. 09

Milt's body wasn't discovered until late the next morning. A homeless man looking for a place to spend the day found the body and went to get the police. The man was questioned and then released after his whereabouts for the evening before and that morning were verified.

News of the body spread like wildfire and it wasn't long before the area surrounding the crime scene was crowded with people wanting a glimpse of the body.

"Oh my god!" a woman from the crowd cried out, "That's Milton Vaughn!"

From that point, things went down hill as people pressed closer to the car trying to verify what the woman had shouted out. Two hours later, the body was gone and the car towed away. Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn had been given the news and their grieving began. By evening, it was all over the campus and the grieving there began as well.

Even Kenji, Patricia, Joel and Penny grieved when they heard the news. None of them had cared for the man but they hadn't wished him any harm either.

"Who would have done such a thing?" Penny asked shocked.

Joel and Kenji looked at each other. They knew who had done it as soon as they heard the news and it was a sobering reminder of how dangerous Andrew really was. If he killed one of his own, what else was he capable of doing?

"What do you think we should do?" Joel asked. "The police won't believe us and we have no proof."

"I know this." Kenji said softly, "but we still have to try."

"Andrew? You think that Andrew did this?" Penny asked.

Patricia didn't believe it either, "He wouldn't kill one of his own, I just don't see it."

"Kirei, his whole identity is that group. He is now aware that the others know of his weakness and that his position is going to be challenged. The only way for him to maintain his position was to remove the threat. Milt Vaughn was a threat to his position of authority so yes, I believe him capable of murder."

They sat looking at each other thinking the same thing but not saying it. If Andrew was willing and capable of killing one of his own, then he would kill one of them without batting an eye.

"Kirei, I want you to stay home from school..."

"No."

'It isn't safe..."

"I said no." Patricia said softly bur firmly. "We've waited and struggled too hard to get to this point but I want to say something, I don't think that we should call the police. What could we tell them? And they might think that you were the one who did it."

"She's right." Joel said, "And what could we tell them? We have no proof."

"We must do something." Kenji said quietly.

"Kenji, think about this." Patricia said. "We all know that you didn't do it but if the policed ask people at school, how many of them would back you? What about Andrew and his friends? If anything, they would say that you did it"

Tears filled her eyes as she envisioned Kenji being taken away from them. He put an arm around her and hugged her. He couldn't deny that she had made some valid points.

"I'll call Nick and see what he says." Kenji said after several minutes of silence.

Patricia relaxed but only slightly. She knew her husband and knew that he would do what he felt was right no matter what else happened.

"Call him." she said quietly. He would listen to Nick if he listened to anyone.

She heard him talking to Nick and then the soft click as he hung up the phone.

"He's coming over." Kenji said as he sat down. "Kirei, I want your word that you will abide by his advice."

"Only if you do." Patricia replied.

"Kirei...."

"I mean it Kenji." Patricia said, "I think that he's more likely to shoot you than me."

"I think she's right Kenji." Joel chimed in. "I can bring you any assignments and..."

"No." Kenji said firmly, "he will only come here."

"So you're going to go where you know he can find you?" Patricia asked, "I'm sorry but that's just plain stupid."

"Patricia..."

"Don't you Patricia me!" she replied pulling away from him.

"Kirei, come here." Kenji soothed as he moved closer to her. He glanced over to see that Joel and Penny had slipped away to give them privacy. When he was beside her, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "Alright Kirei, I will do as Nick suggests but we cannot stay here. Andrew knows this house."

"I don't care where we go I just don't want you hurt." she replied.

Nick was at the house fifteen minutes later with Hana in tow carrying new books for the children.

"They're in the back with Penny and Joel." Patricia said after greeting them with a hug and a kiss.

"Tell me what you know." Nick said as he sat in the chair across from them.

When Kenji was finished, he spoke.

"I agree with both of you." he said. "Kenji, I agree that Patricia needs to stay away from school but so do you. Andrew Kelley is holding you responsible for his problems and if given a chance, he'll kill you and not lose any sleep over it. I know that you're concerned about school so I've already talked with Paul; he's working on that end of it. Now, about the police, I agree that we need to do something but I'm not sure what. I agree with Patricia that if you go to them, no one will vouch for you if for no other reason than they're afraid.

