Chapter 75: Welcome to the family

I reversed my truck onto the drive at our new temporary home. Louise drove up beside me, as did Amanda. Ness, whom I’d given a garage opener, pulled straight into the garage. I’d put my truck in the garage later, but thought it would be easier to unload from the drive.

Amanda was the first to the front door and she opened up to let us all in. The girls hadn’t seen the house with all the furniture in yet so they decided to go on a tour before we unloaded the cars. Ness, of course, started with the kitchen.

I noticed her eyebrow raised on a couple of occasions as she noted where things were. I grinned at her.

“As long as you know,” she said with a superior air.

After the tour we started to unload all of our stuff. We’d put three wardrobes in the main bedroom and another two in the guest bedroom. If guests stayed, they’d have about half a wardrobe’s space to put their things in. With five girls in one bedroom, storage was at a premium. The new build was going to have a sizeable walk-in in the main bedroom.

Sarah also offered up some of her wardrobe space, since she had a double in her room and the girls were more than happy to take her up on it.

It took us over two hours to unload all the cars and get things put away roughly where we wanted them. I knew it was going to take a few weeks for us to completely settle in, but we made a great start. We were by no means finished though. Next, we needed to go food shopping since we had nothing at all in the house. There wasn’t as much as a grain of salt in any of the cupboards, so we needed to completely stock up.

We headed to the discount warehouse and literally filled my truck. I don’t ever remember spending quite so much in one hit on groceries. We not only had to buy the week’s food, but stock up on all the staples.

As normal, there were a few things that we’d couldn’t get from the warehouse. We stopped in at the supermarket on the way home and stocked up there too, spending almost as much as we used to spend on our weekly shop when we first moved out of the dorms.

We unloaded everything into the kitchen and I left Ness to put it all away. I went to the range and collected my guns, brought them home, and put them in the gun safe.

I stared into the safe once I’d put both guns inside. I really regretted not putting my grandfather’s ring inside the gun safe. I’d been wearing the ring that my parents had bought me for my 21^st, but my grandfather’s ring had been in the house when it burned up. There wasn’t a detectable trace of it left.

My father had actually cried when I’d told him over the telephone that it was gone. It had meant so much to him. I’d written to my aunt to let her know too. Somehow an email didn’t seem to have enough weight. Her response was more pragmatic.

“Just thank your lucky stars you weren’t wearing it when it burned up,” she sent back. That made me smile a little and I resolved to make the effort to go see her at some point in the summer break.

I was heading out to move my truck into the garage when I saw a middle-aged man leaving next door’s house. I figured he was too old to be June’s husband, perhaps one of their fathers? He had the look of law enforcement about him. I smiled and nodded at him as he walked to his vehicle. He gave a short nod as he looked me up and down. When he got into his car, I noticed him writing something down. I got the distinct impression he was taking down my license plate and wondered about that.

Shrugging, I moved my truck and went back into the house.

While the girls organized the bedroom, and Jules organized her workbench, Ness and I organized the kitchen. I looked out into the back yard and checked out the brick-built barbecue out there. It was in decent condition and, after a clean, would be very useable.

“Hi,” a man’s voice interrupted my inspection of the barbecue. I looked up to see him looking over the fence at me.

“Carl?” I asked walking over to shake his hand.

He nodded. “June said you were moving in today.”

“Yes,” I said. “We are. And yes, sorry, we’re students too. I’m Caleb.”

He laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “We kind of screwed up. On Google Streetview it looks like a nice family neighbourhood.”

“They didn’t really give us much choice,” I caught from his thoughts.

“There seems to be quite a lot of you,” he said. “I saw you moving in.”

“Yeah,” I said. “There’s nine of us. But we’re not a rowdy bunch, I promise. Although we have been kind of forced into a house-warming party in a couple of weeks, so – sorry about that. You’re more than welcome to drop by.”

“We’re not really the party type,” he said. “With a young child, who sleeps when she wants, anytime she’s asleep we try and join.”

“I met her,” I said with a smile. “She seems full of mischief.”

“That’s one way to put it,” he said with a weary sigh.

