Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Kipling was given a list that he had to make sure was all his items. He hadn't any idea why they'd been in his safe in the first place. He'd told them it was his, but now they wanted him to remember what he'd put in the thing over the last forty or so years. That's why he put things in there, damn it. So that he'd remember them when pulled out.
Also, he didn't understand who else the things that they took out of his safe were anyone's but his own. He looked the list over. Mongrel. He hadn't any idea why that word kept circling around in his head, but he liked the sound of it. And he was going to use it as much as he could.
"Mr. Cherokee, have you had sufficient time to read over that list that was given to you nearly three hours ago? Surely, you can read a bit faster than that." He said that he didn't want to miss anything. "I see. And what pray do you think that you're missing? It seems to be a fairly long list, but it is not a complex one. Can you speed it up a little faster?"
"You want me to sign off on these things that you say you took out of my safe. My safe, I'll have you know that wasn't any of your business. So if I'm going to tell you that the things in it are mine, the least you can do is allow me some peace and quiet while I go over it." The judge slammed his hammer down on the desk, telling him to keep his tone civil. "I would if I gave a shit about your feelings."
He handed the nearly fifteen pages of the list to his attorney. Kipling was still pissed off that his daughter and wife weren't jumping to his demands when he said for them to. The attorney didn't look to him like he'd graduated from high school, much less law school. He asked again why he couldn't use his own attorney.
"For the fifteenth time, your attorney, along with his entire firm, has been disbarred. The firm had quit you several days ago anyway. You also, before you ask, are not going to wait for your daughter and ex-wife to get off their bottoms to come here and explain to you, again, why you don't have any money." He said he had some until they stole it all. "Be that as it may, the money didn't belong to you in the first place. It was the taxes and other fines that you should have been paying for your employees. Now, do you agree to this list or not? Being with you has given me a migraine. Not only that, but for the first time in my entire life, I need a drink. Is it yours or not?"
Kipling mumbled under his breath that it wasn't right for them to steal from their own breadwinner. The judge fined him another thousand dollars for back-talking—like he was a kid and that was when Kipling asked him where he was going to get the money to pay these fines when he wasn't able to get rid of his family.
"Did you just admit that you were planning the death of your family, Mr. Cherokee?" He told him that he was just saying that. That he was allowed to say things that perhaps weren't true, wasn't he? "No, you're not. So, don't say anything like that again, or I'll sentence you right now and be done with you. I'm about there anyway, so watch your step."
"That's another thing that has me pissed off." He wasn't even trying to curb his language anymore. He was sick of all of the shit that was going on. "You've said that before, for me to watch my step. You do know that I'm chained up like a dog, don't you? I can't stand to take a piss, much less watching my step." The gavel came down, and he was fined another thousand dollars. "I don't know how you expect me to pay that crap when my family has taken it all away from me. Get your head out of your ass and think before speaking, will you? Christ, you'd think that this is your first trial." After being fined again, the judge said that they were going to take a break.
A break that it seemed only the judge could take, apparently. He was stuck with the people that were waiting for him to return in due course. Whatever that meant. A lunch was brought in for him. A lunch meat sandwich that was devoid of any sauces, and the tomatoes were limp. Picking up the lettuce, something that he hated more than his wife, he tossed it in the general direction of the trash can and missed.
"You missed." He glanced at the man that had been in the courtroom earlier. "You missed out on a lot of things, didn't you, Kip? May I call you that?" He told him that he could not. Then he asked him if he had anything important to say. "I do, as a matter of fact. I'm going to marry your daughter, Hazel. Also, and this one makes my day, we're going to be living in your big house. Once it's emptied of the stuff that you had in it."
"What did you say to me?" The man repeated what he'd said to him, and Kipling just stared at him for a full minute. "She won't marry anyone that I don't approve of. Hazel isn't all that bright either. I hope you understand that I'm the one who runs the company that was stolen from me."
