As soon as they got home, John got on the phone to Matt Schindenwulfe, while Candice headed upstairs to check out Shay’s room. After some thought, she’d decided on putting Janice there on a more or less permanent basis; Shay could use the small bedroom for the brief time he would be home. She’d have to call and explain it to him, but she had a few days before it became an issue. On the other hand, she thought, Shay needed to know what was happening; she’d tried to call him during the day but had only been able to get a recording on his cell phone.

Shay’s bedroom could have been cleaner; he was, as a teenage boy, rather messy – a contrast to her nearly obsessively neat younger son. She remembered back to when they’d been living in Camden, with the boys sharing a room with twin beds. The messiness of the boy’s room had been a major point of contention between the two elementary schoolers, and when they’d been looking for a house in Spearfish Lake, one with enough room for the boys to have separate rooms had been a major issue to everyone. She’d made some efforts toward cleaning the room up in the months that her older son had been gone, but there was still a lot of work to do before it was presentable enough for Janice.

She wondered what else would have to be done. For the moment, it was pretty safe to assume that the girl had nothing and was going to need pretty much everything a girl required. It was clear that there were some question about whether they’d be able to get anything from her house, with the drug task force going through it, and Candice had gotten the impression that Janice didn’t have much of anything anyway. It would have to be a work in progress, she thought; there was no telling what was going to be needed.

“Hey, Candice!” she heard John yell from downstairs, “Matt’s going to be over in a few minutes.”

“Coming!” she yelled back. At least that postponed the need to deal with Shay’s room for a while. Tomorrow was Saturday; perhaps she could get some of her friends to help.

Downstairs, she headed for the kitchen and got some coffee going, if for no more reason than to be neighborly. There were a handful of dishes that John and Cody had left in the sink, despite any number of exhortations to rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher. While she waited, she did that chore and fed the cats, which had been hanging around under her feet with mews clearly saying, “Feed me, Mommy, feed me!” That ought to settle them down for a while, she thought. “Guess what!” she told the felines. “It looks like we’re going to have another stray kitten of the two legged kind.”

A few minutes later Matt Schindenwulfe knocked on the front door. “Thanks for coming over, Matt,” John said. “Like I told you on the phone, some unexpected issues have come up. Let’s grab a seat in the living room and we can go over them.”

“I’ve got coffee making,” Candice told him. “It should be ready in a few minutes.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Matt told them. “The wife is watching some kind of stupid reality show and I’m just glad to have an excuse to get out of the house.”

“That stuff does get a little stupid, doesn’t it?” Candice smiled. “They want a reality show, they ought to try the Iditarod.”

“Wouldn’t be enough skin to keep the viewers happy,” Matt grinned. “I might as well tell you now, I talked to the prosecutor informally today. He says he doesn’t see any need to file charges, but has to wait for the paperwork to flow through the system.”

“That’s good news,” John said, taking his seat, while Candice headed to the kitchen to see if the coffee was done. “I’ll feel better when it’s been formalized, though.”

“Well, so will I,” Matt told him. “But I really don’t think that’s going to be an issue. The state really should send Cody a commendation for all the money he saved the corrections system, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Is that what you were concerned about?”

“No, something new has come up,” John said. “There are several things. The first is that we went down and talked to Janice Lufkin this evening. To make a long story short, we offered to take her in, and she seems excited about the prospect. But we don’t know how to go through the hassles with Family and Children’s Services. From what I hear, they can be pretty, well, intransigent.”

“You mean incompetent,” Matt snorted. “They used to call it the Family Protection Agency. Family Destruction Agency was more like it.”

“You said it, I didn’t,” John replied as Candice brought mugs of coffee for him and Matt, then went back to the kitchen for one of her own. “Cody pointed out to us that she’s only a few months from her eighteenth birthday, at which time their interest in her is ended, while she’d still be in high school. That would leave her high and dry.”

“You just made my point,” Matt shook his head. “I was a little concerned about her myself. It’s my understanding that her father and brother had some assets, their house, their cars, and I don’t know what all. It might not amount to a hill of beans, but there’s a chance that if everything is dissolved that there’d be a positive cash amount. What the Family Destruction Agency usually does in a case like that is name a conservator to oversee her assets and handle the costs of maintaining her. Of course, they tack on an administrative fee. Whatever it is that she would be getting, it would be a lot less than it would be if we could keep them from getting their sticky fingers on it.”