Just then June came out to join her husband. She was carrying Carly. On seeing me, Carly broke out into a wide grin and, as June approached the fence, held her arms out toward me.

Carl shook his head. “She’s not usually so keen on strangers,” he said.

I shrugged. “Kids and cats,” I said. June smiled a little, having decided I was kidding, but Carl looked confused.

“Listen,” I said. “I was going to fire up the barbecue for dinner. How about you guys join us? It will save you cooking at least, and you can get to know the madhouse?”

“You just moved in,” said June. “Surely you have enough to do?”

“We have to eat,” I said, “and given there’s so many of us anyway, a couple more mouths aren’t going to make that much difference. To be honest, we’ve been living in a hotel for a while and my fiancée and I have both been dying to get back to cooking.

They looked at each other. Both of them looked bone tired. I wondered if Carly was the only cause, but didn’t snoop.

“If you’re sure,” said June. “Can we bring anything?”

“Just yourselves, oh and something to sit on,” I said. “Is there anything you don’t or won’t eat? Allergies and that kind of thing?”

“No,” said Carl, “we’re pretty omnivorous.”

“Perfect,” I said. “I’m going to get the grill cleaned, and then fire it up. Shall we say six thirty? Or is that too late for little miss there?”

“Ha,” said Carl. “If only. If we put her down before nine, she’s up at two. Even then we’re lucky to make it to four most mornings. Any later though and she won’t sleep at all and then she’s a demon the next day.”

“Wow,” I said. “I don’t envy you in the slightest.”

“That’s why noise is such a problem for us,” said June. “If she goes down and gets woken, then that’s her up for the night.”

“We’ll try and make sure not to wake her,” I said sympathetically.

Just then Mary came out into the yard.

“Caleb,” she said, “what are we doing for dinner?”

“We’re having guests,” I said. “And I was going to fire up the barbecue.” I turned to the neighbors. “This is Mary, my fiancée. Mary, Carl and June ... our new neighbors. That little fireball there is Carly.”

Mary smiled at the family. “You’re coming over for dinner?” she asked.

“If it’s not too much trouble” June said.

“Not at all.” Mary answered. “Caleb and Ness love cooking, so the more the merrier.”

I saw a puzzled expression on Carl’s face, but he chose not to voice the thought running through his head. I’d told him my fiancée liked to cook and Mary, who’d been introduced as my fiancée, had named someone else.

I wondered how that was going to play out. But chose not to say anything right then.

“I’d better get to cleaning,” I said, “if we’re going to get cooking in time.”

I moved back to the barbecue and set to the task at hand.

Melanie, having made sure nobody was looking, lit the barbecue for me just after six, and by six thirty I was thoroughly enjoying myself cooking on it. Ness was in the kitchen baking potatoes, making salad, and fixing other things to go with the meat I was cooking.

At almost exactly six thirty, the neighbours emerged from their house and stepped into our yard. There was only a partial fence between our two properties which was how Carly had managed to get into our house so easily earlier in the week. They brought over a couple of garden chairs and placed them next to our furniture. I made the introductions.

“This is Mary, Amanda, Jules, and Ness. Melanie and Sarah, my sisters, and our friends Louise and Josh, her boyfriend.”

“Are you all students at PSU?” asked June.

“I’m at a catering college,” said Ness. “Everyone else is at PSU.”

“Is Arnie coming over?” I asked Sarah. She nodded.

“He said he’d be here before seven,” she said. “Arnie’s my fiancée,” she went on to explain to Carl and June. Meanwhile Carly, having been directed in no uncertain terms away from the hot grill, was sitting on her mother’s lap sharing her dinner.

“What do you do?” I asked Carl.

“I’m an acc...” he began “Salesman,” he corrected. “They used to call us account managers, but that’s old school.” He laughed.

“Oh?” I said. “What do you sell?”

“Fasteners,” he said. “To industry. Not very exciting but it pays the bills.”

“Nice,” I said. “So why the move to Portland?”

“June wanted to be nearer to her family,” he said, “now Carly is getting a little older.”

“Nice to have the support,” I said.

