Queen Takes Pawn

"What the hell are you doing here??" asked Linda.

"Um... you said I could have Cody for the weekend?" Sarah asked.

"Oh... Oh yeah!" said Linda, seemingly coming to a realization. "Yeah... come on in, I'll get him."

"Where is Cody?" asked Sarah, walking over the threshold into the rented house. Linda was dressed in a stained yellow t-shirt and panties. She walked towards the partially collapsed sofa where Roy, her boyfriend sat.

"Probably hiding in his room," said Linda, gesturing generally in the direction of the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

"Yeah, he's a little coward like his pop!" said Roy, wearing a beer t-shirt and boxer shorts. He smirked at Sarah and turned his ear towards her, expecting something.

Sarah bit her tongue. She had to keep her cool around them or they'd deny access to Cody.

"You got something for me?" asked Linda, smiling brightly. She almost looked beautiful, like she did before it all went wrong.

"Oh! Yes I do," said Sarah, handing Linda an envelope. Linda looked into the envelope and then gave it to Roy, who gestured with it to Sarah and then smirked before tossing it on the coffee table.

"Cody! Get your ass out here! Your gramma is here for ya!" shouted Linda in an annoyed tone. "Shit, man," she muttered under her breath.

Cody walked out of the hallway dressed in a ballcap, dirty jeans, and a stained jersey, his head lowered, looking at the floor.

"Hey! Kid! Come here," said Linda, staring not at Cody but at Sarah. She held her arms out. Cody shuffled reluctantly to her embrace. Linda kissed the side of his face, smirking at Sarah the entire time.

"Mommy's big brave boy!" she said, staring at Sarah the whole time. She released Cody and he shuffled out of the front door, not looking up.

Sarah put on a tight smile. "Um... I'll have him back Sunday night," she said through her fake grin.

"You better have that mopey bitch here by 7pm sharp," said Roy, barely hiding his amusement.

"Sure thing," said Sarah, turning to walk out of the filthy house.

"You're so bad, man, I can't believe you," whispered Linda to Roy, quiet snickering.

"What about you? You-" Roy's laughing voice mercifully cut off when the front door shut.

The ride to grandmother's house was quiet. Cody looked out of the window the whole time, not facing her.

Cody ran to his bedroom as soon as they went home. Sarah made his favorite spaghetti.

Cody's dad Phillip was too kind. He tried to fix people. He met Linda in high school. She had a troubled home life and ended up living with Sarah, Phillip and Ben, her husband. Romance bloomed between Phillip and Linda and she ended up pregnant their senior year in high school.

One day, Phillip had come home from his after school job to find Linda and Ben having sex. After being caught red-handed, Ben and Linda were both crying and apologetic. They each said it meant nothing and it was only the one time and a moment of weakness, but the damage was done. Phillip almost instantly turned cold and beat his dad into the hospital right then and there. He turned on Linda, but left before striking his pregnant fiancée. Linda begged him not to go, but he disappeared.

Cody was born later and they did a paternity test. Cody was Ben's child, not Phillip's. Sarah started divorce proceedings, realizing that this had to have been an ongoing deliberate affair. Ben had begged her not to leave him or divorce him, but Sarah remained resolute. Ben ended up eating a bullet in their backyard.

At least he had the courtesy to not mess up my house, thought Sarah at the time. She was dead inside for a long while until therapy, meds, and the grieving process made her feel somewhat normal again, whatever normal was now.

The main thing that pulled Sarah from the edge was Cody's birth. Despite what Linda had done, Sarah took care of her during her pregnancy. After Cody was born, Linda dealt with her grief by going out with friends every night. That coupled with dealing with post partum depression, led to her getting involved with Roy, a drug dealer who kept her supplied as long as she was his arm candy. Linda was very beautiful. Now, seven years later, her addictions had turned her cold and bitter. She only thought of getting high.

