Page 3 of Bastain

“It is, but I want to go home.” He put out his arm to escort her out. “Your brothers are here. They’ll take me. What I want you to do is to chaperone this group so that they can have a good time. The others here are going to be arrested, too, for letting a kid, Nathan, rule them. They knew that he was selling drugs on the school property, too.”

He stayed and danced again with Shelby. She was actually older than eighteen, and while that didn’t make it right, he enjoyed her company. After all the arrests were made, he helped with the party and watched over the kids. There had been seven arrests in the gym that night and more to come in the morning when the mayor showed up for work. Shelby’s mom had been keeping track of all kinds of trouble that the mayor had been into.

The next morning, still a little pissed at his mom, his brothers came for breakfast. Abbott was standing at the stove cooking the eggs while Oneal and Dayton were taking the biscuits out of the oven. He grabbed one before it was put into the basket and enjoyed it while the other two, Callen and Zavier, were setting the table. All he had to do was show up, and he thought that was just fine. His mom looked at him when he handed her half of the one he’d taken.

“Thank you, son.” She asked him if he’d had a good time last night. After telling her that he had, he sat down at the table and poured himself a large glass of orange juice. The others did the same when the glass pitcher was sent around the table. Mom cleared her throat before speaking, and they all paid attention. “We’re going to find ourselves another house to live in today.”

“Well, we’re looking for another house. I don’t know how much luck we’ll have in finding one.” They all congratulated them. “Abbott, do you know of any houses that aren’t on the market yet that we can have a look at?”

Abbott was the local funeral director and owned the funeral home where he worked. He could tell them when someone died and if their house was going to be ready to sell faster than the local real estate broker. He didn’t gossip about the families that he served, never that, but he did know when a house was going on the market pretty fast. He said that there were two of them, and he knew for a fact that they’d be going soon.

“The family isn’t happy about the will, so the house will be sold so that they can get their fair share of their mother’s estate. Whatever that means to them.” He asked if it was the Manchester home. “That’s it. The elderly Ms. Manchester died about a month ago, and it’s taken them this long to get the will read. I guess they had trouble finding some of the people mentioned in the will. That’s what they told me when they came to pay on their bill, anyway. I guess that it’s going to sell for an ungodly amount, too, as they’re all hoping to make a million dollars apiece from the sale. It’s not going to happen. The house needs some work, but for the most part, it’s in good shape. But they’re not going to be able to sell it for four million dollars so that they can each get what they consider what their mom owes them. I would never think that you owe us anything, Mom.”

“See that you don’t.” After breakfast, they all cleaned up. Mom had her usual cup of tea while they worked around her, and she didn’t say much. Their mother wasn’t a talker, but when she said something, they all listened. He watched her as he put the last dish in the dish drainer.

He’d never realized how much older she was looking. Her hair was all white now, and he couldn’t remember when that had happened. Just as he was going to empty the sink of the water, she turned and looked at him. He blushed hotly because of what he’d been thinking.

“You’re a good boy.” He thanked his mom and told her that he was sorry. “I know what you’re thinking, son. I am getting old. I don’t really care. I’ve had a good life, and it can only get better from here. I love you six more than anything in this world.”

“And we love you too.” He finished up with the dishes and poured her more tea. She would normally only have one cup after breakfast, but today she was in a good mood and decided to have two. She talked about what had happened last night. “I figured out that it was a setup and that I was there to protect the kids, but why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because if Nathan started something, I didn’t want you to get into it with him. You couldn’t have known how old he was without me telling you.” He asked what his age had to do with him. “Because you would have figured that he was an adult and you could knock the crap out of him. They want him healthy for when he has his trial.”

“He’ll be going to federal prison, I take it.” Mom said that she thought that they were all going there. For not just the trouble that he caused on school grounds when he was there, but also for selling drugs while there. “What about the kids that were with him? They weren’t as old as him, were they?”

“They’ll more than likely get the same thing he does. He might be the ring leader in sales, but his father was the one who was getting the drugs and other paraphernalia around for him to sell. It’s been going on for some time, too. I guess since he graduated from high school.” Bastain asked how no one noticed that he was still hanging around. “They all knew he was there and not supposed to be. He’d been told by the police to move on, too, but he never did. He and his dad figured that since he was mayor, he could pretty much do as he wanted, and he got away with it. I only happened on it when I was talking to Shelby’s mom about what was going on at the offices.”

“Who’s going to be mayor now?” It was a good question, and he was glad that his brother Oneal had asked. “I mean, I guess it wouldn’t take anyone very long to fill his shoes. He never did all that much around here anyway, but took from the vendors when he was in town.”

