given him matched the address on the mail post. He looks at the house and couldn’t believe it was one of the historic houses on the street.

According to the information he had looked up, there were three more historic homes on this street. He gets out of his rental and walks up the beautifully decorated walkway towards the front door. The house itself looked nice. It was single story style design and had a lot of large windows and a two-car garage.

He walks up to the front door and rings the doorbell. He notices Nora had one of those Ring camera units mounted on the outside. As he waits for her to answer the door, he hopes the information he got from Jordan Kling helps her.

Tiffany was walking by the front door with a basket full of dirty laundry when she hears the doorbell ring. She puts the basket down and checks the monitor near the door. There was a tall well-built man with short dirty blonde hair. She didn’t recognize the person.

She slowly opens the front door “can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m here to speak with Mrs. Nora Midnight. Is she around?” Keith looks at the dark hair teenage girl who had opened the front door.

“Yes, my I ask who you are?” Tiffany didn’t know who this guy was.

“I’m Keith Wolfhart and I’m Sasha Wolfhart’s cousin. She asked me to do a favor for your mother.”

“Hold on, let me get my mother.” Tiffany closes the front door and heads towards her mother’s bedroom.

The door to her mother’s bedroom was closed, so Tiffany knocks on it.

“Enter!” Nora was getting dressed with Kelly’s help when she heard the knocking on their bedroom door.

Tiffany walks into her mother’s bedroom and notices Kelly helping Nora putting her bra on. Nora already a pair of faded blue jeans on “sorry for bothering you mom, but there’s a Keith Wolfhart at the front door that wants to talk with you.”

Nora and Kelly look at Tiffany as she entered. Kelly was helping her get dress since her shoulder was still injured.

“Did he say what he wanted to talk to me about, Tiffany?” Nora looks at Tiffany as she stood nearby.

“No ma’am, but he did say he was related to a Sasha Wolfhart. Does that mean anything to you?”

“Isn’t she the one that helped you stop who was going after Carol?” Kelly looks at Nora for an answer.

“Yes, she was. I called her to see if she could find Jordan Kling and make him talk.” Nora would have done it.

“Well, maybe this person has some info for you, sweetie.” Kelly wonders who the guy was as well.

“Go ahead and invite him in, Tiffany. Take him to my office and I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

“Okay, mom.” Tiffany turns around and leaves her mother’s bedroom.

She walks back to the front door and opens it. She looks at Mr. Wolfhart “if you’ll follow me, Mr. Wolfhart.”

“Please, just call me Keith.” Keith walks into the house.

“Okay, Keith.” Tiffany closes the front door behind him.

She leads Keith towards her mother’s home office. It wasn’t often that Tiffany went into her mother’s office.

“If you’ll wait in here, Mr. Wolfhart.” Tiffany steps aside to let Keith into the office.

Keith walks into the office and notices that it was a home office. There were pictures mounted up on the wall of some Spanish looking woman, mingling with foreign people. There were pictures of kids as well, plus certificates and awards. He walks over and sits down in a nice leather chair.

Keith was impressed by the awards and other pictures he saw in the office. There were several bookcases in the room filled with all sorts of books. On one shelf was nothing but law books and such on it.

After a few minutes, a Hispanic-looking woman dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans, a light blue blouse, and wearing a pair of the new slip-on sneakers come walking into the office. Her dark black hair came down to her shoulder.

Nora spots a well-built gentleman with dirty blonde hair, dark tanned skin, and dressed semi-casual sitting in the chair in front of her desk. She walks up to him and holds her good hand out “hi, I’m Nora Midnight. My daughter told me you were related to Sasha Wolfhart?”

Keith shakes Nora’s hand “Keith Wolfhart and she’s my cousin on her father’s side.”

Keith notices Nora had a nice grip for a lady. She also had a nice figure as well. He could tell she was a little older than he was.

“So, Mr. Wolfhart. What brings you to my house this morning?” Nora walks around the desk and sits down in her chair across from him.

“Well, to tell you my cousin is sorry she couldn’t personally handle what you called her about. She was busy with a performance in Los Vegas
and couldn’t leave. So, she called me since I was working nearby.”

“Do you do the same type of work as Sasha?” Nora was curious.

“Let’s just say, it’s a family business type of thing. Normally, I’m out at sea on my scallop boat.”

“So, you’re the captain of a scallop boat?”

“Not only the captain but the owner as well. I did this job as a favor to her.”

