The Color of Law_ A Novel - Mark Gimenez [94]
“You’re following my girls, you sonofabitch!”
WHACK!
“McCall sent you, didn’t he!”
WHACK!
“You come around my girls again, I swear to God I’ll fuckin’ kill you!”
WHACK!
The car in front drove off. The bald man gunned the black car and sped away and around the corner. A. Scott stood there in the middle of the Village parking lot, red-faced, breathing hard and sweating, and holding the golf club over his shoulder like an ax. He looked like an action figure. Shoppers were staring, shocked at such a commotion in Highland Park. Boo was grinning: it was great! The same saleslady was standing next to her.
“God, he’s handsome,” she said.
Boo Fenney had never been so proud of her father. She ran to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and clutched him tightly. Pajamae joined them.
“You girls okay?”
“We are now. Who was that man?”
“Delroy Lund.”
Pajamae said, “Mr. Fenney, you’re the man!”
Boo said, “A. Scott, you said the F-word.”
“Yeah.” His breathing was calming. “I’m sorry.”
The adrenaline rush had receded by the time Scott turned the Ferrari into the driveway at 4000 Beverly Drive and drove into the back motor court. The girls were doubled up in the passenger seat.
Pajamae said, “That’s why Louis walks with me and Mama. No one messes with him, not even in the projects.”
Scott cut the engine, grabbed his cell phone, and hit a number he had recently added to the speed dial. When a familiar voice answered, he said, “Louis, this is Scott Fenney. I need your help.”
He hung up and they climbed out of the car. There was still his wife. He still had to tell Rebecca the bad news. They entered the house through the back door. It was quiet.
“Rebecca?”
Boo said, “Oh, I forgot. She’s gone.”
“Gone? Gone where?”
“On a trip.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. She just said she had to leave.”
Scott took the stairs two steps at a time and ran down the hall to their bedroom. He found Rebecca’s letter on the bed, a handwritten good-bye. He had lost her home, her cars, and her chair of the Cattle Barons’ Ball. In short, he had ruined her life, she said, so they were through, just as she had promised. And since she could no longer hold her head high in Highland Park, she was leaving with the assistant golf pro at the country club. He was going on the PGA tour. She would be a golfer’s groupie.
“When is she coming back?”
Scott looked up to Boo standing in the door.
“She’s not.”
Boo was crying facedown in bed. Every girl she knew had a mother—even Pajamae! She felt Pajamae’s arms around her, hugging her tightly.
“Boo, I don’t have a daddy and now you don’t have a mama, maybe your daddy and my mama could get married. We’d be sisters.”
“Pajamae, A. Scott can’t marry your mother, she’s…”
Pajamae’s hug went soft. Boo felt her pull away. Boo wiped her face and sat up. Pajamae had a funny look on her face. Her fists were on her hips, like Mother when she got mad.
“She’s what?”
Boo shrugged. “She’s twenty-four. That’s way too young for him. He’s really old.”
Louis arrived an hour after Scott’s call. He pulled his old car around back. Scott met him in the motor court. They shook hands this time.
“Thanks for coming, Louis.”
“Ain’t no problem, Mr. Fenney. I been watching over Pajamae most of her life. Been missing her.” He looked around. “Course, you probably don’t get as much shootin’ up here.”
“Come on inside, Louis, I’ve got a bedroom for you.”
“Aw, no, sir, Mr. Fenney, I don’t feel right with that.”
Scott could tell that Louis was uncomfortable with the idea, so he didn’t press him.
“You can stay in the cabana. Consuela, our maid, lives out there, but she’s gone for a while. INS.”
“No, sir, that her place. I sleep in my car. In the garage. I can keep a better eye out back here.”
“It’s air-conditioned, there’s a full bath. I can fix up a bed for you…and I’ll bring out