Chapter 28

"Well," Randy said after Novato and Wexler had hauled Joel away, "I'd say that went about as well as could be expected. I'd actually expected tonight, but at least he didn't keep us waiting. Like I said, he was an idiot to try something like that in our territory."

"Randy," Rachel said. "You were wonderful. I guess I knew about you and your martial arts, but I never realized you were that good."

"It's just something Blake and I and a few others do on down time in the winter, to keep from getting too out of shape," he replied. "Fortunately, it's something I've rarely had a need to use. I've had to actually use the skills a couple times before this, and for once I'm glad I had them."

"I've seen him practice," Nicole said. "But that's the first time I've ever seen him have to use them, and I can tell you he was actually holding back a little."

"Did you actually mean that about bridge abutments?" Rachel asked him a little warily.

"Well, yes and no," Randy said. "Having said it in public around you folks I wouldn't exactly do it that way if I had to, but there are other ways. It shouldn't be an issue though, at least for a while, and by then the rest of this will be over with."

"I'm still worried," Rachel frowned. "What if he makes bond and tries to come after us again?"

"If he does, he's not going to have long to wish he hadn't tried it," Randy said flatly. "We're just going to have to keep our guard up a little for a few days, but it should only be for a few days. I'm not saying I'd actually kill him, but the rest of his life in a wheelchair isn't out of the question. Rachel, I said I'd protect you from him, and I mean it. You don't have to put up with that kind of shit out of him anymore, and you need to learn that."

"I guess," she said. "It's still just hard to believe that it's over with."

"Uncle Randy," Jared spoke up, the first time he'd spoke in several minutes. "How do you learn to do stuff like you did to Dad? Can I learn it?"

Randy squatted down to be able to look Jared in the eye. "It takes a lot of time to learn it," he said. "I've worked on it longer than you are old, lots longer. That doesn't mean you can't learn it, because you can. The thing of it is that you have to learn the responsibility that goes along with it, and that's the hard part. You can't just go around beating up people because you feel like it, because that can get you into a lot of trouble in a hurry. That's why I set it up so your father would have to attack me, so I could do it in self-defense. That's not easy to do. If I'd been the one to attack him, then I would have been the one in trouble, not him. There's an old saying, 'The best defense is a good offense, ' and that was true here. So, yeah, if you are willing to accept the responsibility, Mr. Walworth and I can get you started at it, but not now, not until you have had the chance to think all this over and get a few things straight in your mind."

"I guess," Jared said. "I just wanted to know it so I could do something like that if he ever comes after me again. I'm tired of him hitting me all the time."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that, not ever again," Randy said. "But it's something that's not bad to know, since there are other bad people out there." He looked up at Rachel and added, "That goes for you, too. Nicole knows enough to take care of herself if she has to, but not like I do. There's no reason you should have to deal with it again, at least for I'd guess three to five years depending on what the judge says. That'll give you plenty of time to get the divorce settled and get your feet back under you."

"You think?" Rachel asked.

"It's a guess," Randy sighed. "But like I said, this is our territory, it isn't his, so it's probably a pretty good guess. We'll just have to wait and see. And, that makes me think of a phone call I have to make, and I ought to do it pretty quickly."

"What's that?" Nicole asked conversationally, and a little surprised at how calm everyone was.

"I need to call Matt Schindenwulfe and ask him not to take Joel's case," Randy said. He glanced over at Rachel and added, "He's the family attorney, and he'll be handling the divorce, so it probably would be a conflict of interest."

"Probably a good idea," Nicole agreed. "You might want to call someone over at the shop to see about the door."

"Yeah, might as well do that, too," Randy agreed. "I haven't even looked to see how bad he messed up the door frame yet, and probably Harry will want some photos before he'll let me have anyone work on it, but I might as well get Carlos to finding someone. What with that and Harry having to come back over, it's probably shot in the fanny for this afternoon."

"There's always tomorrow," Nellie said – she'd been staying back out of the way. "Randy, you remember a long time ago when we had that discussion about setting your priorities in life?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd say one priority you set for yourself worked out pretty good. That was very impressive. I didn't realize you had those kinds of skills."

"Like I said, the real intent is exercise, not actually using them," he said. "But it is nice to know that I can use them if I have to. I better go get on the phone."

It was most of an hour before Novato came back. "I guess we'd better get the rest of the paperwork done, since this is going to be a multiple felony thing," he said. "You were right, he broke into your dad's house. He kicked in the side door of the garage and went in through the kitchen. Tore the place up pretty good, too, enough so that we can add felony malicious destruction of property to the list. It's starting to be a pretty good one."