“Thank you for doing this for me. What did you find out?” Nora was curious about the information he learned.

“Well, for one thing. Mr. Kling doesn’t like you at all. He also said that you were sticking your nose into a family matter.”

“So, he sent assassins to try to kill me?”

“Yes. He also worked for the cops that are trying to stop you on whatever case your wife is working on.”

“Does he know the people involved?”

“He gave me one name. Also, you might want to remove Chris from her stepmother’s care.”

“Why’s that?” Nora wonders what danger Chris was going to be in.

“Because her stepmother has offered her up to one of the members of the motorcycle gang to become his wife.”

“WHAT? She’s underage and it's illegal.”

“Not if they cross the state line. Mississippi will allow her to get married at a young age with parent’s consent.”

“Why would Chris’s stepmother do something like that?” Nora wanted to know why Chris’s stepmother would do that to Chris.

“Because one she doesn’t like her stepdaughter. Secondly, then she can claim Chris is dead and have access to the inheritance left for Chris.” Keith couldn’t believe the scheme Chris’s stepmother and boyfriend came up with.

“Let me guess, once she gets the money, they would kill Chris off?”

“Or pimp her out to make money for the motorcycle club. Either way, she’s in danger.”

“She’s safe right now. She’s with my friend Detective Hardcastle.” Nora was glad she asked Hardcastle to look after her.

Keith watches Nora and could see she was concerned about her student.

“And you have all this?” Nora looks at Keith with a questionable look on her face.

“Oh, I have all this.” Keith reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a thumb drive. He slides it across the desk to Nora.

Nora catches the black and red thumb drive. She could tell it was one you could buy anywhere.

“What did you do with Mr. Kling?”

“He’s been turned over to a friend of mine in the US Marshal service. It seems he had a bunch of outstanding Federal warrants. So, he’s going to be serving time for a while.” Keith loved that Kling was going to go to jail for a while.

“I better call Hardcastle and tell him what is going on. Thank you for everything you did.”

“You’re welcome.” Keith stands up.

Nora stands up and esorts Keith to the front door.

Nora watches and listens to the confession Keith managed to extract from Jordan Kling. She had to admit that his way of extracting information, was a lot different than hers or his cousin. She had the evidence she needed to put Chris into protective custody. She picks the headset up from the phone on her desk and dials Detective Hardcastle’s cellphone number.

Hardcastle’s Residence:
Detective Hardcastle and Chris were outside tending to the lawn. Hardcastle had informed Chris that she didn’t need to help him with the yard work, but she wanted to help him. He watches as she walks up and down the yard mowing the grass.

He goes back to edging when he feels his cellphone vibrate in his pocket. He pulls his cellphone out of his pocket and checks who it is. He notices it was Nora’s home phone. He accepts the call.

“Hey Nora, what’s on your mind?”

Nora’s Home Office:
“I have some information about Chris’s situation and was wondering if you and her can come to my house?”

Hardcastle’s House:
“We have some yard work to finish before we come.”

Nora’s Office:
“That’s fine. I have one more person to call as well.”

Hardcastle’s Yard:
“Alright, let’s make it a lunch meeting.”

Nora’s Place:
“I’ll supply the lunch.”

Hardcastle’s Yard:
“Alright, I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Nora’s place:
Nora ends the call to Hardcastle. She dials the number to her friend at Children Protective Services. She hopes Brenda wasn’t too busy and could come to her house.

Children Protective Services:
Brenda Lacey finishes the adoption file she has been working on. There was a smile on her face as she closes the file. The couple that adopted the Jefferson children were happy and so were the kids as well.

She gets up and files away from the folder. She was happy that the Jefferson children were happy. As Brenda is walking back to her desk. Her office phone starts ringing. She picks it up “hello?”

“Brenda, it’s Nora. Do you have any lunch plans?”

“Not really, why?” Brenda has been friends with Nora since college.

“How about if you could drop by for some lunch?” Nora figures Brenda could help them with Chris’s problem.

“Lunch sounds good, but I bet there’s something else you want to talk to me about?” Brenda knew her old friend Nora pretty well.

“There is because I need some advice from you about a matter.”

“Let me guess, you want to adopt another child?” Brenda knew Nora has already adopted several children and has guardianship of another child.

“Nope, I’m good on that. It’s about one of my students and some trouble she is in with her family.”

Brenda knew there was a catch. She knew Nora too well “alright, what time do you want me there?”

“Let’s say two o’clock.” Nora figures it would give Hardcastle enough time to finish whatever yard work he was doing.