"But I have to tell someone!" Kenji insisted, "If I remain silent, they will also think that I have something to hide."

"That's also true." Nick agreed. "Alright, here's what we'll do, we'll call the police and then my friend Charles at the office. We'll meet here, you'll tell them what you know and suspect. That way we'll cover two bases, federal and local. If they should show up, call me and don't say a word until I get here, if they take you to the jail, don't panic. Patricia you call me and then Will in that order. If we don't answer, keep calling and call Abby and tell her to start calling too.

Next, I want you out of this house. My house isn't an option, its being watched but I don't know by who which leaves Sally and Will's or Abby's house. My preference would be Abby's only because Lawrence Goodman doesn't know about that house."

"When do you want us to move?" Patricia asked.

"Tonight but when its time to talk to the authorities, we'll do it here." Nick replied. "I'll call Abby while you get the kids ready to go and I'll call Charles and Will too."

"Go on Kirei, I will come to help you shortly." Kenji said. He waited until she was gone to finish his conversation with Nick.

"She has been through so much and she is so frightened but tries not to show it."

"Both of you have been through a lot and you've always gotten through it." Nick said, "And you'll get through this too."

"I need to go check on Patricia." Kenji said.

"Go ahead; I need to make those phone calls." Nick replied.

Kenji found Patricia in the children's room. He could tell by the way that she held herself that she was crying but trying to hold her tears back. When she heard him at the door, he watched as she quickly wiped her face and continued packing.

"Kirei...."

"Why is it that for every step forward, we take three back?" she asked.

"Kirei..."

"All I want is for us to be left alone so that we can go to school and raise our children, am I asking for so much? And now Andrew Kelley wants to kill you...Kenji, when will this stop?"

"You aren't asking for too much." he assured her as she turned her so that she was facing him. "I am not afraid of Andrew Kelley..."

"But I am! He can take you away from us."

"Kirei, that isn't going to happen, he will be stopped before he hurts another person."

Patricia laid her forehead on Kenji's chest and prayed that he was right.

********

Andrew stayed in his room once the gun was cleaned and put away. He jumped every time the phone rang or if someone came to the door. He didn't begin to relax until early afternoon. Once the anxiety was gone, he was filled with a sense of exhilaration. He had done it! He had retaken control of his group! None of them would dare question or betray him again.

It was dinnertime before he slipped out of his room and down the stairs. He could smell the meatloaf baking in the oven and the potatoes that would be mashed cooking on the stove. What amazed him was that he was hungry and that he had been able to push Milt Vaughn out of his mind so easily.

His father was in the living room reading the paper when he went downstairs to help with dinner.

"They found a body over at that old abandoned grocery store."

"Yeah? Whose?" Andrew asked hoping that he sounded casual.

"College kid... Milton Vaughn, you know him?"

Andrew debated as to whether he should lie or tell the truth and went for a mixture of the two.

"I know who he is; he was in one of my classes."

"Not a friend huh?" His father asked.

"No, not a friend." Andrew confirmed and that hadn't been a lie. He didn't consider any of the men in his group friends. "Too bad that he died though, what happened to him?"

"Says here a gunshot wound to the head, he didn't stand a chance."

"That's too bad...is there any mention of a service?" Andrew asked really not caring.

"Nope."

Andrew looked at his father and knew that he wanted to say something more but didn't know if he should.

"I'll go see if mom needs any help." Andrew said and left before his father decided to ask whatever it was that he was thinking. He thought about the gun in his room and wondered if he shouldn't get rid of it and opted not to, no one knew that he had it, not even his gang. The only thing that they could do was suspect him and they couldn't go to the police with suspicions.

He mashed the potatoes and licked the masher clean. For as long as he could remember, that had been his favorite part of making mashed potatoes. When dinner was ready, he ate heartily, savoring every bite of the delicious dinner set before him.

