Free A Thousand Lies by Sharon Sala Page B

was smart, having Anson tailed, but they couldn’t put one over on him. Not out here. This was his milieu, and there was more than one way to skin a fat cat like March.
     
    ****
     
    Three days later
     
    The endless days and nights of living two separate lives was finally wearing Brendan down. By the time he got off work, it was almost 3:00 a.m. He fell into bed and slept until Linny woke him up, usually sometime between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. After that, he was up for the day, making breakfast for the three of them while planning what needed to be done before Claudette’s arrival.
    Delle’s feet were at a painful stage of healing. The burned skin was beginning to slough off, and Brendan had to take her back to the doctor. The removal of dead skin and fresh bandages was a painful process that left Delle shaking and in tears.
    On this particular morning, they had just returned from the hospital when Claudette met them in the parking lot. She was carrying a large tote bag, which she quickly slung over her shoulder and grabbed the sack of groceries from the SUV.
    Brendan carried his mother into the apartment with Claudette at his heels and Linny tagging along behind all of them. They rode the elevator up together, and once inside his apartment, he settled Delle in bed while Claudette and Linny began putting away groceries. He gave his mother a pain pill, which she took gratefully, chasing it with a drink of cool water.
    Once it was down, Delle fell back against the pillows. Despite the cool air inside the bedroom, there was a bead of sweat on her upper lip.
    “Mama, I’m so sorry,” Brendan said softly.
    She grabbed his hand, holding it against her heart. “You have nothing to apologize for, son. I just need to rest for a bit.”
    He pulled a light cover up to her waist and then waited for her to fall asleep. As he sat, he thought of his brothers. Although they called daily for updates, they had yet to come see her. They were stuck in the middle of their father’s illegal trade, but aligned with their mother’s plight.
    When she suddenly cried out in her sleep, he touched her arm and she stilled. It was eerie, looking at her like this, like looking at a body in a casket. Had it not been for the soft rise and fall of her breasts, she could have been mistaken for dead. Anson had beaten the life out of her, and the body had yet to acknowledge the death.
    Linny slipped into the room and whispered in his ear.
    “Aunt Claudette wants to talk to you.”
    He tweaked her nose as she darted away and went to the kitchen where Claudette was preparing lunch.
    “What’s up, Auntie?”
    Claudette loved the title he had bestowed upon her and made no attempt to hide her affection for her sisters’ children.
    “We will talk about your father,” she said and pointed to a chair. “Please sit. Linny is going to go play with the doll I brought for her today.”
    Linny had just been dismissed and knew it. She skipped out of the room, anxious to give the doll and the small chest of doll clothes a closer look.
    Claudette sat down to face him. Today she wore another loose dress, this time of green fabric with large white flowers in the design and had her dreadlocks tied back with a long black ribbon. She was a magnificent woman, and he knew she knew it.
    He frowned. “Why do I feel like I’m going to get the third degree, and what about Anson?”
    “Mama Lou sends a message. Your father’s heart is very dark. He has a plan of which you should beware. He wants revenge for something you have done to him and will go to extremes to get it.”
    Brendan’s gut knotted. “I expected as much.”
    “What did you do to him?” Claudette asked.
    “Enough,” Brendan said.
    Claudette shrugged. “Just beware. It won’t be just you who suffers when he strikes.”
    “It never is,” Brendan said, thinking of the three women in his life, and knowing he would never be able to keep them safe as long as Anson Poe was alive.
    “So, I have delivered