“I can do two. I’ll see you then.”

“Thanks, Brenda.” Nora ends the call and hangs the receiver back on the cradle.

She pockets the thumb drive and heads into the living room. She spots Kelly and Tiffany in the living room folding laundry.
Little Marie was sound asleep by Tiffany’s side. A smile appears on her face as she watches her wife and Tiffany “I’ve invited Detective Hardcastle and Brenda to come over for lunch. Are you two okay, with having barbeque for lunch?”

“Sounds good to me, sweetie.” Kelly looks over towards, Nora.

“Sounds good, mom.” Tiffany looks at Nora as well.

“I’m glad to hear it. So, who wants to help me on the grill?”

“I’ll help you.” Kelly stands up and smiles at Nora.

“I was hoping you would say that.”

Nora smiles at Kelly as she walks over and places a kiss on her cheek. She looks into Kelly’s eyes.

Kelly looks into Nora’s eyes “did Sasha’s friend learn anything?”

“He learned a lot. I’m going to share it with Detective Hardcastle and Brenda when they come over for lunch.”

“Are we adopting another child?” Kelly knew her wife and how much of a soft-hearted person she is.

“Nope, I’m hoping Detective Hardcastle might adopt her. He’s good with children.” Nora hopes Hardcastle might adopt Chris or become her legal guardian.

“Let’s go and get lunch ready.” Kelly takes Nora’s hand and leads her into the kitchen.

Nora’s House:
Hardcastle pulls his car up in front of Nora’s place. He notices another car was parked in front of the house as well. He looks at Chris and could tell she was a little curious as to why they were in front of her teacher’s house.

“Why are we in front of Mrs. Midnight’s place?” Chris looks at Hardcastle for an answer.

“Because she has some information, she wants to share with me about your situation.”

“Is it really bad?” Chris wonders what Mrs. Midnight found out.

“I don’t know yet. She wants to talk with us about the information.”

“I wonder what she found out.” Chris opens her car door and gets out.

“Me too, Kiddo. Me too.” Hardcastle opens his car door and gets out as well.

Hardcastle and Chris walks up the well-trimmed and manicured walk wall. Hardcastle looks at the flowers and lights that decorated the path. He wonders how long it takes Nora to maintain the yard and sidewalk. They stop at the front door and presses the doorbell.

Kelly had just walked into the house from the patio into the kitchen. When she hears the doorbell ring. She walks up to the door and looks through the peephole. A smile appears on her face when she sees who it was.

Kelly opens the front door “Detective Hardcastle, it’s so nice to see you again.”

Chris watches as the front door opens and standing on the other side of the door was a middle-aged woman with black shoulder length hair. She was wearing a nice light color tunic patchwork summer dress. She also had on minimum make-up.

“Kelly, it has been a while since I’ve seen you. Let me introduce you to Chris, here.” Hardcastle steps aside to let Chris come forward.

Kelly smiles at Chris “my wife has told me so much about you.”

Chris was surprised at Kelly saying that Mrs. Midnight was married to this woman. She had heard rumors in school that Mrs. Midnight was a lesbian, but she didn’t believe it. She knew Mrs. Midnight had two children that went to the same high school as her.

“I hope it wasn’t all bad, ma’am.” Chris was curious about what Mrs. Midnight said about her.

“It was all nice. Please come inside.” Kelly steps aside to let Chris and Detective Hardcastle enter.

Chris steps inside the house first, followed by Detective Hardcastle. They wait for Kelly to close the front door behind them.

“So, where’s Nora?” Detective Hardcastle was curious.

“She’s out back tending to the ribs. Here, let me show you to her.” Kelly escorts Chris and Detective Hardcastle towards the patio doors.

Chris looks around and saw that Mrs. Midnight had a nice place. She also saw pictures of Mrs. Midnight's children. There were pictures of Nora’s children dressed in Halloween costumes and of Kelly as well.

Hardcastle noticed Chris looking at the pictures on display of Nora’s children and wife. He knew she kept the pictures of herself in the DSS in her home office.

“Nora is all about family, Chris. There’s nothing she won’t do for her family and friends.”

“I wish I had a mother like that.” Chris felt a tear starting to slide down her cheek.

“I think things are about to change for you, Chris.” Kelly heard Chris's statement.

Kelly opens the patio door and steps outside. She saw Tiffany still in the pool with her daughter. Nora’s friend Brenda was sitting at the table enjoying a virgin Pina colada.