"Doesn't surprise me," Randy said. "I should have thought that he'd try to go there first. So, what happens now?"

"Well, he'll probably go up for arraignment in the morning," the police chief replied. "Matt Schindenwulfe said he couldn't take the case, so he's got Pat Roberts for an attorney. My guess is that the judge won't set a low bond since he's from out of state and an obvious flight risk with multiple felony charges against him."

"So you mean he could be out of jail tomorrow?" Rachel asked fearfully. "Randy, what are we going to do?"

"Deal with it," Randy said. "I already told you. And with that broken arm and bad shoulder, he won't be good for much."

"Just because the judge sets the bond doesn't mean that your husband will be able to post it," Novato pointed out. "I don't know what you know about the process, but what a bail bondsman usually does is cover the bond with a cash payment, and a lien on property or something. If your house is in both your names, that means you'd have to agree to the lien. You might want to think about not doing that."

"No way in hell," Rachel sneered. "I doubt his parents would cover it, either. He hasn't treated them much better than he treated me."

It took a while for Harry to get done with taking statements from everybody and getting photos of the damaged door for evidence of the break-in. About the time he finished up, Carlos drove up in his pickup. In spite of owning the company, Randy was at best an amateur carpenter, while Carlos held a union journeyman card he'd earned before finishing college. "Busted the hell right out of the frame," he commented after a quick look. "The door seems to be all right, though. I can patch the frame for tonight, but you'd probably better figure on replacing the whole thing."

"I'll get a new one ordered tomorrow," Randy told him.

Carlos was still working on the door when Ryan showed up. He reported that while Joel had made a mess of the house, there really wasn't much that he could see that had been damaged. "I'd really rather not have Linda come home and find it," he said.

"I can have Randy or Nicole bring me over in the morning to help you work on it," Rachel offered. "I'm used to cleaning up the messes that Joel makes."

"No big deal, I'm about halfway through with it by now, and I should be able to have it wrapped up before I hit the hay," her father told her.

One thing led to another, and since the afternoon was advancing it soon became dinner time. Blake and the police chief didn't stick around, but Myleigh and Trey, then Danny and Debbie soon showed up to meet Rachel and see what had happened. Ryan was dispatched to the Super Market to get hamburger patties and buns; soon Randy and Ryan were working at the gas grill, which was loaded with meat. "Sounds to me like you pasted him a good one," Ryan said softly as he worked at flipping burgers.

"Not all he deserved, but enough to do the job," Randy told him.

"You know, I sure am glad that we decided to have you come home rather than driving the truck back."

"Yeah, we should have thought that one through a little more," Randy agreed. "But with any kind of luck, it's a problem we won't be facing again."

"At least for a while," his father smirked. "I talked to Matt Schindenwulfe, and he thinks four years if the judge is in a good mood, and longer if he isn't."

"Four years might teach him a lesson," Randy grinned. "I get this vision of Joel yanking open her door after he gets out and being met by her new husband, who's about as big as Blake and with Blake's skills. Then we'd see just how pushy he is."

"It is a nice vision. The only problem with it is that I don't think Rachel is going to be ready to have a man in her life again quite that soon."

"Oh, maybe, if it's the right guy, but I don't know of any candidates right at the moment. You're right, she's got quite a bit of ground to cover before she's ready, but having Joel on ice for a while ought to help out, I hope. You do anything about getting a job for her?"

"There are some possibilities, but we'd have to shuffle some things around."

"Same here, but Regina is awful busy and I think we could use her for a while, anyway. It's beginning to look like our summer intern isn't going to work out, and there's some stuff she could do to fill in."

"That'll do for the summer," Ryan agreed. "When things slow down in the fall, there might be something opening up in the office over at the plant. We could switch her over if we need to."

"We'll just have to wait and see how useful she makes herself," Randy replied. "It might be we want her to stay at Clark Construction, I don't know. I don't know how anxious she is to get to work, I'll have to talk to her."

"It probably would be the best thing for her," Ryan advised. "It'd help make the point that things have changed and would give her something besides Joel to think about. It'll be a little better when your mother gets home. That's going to be a couple days yet."

"You heard from her?"

"Yeah, this afternoon. They made it as far as Reno last night and I guess they spent some time playing the slot machines. They're going to take their time, and I guess Salt Lake City tonight, maybe. That means another couple days before they get home, at least."

"It'd be nice to take that drive sometime, but I guess it's not going to happen anytime soon," Randy said sadly.