"In the last week and a half, since you've been in here, she's made a lot of headway in getting the company back on its feet again. You had nearly taken it to the ground. And Maria, I couldn't ask for a better mother-in-law, has been at her side, helping her along like your mother had intended." The man laughed. "I believe that Margaret Cherokee loved her daughter-in-law more than she did you. I know that I do."
"Like I care. And once I'm out of here, no matter how I have to do that, I'm going to be getting my company back, and then we'll see who does a better job. Hazel is more than likely down there in the trenches, babying the employees like her grandparents did. Christ, they'd have them having days off to just hang out at the homes with their families. Why would anyone want to hang out with their family all the time is beyond me."
"That's because you're a bastard." He leaned back on the chair he was chained to and regarded the man in front of him. "My name is Jayden Dixon. I believe you know my family. My parents are Betty and Sherman."
"I know that grandfather of yours, too. Roger Simpson. Did he tell you that he used to work for me as a janitor? Had to fire him, too. He was doing a piss poor job of it, so I had to fire the little fucker." Jayden corrected him. "Is that what he told you? That he was my driver? I don't believe that for one bit. He would have no way of knowing how to drive. You're one of those new money groups, aren't you? What did you do, win the lottery or something? And it's made you think that you can marry into good families? It's not going to happen."
"Actually, we did win the lottery, and according to your wife…ex-wife, I'm marrying down. She seems to think that she's not good enough for me." A burst of laughter from his mouth made Kipling laugh all the harder. "You think that's funny, Kip? I'm so in love with your ex-family that I can hardly contain myself."
"You go on thinking that you're good enough to marry into my family. I'll be suing you for even thinking that—you know what? I think I will sue your ass. To think that you and that family of yours are even in the same stratified as mine family is laughable." The man stood up and stretched, showing himself to be a very fit man. Kipling found himself holding his belly in and trying to make his face look thinner by holding his breath. He nearly passed out from that move, and it pissed him off to know that the man in front of him laughed. "You think that you're all that, don't you, young man? Well, we'll see who is going to be the last man standing when I get out of here." Sometimes, his mouth would get ahead of his brain, and he knew that had sounded stupid.
He was walking away when something occurred to him. Kipling had heard rumors around town that they were a bunch of shifter people. Asking the man if he was what he'd heard, some kind of monkey, the man seemed to go from a fucking big gorilla to a man again in seconds. Kipling felt his dick, not all that big in the first place, tuck itself deep into his body, and he knew that he'd have to dig it out to take a piss.
Kipling had to be poked to stand up—as best he could under the circumstances when the judge came into the room. His heart was pounding so hard that he was having trouble breathing around it. Once the judge called things to order, Kipling stood up and asked if he could have a moment with his attorney. When asked why, he said that he wanted to sue the monkey man for thinking that he was in the same class as he was.
"I have no idea what you're going on about. Monkey man? What is that? Another one of your ploys to delay this hearing? I'll have you know that I'm not one to trifle with, Mr. Cherokee. I've got a long docket today, and you're taking up my valuable time with this nonsense." Kipling told him how that man, Dixon, was a shifter person, and he was thinking that he could marry his daughter. "I see. As it so happens, I'm going to be performing their ceremony after this sham of a trial is over. Then he will indeed be married to your daughter. Not that I think you have any opinion about what your daughter does, but what is your objection to this very outstanding man marrying into your family. Or I should say, you're ex-family?"
"I told you, he's a shifter person. Christ, don't you listen?" The gavel came down again. "You keep that up, and you're going to hurt yourself. Just fine me a bunch of money and move on. I told you, I don't have any funds until my kid gets her head out of her ass and comes down here to pay things off. Then she'll get me out of here, and I'll see about paying you. I'm a man that gets things done, and we're neither one getting shit done sitting around here and going over the same shit all the time."