“Would you like something cold to drink, Detective?”

“A beer if you have any.”

“I think I can find something. How about you, Chris?” Kelly looks at Chris.

“A soda would be fine.” She noticed the teenage girl out in the pool with a baby.

“I know we have plenty of them. Just have a seat at the table and I’ll bring them to you.”

“Okay.” Hardcastle walks over to the table.

He noticed an older woman in her late forties, early fifties sitting at the table. From the way she was dressed, he figures she worked for the government. Detective Hardcastle walks over to the table “Hi, I’m Detective Hardcastle and this is Chris Winter.”

Brenda looks at the older man and teenage girl in front of her. Nora had already given her some background on Chris Winter when she arrived.

“It’s nice meeting you, detective and Mrs. Winter. I’m Brenda Doxon.” Brenda extends her hand to Detective Hardcastle to shake.

Detective Hardcastle shakes Brenda’s extended hand. After Detective Hardcastle lets go of Brenda’s hand. Chris shakes Brenda’s hand.

Nora watches as Hardcastle, Chris and Brenda interact with each other. She hopes that the information she is about to share with the three of them. Helps protect Chris and put Chris’s stepmother and brother in jail.

“Tiffany, lunch is ready.” Nora looks over towards Tiffany in the pool.

“Okay, mom.” Tiffany gets out of the pool, along with little Marie, and heads towards Nora.

Kelly takes the drinks for Hardcastle and Chris to them. She grabbed an extra one for Tiffany “Tiffany, I have a drink for you.”

“Thanks, momma Kelly.” Tiffany accepts the soda.

Nora walks over to the table with the side items on it with a serving tray loaded with ribs and barbeque chicken. She looks at her friends and daughter “I hope you guys are hungry because I have a lot here.”

“I think we can help make some of that disappear.” Hardcastle could smell the ribs.

“Well, come and serve yourself. We have Amish potato salad, homemade macaroni and cheese, baked beans, Southern string beans, and chef salad as well.”

“You didn’t need to make all of this food.” Brenda looks at Nora.

“She didn’t, I did.” Kelly had a smirk on her face.

“I helped as well.” Tiffany walks over with a plate.

“Yes, you did sweetie and I appreciate it.” Nora looks at Tiffany with a proud look on her face.

Chris knew Mrs. Midnight was a nice person and just watching her with her daughter. She wishes her stepmother was like Mrs. Midnight. She walks over to the table with the food to hide how she felt.

Tiffany looks at Chris and could tell she was upset. She knew a little bit of what was going on, but not everything. She puts her hand on Chris’s “everything will get better.”

Chris looks at Tiffany “thanks.”

Once everyone has gotten their food and was sitting around the picnic table. Nora looks at everyone “I have some information I need to share with you. Chris, this is going to be hard for you to hear.”

Chris wonders what Mrs. Midnight has uncovered. She watches as Nora pulls out a slim black Chromebook. She brings the file up and plays it for Brenda and Detective Hardcastle.

Nora’s House:
“I think the meeting went fine, yesterday.” Kelly changes the bandages covering Nora’s wound.

“I’m just hoping judge Jay will approve the paperwork.” Nora was concerned if he would approve for Detective Hardcastle to have custody of Chris.

There was enough evidence to warrant the removal of Chris from her stepmother’s care. Judge Jay has approved every custody paperwork she has asked him for. Including the guardianship of Tiffany and her baby.

“He likes you and we’re talking about Detective Hardcastle here. The man is a boy scout and has a daughter. I think Judge Jay will approve the paperwork.” Kelly applies the dressing to Nora’s wound.

“I’m just glad that Hardcastle is willing to take Chris in. I don’t think we have any more room here at our new house.” Kelly remembers their last house. The one Nora bought way back when she was in the DSS.

She loved old historic houses. That’s why she bought the one they were currently living in because they needed more room with all the children they have been adopting lately. If they adopted Chris, she would have to share a bedroom with Tiffany and little Maria.

“Maybe we shouldn’t adopt any more children.” Nora turns to look at Kelly.

“You would never stop doing that, Nora. You have a big heart, and you don’t like seeing children hurt.” Kelly knew her wife too well.

“You’re right.” Nora stands up so Kelly could help her with her blouse.

“I do have another question, for you sweetie. What are we going to do about Carol and Melody?” Kelly has been keeping an eye on them.

“What do you mean?” Nora was curious.

“Carol’s been doing some research online and she wants to have a body like Melody.” Kelly has been monitoring their children’s computer activity.

