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“I don’t blame you one bit.I don’t know what I’d do without my parents around.Mom and Dad have been there for us our entire life.Even with them living in the other realm, they still make time to see us.And we get together once a week if we can to have a meal together.It’s at that time we catch up on our lives and reconnect with each other.”Edgar held her hand as they walked back to his car.“Has my mom talked to you about taking over the faerie gardens around the town?She said that she thought you’d be perfect for the job.”

“Yes, she did.I only need to make sure that they’re in good shape.I don’t know how they’d be in better shape with me watching over them.The faeries take really good care of them already.”She laughed a little.“The hanging baskets, from what I was told, make a great hiding place for them when they’re not working around the gardens.I guess they’re too high for humans to look into, and they have a wonderful time spying on the humans.They’re so fascinated by us, aren’t they?”

“Yes.They love the women’s colorful hairstyles.I think that’s why they started dying their own hair.Of course, they can only dye it with fruits and vegetables, so it doesn’t last all that long, but they do have a blast doing it to themselves.Also jewelry.They love all things sparkly.”Edgar started laughing when he thought of something.“One year for Christmas, for a joke, my dad gave a bottle of glitter to one of his faeries.I don’t need to tell you how well that went over.And it was everywhere.Dad said they were sprinkling it all over themselves and then flying around dropping it on things around the house like that faerie in that Disney movie.Needless to say, he never did that again.I think to this day there is still multicolor glitter around the house that Fowler lives in, and occasionally, you’ll find a small bit of it on my dad’s clothing.”

“Now I’m going to be looking for it on him.”They both laughed as they drove to her home.“Willyou stay tonight?I mean, not in my bed yet, but I’d like to have you close to me when I go to bed.”

“I’d be honored to stay with you.How many bedrooms do you have open right now?I know that you’re parents and brother are staying.”She told him about her parents.“Well, that was nice of them to fill out the room that they’ll be using.Earl, too, I suppose.”She nodded.“That’s wonderful for you.I love that they’ll have their own rooms when they come to visit us.”

“Me too.I know it’s a lot to ask of you, but I just want you near me.”Edgar told her that it wouldn’t be any trouble for him.He only had a condo to go home to.“Thank you.I know that it seems silly, but I feel safer with you around.”

“That’s not silly at all.I love being close to you so that we can all three be safer.And so you know, Tommy is still in Tennessee and not anywhere near here.He’s not been to the other plant either.”She asked if the faerie was safe.“Yes, he’s having too much fun driving him a little over the edge, but that’s all right, too.Tommy isn’t happy that nothing is going right for him.Which I think is just perfect for him.Keep him guessing about what’s going on, and that’ll make him make mistakes.Serious ones that will get him caught.”

“I don’t want him hurt, not really, but I want him to be out of our hair for a while.Do you think that if he were to be able to go to jail, they’d straighten him out?”He told her that he didn’t know anyone in the system, so he couldn’t tell her what would happen to him.“Probably not.He’ll be worse more than anything else.If he makes it there.I don’t see him using his time there to reflect on what he’s done to get him there.Oh damn him and being the way that he is.”

“Just keep telling yourself that you’re going to be all right, and so will your family.He can’t kill you, and that’s his plan.”Tabby told him that she was fine with that too, that he might well be killed in trying to kill them off.“He can hurt you but not kill you.Hurts will heal, but dead will not.”

“Good point.But still, he’s my brother, and I do love him.But I don’t like him all that much.Does that make sense?”He told her that it did.“I knew you’d understand about him.I really do love him with all my heart, but I don’t like what he’s become.Not at all.He’s going to try and murder us all for money.Can you believe that?I can’t.It doesn’t seem real to me.”

After showing him to the room that he was going to use, he asked her for a good night kiss.As much as she wanted to give him all of herself, she knew that her parents and brother could come into the hall at any moment.So with a very chaste kiss, he told her he’d see her in the morning and if she needed him to just yell.He’d be her knight in shining armor.

Going to her own room, she was stopped by her dad.Mom had told him what was going on with Tommy, and he wanted to make sure that she had all the information that she needed.It broke her heart to see her dad so upset, but she was glad too that they were all on the same page when it came to him.No one wanted him dead, but they did want him to pay for the threats he was making.That was not only dangerous but also very stressful.She wanted tomorrow to be better and hoped that it would be.

Getting into her bed, she didn’t think she’d sleep all that well.There was just too much on her mind to allow herself to relax enough to go to sleep.But almost as soon as her head hit her pillow, she could feel herself drifting off to sleep.Not sleeping the night before all that well was probably a big factor in that, and she was exhausted.Tomorrow was going to be better, she kept telling herself, and she was going to make sure of it.

