CHAPTER 02

There were times when Danni wished that she really was a member of the Scoggins family. When Twon came walking into his mother's kitchen, Darcy pointed to her cheek and got a kiss, no matter how much it embarrassed her son. It was not that Danni's mother did not embarrass her, it was just that Tammy Nguyen had other ways of doing it and none of them seemed to involve family affection. That seemed to be so much the case that Tammy did not even notice the exchange and probably just wrote it off as Darcy being Darcy. What Tammy most certainly did not do was, notice her daughter's reaction. It made Danni want to sigh but, she kept up her smile.

Darcy proceeded to grill her son, “you didn't bring my grand-baby? I done told you about that Twon.”

As he went to the fridge, like he still lived here, Twon blew his mother off with, “you know I am coming from work Ma. I only stopped here to pick that stuff up, anyway.”

Again, Danni longed for having some kind of normal family spat, like the friendly one that was now unfolding in the Scoggins kitchen. The last argument, that Danni had with her mother, was right before Tammy had absolutely decided that she had to come over here this evening and see Darcy. Of course, Tammy never said exactly why and, so far, Danni had not seen any real reason for it. It would only fuel another not so friendly shouting match after they left. Danni could see it now. It would come right about the time that Danni pointed out the obvious.

To avoid a future disagreement, Danni tried to poke around for one. That led to her mentioning the fact that she had a long flight tomorrow. Tammy did not take the bait but, Twon mentioned, “yeah, mom said something about you going to Princess Island? How did manage to afford that one? Good thing little man is only two. By the time he's old enough to remember the trip, I'll have saved enough to get us there.”

“Oh no,” Danni said from a seat at the small kitchen table, “that's not me. I have to, unfortunately, fly out to Valley Point tomorrow, to spend my lovely time, being bored to death in a court room. You're thinking of the Johnson's.”

Darcy raised a hand and laughed it off, “that was me. I got it all mixed up.”

Twon was confused, “court room? Up at Valley? How...”

Darcy was now dead serious and used her commanding teachers voice, “Twon, shut the fuck up.”

Twon seemed to get it. He did not say it but Danni saw it written on his face and it said, “cop stuff.” He was most definitely not happy about that and, in many ways, Danni could not blame him. There was a day when she had not carried a badge and, back then, she was pretty sure she had developed the same look, more than once. After her father had been killed, that look had just been replaced with tears when she was confronted with similar thoughts.

Maybe Twon felt that way too? Danni was not sure but, he excused himself very quickly and went down the stairs to the garage, without saying much else. Before Tammy used the pause to begin blabbering away, Darcy headed it off with, “Norm and that Jake guy, they been down there cleaning up for a while. You know that Jake guy even fixed the door. Now if I can get Norm to get all that stuff out of there, I might actually be able to park my car down there when the real rain comes.”

Now Tammy did manage, “I know I've been off world for a while but, I don't remember it raining this much. I thought this was the rainy season.”

Danni stood up quickly and blurted out, “I'm going to go help Twon.” She ran down the stairs before anyone could even respond. Danni found Twon moving things around and looking under tarps, in boxes, and was somewhat frustrated by the chore. He did acknowledge Danni, even if he did not look at her, “I'm guessing, by the way mom was acting, tomorrow has something to do with when you got shot?”

“Huh?” Danni was too busy looking at the computer on the little fold out table. There was no way in hell Norm was using that. It also looked kind of familiar and Danni decided to check the engraved plate on the back. She answered as she did, “no. This has to do with the guy that I shot.”

Twon stopped what he was doing, blinked, and then looked at the girl, “you what?”

The computer definitely belonged to the station. It had a serial number on it that started with the letters 'C' and 'G.' Danni now realized the implications when she considered what Darcy had mentioned. It most certainly did not smell right. That was why her eyes drifted to the big tarp next to the table. There were plenty of things down here covered by plastic but, this thing was most definitely some kind of display board. That was easy enough to see, because, about the only thing the tarp hid was what was on the board. Unlike the computer, that board was more Norm's style. When Danni put all this together, she mumbled quietly to herself, “what the hell have you two been doing down here?”

Twon was not as squeamish, as Danni, about removing the tarp. When he did, Danni gasped but, all Twon could say was, “one of dad's old case boards, I guess.”

Danni scanned over the information on it and she quickly realized, “not that old.” She pointed to one of the drawn on boxes and, specifically, to what was written there.

“That son of a,” Twon mumbled.

Before Danni could say anything, Norm did instead. He was sitting on the stairs, with a more than normal look of anger on his face. He was also dead serious when he told Danni, “go put a muzzle on your mother and try to control her, please.” It was not a request and Danni replied without so much as a whimper or protest. She ran off up the stairs and shut the door behind her. Norm got off his seat and went right to the board. He covered it back up and then looked his son in the eye, “go ahead and say it.”

“I don't know what I'm supposed to say,” Twon replied with an equal amount of anger. “You told mom this part of your life was over with. Does she know this is down here?”

Norm remained calm but, still angry, “what do you think son?”

