It wasn’t even that great of an ass.
“Detective Glass, this is Special Agent Dan McCleary. He’ll be on day shift in the house.” Rather than come to me, Dan McCleary held out his hand and kept it there until I had to exit the kitchen to shake it. Speaking of great asses, Dan McCleary clearly was one.
Let the dick contests begin.
McCleary was an unpolished, semi-attractive man in his late thirties or early forties. His hair was grey. His suit was cheap. His cologne was cheaper, and his attitude was a hundred percent asshole.
He gave me an instant boner.
One day I was going to have to analyze why whores and assmunchers gave me wood, while nice guys like Riley left me feeling blasé.
Maybe I just wasn’t responding because I knew Cai had a crush on him.
Yeah that was it.
Before I could lie to myself some more, Darryl’s voice bellowed from the bedroom. “Over my dead perfectly-posed body!”
The guest room door banged open. Darryl strode past me in a blur of blond hair, his skinny legs disappearing upstairs.
“I take it he just found out what Rosa being in WitSec means?” I proffered, raising my eyes to the ceiling. Upstairs the pounding on my bedroom door gave way to muffled yelling.
Rapid Shift in Parenting
In the search for distraction from thoughts of my best friend’s possible criminal activity, my mind began meandering after Darryl’s question: “Why does Rosa have a security detail?”
Answer: Because her life is in danger.
Question: Why is her life in danger? To answer that question, I had to think laterally.
Whom does the FBI guard?
Answer: Important people.
Who are the important people to the FBI?
Answer: Celebrities, statesmen, politicians and witnesses. Rosafa Strakosha is not a politician, statesmen or celebrity. Therefore, she is a witness.
Why does Rosa, a plain old witness, get to pick her security detail?
Answer: She’s important enough that they bow to her requests.
The subject of my thoughts emerged from the bedroom, wrapping a leopard print hijab over her head. “You have to wear that?” I asked.
“You think I wear this in summer because it is so comfortable?” She brushed a hand over her ankle length black skirt.
“I think if God wanted you to wear that, He wouldn’t have invented heatstroke.”
What kind of info would Rosa have for the FBI? Albanian syndicate crime was a growing issue, I knew that much. I also knew that there were a recent slew of arrests across the nation. All of them were part of an Albanian organized crime family. What had the DA said in court? Something about Rosafa having relatives tied to the Albanian mafia.
There wasn’t time for more thought on the subject. Peter came charging down the stairs, hair still damp and unbuttoned shirt billowing behind him. “The fuck you are, Rosa. The fuck you’re taking Cai.”
“He is my son,” she said calmly.
“Settle down, boy.” Agent McCleary stepped in front of Rosa, hand reaching inside his jacket. Cordova moved closer to Peter. So did I.
Cai came dashing out of the hall, clothes stuck to his body and hair dripping wet. “Um. We can go now. My anklet blinked. That means we can go.” He pulled at Peter’s arm desperately. His giant feet sloshed in a pair of checkered Keds. He looked like he’d pulled his clothes on while he showered.
“He’s not going with you. You don’t even know him. He doesn’t need more shit in his life.”
“He is my son, Petya.”
Darryl’s eyes brimmed with angry tears. “He’s ours now.”
“Peter,” I tried to reason. “This isn’t the time. Things can be discussed when we—”
“You see? Peter. Not Petya. Not Pyotr. I’m not Petya, he’s not Danny and that’s not Nikë. I’m Peter, that’s Darryl and he’s Cai. That’s who he is now. He’s not your Nikë. You don’t even know how to take care of him.”
“Rabbit, please,” Cai begged. “Let’s go.”
“I will learn.”
“Oh, you’ll learn? You’ll learn in the few weeks before he has the stress of starting college? Did you even know he was going to college? No? Do you recognize when he’s sick, Rosa? Not once since you arrived have you noticed he’s hypomanic. Do you even know what hypomanic means? Didn’t you ask why he’s not more upset after being raped? Didn’t it occur to you that his behavior wasn’t normal for someone about to be tried for murder? But you’re going to learn? Right.”
Cai crushed his hand against his eye.
Cordova stepped between Rosa and Peter. “I think you should leave, Mr. Dyachenko.”
“Knock it off, Peter,” I said. “This can wait.”