"Mr. Cherokee, I don't know what rock you came out from under, but the sooner you realize two things, I think things, especially my life, will go much better. One is you're not going to get out of jail. Ever if I have anything to do about it. You've confessed to murdering your parents, and that, in the event that you didn't know, is against the law. Two, your family isn't coming here. Not now, not ever. They've washed their hands of you, and I have to admit that I can't blame them one bit. Also, I should have said this first, you will pay the fines you've incurred here by working at the prison, wherever I send you, and pay every penny that you owe this court system. Now, I want you to keep your mouth shut until a question is asked of you. And when you do answer, I want the truth from you as well as a short answer. Do I make myself clear to you?"
"But I have a great deal to say about those first two things that you told me." The gavel came down again, and this time, he wasn't told an amount, but he added ten years onto his sentencing. "You can't do that? How will…? You take that back right now. And you've no proof that I've killed anyone."
"Your honor, I can answer that one for you." He was waved on. The man, he was sure that he was one of the monkey men as he looked like the other man a great deal. "In the safe that was opened a few days ago, there were diaries in it that implicate Mr. Cherokee in several murders. Including his parents. Since he had said that he owns the contents of the safe, and a handwriting expert has said that it is Mr. Kipling's, I can safely say that in the books, twenty-seven of them, that we've found it states not only that he murdered his parents but how he'd done it as well."
"You'd not know that if you had stayed out of my safe like I told you to do. What did you hope to find going through my personal things?" The man told him that they'd been looking for information on him to use in court. "Well, la-dee-da for you. But since I didn't give you permission to go through my things, you can't use them. So there."
"The house and its contents belong to Hazel Cherokee, and she has given us permission to take anything that we need to bring Mr. Cherokee to justice." His attorney was handed a file, as was the judge. "In that, your honor, you'll see that Ms. Cherokee is fully cooperating with the police as well as the FBI, CIA, and other men working to get a lot of unsolved crimes taken care of."
"You're a suck-up, aren't you? I bet you messed up the grading curb in school, too. Bastard." Another ten years was added to his sentence. Kipling decided to try another tactic. Him trying to wiggle his way out wasn't working. "Your honor, I'm a very well-liked man. I employ a great many people and make sure that they're paid when they're due for it. I'm on several boards, too. The hospital and the city benefit from what I do, and I see no reason whatsoever why I should be punished by this court when I've been doing so well at being an upstanding citizen. If I have to go to jail, that means that a lot of people are going to miss me, and the plant won't be able to survive without me at the helm. If you think about it, sir, I'm a man on a mission to do right by my town, and then there you are, sitting on your throne and handing out stupid fines like it's your job."
"As it so happens, Mr. Cherokee, that is my job." He leaned in to have the man behind him come to talk to him. Once they were finished, he smiled at him. It was more like a predator to prey smile than one that said he was in a good mood. "Mr. Cherokee, I've heard enough of your yammering today. I will have the trial set for December tenth. Until such time you'll remain in custody at the local level until such time as you can be moved to a larger prison to await trial. Unless you have something to say, Mr. Cherokee, I'm going to adjourn this…travesty of a pretrial until such time as we can meet again."
The gavel came down hard, and the judge was out of the room before he could gather his thoughts. December? What the hell was he supposed to do until then? Twiddle his thumbs? Not likely. He wanted out on bail, not sitting around waiting until December. Good Christ, this was a nightmare. How was he supposed to recoup his money and get his life back while in jail?
As he was being rushed off, he saw his daughter and wife coming into the courtroom. Not allowed to go to them, he started shouting to them to come and see him. Just like she had forever, Maria ignored him, and it wasn't until Hazel put up her middle finger to him that he had an inkling that they really weren't going to help him get out. Like he wasn't the best thing that had ever happened to either one of them.
~*~
The wedding to his love was over in less time than it had taken him to drive to the courthouse. As it was, with his entire family there to be with them, he and Hazel barely had time to kiss before they were being ushered out of the office so that the next trial could be called into the courtroom. He was glad that his mother had thought to invite someone to take pictures, or he might not have any idea how he'd come to not just wearing a band on his finger but having Hazel with the one he'd picked out for her given to her.