After dinner, he even washed the dishes, shooing his mother out of the kitchen when she tried to help.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked as he took the stack of dirty dishes from her hands.

"Can't a son help his mother?" He asked, "Now go and put your feet up."

Andrew made quick work of the dishes, said good night to his parents and went to his room under the guise of studying. Once the door was closed, he knew that he wouldn't be disturbed unless it was something urgent. The thought that he should dispose of the gun crossed his mind again but it would mean that he would have to sneak out of the house with it again and then find a place to hide it. Then the issue was what he would tell his father if he asked to see it. That question was the deciding factor, the gun stayed where it was. He really wished that there were a way that he could blame Milt's death on the 'melting pot' but that would involve planting the gun and that brought up the same old issues plus a few new ones.

Around nine, he opened the door of his bedroom and listened for any signs that someone was still awake. The door to his parents' bedroom was closed and there wasn't the tell tale strip of light indicating that anyone was up. He looked in the opposite direction relieved to see that the bathroom door was open and the light off. He slipped back into his room, shut off the lights and tiptoed down the stairs avoiding the step that had squeaked from the time they moved into the house.

For the third time, the thought to get rid of the gun crossed his mind but he was already out of the house and halfway down the block when the thought came. He kept walking until he reached his destination, Michael Hathaway's house. He hadn't heard from the group's leader for quite some time and wanted to talk with him. He had no idea if the man was home or not and if he wasn't, he would excuse himself and leave.

The kitchen lights were on when he got there and he could see a pretty blond-haired woman moving around the kitchen. Hathaway's wife he thought and then wondered why he had never mentioned her. Andrew crossed the street, went up to the front door; rang the doorbell and waited.

******

Marji jumped at the sound of the doorbell. It was after nine and she couldn't imagine who could be at her door at such a late hour. For a second, she thought that it might be Michael but Meyer told her that he was in South Carolina stirring up trouble down there.

She peeked through the curtains and saw a handsome blond haired young man patiently waiting for the door to be answered. She cracked the door open wide enough so that she could speak to the man on her porch.

"Can I help you?" she asked warily.

"Yes ma'am, I'm looking for Professor Hathaway." Andrew said politely.

"He isn't here."

"I see... do you know when he'll be back?"

"If there is a god, never!" Marji replied and slammed the door closed.

Andrew stood at the door wondering what she meant by her statement. He was about to ring the doorbell again when a voice stopped him.

"Hey kid."

Andrew turned around to see the biggest man he had ever seen in his life staring at him. Not only was he huge, he was Jewish.

"Hathaway doesn't live here anymore now move on."

"Where is he? What did you Jew bastards do to him?" Andrew demanded.

The man stared at Andrew unfazed by the insults. He took out a cigarette, lit it and took a long draw from it before answering.

"We broke his fingers and told him that if he ever came around here again that we'd kill him. Obviously you're one of his kind so let me give you fair warning, if I ever see your ass around here again, I'll break your fingers, you come back after that... you're dead now beat it before I kick your skinny ass."

Andrew opened his mouth to say something but clamped it shut when the big man took a step toward him. The man didn't move making Andrew step around him, when Andrew passed in front of him, the man blew a stream of cigarette smoke in his face. Andrew could hear the man laughing as he hurried away. He wondered if what the man said was true; if it was... then he was now the highest-ranking member of the group. Once he realized that, all concern for Michael Hathaway vanished.

He headed back home whistling a happy tune not at all concerned about Milt Vaughn's family, the gun or his mentor. Things were as they should be for the moment, the melting pot would be dealt with in the not too distant future but first, the commotion about Milt had to die down.

Marji stepped out onto the porch after Andrew left and offered the big man a cup of coffee.

"Thank you." she whispered looking up at him.

"Taint no trouble." he replied, "Meyer is like a brother to me."

"I made some cookies, would you care for some with your coffee?"

"That would be nice... my Anna used to make the best sugar cookies."

"Used to?" Marji asked.

"Yeah... She died sometime back having a baby... he died too."

