The Paladin Book 1 Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Saturday

December 11th

My third date with Alicia was approaching faster than I could believe. We’d been hanging out with one another pretty much every day with me spending so much time at her father’s penthouse. Even though most of the time was spent working she frequently would lend a hand, with skills that rivaled if not surpassed her father's. Between the three of us, we had started to work out the final kinks in the Syncware 3’s just before launch on New Years, with Alicia coming in particularly handy when fixing a bug with the audio system. I had Saturday night off, as Alex had business to attend to at a twenty-one and over gala that I evidently was not invited to. So Alicia figured since I had gotten to know her father intimately well, having worked shoulder to shoulder with him for the past couple weeks, that she should meet my family. Normally I would object but since it was a night my dad was working late on a case I figured it would be a prime opportunity. I had the night planned well in advance, making sure that all my family members put their best foot forward. I made my brother dress in something presentable if he was going to be hanging out with us (and trust me, he wanted to meet Alex Romero’s daughter), and I made Marian promise to only come downstairs when she needed to get food. That didn’t please my mom too much but Marian seemed to be all for the arrangement. Around five o’clock I heard my doorbell ring. Shouldn’t be here for another twenty minutes? I thought to myself as I opened up the door.

“Hi Booker,” Samantha greeted. I stood flabbergasted. How shit can my luck be? She had to pick that day, of all days, to come to my house.

“Hey, Samantha? What are you doing here?” I questioned.

“I wanted to talk, can I come in? It’s really cold out here,” she asked.

“Sure, come in,” I agreed, opening the door up. She walked in, giving me a once-over when she was indoors.

“What’s with the skinny jeans and the button down? Never thought I’d see you wearing those before,” she questioned.

“Alicia is coming over to meet my family,” I answered bluntly.

“Oh… Right… You two are a thing now, right?”

“Yeah… We’re a thing,” I confirmed with a palpable awkwardness. That seemed to sting a little, and right as my mom walked in.

“What a pleasant surprise! How’s it going Samantha? I didn’t know you’d be dropping by,” my mom greeted warmly, giving Samantha a hug.

“Neither did I,” I mumbled.

“Are you going to stay for dinner? We’ve got plenty of spaghetti and meatballs cooking,” my mom offered. My eyes widened as I tried to motion to my mom that it was a bad idea as discreetly as I could.

“Oh no Mrs. Kelly I couldn’t really. I just wanted to have a quick chat with Booker if that’s okay. Then I’ll be out of your hair,” she made clear.

“Alright then, I’ll get back to the dinner,” my mom excused, heading out of earshot.

“So I’ve been keeping up in the newspapers, seems you and Johnny have been busy.”

“And you haven’t. What’s going on? You rarely ever take a break.”

“Is this what you wanted to talk about? The Paladin? Crime fighting?” I asked.

“I wanted to apologize for what happened at Thanksgiving, it was a really shitty thing for me to do to you. More importantly I wanted to say that I care for you and that the feeling you had was mutual, it wasn’t just you,” she explained. At first, I did a double take in disbelief of what I was hearing. You’re joking me.

“I’m sorry what?”

“When you told me how you felt it just was so much. I feel like I’m this terrible person, and I see you and you’re so… good… you know? I didn’t want to bring you down with me. I didn’t think I deserved your affection so I pushed you away. I didn’t give you a chance because of my own issues and I was wrong to do that.”

“Oh jeez, Samantha. You couldn’t have worse timing,”

“I know,” she agreed.

“Showing up here three weeks later, saying that you have feelings for me just before my third date. I mean I put myself out there and with the reaction you had, I thought that I’d just thrown away our friendship for nothing,” I scoffed.

“I know and the truth is I never wanted you to leave. But I thought that if you stayed I would turn you into something you weren’t, like what you did to Deckard. I’d never seen you do something like that before.”

“That is not fair,” I objected.

“You’re right, it’s not. Booker, I have holes in my memory from when I was younger, whole sections of my life missing, and I get these moments of anger where I just lose control. I’ve got all these crazy issues that I thought would either drive you away or make you as crazy as I am. But you know what, you’re right, I never gave you the benefit of the doubt. I never gave you the chance to support me because I didn’t want to burden you with my baggage, and that wasn’t fair. I should have given you a chance.”

