Rock Chick Revenge (Rock Chick #5)(152)

“Duke –” I began but he kept talking.

“I don’t disagree with what he’s doin’. Someone put their hands on my wife Dolores hell would get paid and I’d be the one huntin’ down the jackass who’d be payin’ it. You got a whole bunch a people caught in the middle here and your shit is so far south we’re hangin’ onto a pole by our fingernails. Pretty soon we’re gonna have some angry badasses descending if this shit doesn’t get sorted and fast. Girl, I’m tellin’ it to you straight, give up the ghost. You got no idea what you’re doin’. Sort this shit out and sort it out now.”

My eyes bugged out. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You know what you gotta do,” Duke’s gravelly voice rumbled low.

I did know what I had to do. And I knew I had to do it fast. Mainly because I didn’t feel like getting fingerprinted. Also, the fingerprinting ink would likely stain Mrs. Stark’s bone-colored handbag.

Hell and damnation.

With a heavy sigh, I pulled my phone from my purse and flipped it open. I scrolled down my phonebook, found the name I needed, pressed the green button and put it to my ear. It rang twice as I walked several feet away.

“Yeah?” Luke answered.

“Luke?”

“Beautiful, I wanna say I have time to talk but I’m doin’ somethin’ important.”

I wanted to know what important something he was doing but Smithie was up a tree, I didn’t have time to ask.

“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t call but I’ve got a situation.”

Silence for a beat then, “Talk to me.”

“Well –” I started then stopped, mainly because I didn’t know where to begin.

“Ava,” Luke sounded impatient.

“See, the thing is…” I started then stopped again and before Luke could say anything I rushed on, deciding to let it all hang out. “We went to visit Winnie Conrad. She’s a nice lady but she didn’t have much for us. The thing is, her granddaughter, Olivia, showed up while we were talking with Winnie and apparently, somewhere along the line, both Indy and Jet had stun-gunned Olivia and Daisy got in a catfight with her. She wasn’t so happy seeing Daisy at her grandma’s place and there was kind of a mini-incident. Then she found out who I was, what happened to me and that we were after Noah so she decided to join the hunt, after we go to the mall and get Smithie out of the tree that is.”

I heard noise as his hand covered the mouthpiece of the phone. Then I heard words and they were indistinguishable but, even though I couldn’t make out what he was saying, I could tell whatever it was, it wasn’t happy.

Then he came back to me. “Let’s talk about why Smithie’s in a tree.”

“That’s why I’m calling. Two German Shepherds have treed him in a stranger’s backyard. He was canvassing Noah’s old neighborhood. I’m not clear about how that happened but the dogs aren’t happy and we can’t get him down.”

“Call the fire department.”

“He’s in a stranger’s yard and we don’t have a good story about why.”

“Call the fire department.”

“Luke, he’s in a stranger’s backyard. He’s a black man in a stranger’s backyard. And there are, like, twelve of the now-extended Rock Chick gang hanging out beside the house. We don’t have time for me to describe Daisy’s outfit and you’ve seen Tex. I’m not sure the fire department is going to let us slide.”

“Ava, call the fire department. I’ll call Eddie. Smithie won’t have any trouble.”

“I’m not quite done with my story.”

Silence. Or, more accurately, scary silence.

I continued. “See, my Mom and I had a nice chat after breakfast but I’ll tell you about that later. Anyway, your Mom and my Mom got worried about my troubles and they decided to follow us. They’re here too. Your Mom thinks we should get steaks for the dogs but she’s also counseling Olivia on her man troubles.”

More silence.

I persevered. “So, not only do we need to get Smithie out of the tree without anyone getting arrested, someone needs to do something about the Moms because so far Olivia has been cool about the counseling. I think she’s coming to terms with her man troubles but, you know, we don’t know her very well. Your Mom has the best of intentions but, from what I’ve seen, Olivia can throw some attitude. I don’t know, she might turn at any moment. Not to mention, Tex is totally pissed because we have to swing by the mall –”

“Ava. Quiet.”

He said it in the tone where I knew he meant it and if he had been close I knew I wouldn’t have had the words but a hard shut-Ava-up-kiss.

Then he said, voice still low and angry, “Give the phone to Ma.”

“Okay,” I agreed readily and didn’t delay but turned to the huddle. “Mrs. Stark, Luke wants to talk to you.”

She smiled happily, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world, and walked up to me. She took my phone, put it to her ear, listened for about five seconds, smiled and said, “Of course. Be safe.” Then she handed the phone back to me, her eyes giddy happy, she ignored my open-mouthed stare and she walked back to the huddle.

Then she said something truly frightening, “Christine, we have to go. Luke says we need to make a reservation at a steakhouse. I’m thinking Buckhorn Exchange or Morton’s. If we get in at Morton’s, we can dress up.”