“That, in a word, sucks,” John said. “I didn’t know the details, but I always thought they weren’t that bad.”

“Some places they aren’t, I guess,” Matt told them – Candice had settled on the couch with her coffee, as well. “There’s a lot of latitude in how different offices handle things, and the one here does not have a good reputation. They do pretty well in protective services, but that’s the people involved and only if a problem is reported to them in time to do something about it. In this case would be nice if we could keep their fingers out of the pot.”

“Then that’s what we want to do,” Candice said. “Is there some way we can get guardianship before they get involved?”

“Probably,” Matt replied. “I happen to know that Judge Dieball is out at a buddy’s hunting camp, playing poker and drinking beer while they’re supposed to be taking advantage of muzzleloader season. I can probably get to him and get it on the docket for the first thing Monday morning. If we do that, we can have it done before they know what hit them. However, I’d like to caution you about acquiring guardianship of her under these circumstances.”

“Why would that be?” John said. “We’re perfectly willing to take her in.”

“Taking her in and acquiring guardianship are two different things,” the attorney pointed out. “For instance, I have no idea what her hospital bill is going to be, but it’ll be five figures if it’s a penny. You would be assuming that responsibility, and there’s no chance your health insurance would cover it. There are several other issues that could come up over the next few years that could also be pretty costly.”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know if she plans on going to college, but you have a son in college so you know how student financial aid works. If you are, or had been acting in loco parentis to her, then you might be responsible for the family contribution for student aid.”

“We talked about that,” John said. “We’d do it if we had to.”

“‘If we had to’ is the key,” Matt said. “If she’s over eighteen, and has no legal family, then there’s a big difference in how the family contribution is handled, right from the moment the paper work is filed. I’ve always been a big believer in not having to pay something if you can get someone else to do it, and I don’t mean her.”

“So what are you suggesting?” Candice asked.

“Well, just supposing,” Matt said, “that with her agreement, we go to Judge Dieball Monday morning and asked for a court order granting her legal emancipation. If he grants it, and I have little doubt he wouldn’t, then that freezes Family and Children’s Services out entirely. Oh, they might appeal the decision, but an appeal would take time and in that time we could do some other things to limit their impact. They probably won’t appeal, considering her age and circumstances. Now, since she’d be an adult, anything that the hospital had done to her would have been done without the action of a consenting adult, so their billing becomes a little more complicated. It could well be Family and Children’s Services gets stuck with it, rather than taking it out of her father’s estate.”

“That sounds a little sticky to me,” John frowned.

“Oh, it is,” Matt agreed. “However, with that kind of entanglement, the hospital is likely to settle cheap, which they wouldn’t do if Family and Children’s Services were so-called ‘administering’ her account. In fact, they’d run it up, since their administration fee is on a percentage basis. There are some other issues as well where it would be a lot simpler and more in her interest if she were legally an adult. The important thing, in my view, is that we keep her out of the clutches of Family and Children’s Services.”

“I already pretty well thought that,” John said. “But I had no idea it would be that bad. Let’s do it.”

“I agree,” Candice said. “You’re saying that in a practical sense we take her into the house, but she signs her own checks, right?”

“That’s it exactly,” Matt nodded. “She needs to be the one to petition the court, but for practical purposes it’s all paperwork that she’ll have to sign before we could go to court. But even so, it’s simpler and quicker than assuming guardianship, since you’re not blood relatives. We’ll have to run it by her, of course, but that shouldn’t be any big deal.”

“I was planning on going down and seeing her in the morning,” Candice said. “I was going to get her some clothes and stuff, and I’d like to be there when her doctor comes by so I can get an idea of how long she’s going to have to stay there. I could ask her then, or you could go with me.”

“If you want, I could see her with you,” Matt replied. “But I think we’d better drive separately. You have shopping you want to do, and I’ve got a couple places I should go as long as I’m down in Camden. My wife has a whole list of chores for me to do tomorrow, and I’m really not in the mood to do them. That’d give me an excuse for at least part of the day. What time do you plan on leaving?”

“Early, maybe around eight,” Candice said. “I wouldn’t mind getting back at a reasonable hour. There’s got to be some housecleaning done to get ready for her.”