“I’ll talk with her and ask her why she wants Melody’s body shape.”

“Thank you.” Kelly places a kiss on Nora’s cheek.

Hardcastle’s Residence:
Hardcastle checks in on Chris and finds her still asleep. Yesterday, when they got back from Nora’s place. Chris broke down and cried herself to sleep after learning what her stepmother had planned for her.

He quietly shuts her bedroom door and walks outside to call his daughter. He hopes she doesn’t mind having a younger sister. He and his wife had wanted another child, but a perp he was investigating came after his wife.

After Hardcastle talks with his daughter for a while. He heads back inside the house and waits for Chris to wake up. While he is waiting, he pulls some meat out of the freezer to defrost. He was thinking about cooking on the grill later in the evening.

His daughter was doing good at college, and she was supportive about him adopting Chris. She said she wouldn’t mind having a little sister either. That had pleased him to no end.

Hardcastle goes outside and starts preparing a new flower bed. He had planned on decorating the yard, the way his wife would have done it. He plays some music from his cellphone through the outdoor blue tooth speakers.

Two hours later, Chris finally wakes up. She goes to the bathroom and splashes some water on her eyes. After all the crying she did last night, she still felt tired.

Chris heads towards the kitchen and fixes herself something to eat. While she is cooking herself something to eat, she hears music coming in from outside. She looks out through the kitchen window and spots Hardcastle working on the new flower bed. A smile appears on her face as she watches him.

Chris takes her lunch outside and eats at the table. She watches as Hardcastle glances over his shoulder and looks at her.

“Afternoon, sleepyhead.”

“Having fun?” Chris takes a bite of her sandwich.

“Yes.”

The rest of the day Chris and Hardcastle spend outside. Chris enjoys working with Hardcastle. She helps him with dinner, and they talk for a while.

Judge Jay’s Courtroom, One week later:
Judge Jay looks out at Detective Hardcastle and Chris Winter’s parents. He also spotted Brenda Lacey and Nora Midnight as well. He had looked at the report that had been filed and listen to the recording.

He wanted to speak to the agent that recorded the information. He looks towards Nora “Mrs. Midnight, have you heard back from your friend that retrieved the information?”

Nora looks at Judge Jay “no sir, I haven’t.”

Just as Nora says those words, the courtroom doors open. A rather attractive blonde-haired woman wearing an expensive dark blue business suit walks into the courtroom.

“Sorry for being late your honor.” She spots Nora and walks over to her.

“And who are you, Mrs.?” Judge Jay looks at the woman.

“I’m Sabrina Blake, your honor. And I’m representing Keith Wolfhart.” Sabrina looks at Judge Jay as he sat up at the bench.

“And why are you representing Mr. Wolfhart, Mrs. Blake?” Judge Jay was curious.

“Well, your honor. Mr. Wolfhart is unable to be here today because of a case he is working on. He informed me, of what occurred. If you have any questions that need clearing up, I will do my best to answer them.”

Nora wonders who Mrs. Blake was, besides a lawyer. She could contact Sasha and ask, but she’ll do that afterward. She glances over towards Chris’s parents. The stepmother didn’t look happy.

Judge Jay listens to the arguments from Mrs. Winters. She tried to paint Chris as a disturbed child and as a thief and such. The judge wasn’t buying it.

By the time the court hearing was over, Hardcastle ended up getting custody of Chris. Her stepmother and stepbrother are arrested. As for her stepmother’s associates, arrest warrants are issued for them.

Sabrina meets with Hardcastle and Chris after court. She looks at them with a pleasant smile on her face “if you ever need anything or legal representation, feel free to contact me.” She hands Hardcastle a business card.

“Thank you.” Hardcastle accepts it.

Chris looks at Sabrina “are you a friend of Mrs. Midnight?”

“You could say that. I’m an associate of Mrs. Midnight’s friend, Sasha Wolfhart.”

“Thee, Sasha Wolfhart? The guitar player from Wildfire?” Chris has heard of her and has some of her music.

“Yes, the rock star. She’s my cousin” Sabrina loved when people hear her cousin's name.

“And she’s your cousin?”

“Yes. So, just let her or me know if you ever need anything.”

“Thank you.”

Sabrina walks towards her car.

Hardcastle looks at Chris “at least you don’t have to worry about your safety anymore.”

Chris hugs Hardcastle.

Hardcastle returns the hug. He looks down at her “let’s go home.”