CHAPTER THREE

"Alright, let's get this meeting started. We're actually a little slow right now, which I think is fine. The last one took it out of us, and we were pulled in a lot of different directions," said Ghost.

"Ella is manning our front desk today," said Nine. "Ella, honey, what do we have?"

"A few requests for conversations with some slum lords, and I use the word conversation in the literal sense. No beating anyone up until you've tried talking to them like adults."

"That's no fun," said Tailor, scrunching his nose at her. Her flame-red hair was piled high on her head, and she gave a side glance that said she wasn't kidding. "Okay. I'll try."

"Good. Before you meet our next clients, I need for you guys to have an open mind," said Ella. Ella, Antoine's wife, usually worked with the finance team, but today was covering the Gray Wolf front desk. All the wives took turns doing it, sometimes two or three at a time if it got busy. It helped them to stay involved and to flush out requests that weren't in their area of expertise.

"Babe, we always have an open mind," smiled her husband. She gave him a glare that said something to the contrary. "Okay. Open mind."

"What's this about, Ella?" asked Ian. She opened the door, and three of the cutest damn kids ever walked in. They couldn't be more than seven or eight years old.

"Everyone, meet Warren, Harry, and Edith." The children just stood at the entrance to the room, not moving. They looked up at Ella, who gave them a big smile. "Go ahead, children. Take a seat, and the very, very nice men will speak with you."

Ella glared at the room, and the men all softened their features.

"Hello, my name is Rafe. Why did you come and see us? Did someone steal your bicycle?" he asked.

"No," said Harry. "See, they're grown-ups. They won't believe us." He looked at his friends, and the others all sobered again, feeling like shit for making fun of the kids.

"I'm sorry," said Vince, kneeling in front of the kids. "We're not making fun of you at all. You haven't told us anything yet, so we're not sure what to believe."

"We want to hire you," said Edith. "She stepped forward and tried to set a huge bag on the table. It was obviously heavy, so Nine helped her to get it up on the tabletop. "We have all the money from our savings. It's fifty-seven dollars and thirteen cents. Is that enough?"

"It's probably enough," said Gaspar with a serious expression, "but we need to know why you want to hire us."

"We want to free Sterling."

"Sterling? Is Sterling an animal?" asked Nine.

"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "He's a man."

"You want to free a man?"

"You're not ‘splaining it right," said Warren. "Sterling was our baseball coach. He was the best in the whole world. He knows how to throw a curve ball and hit a fastball, and he can steal bases!"

"He sounds amazing," said Ian, smiling at the boy.

"He's the best," nodded Edith. "He even let the girls play on the boys' team."

"Okay, so where is he that you want us to free him?" asked Gaspar. The kids looked at one another and, in perfect harmony, turned to the room.

"Jail."

There were some whistles and heavy sighs as the men sat back in their seats. Nine leaned forward on his elbows, trying to remember they were just kids.

"He's in jail. Why is this man in jail?" he asked.

"The grown-ups said he killed a lady, but he didn't. We know he didn't," said Edith.

"Honey, how can you be sure of that? Sometimes, nice people do terrible things," said Gaspar.

"We saw."

"You saw?" repeated Vince. "I need you to tell us what you saw."

"We just finished practice," said Warren. "Sterling always leaves all the lights on until we're headed home. It gets dark fast right now." The men all smiled at them, nodding.

"That's very nice of him. So, you left the ballpark?" asked Ghost.

"Sort of. We started to and then Edith forgot to ask him a question and wanted to go back. The big lights were turned off, but Sterling leaves the ones behind home plate on the longest. They go off at a certain time." Again, they all nodded.

"There was a lady coming out of the woods behind the park. She only had on her bra, and she was all bloody like she'd been in a fight," blushed Warren. "She was covered in blood."

Now, the men were leaning forward, listening intently.

"Sterling turned around and saw her, and he was holding up his hands. She looked drunk. She was stumbling, and he caught her. We saw him pull out his phone, and we started to walk back to them to see if we could help. We're little, but we're strong."

"He called 911," said Edith. "Just like we're taught to. Warren got scared when he saw two men in black coming toward them, so we backed up."

"Two men in black?" asked Code.

"Uh-huh. One of them hit Sterling in the head with a baseball bat. Then they dragged the lady away."

"Where did they drag her to?" asked Ghost.

"Nowhere. They dragged her away, then back toward Sterling. Her blood was all over him. They moved her arms around and her legs. Then they heard the police coming, and the men ran."

"Did you tell anyone?" asked Nine.

"I tried to tell my sister, but she had a friend over, and Mom and Dad were gone. I was gonna stay up, but I fell asleep."

"My mom made me bathe and go to bed," said Edith. "She said I was making up stories."

"Same," said Warren. "They thought we were telling tales."

"Have you talked to the police?" asked Ghost.

"Yes, sir. They came and talked to all three of us, but they said we were just kids and trying to protect our coach. We might be kids, but we're not blind. Sterling didn't hurt that lady."

"I've got the police report," said Code, turning to face them all. "He's in custody at Charity Hospital under police watch. Her blood was all over him, his DNA on her."

"On her, not," Ian hesitated, not wanting to say the words ‘in her.'

"Right," said Code, understanding his hesitancy. "On her only."

"What sort of rigged bullsh-, uh, bologna is this?" asked Tailor.

"We asked our dads to help," said Harry, "but they said the law would take care of it. It's been three days, and he's still in the hospital. It's not fair."

"You're right, Harry. It's not fair, and we don't like it when things aren't fair," said Ian.

"So, you'll help us? Our money is enough?" asked Edith.

"It's more than enough. In fact," said Ghost, opening the bag, "this will only cost you five dollars."

"Five dollars! That's not right. I'm a kid, and even I know you cost more than that," said Harry with suspicion.

"You know what, Harry, you're right," said Ghost. "I didn't mean to offend you. This is the kind of case we like to take. People who are wrongly accused of something. We know they didn't do it, but, for some reason, someone is trying to make it look like they did do it."

"I knew you'd help," said Edith, smiling at the men. She had a big gap in the front of her smile, having lost a tooth somewhere along the way. She stood from her seat, not much bigger than before and looked at her friends.

"Where do you kids live? How did you get here?" asked Rafe.

"We took the bus," said Edith.

"You took the bus!" echoed the voices. The children huddled together, staring at the table of men.

"W-we couldn't get anyone to drive us. We live in the Garden District. Our parents would have been mad if we rode our bikes here," said Harry.

"Yes, I think they would have. But riding the bus all the way out here was dangerous. You shouldn't have done that," said Ian.

"Are we in more trouble?" frowned Warren.

"No," laughed Nine. "You're not in more trouble. In fact, you three are the kind of people we love. You risked getting into trouble for someone you care about. That's important and tells us everything we need to know about what kind of people you are."

"No bus taking," said Rafe. "I'll give you guys a ride home. I can explain to your parents why you rode out here."

"You're telling them?" exclaimed Harry. "Man, we're getting ratted out." Baptiste could barely control his laughter.

"You know what. Why don't we call your folks, and they can drive out here and get you? Our Mama makes some of the best cakes and cookies in the world. I'll bet she'd love to have y'all out here for a while. We can sit up at the café and wait for your folks."

"I love cookies," smiled Edith.

"I like cake," said Harry.

"I like both," smiled Warren.

"Let's go." Baptiste and Rafe left with the kids while the others stayed behind. When they were gone, Nine looked at the group and then at Code.

"You're not gonna like this."