“I’ll tell my wife about that,” Matt smirked. “I’ll bet I can talk her into volunteering to help you out. That’d get her off my neck for the afternoon.” They all laughed at that, and Matt went on, “You said you had something else concerning you.”

“Well, yes,” John said, and explained his concern about the drug task force. “While I’m as certain as I can be that Cody wasn’t involved with that, that’s still my opinion, of course. So I’m concerned that these guys will try to pin something on him or on Janice just to make it look like their time was being spent usefully.”

“That’s a concern,” Matt agreed. “These guys have a reputation for being cowboys. I didn’t think it was a good idea for Wexler to call them in, but I didn’t have any say in the decision to do it. I do know from the grapevine that they’ve come up with another couple leads, and I’d bet they’ll want to talk to Janice, if only on general principles. Even if she wasn’t involved she might know something useful. Under the circumstances it might be a little tough to actually hang something on her, but they might try. So I think it would be best if they weren’t allowed to talk with her without my being present. As far as that goes, the same goes for the rest of you. Also, don’t let them search this house or your vehicles without a search warrant. Keep your house and car doors locked. You say Cody is with Janice?”

“She says she doesn’t feel quite as scared of everything when he’s around,” John replied. “Frankly, I can’t say as I blame her.”

“All right,” Matt nodded. “When I see the kids tomorrow, I’ll give them lecture number one about search and seizure, along with the lecture about not talking to them without an attorney present. That’s really about all we can do for now on that issue, but I’ll keep my ear to the ground.”

“Sorry we had to drag you into this,” John sighed.

“Don’t be,” Matt grinned. “A lawyer needs a little excitement in his life once in a while. This is a lot more interesting than routine property transfers and wills, and what’s more, I really get to help someone.”

“Well,” John said after Matt had left. “That was easier than I expected. Not quite what I expected, but easier.”

“Do you think she’ll go for it?” Candice asked.

“No reason she shouldn’t,” John commented. “It’s a good deal for her all the way around. I was afraid we were going to really have to do things the hard way.”

“I was afraid we were going to be buried in paperwork from Family and Children’s Services,” Candice admitted. “But maybe not. Anyway, I think I’d better try to call Shay again.”

“You haven’t gotten hold of him yet?”

“All I get is ‘not available’ from his service,” she shrugged. “The odds are that he forgot to charge up his cell phone again.”

“We seem to have an epidemic of that in this family,” John shook his head. “Think how much simpler the last day would have been if at least one of us had remembered to charge up the cell phone in the Escort.”

“No fooling,” Candice shook her head. “And what’s more it’s still got to be done, as far as I know.”

“No, I put it in the charger when I brought it home last night,” John replied, “but it’s still here.”

“It makes you wonder about technology in general,” Candice said, just a little amused. “It doesn’t always make life easier, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll wait till you have him on the line, if you get him,” John said. “Then I think I’ll head downstairs and pick up the phone. That way, I can stare at the logging section a bit. I need some model time to relax after the last day.”

“Don’t get too relaxed,” she said with a smile as she picked up the phone, and started to dial Shay’s cell phone number. “We’ve got something to do upstairs and we might as well not be totally exhausted when we get to it. I want you totally exhausted when we’re done, though.”

“So that was a hint earlier, I take it?” he grinned.

“Yaah, you betcha. It’s ringing . . . ‘the customer you have reached is not available at this time,’” she said. “The heck with it, I’m going to try his land line.”

“Friday night?” John snorted as she hung up the phone and dialed again. “Get real, he’s probably out partying someplace.”

“Archer’s Morgue,” she heard her older son say. “You stab ’em, we slab ’em.”

“Good God, Shay,” she said. “That line was old when I was a kid. Besides, it’s not all that funny right now.” She glanced up to see that John was headed for the basement. “Your dad was just saying that you were probably out partying right now.”

“Not this weekend, Mom,” he replied. “It’s the weekend before finals, and I’m actually studying.”

“I am shocked at the thought,” she teased. “In case you’re not aware of it, cell phones come with this accessory called a charger. Have you used yours recently? I’ve been trying to call you since last night.”

“Oh, shit,” he said. There was a quick pause before he replied. “You’re right, deader than hell. I should know better. Is it something important?”

“You might say that,” she said, feeling the desire to needle Shay a little. “Your brother shot and killed two men last night, and it looks like you’re going to have a new sister.”