“If only,” sighed June.

“Was that your dad I saw leaving earlier?” I asked June.

“No,” said Carl, hastily. “That was a colleague of mine. He’d come to drop off some paperwork. What about you guys? What are you all studying?”

We continued to chat about incidentals while we ate. Arnie arrived just before seven and I hit the grill again to cook him something. He was more than grateful.

Carl and June stayed until just before nine, and I could see that Carly was starting to doze in her mother’s lap. June looked at Carl and indicated the little girl.

“We’d better get her settled,” said Carl. “If we miss the window – that’s us up all night.”

“No problem,” I said. “Thanks for coming over.”

“It’s us who should be thanking you,” he said. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

June took Carly into the house, while Carl picked up the chairs and took them back to their own yard.

We stayed out in our yard, talking quietly. I treated myself to a beer, which had become somewhat of a ritual I’d missed since the fire.

Sarah was sitting in Arnie’s lap in one of the lawn chairs. They were talking quietly, which progressed to kissing. I picked up some of the dirty plates and took them into the house. A few minutes later Melanie came in with some more, then Ness. Within the next ten minutes Arnie and Sarah were alone in the yard, enjoying the privacy.

I wondered if they’d even noticed we’d left.

I heard Arnie leave just as I was about to get into the shower. By the time I was done, Sarah was sitting on the edge of our new bed.

“Arnie didn’t want to stay?” I asked.

“He has an early lesson in the morning,” she said. “His Dad said he had to be back. I know it’s his house, but Arnie’s eighteen. Surely...”

I shrugged. “That’s for him and his dad to resolve,” I said. “Don’t forget it’s not just his home. It’s his job too. If they fall out Arnie could be left with nothing. Also let’s not forget that Arnie leaving home will be leaving his dad there alone. I don’t know what happened with his mom, but I get the feeling it’s been those two for a little while.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s just...”

“Bear with it,” I said. “His dad will chill out, I’m sure. Is he coming over tomorrow before the concert?”

“He says so,” she said. “His last lesson finishes at three. So, he should be here after.”

“Nice,” I said, getting into bed.

Sarah climbed in beside me, and laid her head on my shoulder.

“This is so weird,” she said. I laughed.

“I know,” I said, stroking her hair. She sighed and snuggled in. I rolled my power over us both and slid into sleep.

It was nice to start to get back into a normal routine. Sunday morning Melanie, Sarah, and I got up at four, and headed out for a run. We scouted out a new route, and my watch told me that we’d covered just over six miles. I was feeling good, and Melanie looked good. Sarah still looked winded by the time we got back. I figured that she’d need at least a few more weeks before we could start to extend the range even more.

Lights were on in the neighbor’s house when we got back, and I wondered if Carly had woken them up. It was still early, and I’d planned to do another hour of martial arts in the yard before the rest of our household emerged. Sarah watched for the first fifteen minutes while she recovered, but then joined us.

Ness and I made breakfast for everyone and then we settled to our normal Sunday routine.

“I think,” said Amanda as we were all catching up with our schoolwork, “that we should christen the new bed later.” Mary smiled.

“Great idea,” said Ness. I looked at Jules who grinned. Apparently, it was her ‘on’ time. Melanie didn’t seem averse to the idea and I figured I was going to have an interesting evening.

Sarah looked from girl to girl and then to me.

“You and Arnie should have some ‘alone time,’” Amanda told her.

Sarah blushed, but smiled. “Maybe we will,” she said.

Arnie arrived just after four, and was surprised to see that we were already cooking dinner.

“You hungry?” I asked him.

“Always,” he said.

“We decided to eat before the concert,” I told him. “Although it’s going to be a late night in any case.”

“I told my dad I was staying over,” he told me. “Sarah said it would be okay.”

I grinned at him. “How did he take that?” I asked.

“I got the lecture,” he said. “Again.”

I laughed. “He’s just concerned about you,” I said. He shrugged.

We’d finished dinner before five thirty and I cleared away the dishes as usual. The girls had all disappeared to ‘get ready,’ although I didn’t quite know what that entailed. I was going as I was, and I think Josh and Arnie had the same idea.