Arriving at the home that Hazel had grown up in, he was so happy that they'd had the little gathering here instead of his parents' home. The reception hall, an honest-to-goodness large venue building on the property, was decorated with so many flowers and vases that it looked like the wedding that Dallas and Amy had planned was in this house already.
Dad patted him on the back and asked him if he needed any advice about the wedding night. Both his grandpas and his dad laughed for a good twenty minutes. Jayden told his dad that he thought that he had that part down. He'd never seen his dad so happy as he seemed to be right now. He asked him why.
"Why? That's a wonderful question, son. It's because my sons are coming into their own and finding brides. It won't be long before there are little ones about, and that has me giddy. To think, my sons will become fathers." Grandda Simpson said that he was picking out his own chair that he'd be rocking all the little ones in. Then Grandpa Dixon started saying how he was having a special chair fixed up so that he and the little ones could read stories in it. As they wandered off, his grandparents, he looked at his dad and asked him if he was all right.
"You look a little teary-eyed, Dad. Are you all right?" He said that he was overcome with emotions just then. "I get that way as well. When I think about Hazel and I having a good life together. I only hope that I'm half as good a father as you've been to us. That will indeed make me a very proud father."
"Thank you, Jayden. You've no idea how good that feels." Dad pulled out his hankie and, like his own father did, mopped his face with it. Smiling when Dad said that he was going to go and find his mother, Jayden stood there watching his brother Dallas work the room before Hazel had come to stand by him.
"I'm glad to see you for a few minutes." He kissed Hazel, then before she could speak, he decided that it hadn't been nearly enough and pulled her in for another taste of her. "You keep that up, and I'll never be able to tell you something. It's important, too."
"All right, but I want to know when we get to the more than kissing part. I need you." She told him that he'd have to wait. Everyone was at their house. "No, all my family and what you have is here. Why would you tease me like that?"
"This is our home, Jayden. If you want to live here, that is. It was left to me by my great-grandmother on my mom's side. It's called the Dixon Mansion now. My mom did that for us while she'd been at the courthouse." He was too shocked to say much. "We don't have to live here, but I thought that with this house being centralized to your parents' and brothers' homes it might be a good place for us to have and raise children in. What do you think?"
"I've not seen the entire house, but what I have seen makes me want to move in right now. How big is this house? I mean, it looks massive." She told him that it had nearly fifty thousand square feet counting the apartment over the garage as well as the venue that they were in now. "Christ, honey. I'll never be able to find you without breadcrumbs. Why is it so large?"
"My grandparents entertained a great deal when they were younger. Hosting parties for their friends. Jamie, Amy's brother, once used this place for a campaign dinner. I didn't know her or him back then, but I have seen pictures of it decorated up. Much like it is now, but it had a great many tables and chairs in here." She showed him where the tables were stored, and he thought that he'd counted about fifty in the one closest. "I think that my grandparents are going to talk to your brother, Dallas, about running for the White House seat. He'd be great at it and already have a place where he can have dinners for raising money."
His older brother was going to be a shoo-in for the next election. He could feel it in his bones. Not only was his brother smart, but he also had a lot of political pull around the world as well as him being king of their kind. Jayden thought about how Dallas had been helpful in the taking down of a couple of high-ranking men in DC.
"There are plenty of bedrooms here as well if your family wanted to live with us. I'd love to have them nearby." He said that his grandparents on his mom's side might take them up on that. "Good. I love them like they're my own."
They talked a bit more about the house, and he was happy to be staying here. However, he hoped that no one was expecting him and Hazel to fill the nineteen bedrooms in the place, most of which were a separate housing that he was told could be used for the staff. He liked the idea too, having a staff to help around the humongous place. Even just dusting would take a single person days to get it all finished. By then, they'd have to start over again.