“I get it Samantha, I really do, but now that ship has sailed. I’m with Alicia now, she was there when it counted, and she wants me for me. I really am sorry,” I made clear. I could see the same reaction running through her that ran through me on Thanksgiving, being wordless as your emotions lay shattered on the ground. Come to find out it felt no better being on the other end.

“You’re right. I should probably get going,” she agreed, motioning to the door.

“I think that would be best,” I concurred. She turned her back and walked away, her sadness evident in every step as she went out the door. Not a few moments later did Alicia come knocking on the door with a slightly confused look on her face. “Hey what’s up?” I greeted, taking a deep breath as I pulled myself together.

“I just saw Samantha come out of here, what was that all about?” she questioned.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” I sighed. My mom came rushing out of the kitchen to greet Alicia with her cooking apron and oven mitts still on.

“You must be Alicia. Booker has told me so much about you,” she greeted.

“Only good things I hope,” Alicia joked.

“No, only the nastiest and meanest things,” I jested.

“Very funny. From what he tells me you’re a very sweet and lovely girl. Are you hungry? Dinner’s about to be ready and I might have made a bit too much pasta and garlic bread,” my mom offered.

“I’m starving, thank you,” Alicia agreed, as the three of us headed off to dinner.

The dinner went exceedingly well, better than I could have hoped for. Alicia instantly hit it off with pretty much every family member. Naturally, she went over huge with Blake and my mom, but even Marian found herself admitting that she was pretty cool. Granted, she phrased it by saying that Alicia was ‘too cool for me’ but that was good enough. By the time dinner and dessert had concluded my mom had dismissed me and her, saying that we wouldn’t have to clean up on our date. This brought us to the living room where I flicked on the TV and the two of us started channel surfing on the couch. The day couldn’t get much better until I heard another car pull into the driveway, then the door opened and I crossed my fingers that I hadn’t heard what I knew I did.

“Hey champ, this must be the new girlfriend,” my dad greeted. I sighed, realizing that there was no way this was going to end well.

“The one and only,” I confirmed.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Kelly, I’ve been looking forward to meeting all you guys and when I heard you weren’t going to be home tonight I was a little disappointed,” she noted.

“Well no need to worry, when Lisa told me you were over I decided I just couldn’t miss the opportunity,” my dad assured. I’m sure you did.

“So according to Booker, when he was little you used to make him go fly fishing up the river during the summer time? And you would force him to wear oversized overalls, and a fishing cap. Is there any truth to this?” Alicia questioned. My dad cracked a smile.

“Oh there’s more than truth, there are pictures,” my dad teased. WHAT?!

“Dad! You said you threw those away!” I whined.

“And you believed me? Come on Alicia? I’ve got a whole book full of summer pictures from ages four to eight,” my dad invited, motioning her towards his study. I quickly followed behind them, hoping to potentially divert my dad from showing the really embarrassing pictures. Suddenly I noticed Alicia catch a glance at a manilla folder on my dad’s desk. Romero.

“So Booker tells me you were a detective. You must have worked on some interesting cases over the years?” she posed.

“Not really, people assume his cases are often a lot more interesting than they are, too much Law and Order,” I insisted, trying to get us off the topic.

“I’ve had a few,” my dad confirmed vaguely, as he sifted through his dusty photo albums.

“I can imagine. I’ve got a question about one case in particular. Tatiana Romero. You guys were never able to find her killer were you?” she brought up. Shit. This was the worst case scenario, I couldn’t even blame my dad for bringing it up, the most I could get him for was negligence.

“We weren’t able to,” he confirmed.

“I’ve been doing some research in the public records, just to know what happened because my dad won’t talk about it. Every newspaper and journal I’ve read has had you listed as the lead detective but then said you were mysteriously taken off of it, why was that?” she continued.

“You’re right. I was the lead on the case, and they kicked me off it. I felt like we could’ve caught the guy who did it, everyone else thought the trail had gone cold,” he agreed.

“What made you feel that way? You were the only one who didn’t give up. I’m just curious what kept you going?” she asked. This was a make or break moment, my dad wasn’t a liar, in fact, there were few types of people he hated more. But if he told her the truth it would not only ruin the night but shatter Alicia’s relationship with her father.

“I knew your father growing up and I wasn’t gonna let his wife’s death go without trying my damndest to find justice for her,” my dad explained vaguely, dodging the question. Phew.