“What I think is,” Twon did not do as his father and hold his emotions back. He was louder and he pulled the tarp back off the board. He pointed to the box that Danni had and he asked, “why?”

Norm hesitated. He even blinked but, he finally answered. He still remained calm and even cold, as he said, “cause it was my fault.”

“Goddamn it Dad!” Twon stomped his foot before pacing around for a moment and then he continued with, “you have been blaming yourself for that since I was in middle school. Danni got over it, why can't you?”

Norm sniffed and said quite resolutely, “that girl ain't over it, no more than I am. Don't matter, no how, Twon. This ain't about Pong. This is about her. I'm the reason she got shot. I got distracted. I tried to bullshit my way up on them guys and, I missed one little detail that almost got us both killed.”

His son did not even bother to ask what it was or, more to the point, what Norm thought it was. Twon knew it would be a pointless detail. Instead, he pointed out, “and that is exactly why Mom told you that...”

“You don't know everything Twon,” Norm said cutting him off in the same even but bitter tone. “We deliberately kept a lot from you and your sister. We were trying to protect you.”

Still frustrated, Twon asked, “does mom know everything?”

Norm did not even hesitate, “yeah she does. We agreed on that much.”

Now Twon became very accusing as he pointed to the board, “she doesn't know about that.”

Norm covered it back up and told his son, “and it's going to stay that way Twon. Just like we was trying to protect you and your sister, then, I'm trying to protect all of you now.”

Twon snorted out, “by lying to her?”

Norm still did not react, “I'm past the point of having choices son. This is bigger than what happened to Danni.”

Twon did not have to say anything. His expression, that of disbelief, was enough to say everything. He walked to the stairs and left. Norm just covered everything back up and, told himself, he was not making excuses about having to go back up and face Darcy. Even if Twon did not bother to tell her anything, Darcy would read this situation all too well. Finally, Norm realized, he could not put it off. He went back to the kitchen but, all he found was Darcy and Tammy laughing together at the kitchen table.

When Norm asked about his son, Darcy just said, “don't know. Said he got a call about little Everette and had to leave. I hope my grand-baby ain't sick again.”

“I'm sure he's fine Darcy,” Norm almost mumbled and then asked about Danni. Tammy simply pointed to the front door so Norm walked outside and found her sitting on the hood of her car. He walked up to her and she remained silent. Norm just stood there for a moment and then, finally, he asked the girl, “you don't remember much about that night, do ya girl?”

There was only one night he could be talking about and Danni did not want to even try and remember more than she already did. Instead she pointed to the garage and said, “you mind explaining all that? What the hell have you and Jake been doing? Why aren't you doing it at the station? I'm guessing Barbara doesn't know.”

Norm sounded very remorseful as he said, “right before we approached those guys on the loading dock, remember what you did?”

Danni just shrugged, “took out my gun and put on my.... oh my god.”

“Wasn't your fault girl,” Norm told her. “I should have seen it. Even better, I should have just took your ass right back to the station, right then. We should have never followed that truck. I'm going to have to...” Norm took a deep breath and then said, “I thought when I left the city that I was done with all this. I wanted to be. Darcy wanted me to be.”

Danni gulped, “I'm sorry. It's...”

“No,” Norm told her. “It ain't. If you hadn't flown off the handle Danni girl, we might have been even more blind when the real stuff started. It sure as hell has and it took all that to remind me why I do what I do.”

Danni became a bit frightened and she pointed towards the garage, “is that why?”

“Yeah,” Norm said, still upset. He'd already had a taxing day and this was not how he wanted to spend the end of it. Sometimes you didn't get what you wanted in life. This was most certainly one of those times, so, like being drug back into the game, he just dealt with the unwanted like anything else, “and that's why you going to forget you saw any of it.” Danni tried to protest but, Norm knew what she was going to say. He cut her off, “you not ready for that. Nobody at the station is ready for that. Hell, I'm not even sure I'm ready for any of that.”

Danni asked the obvious question, “what about Jake?”

Norm quickly responded, “TNO Danni. Don't ever forget that.”

She did not accept it, “I think he's a good guy.”

“He may be,” Norm said in a semi-agreeable tone, “but that don't matter. Jake's got bosses just like we do. None of them bosses are from here. None of them even are here. He's not one of us Danni. He's not family.”

Danni shook it off, “he's trying to do the right thing Norm.” Again, she gestured to the garage, “I mean he's obviously been helping you.”

“Cause it's helping him,” Norm pointed out. “Danni, there's a lot that man ain't telling us.”

Danni rolled her eyes at that, “now you sound like Barbara. She's just...”

Norm cut her off again, “she just believes that. I happen to know it.” Danni looked almost like she was going to get sick so Norm ended it right there, “now go get your goddamn mamma out of my house so I can get some sleep. Speaking of which, you need to do it too. You got a long flight tomorrow and, unless somebody didn't mention it, Amy is going to be on that bird with you.”

As Norm walked off, Danni's eyes got big and she huffed in fear, “you're kidding right? You're just trying to...” Norm never answered and all Danni could think to say about it was, “oh god, I really am sick now.”