“The Feds had been working on the things going on around here with Sally, Shelby’s mom, for the last several months. They hoped that Nathan would be at the party so that he could be arrested first. Then the next day, they were going to get Carl Howard at his home. I don’t know why they did it that way, but I’m sure that they had their reasons. Things will be better now that things are taken care of, and there will be no more drugs sold at the school. I think that was the biggest thing they were looking to get stopped. It just so happened that they were going to be able to get the mayor while they were at it as an extra bonus. He’s getting in trouble for not just supplying drugs to his son, but also corruption at his office and money laundering. I heard also there was voter fraud going on, but that was just something I heard, and I don’t know for sure.”

“Our mom was in on a huge federal case, and she didn’t tell any of us.” Callen kissed Mom on the cheek before continuing. “I’m proud of you, Mom. What’s your next big case? Are you going to be taking on the mob now, too?”

They teased her for the rest of the morning. And when it was time for them to leave, they all decided to go as well. The seven of them could surely find themselves a house. Most of them lived in a condo as it was. It was time they became homeowners.

He’d been one until he got divorced. But they had to sell the house in order for her to get her share. He didn’t owe her anything as she had signed a prenup, but she’d be able to leave town and never return if he sold the house and gave her half of the sale. He couldn’t have lived in the house anyway. Too many bad memories there for him to enjoy his freedom. Besides, he loved living with his mom.

Chapter 2

“State your full name for the records.” Trin told the man her full name and waited for his next set of instructions. This was her third time being in the welfare office, and she didn’t like it any more than she did the first time. It was long hours and waiting on things that just seemed to be out of place with everything else. She decided that she was going to give them what they wanted and not have opinions on what she thought about their way of doing things.

“Ms. Trinity Layton, what is your relationship with Mrs. Doris Layton?” She thought that was obvious, but told him that she was her mother. “And why are you here instead of Mrs. Layton?”

“She died seven months ago. I’ve been trying to get her Social Security checks to stop coming along with her monthly food card.” He said that they shouldn’t be coming to her if she was indeed dead. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you guys. That her check, along with her food card, is still coming to the address that you have on file. I have a copy of her death certificate here, as well as the funeral home bills. There is also a copy of her opening and closing costs at the cemetery where she is buried.”

“I’ll have to look into this. We don’t usually make mistakes when it comes to having checks coming to the deceased.” She thought that it happened more often than not, but didn’t say anything. She just wanted it to stop before someone thought that she was cashing them. Trin was also happy that her mom never got around to having direct deposit, so that the checks would be hitting the bank. Handing him what she had, he looked at each check like he was looking at some kind of divine clue that was going to tell him the meaning of life. “There are eight checks here. You said she died seven months ago.” Mentally rolling her eyes at the man, she smiled at him.

“The last one there is for this month. Last month I was here, and they assured me that she’d get no more checks. That was told to me the month before that and the one before that. She keeps getting these checks and the food card every month like clockwork.” He said they prided themselves on getting checks out on time. “But you see, she is deceased and cannot cash them. Nor will I. I want you to do something there that will stop them from coming.”

He got onto his computer and started punching keys. She knew just how he felt. She was getting frustrated with the whole thing herself. But she couldn’t just let it go. It would be fraud for her if she were to keep getting them. When he seemed to finish whatever he was doing, he looked at her.

“It says here that you have been coming in here for the past several months because you’re getting checks for a Doris Layton and you shouldn’t be.” She told him that was right. “We don’t make mistakes like that, Ms. Layton. I’m going to have to take this up with my supervisor.”

“That’s just what the other woman did.” He stood up and left her sitting there with his over stacked desk and her paperwork that she’d brought in again. She figured that he’d be gone about twenty minutes, they’d tell her things were taken care of, and that she’d get no more checks. Well, until the next month came around. Her cell phone rang, and she cursed under her breath because it was her aunt, Tilly. “I’m at the Social Security office right now. They’re working on it.”

“I don’t know why you’re bothering. It’s only about six thousand a month. Just pocket it and be done with it. I would.” She would too and then blame the system for her doing just that if she were caught. “Why don’t you cash one of those checks and give me the money? Or just give me the checks, and I’ll pay my bills with them? I could use a windfall about now.”

“It’s against the law to cash government checks when they’re made out to someone else. Besides, you’d have to have identification to cash them, and the last time I looked, you didn’t have anything with mom’s name on it.” She told her that she’d be surprised at what she could do. “I don’t want to know. You just keep away from the checks and the food card, and everything will be all right.”