Linda and Roy somehow convinced a social worker to put Cody with them, so that Linda could get government assistance. Sarah found out that, after a couple of years together, Roy had gotten Linda to become a prostitute in return for living with Roy rent free and all the drugs she could use. Sarah fought hard for custody of Cody, but she was inexplicably denied it. Later on, a private investigator told her off the record it was because Roy was a confidential informant for the police. As long as Roy kept the police supplied with arrests for the crime statistics and kept his products out of the hands of anyone under 18 years old, he was free to be king of his neighborhood and afforded many courtesies.

Cody ate slowly, his ballcap on with his head down.

"Take your cap off at the table, honey," said Sarah softly. Cody took it off and put it on the chair next to him.

Sarah noticed that Cody was favoring the right side of his mouth. She reached across the table to cradle Cody's chin and lifted it gently. The left side of Cody's face looked... odd. She touched it and Cody winced and flinched away from her hand. Sarah's fingers came away with makeup on them. Sarah licked a her thumb and smeared away a portion of the makeup, seeing a bruise beneath it.

"Open your mouth, sweetie," she said carefully. Cody opened his mouth and she noticed four missing teeth on the bottom left of his jaw.

Her breath caught in her throat.

"What happened?"

"I fell," said Cody looking away. "Those are my baby teeth. I'll lose them shortly anyway."

A balloon of ice cold water exploded in her stomach. Sarah acknowledged what Cody said and strove to keep it together during the rest of dinner until Cody finally went off to play on her Ipad.

She stood up and stumbled into the backyard, grabbing a decorative pillow off of the sofa as she went. She weaved into the center of the backyard, fell to her knees and screamed and wept with abject rage into the pillow, mostly muffling the sound.

When Cody finished taking a bath, Sarah saw more bruises on his abdomen and upper arms. She called Child Protective Services. The next day a man came to see her. She opened up the door and a familiar face stood there. She deflated.

"Hi, Sarah... Ms. Miller," sighed the detective. "You know why I'm here right?"

"He knocked out Cody's teeth! There are bruises all over his body!" screamed Sarah.

"Yes but you can't prove Roy or Linda did it, Ms. Miller," said the detective, sighing tiredly. "I mean, YOU could have done it to frame them."

"But-", started Sarah.

"Sarah, he's still a valuable asset, but he's quickly outlasting his usefulness. He'll be sent to jail soon and his fellow inmates will find out that he was an informant and then he won't last two days alive in that place, so just be patient."

"Come look at his bruises, Larry! Come and-" Sarah started.

"Look, Sarah! My hands are tied here!" shouted Larry, frustrated. "You want me to go pound Roy's ass into the dirt? It will only cause him to attack your grandson harder next time! Just be patient. He's going to be arrested within a couple of months, I'm telling you!"

"He knocked out his teeth, Larry!" yelled Sarah, starting to sob.

"I'm sorry Sarah, but that's it," said Larry with finality. Larry left.

When she returned Cody to Roy and Linda, they had to park down the street. As they were walking to the house, Sarah saw a BMW. It was the same BMW she saw there frequently when she picked Cody up and dropped him off. A handsome young man stood next to it, surrounded by girls who were dressed up.

"Hey Cody, who's that man?" asked Sarah, a plan starting to formulate.

"Oh... uh... That's Hector Martinez," said Cody matter-of-factly. "He's always surrounded by girls. He's usually around here."

Sarah stopped and grabbed Cody's face and stared into his eyes. "Cody, do you want to come live with me full time?"

"You already know I do," said Cody, sadly.

"Just stay strong for one more week, ok?" asked Sarah, her eyes fixed on his.

"O-Okay," replied Cody, his eyes wide.

"Just do this for me, ok?" asked Sarah. "When I come get you next week, refuse to leave your room until they come to get you, ok?"

"But-", protested Cody.

"Don't worry, they won't beat you up in front of me. I'll protect you. When you leave there that next week, you won't have to go back, ever."

Cody nodded his head and started to cry.

Sarah dropped off Cody to Linda and Roy, keeping her anger and disgust hidden behind a plastic smile.