Miraculously the girls were all ready in record time and it was only just after six thirty when we left for the fifteen-minute drive to the Moda Center. It took a little longer due to the concert traffic. But we were parked and walking into the center in plenty of time. The concert was due to start at eight.

As we walked up to the front of the venue, there were security staff checking tickets and searching purses. I’d advised advised the girls not to bring their purses because I knew this was likely to happen.

“Next,” called one of the security staff, and we went over and showed him the tickets I’d been given.

“Oh,” he said. “You’ve got VIP tickets. Head over to that guy there. He’ll take care of you.”

Louise gave me a significant look which told of at least a thank you blowjob sometime in my future. Amanda, on seeing her look, laughed.

We made our way over to the indicated ‘guy’ who opened a section of the rope barrier and let us all through. He asked us to put on the wristbands that we were holding and then led us into the Moda, taking us past all the lines for concessions and seating.

“Did you want any drinks or snacks for during the concert?” he asked. Since we’d just eaten, we decided on just getting some water. He took us around to the side of a concession stand and simply reached in and grabbed water for each of us.

“I’ll come find you in the break,” he said, “if you stay roughly in this area.”

There were no seats where we were, but we were up against the side of what looked to be a catwalk that projected out into the seating area. We couldn’t have been closer to the action without being onstage.

The girls all chatted happily while we waited for the show to start. As the place filled up, we started getting pressed against the stage. I cheated somewhat, using TK to press against those pushing into us and kept the pressure off. It would take up a bit of power but nothing I wasn’t able to handle.

Finally, the lights dimmed and the opening notes of one of my client’s more popular songs sounded. I heard Louise squeal in excitement and found that both my hands were being gripped hard by Ness and Amanda, both of whom were staring at the stage, looks of intense anticipation on their faces.

With a roar from the crowd, he stepped out onto the stage and began to sing.

I had to admit, he had a good voice. I’d not really listened to any of his songs, other than hearing them as one or other of the girls had played them at home or in the car. Mostly though, because there were so many of us, we tended to use ear pods at home as we each listened to our own genre of music. Mine, I had to admit, was a little less contemporary than this guy, although there were one or two of his songs that I quite liked.

It was way too loud though.

The first half of the set was pretty good and he went off to thunderous sounds of applause, screams, and whistles for the break.

“I’m surprised,” I told the girls through the hissing in my ears, “that he didn’t have an opening act.”

“He usually does,” said Louise. “But I read that, since this is his first show of the tour, he wanted to try out some new material. He’ll be cutting down his portion of the show for the rest of the tour, so we were really fortunate to see it. He’ll be taking an opening act with him on tour though.”

“I thought I didn’t recognise most of the songs,” Ness said. “They were good though.”

“I suspect,” said Mary, “that you’ll hear more of his older stuff after the break. He’ll want to finish with stuff people can sing along to.”

As she said that, the guy from before came up, bringing us all extra water, and asked us if we needed anything else. He told us to make our way to a security guard at one of the backstage entrances, and he’d meet us there after the show and take us through to meet the star.

As I looked across to the indicated entrance, I saw a face I recognised heading past the security guard. It was Davey, the roadie-cum-drug dealer, whose face I knew from reading my clients memories during his sessions. I wondered what he was doing there. His aura spoke of nervousness, anger, and revenge. It looked like he was up to no good.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I said to Amanda, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“You’ll miss the start of the second half,” she complained.

“I’m sure I’ll still hear it,” I laughed, and I was certain I would. I would have been prepared to bet that if I’d gone to use the bathroom at home, I’d have still heard the start of the second half of the set, it was that loud.

I was just approaching the security staff at the backstage entrance when the house lights dimmed once more, and the second half of the set began.

I used illusion to make the security staff completely ignore me going through the entrance and into the backstage area. Once I was through, I scanned the area looking for Davey, and found him walking down a corridor. I hurried to catch him up.

He was just about to go into a room when I caught up with him.

“Davey,” I shouted. He turned at the sound of his name. I froze him there.