“I appreciate that, Mr. Kelly. Knowing that somebody cared about her as much as you did even after she was gone… I appreciate it a lot,” Alicia thanked.

“You’re welcome Alicia, your mother deserves justice. All I can do is hope that one day we’ll be able to make the piece of shit who did it to her pay,” my dad made clear. I sighed, realizing the crisis that had just been averted, and put my arm around Alicia.

“I think we should call it a night here, what do you think? It’s getting late and I’ve got some homework I need to take care of,” I insisted.

“That sounds like a good idea actually, I’m pretty beat. Sorry for the grim conversation Mr. Kelly, I just needed a bit of closure, and didn’t know of any other time to ask. It was really nice meeting you and the rest of the family. I’ll have to take a rain check on those photos,” she smiled.

“That’s no problem Alicia. I hope to be seeing you around here more often,” my dad replied, as I walked Alicia to the door where a driver was waiting for her outside. I waved to the driver and turned back to her, looking into her vibrant blue eyes. Trying to read what was going on behind them.

“You’ve got a cool family, Book. I hope they liked me and I really hope I didn’t make things awkward with your dad,” Alicia fretted.

“You kiddin’? They think you’re great, I can tell. And don’t worry about my dad, okay? He gets that you just want a few answers,” I assured. She smiled, giving me a hug and a kiss.

“See you soon,” she departed, heading towards the all black Town Car that her driver was standing next to. We gave each other one final wave and I walked back inside where my dad was sitting on the couch, pouring himself a scotch.

“Thanks for not making it weird, dad,” I sighed in relief.

“What exactly was I going to say? I think your dad killed your mom but I can’t really prove that? It’s better for her not to know until we can prove it,” he figured.

“Still, there were about a thousand ways you could have messed it up and you didn’t. So I appreciate it,” I elaborated.

“Good to know you think so highly of your old man,” my dad scoffed. I swatted him on the arm lightly, forcing him to scootch over on the couch.

“Just take the compliment will you? I’m saying thank you,” I insisted. My dad chuckled, grabbing himself another glass, sliding me his already poured tumbler.

“No problem, kid. Look, I feel like I’ve been doing this song and dance a lot for you recently, but I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting. I’ve been a real dick about you and Alicia and I shouldn’t be. Work’s just really crazy right now and I guess I’m taking out my stress on you, which isn’t fair,” he explained.

“What’s going on at work?”

“Oh, nothing really. It’s just that I've been working this Paladin case with Johnson and Quinn for a year now, each week a few new reports. Suddenly, a couple weeks ago the reports stopped. He’s just dropped off the map, no sign of him.”

“You say it like you’re disappointed. This is a good thing, isn’t it? I mean vigilantes and those types of people just make things worse and make your job harder. Now he’s quit, this should be a celebratory drink.”

“That’s what I thought… still think… I don’t know. When we were in the academy, when the ban on vigilantes hadn’t been placed yet, we were taught that vigilantes are, in the best of times, an asset, but in the worst of times, a liability. That they were our fellow community members taking a stand for themselves, and some of them were really good. Not to mention the powers… But since the ban, we’ve been told that they’re nothing but a liability, but I look at what’s happened in a few weeks since the Paladin has left and I think maybe we had it right all along.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying our city is changing. It’s bad out there, worse than it ever was and it’s only getting worse. A new caliber of criminal is moving in, the Gambinis, Russians, The Wolfe Family, the Yakuza, the Nubian Kings, chop doctors, gang activity like we’ve never seen. Hell, there are some rumors of some powered criminals starting to make some moves. And while I think that the cops are part of the solution, we can’t be the whole solution. We simply aren’t prepared for what’s coming,” he admitted.

“Guess you didn’t know what you had until it was gone,” I replied. He looked at me first with a scornful stare but it lightened when he realized I was right.

“Yeah, guess that’s true, never did have a nice thing to say about the guy. At the end of the day though, he fought for what he thought was right, and not because he was paid to or ‘cause somebody asked him. That’s a hell of a lot more than most of us do, got to respect that,” he made clear. I nodded in agreement. “You know what, to the Paladin, the one that got away, hopefully, he comes back. Though I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t,” my dad sighed, clanking his glass with mine, then knocked it back with a quick glug.