Marji heard the note of loneliness in Malachi's voice and it triggered her own feelings of loneliness.

"Wait here; I'll go get those cookies."

As she put a dozen of the freshly baked cookies on a plate and poured herself a cup of coffee, she wondered if it was possible for her to be happy with someone again.

********

Becca rubbed her growing stomach and in spite of herself began to love the baby growing there. As time passed, she thought less and less of getting rid of it but more and more of how to protect it from its father. Each passing week brought out a new facet of Ty's personality. The only thing that he hadn't done was hit her and she had no doubt that it would happen eventually. Her friend Susan warned her that it would happen and tried to get her to leave with her.

"And go where?" Becca asked, "And besides, as long as dinner is ready and I suck his cock, he's happy. He won't hit me, he wants this baby."

"What about after the baby comes?" Susan asked, "What happens when he starts complaining that his food isn't right or that you're not sucking his cock right? Becca, you have got to get out of here before it's too late!"

But she hadn't listened. The very things that Susan had warned about were already happening, the eggs were too done or not done enough, the meat was too tough or too salty, she sucked his dick too hard or not hard enough, the bottom line was; the only thing that she had done right was to get pregnant.

Becca jumped when she heard the car door slam shut, he was angry about something and it more than likely had something to do with her father. She was honest with herself, the only reason that Ty still had a job was because of her and the baby and he knew it.

Ty only put up with her father because it was a means to an end. She had stopped defending her father weeks ago; it only turned Ty's attention on her. Becca rushed to the oven, took the chicken and potato casserole out and set it on the counter for his inspection. She braced herself for the string of questions that he would ask as soon as he was in the door.

"That bitch been here?"

"No."

"You talk to her on the phone?"

"No, you told me not to."

"You talk to anybody today?"

"My mother, she wants to take me shopping for baby things and then lunch."

"Who else is going?"

"No one, just us."

"What did you do today?"

And on the list went finally ending with, "Do what you do best." as he unzipped his trousers right there in the kitchen.

Today was no different except that the answers to the questions varied and out of consideration for her, he sat in a chair for his twice-daily blowjob.

"What's wrong with you today? Suck it like you mean it!" he demanded and for the first time, he hit her. It wasn't a hard hit but a hit nonetheless.

It surprised her but yet it didn't and she increased her efforts to bring him off as quickly as she could. Afterwards, he helped her to her feet, kissed her cheek and apologized for the slap.

"I'm sorry darlin' it was a rough day at work with that pain in the ass father of yours. What's for dinner?"

She could tell that he wasn't happy with it but he didn't complain until afterwards.

"The potatoes weren't done but other than that, it was good."

"Thank you and I'll do better with the potatoes."

While Ty read the paper, Becca cleaned up the kitchen and reluctantly got ready for bed. She hated bedtime almost as much as she hated the time of day when Ty came home. He seemed obsessed with her larger more sensitive breast and insisted on sucking the nipples until she came. In the past, she had loved having her nipples sucked but not anymore. She had come to hate his touch and wished to god that she had lived her life differently and that included her involvement with Andrew Kelley.

When she heard about Milt, she knew who killed him even if she had no proof. On some level, she still loved him but she also still considered him a coward because he was too afraid to admit to the truth about the black woman and that he was too afraid to do what she thought needed to be done. Becca had changed her thinking about the small group that had earned Andrew's hatred. The fact of the matter was she didn't hate anyone. The only exception was her husband. She only supported Andrew because she thought that she loved him.

What she would have said had Andrew admitted his attraction to the black woman, she didn't know and it no longer mattered. All she knew was that she was trapped in a marriage with a man who hated her parents and who was going to move another man into their home.

"How do you know this man?" She asked not two weeks before.

She had been horrified to find out that Ty had just been released from prison when she met him and that his crimes had included robbery, assault and battery and a murder that he had never been tried for. What amazed her was the pride in which he spoke of his crimes and the crimes of the man who would be coming to live with them.

"I bet you're wondering why I told you all of that." he said, "it's because no one's going to believe the college slut and you'll be too ashamed to tell mommy and daddy."