I scanned his mind to find out what he was doing here.

He had drugs on him that he was going to plant in my client’s dressing room. In addition to cocaine there were roofie tablets that he’d planned to secrete in there. He’d already tipped off both the police and the newspapers that there would be a drug-fuelled orgy after the show. He’d also intimated that some of the girls involved were not of legal age.

He’d thought that he’d found his cash-cow for life and that he’d make an absolute fortune from my client, first as his dealer but then, as things unravelled as he fully expected that they would, by selling his story to the media. He’d even had thoughts of writing a book about his time working for my client. When he’d been effectively fired and asked to go work for someone else, who was both less famous and also a well-known drug abuser, his ‘retirement package’ slipped through his fingers. He’d made the decision not to make a fuss at the time but that he’d ruin the singing star’s career as revenge, and also put himself back on track to sell his lies to the media, which, on the back of the drug bust at this concert, would be believed.

I wondered how best to deal with this. I could simply Compel him to go away, taking his drugs with him, but that wouldn’t really solve the problem. There would still be a drug raid, and the press, no matter what was or wasn’t found in the raid, would make a meal of the fact the raid took place at all.

I sighed, not seeing an easy solution to the problem I’d been presented with. Yet again I was getting involved in an issue that I had no responsibility for.

“Follow me,” I told Davey, as I walked away from the dressing room, heading not toward the front of house, but toward the rear exit of the venue. I ensured that the crew and security that were back there simply ignored us. While we were walking, I scanned the area looking for the cops that I suspected would be gathering somewhere near, in preparation for the expected raid. They were nowhere to be found. I ground my teeth in frustration. I just wanted to get rid of this idiot and to get back to my girls.

Finally, I found a police officer. He wasn’t here for the raid and, at first, I didn’t even know he was real police. He was a youngish guy, working security in the backstage area. I looked at him and thought about using him to get rid of Davey. It was only when I peeked into his mind that I found out that he was a real cop. He was moonlighting to earn some extra cash. He wanted to propose to his girlfriend and his patrolman’s wage didn’t stretch to the type of engagement ring he wanted to get for her.

I sent Davey in his direction and alerted the officer to someone who was suspicious and definitely shouldn’t be back there. I ‘encouraged’ the officer to stop and question Davey, and Davey to give responses that would cause the officer to detain, and eventually search, him. Finding the drugs on Davey would cause the officer to arrest Davey, and when questioned Davey would confess that he had a grudge against the singer because he’d been sacked for using drugs. He wanted to get his revenge by planting drugs and ruining my client’s reputation.

That was the best way to handle the situation, I decided, so I left Davey with the officer and made my way back to watch the rest of the show. Once again, I caused everyone who saw me in places I shouldn’t be to ignore me.

When I returned to the girls, I was both amused and a little hurt to note that they hadn’t even noticed that I’d been gone for so long. They were that wrapped up in the show, and I settled in to enjoy the final few numbers of the set.

I have to admit, the singer knew how to work the crowd. He was definitely a showman and had everyone in the crowd, me included, dancing and singing along to his more famous tracks. He ended without singing his most famous of songs and I assumed that would be his encore. I was right. It was so popular he ended up singing it twice, much to the appreciation of the grateful crowd. Then the lights went out, and he was gone.

The house lights came up and people started to filter out. As instructed, we made our way to the backstage entrance and waited there. Our guide appeared a few minutes later and let us through the door. “If you’ll follow me,” he said guiding us deeper into the labyrinth behind the stage.

We were asked to wait in a small area for a few minutes, and then we were led into the dressing room, where the star was sitting, having obviously grabbed a quick shower and changed after his exertion on stage. He was sitting drinking some fruit juice. He smiled as we entered.

“Caleb,” he said standing up, “good to see you!” He walked over and shook my hand. I introduced the rest of my girls, as well as Sarah, Arnie, Josh, and Louise.

He was charm incarnate, chatting to all the girls about all kinds of things, and giving us each bags of signed merchandise. He posed for pictures with each of us, and of us all in a group, getting one of his roadies to take the picture.