“Mom, I hate to say this, but aren’t you getting a little old to be pregnant? Or are you just pulling my leg about that, and about Cody, too?”

“Well, I’m not too old to be pregnant, but I’m not pregnant,” she replied as she heard John pick up the phone in the basement. “Otherwise, everything else is true.”

“Hi, Shay,” John said. “I presume your mother told you already.”

“Yeah, not that I believe a word of it. I can’t imagine Cody shooting a couple people or getting a new sister, either one.”

“Unfortunately, it’s true,” John said. “To make a long story short, Cody found Jack and Bobby Lufkin beating and raping Janice Lufkin, so he stopped them. Permanently. A head shot apiece permanently.”

“My God, is he in jail or something?”

“Right now, and I say this with my fingers crossed, it doesn’t look like he’s going to jail,” John replied. “Apparently one or both of them went for a shotgun, so it’s self-defense. We don’t have the official word on that, yet. He’s down in the hospital with Janice. We just came from there. She had the shit pounded out of her, but she ought to be all right. She sees Cody as the guardian angel that came to save her life, so since he killed her whole family, not that they were worth the cost of the cartridges, we offered to take her in.”

“Yeah, I knew Bobby a little,” John said. “That was before he got kicked out of school. A real asshole from the word go, and liked to beat up on people who were smaller than he was. He was far enough ahead of me that I never had any trouble, though. I guess he got it from his father. Wow, I can’t believe it! I’m not sure I remember Janice, but I just can’t believe Cody would do something like that.”

“We’re having trouble believing it ourselves,” Candice told him. “But I’ve told you time and again, don’t underestimate your brother just because he’s not a jock.”

“Yeah, I guess I should have learned that by now,” Shay said thoughtfully. “Look, Mom, Dad. Do you need me to come home? I don’t have wheels here, but I could maybe borrow somebody’s.”

“No, there’s nothing that pressing, not with it being the weekend before finals,” she told him. “Somebody will be up next week to pick you up. Thursday, about noon, right?”

“Yeah, I should have everything packed and be out of my last final by then,” he said. “But you’re sure you don’t need me now? I’ll be glad to do what I can to help.”

This sounded like the golden moment to Candice. “Well, there is one thing,” she said. “Like we said, we’re thinking we’re going to be taking Janice in, and that’ll probably last while she’s still in high school. She’s been through a rough time and the little bedroom is kind of small for her. We’re thinking that maybe we should move your stuff in there and let her have your room.”

“Yeah, I guess it’d be all right,” Shay said reluctantly. “After all, the little bedroom is still bigger than my half of the dorm room. Besides, I don’t plan on being around much. Over break, yeah, but I think I got a job lined up for next summer.”

“A job?” John said, a little surprised. This was news!

“Yeah, working down at Cedar Point, that’s an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. I’ve been talking with Bethany on the phone a lot, and she doesn’t want to have to spend all summer bored shitless in Spearfish Lake, so she lined up a job down there. Well, the idea sounded pretty good to me, and with Bethany there it sounded even better, so, well, I applied and got accepted. I don’t know what they’re going to have me doing, but it ought to be a lot of fun.”

With Bethany there and hundreds of miles away from her parents, Candice thought, it proposed to be even more fun. Shay had gone out with her a lot in his last year in high school, but her mother had kept a close watch over her, and had been more than a little relieved when the two of them wound up going to different colleges several hundred miles apart. It sounded like the two of them had worked out the perfect solution to the problem, and that thought brought forth the vision of the two of them having a lot of enjoyable activities together, especially in bed. She couldn’t say that she approved – she was a mother, after all, but had once been a randy college student herself, so at least she was amused.

Candice could hear the sparkle in John’s voice as he said, “Yeah, it might be good for you.” He was probably thinking the same thing she was, she thought. “Are you planning on getting an apartment or something?” he asked.

“No, they have dorm rooms for the summer workers,” Shay reported. “That was one of the nice things. The pay isn’t much, but they cover a lot of the extra expenses. But it would sure be nice to have a car down there to get out of the place once in a while. I don’t suppose I could take the Escort?”

Here it was, the quid pro quo for giving up his room to Janice, and both Candice and John recognized it in an instant. “We’ll have to see,” John said slowly. “I still think it’s pointless for you to have a car on campus as a freshman, given the parking situation, but it’d be different when you’re an upperclassman. We’ll kick it around when you’re home on break.”

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