My Brother's Keeper
Chapter 21
"There's no
answer." Kim said as she hung up the phone. She hoped that would be the end of it.
Ray was a little eccentric and awkward with the children, almost strained even, but she
thought that deep down he genuinely cared. He seemed to know things about all of their
familiar, and when there was a problem with Kevin and Patrick Dunne, he knew exactly who
to call. Besides, Roper had seemed to trust him and he was the one who had allowed him to
remain with the team even before she'd arrived.
"Did he have an
answering machine?" Jerry asked.
"No." She stared
back at him, wondering what he would want to try next.
"Great." Some of
the steam went out of him and he slumped against the counter
Kim frowned. Something
inside of her softened as she realized that Jerry was truly worried. "You really
think something could happen don't you?" She'd initially figured that he was simply
jealous at the way Ray had come on to her. But this seemed a long way to go over jealousy,
and she just couldn't see that sort of extreme behavior as a part of Jerry's personality.
Jerry nodded, and sighed.
"Do you think Steve will come to the next game if we ask him?"
Kim felt herself beginning
to worry. "Yeah, if he's not working. Maybe even if he is." She took a step
closer to him, looking into his eyes. "But there is more to this than just a feeling,
isn't there? Tell me why you're so sure that there's something going on."
Jerry twined his fingers
through hers, and seemed to relax a little at the contact. "It started at that first
game I went to. There was this guy - he was really fishy looking, you know. Like he was up
to no good. I saw him come to the park after the game. Ray saw him and just stopped
everything he was doing and went over to talk to him. He got this look on his face; a hard
look."
"Like he didn't like
him?" Kim cut in. "Maybe he owed the guy some money or something." She
stopped when she realized what that sounded like. Who came to collect their debts at a
kids soccer game?
Jerry shrugged. "I
don't know. But they did pass something between the two of them when the met up in the
parking lot. Then the guy pointed at me and said something. It was too far away for me to
even think about figuring out what he said, but it didn't look good. But then Ray said
something and waved his hand like I wasn't important or something. Then they turned
away."
"Maybe they thought you
were being nosey," she offered, playing devil's advocate.
Jerry chuckled a little at
that. "Maybe. I'll give you that I didn't exactly connect with the guy right off. But
then I saw that friend of his a couple more times. It just seemed strange for him to be
hanging around so much."
"Why didn't you say
anything before?" Kim asked.
"I did," Jerry
gave her a pointed look. "But someone accused me of being paranoid and over
protective." He softened the words with a gentle squeeze of his hands and a smile.
Kim felt herself smiling in
return. She loved it when he smiled at her that way. "The jury is still out on over
protective," she told him. "But, I remember the day in question. It was at
Menagerie's, right? He went to meet some guy in a black SUV with a lot of fancy stuff on
it."
"I take it that's girl
talk for customized," Jerry teased. "But yes. That was the day. The guy didn't
seem too happy to see that I noticed him that time either."
"Well, I didn't see the
guy," Kim admitted. "I just remember the truck cause of that funky grill thing
it had in the front -- funky grill thing being the technical term for whatever the real
name is. But either way, we're kind of at a dead end. So what do you want to do now? Ask
Steven to come to the game to be on the safe side?"
"Could this mean that
Miss Skeptical has decided that she believes me?"
"Maybe Miss Skeptical
has decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. As much as Steven makes me crazy as a
big brother, I do trust your judgement. You've never once let me down, and you've always
been there even when it was only on my terms." She smiled slyly at him. "I guess
that has to count for something."
Jerry tightened his grip on
her fingers and drew her closer. He was wearing that smile that always turned her mind to
mush. His arms moved up and around her, gradually enclosing her in his embrace. "It's
good to know that I've won you over," he whispered, his smile becoming wicked.
"What do you . . .
?" Kim started to object, but Jerry unhurriedly leaned downward, closing the distance
between them. Her voice trailed away, and the feigned objection was lost in the
anticipation of his lips touching hers. She helped him along by leaning in and curling her
arms up around his shoulders. For the next few minutes, Ray Santucci was forgotten.