We’d been in the dressing room just over fifteen minutes when there was a knock on the door. It was immediately opened by a security guard who let in a couple of police officers. Through the door I could see that there were several more officers just outside the door.

“What’s going on?” asked the singer.

“I’m Detective Cameron,” said one of the officers, “Portland Police. Do you know a man by the name of Davey Green?”

“I do,” said the singer. “He used to work for me as a roadie.””Used to?” asked the cop.

“We parted company,” said the singer. “He went to work for another band. Can I ask what this is about?”

“Mr. Green was arrested earlier tonight,” said Cameron. “He was carrying a large quantity of narcotics. When he was questioned, he admitted that you had fired him for drug use and that he had intended to get revenge on you by planting the drugs in your dressing room. Portland PD had already received an anonymous tip that there would be a ‘party’” ... he actually used air-quotes... “in your dressing room after the show and that there would be drugs and underage girls here. Davey told us that he’d called that tip in.”

“Oh wow,” said the singer. “I thought we parted on reasonable terms. I couldn’t keep him on, but I got him a position with another band. It never occurred to me that he’d do anything like this.”

The cop looked around the dressing room, noting all of us, and his gaze lingered for a moment on Sarah and Ness.

“Even so,” the cop went on, “we do have a search warrant for the dressing room and, given the information received, we’re going to continue and search the area for drugs.”

“But I thought Davey told you he called it in,” queried the singer.

“He did,” said the cop, “but we only have his word for it just now. For all we know, you might have somehow got wind of us coming and put him up to it to divert attention. If everyone co-operates and nothing illegal is found, then we’ll be out of your way in no time at all.”

“Just relax and co-operate,” I sent to all my people, including Arnie. His eyes widened a little at the contact.

Several more officers entered the room and began talking to us individually, asking who we were and why we were here. We weren’t handcuffed, which surprised me. I’d expected for them to do that, considering they said they were going to search us all, but they simply took our identification, searched the bags of merchandise that we’d been given, and gave us a general pat down for weapons.

“We’re going to bring in a drugs dog,” said the cop. “If you all just stand still and relax; this will be done quickly.”

The dog came in and sniffed at all of us before doing the rounds of the dressing room. Predictably nothing was found, and a few minutes later the dog was led out.

The cop sighed.

“Thank you all for your co-operation,” he said. “I’m sorry for the fuss, but when we receive those kinds of reports, we have to be certain. Especially when underage girls are mentioned.

“Of course,” said my famous friend. “We understand.”

“I’m going to need to take a statement from you about Mr. Green,” the cop said. “The rest of you are all free to leave.”

We were led outside, via the backstage entrance, and made our way back to where we’d parked the cars, gripping the bags of goodies that we’d been given. While we walked, I explained to everyone what had happened while I’d been on my ‘bathroom break.’

“How did you know about Davey though,” asked Louise.

“I just saw in his aura that he was up to no good,” I said, “and decided to investigate.” I knew that Mary, Amanda, Jules, Ness, and Melanie wouldn’t believe that, but they all knew that if I didn’t say more, that there was a reason. Mary, of course, knew the singer was a client and knew better than to ask more.

When we arrived back at the house I was hungry. I threw together a quick snack for everyone. It had been several hours since we’d eaten, and I’d been using powers to prevent us getting squashed in the crush at the stage. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough.

We sat around the table and ate. I was about to start cleaning up when Amanda stood up and, with a significant glance in my direction, headed toward the bedroom.

A moment later, Mary stood and followed also smiling at me. Ness followed shortly after. I stood and was making my way toward the door, Arnie watching us all with an expression of confusion on his face.

“Don’t mind them,” said Louise to Arnie. “They’re just going to fuck.”

Melanie giggled as she stood.

“Don’t embarrass the poor boy,” she said, following me through the door.

As I looked back, I saw Sarah hold her hand out to Arnie.

She pulled him to his feet and guided him out of the kitchen. I wondered where he thought he was going. In his shoes I’d have been worried I was getting roped into whatever was going on with the rest of us, but of course she led him past our room and into hers. I heard their door close.