Jayden was having a lot of fun. He was glad that people who were from town decided to stop in. There had been an informal invitation in the paper, telling everyone of their marriage as well as the get together afterwards. When people started to leave, he went to find Hazel again to tell the people thanks for coming. Jayden thought that he could get used to this kind of thing. Having people over to visit. But he thought that he was going to enjoy the quiet too when everyone was gone. Hazel must have said something to his grandma Simpson because she asked him if he was sure about having them live there with them.
"I am indeed. Besides, if you get to be much trouble, I'll just lock you in the wing you're in and toss out the key." Kissing his grandma, he told her how happy it would make him to have them there all the time. "I don't think that Milly and Sherm are going to live with you. I heard Milly telling your mother that she wanted to be able to come and go as she pleased and didn't want to bother you young people too much."
"I'll have Mom talk to them. She can persuade someone to do what she wants easily. I know that she'll feel better about having you guys around, too. I think, like me, they missed having you right there with them to visit." Grandpa Dixon joined them and said that they had grown tired of traveling around all the time with no home to go back to. "You'd have as much freedom as you want, Grandpa. You'll want to be here when the babies come along, don't you?"
"I do at that. You know something that I don't, young man?" He kissed his grandpa on his forehead and told him that they couldn't make them great-grandparents until they all went to their prospective homes. That had his grandparents laughing and heading toward the door. Jayden did love his family.
Once his parents left, everyone else seemed to be leaving as well. His grandparents left, telling him and Hazel that they'd see them in a week. Mom had wanted to stay and make sure that the food didn't go to waste until Dad whispered something in her ear. He could only imagine what it was about as she wouldn't look at him when she hurriedly left the house without a kiss and hug from her.
He and Hazel didn't go up to bed right away. She wanted to show him around the house a little bit so that he'd know his way around. There was really going to have to be a map made up for him. The house had been added onto so many times that it really was like a maze. One that he was coming to love very much.
"The master suite is on the second level of the house. The only other thing on the same floor is a nursery that hasn't been redone in several decades. All the older toys are still in there. Also, there are three bathrooms. I don't know why, but that's what it has. The third floor of this building has the bedrooms on it." He asked her how many. "Ten, not counting the second nursery that has been changed into a library. I think one of my long-lost cousins did that when they were thinking about moving in with my parents. It didn't turn out well for all concerned, and I've not heard or seen him since."
"That's sort of sad. Maybe now that we're living here, more of your family will come around." She asked him if he was talking about the fact that her dad was no longer living there. "No, I hadn't, but you have to think that it has merit. According to your mom, he never got along with either side of the family after he married her."
He had noticed that a few of the staff who had worked the party for them were in the venue building. Wondering if there was a name for something like that, a separate building that would house large parties. The party house? No, that sounded too much like a frat party. When asking the staff about it, all they could remember it being called was the Second Building. That didn't thrill him all that much either, so he decided to think up a name for it while wandering around.
Going into one of the three offices on the first floor of the family home, he noticed that it was devoid of anything in or around the desk. Hazel explained that when her dad was arrested, they'd come by and picked up everything, including the safe that he'd had in here.
"The police told me that I could have it back when they were finished with it, but I decided that if I do have a need for a safe, then I'd rather have a new one rather than this one as my dad had spoiled it." He told her that was an excellent idea. "Thank you. I do have good ones once in a while."
Making notes on the wall beside the pantry, they added things that had to be done tomorrow, along with things that they would need for the house after being closed up for so long. Her father had lived here but had only ‘lived' in his office and the bedroom on the first floor. She was going to have that room disinfected with a total makeover as soon as she could find a crew to do it.
Another thing that they were going to need was people working with them, like getting a full staff in place as well as a gardener for the lawns. That alone, he thought, would be in need of a full crew as the lawns were extensive and would need to have all the planters emptied and replanted. He doubted anyone had touched the flower pots, even to water them. He decided that if he was going to live here, it was going to be the showcase that he did believe that it had been. Talking with Hazel, she agreed. It had been a long time coming to her, but she wanted her grandparents to look down on them and see that they'd been a good couple to have the job of maintaining the home, the ancestral home as it were.