Sarah went to a big box store and bought 3 cheap smartphones. She looked at social media sites constantly for 3 days looking at screen caps for texts. She then downloaded a program for creating fake text messages that look like they were sent in the past.

She started texting one smartphone from the other. Then she'd text back with the other smartphone.

Hey.

Hey yourself. Who dis?

Linda

Roy's bitch? Why u texting me?

cuz ur cute!

oh man! I know it, baby!

laughing emoji

U wanna meet? Roy is off playing video games with his friends.

She made many text threads, calling Roy a "cuck", talking about his "tiny dick". They'd reminisce about their sexual fun and "Linda" would tell "Hector" how much better he was in bed than Roy. "Linda" thoroughly emasculated Roy in those texts, saying things that Roy would never forgive.

The next Friday, Sarah was walking up the sidewalk to Linda and Roy's place to fetch Cody. She saw Hector's car there, as it usually was. Sarah said a little prayer. It was getting dark, so she was certain she could get away with it. She tossed the smartphone she designated as being Hector's into the backseat of his car. His windows were always rolled down so they could blast out music for everyone to listen and dance to.

She walked up to Roy and Linda's home, steeling her nerves. She knocked and Linda opened the door.

"Heeeeey grandma!" keened Linda, obviously high. "Y'here for mister frowny?" She started laughing at her own joke.

Roy started laughing behind her. "Mister frowny? HAHAHA. God Damn that's funny, baby! HAHAHA"

"Heh. Y-yeah. Here for... uh... mister frowny," said Sarah with a false clenched smile.

"Hey kid! Come on! Yer gramma's here!" shouted Linda.

They all waited a bit. Linda huffed, exasperated. "COME ON, BOY!"

"Fuck it, Imma go get the little bastard," said Roy, quickly walking to Cody's room.

"Wait! Roy! Don't do-," Linda looked at Sarah and ran after Roy talking to him sharply in hushed tones.

Sarah took out "Linda's" smartphone and slipped it into a side pocket of Linda's purse, which was laying on the floor next to the sofa.

Roy walked out of the hall a little bit later, pushing Cody in front of him.

"Whassa matter with you? It's gramma for fuck's sake!" yelled Roy.

Sarah threw the money envelope onto a side table and towed Cody out of the house.

"Sunday night! 7pm!" yelled Roy after them.

They walked past Hector's car, blaring out what passed for music in his world. Sarah noted the phone was still there in the back seat.

Later, driving in the car, Cody looked at his grandmother. "I won't have to go back? Promise?"

Sarah nodded her head, holding back tears. "Yes, Cody. You're all mine now."

Cody leaned back his head and started softly crying.

Later, after Cody was asleep, Sarah slipped out of the house and went two doors down to Cheryl Dodd's place. She had arranged to meet Cheryl's son who was home on leave for a few days from the military.

"I have $200 here, Gary," said Sarah. "All I need you to do is to make a phone call and say what's here on this piece of paper."

Gary was reluctant at first, but Sarah assured him that all he was doing was telling a guy his girl was cheating on him.

"Wouldn't you want to know if it happened to you?" Sarah asked reasonably.

"Why can't YOU tell him?" asked Gary.

"He wouldn't believe me," said Sarah. "We kind of have bad blood between us. But that doesn't mean I want him to live in a lie, either! He's family and I want him to know."

Gary nodded. It sounded reasonable to him.

After some practicing, Gary made the call. He put it on speaker.

"Yo Red," said Gary, using Roy's alternate id. "You got any daisies?"

"Nah man, no daisies," said Roy.

Gary looked at Sarah questioningly and Sarah gestured strongly at a line on the page she'd written.

"Uh... how about violets?" asked Gary.

"Yeah we got that," responded Roy.

"Gimme a dozen."

"OK that'll be 25 ok?"

"Sure thing, man. Send it to 4568 Benson Rd." It was the address of a pump station.

"OK cash on delivery," said Roy.

"Hey man. Before you hang up, I gotta tell you something," said Gary, concerned.

"OK..."

"Yo, not tryin to start drama, but your girl's been out here wildin'. Like she's not loyal for real."

"The fuck you talkin' about?"

"Hector Martinez, man. She gotta burner phone. I heard 'em talking about it."

"What the fuck man? Who the fuck are you?"

"Look man, believe me or don't believe me. My conscience is clear either way." Gary hung up the phone.

Sarah paid Gary $200 cash. She thanked him for his service.

Sarah went back home, took out one of Bill's larger hammers, and smashed the phone until it didn't resemble anything man made. She swept up the bits into a dustpan and dumped it in a plastic bag. Any residual dust was sucked up by the shop vac.

She took the shop vac to Goodwill and left it there near the donation bin. She took the fragments of the phone and threw it into a dumpster behind a church. One that had no outdoor cameras. She went home and waited.

Saturday afternoon, Larry was knocking at her door again.

"What do you want, Larry?" asked Sarah. "This is harassment. I haven't made any reports."

"Cool your jets, Sarah," said Larry. "I have some... news."

"Yes? What?" asked Sarah, expectantly.

Larry looked past Sarah into her home. "Is Cody around?"

"He's out in the backyard playing with his toys."

"Good," said Larry, sighing. He stared at Sarah intensely.

"What??" asked Sara, annoyed.

"Linda is dead," replied Larry, still staring at Sarah.

After Roy got the call from Gary, his drug addled paranoia kicked in. He looked through Linda's purse and found the second phone. It wasn't password protected, so the fake text messages were readily available.

Enraged by the emasculation of the texts, he cold cocked Linda in the face as she walked into the living room, taking her by surprise. Roy was choking her into unconsciousness before she could even ask why.

Roy walked with purpose towards Hector's car. As soon as he stood next to it, he dialed Hector's contact number on Linda's burner phone. He saw the screen of the other burner phone light up in the back seat of Hector's car.

"You fucking fuck!", screamed Roy, tears streaming down his face. He reached behind, pulling his Desert Eagle from his waistband. Hector whipped out his 9mm Glock and chaos erupted.

The end result was Roy on his back, drowning in his own blood and Hector passing out as they wrapped a makeshift tourniquet around what remained of his arm.

Larry stared at Sarah.

"What? What has the investigation turned up?" asked Sarah, annoyed, but starting to cry. Linda's death really hit her more than she thought.

"Oh yeah, the governor's putting together a whole task force," said Larry dryly.

"Huh?" asked Sarah, puzzled.

"Sarah, when pieces of shit get killed, they just get flushed," explained Larry. "We're not spending taxpayer money on an investigation. It's obvious what happened."

Larry stared at Sarah. "The timing's, weird, though, Sarah. And Roy was a valuable asset. I don't know..." he trailed off, still staring.

Sarah stood there defiantly, thinking of Cody.

"Pff! Whatever," laughed Larry, walking away. He stopped and turned around.

"Hey Sarah," called Larry. "Don't take up any more new hobbies." He smirked.

"Hey Larry," called Sarah. "Don't fuck with me!"

She slammed the door.

In the months that followed, Cody was in intense therapy. Like all abused children, he had scars inside and outside. Sarah wanted Cody to accept those scars as a part of himself and move forward, rather then let them alienate him from connecting with others.

Sarah needed therapy, but she was afraid she'd admit her part in the mess. She couldn't risk going to jail by admitting anything, even for healing and closure. She willingly walked around with open wounds so that she could take care of Cody's. She accepted the nightmares of Linda, Roy, and Bill pointing their fingers at her and screaming like shrill banshees. Small price to pay.

Cody grew up strong. When he was 10, Phillip showed up at Sarah's door. Sarah threw her arms around Phillip and cried tears of joy. Phillip started to explain where he'd been, but Sarah just told him to shut up and meet his half brother.

They lived together. They had triumphs and tragedies. They had loves and losses. They ran from some things and ran towards other things.

They lived. That was enough.