~*~

Tommy was standing outside the warehouse when the lights suddenly came on.He didn’t know what was going on, but he hid behind some of the large crates that food came in on and waited.It wasn’t until he saw the men who worked for his brother messing around with the trucks that he realized that it was going to be opening up today.As far as he knew, his stupid brother hadn’t shown up as yet.And he called him a lazy fuck.

“No, he hasn’t.It’s you that are the lazy fuck.I don’t usually curse like that, but that’s what you are.”The being again.He finally got it to shut up when he went to sleep.He didn’t know if the creature ever slept, but he was exhausted from dealing with shit all day that he decided he’d lock himself inhis bedroom and get some sleep.Fat lot of good it had done him to lock the door.He came right into the room and started talking again.“Did you know that your sister is a good person?She is.Right nice to others like me, too.Why her own faerie is the envy of all the other faeries, too.She gives him fresh flowers to eat every day.”

“I don’t care.”He didn’t either.“I’m not going to be nice to you nor feed you while you’re here busting my chops.Go to hell.”

Pulling the pillow up and over his head, he was finally able to drown him out.As soon as he closed his eyes, he was asleep and feeling pretty relaxed enough to not be bothered by the strange person.

Now, here he was the next morning at the plant.All he had to do was get inside the offices, figure out where his brother would have written down the combination to the safe, and get out the money and a few checks to cash when he got low again.He should have done that the first time, gotten himself some other means to get cash, but now that he knew, he was going to take about a dozen of them and get what he wanted done.He only needed a gun to kill off his sister, and he’d be sitting pretty.

He’d decided sometime in the middle of the night to kill Tabby off first.She, being the youngest, wouldn’t be missed as much as Earl would, as he was the oldest and having been around for a while longer than even him.He could use the money that he was going to get from his brother’s plant to pay off her insurance policy and have the million that she’d bring in.

This was a smarter plan than killing them all off at the same time.He could balance out his cash coming in by killing the others every few months.Tommy didn’t know what he’d do after all his family was gone, but he was a smart man and would figure out something to keep the cash flowing.

He did wonder if he’d be caught killing them off.He decided that he was going to have to be injured himself for anyone to believe that he wasn’t part of the deaths of his family.He didn’t know why they’d not believe him when he told them that he’d not been in on their deaths.He was a great liar and could keep them guessing for a long—

“Tommy, what are you doing here?”He screamed a little when his brother spoke to him from behind.He nearly wet himself too when he saw that he wasn’t alone but with a couple of police too.“I thought you were told to stay away from the plant here by five hundred feet.You’re on the property now.”

“Where is Mom and Dad?”He said that they were at their house, unpacking.“Yeah, did you have a good time without me?I would have liked to have gone there, too.”

“We did have a great time because you weren’t there.I never realized how stressful you make things until I was away from you.”He told him he was rude.“Rude or not, we had a great time, and Tabby was able to generate a lot of new business for her plant.You should have seen her.She was nearly glowing with love, too, for her husband.I hope I can find someone like that to love me when I’m ready.”

“That’s disgusting.Why would you want a person to love you like that?It’s nasty the way that she hangs on his every word, too.Like nothing that I say to her matters.Disgusting.”Shaking his head, he started for the plant.“Where are you going, Earl?I’m not finished speaking to you yet.Don’t walk away from me.It’s not right that you think I’m going to be okay with you doing that.”

“I have work to do.And shouldn’t you be out finding a job by now?I’d think that you’d find something for yourself.You’ve been unemployed from here for a few weeks now.”He told Earl that it was none of his business what he was up to.“Just so long as you don’t come into the plant asking for a handout, I don’t really care what you’re up to anymore.”

“I need some cash.I spoke with Dad, and he said it was all right if you were to give me some of the petty cash.”He heard Fred tell him that he was a liar again.“Shut up.I’m not talking to you.”That had the cops with his brother laugh like he was a madman talking to himself.“Go away, why don’t you?You have to have more to do than to hang out around here.”

“We’re to watch things when you’re around.We wouldn’t want you to get into any trouble again, now would we?I heard about Mr.Gunz and your system being traded for a gun.Why didn’tyou go through with it?It sure would have saved us a bunch of time in trying to watch over you all the time.Don’t you think?”

“You don’t want to know what I think.I want you to go away so that I can talk to my brother.”The other cop said that he wasn’t getting any cash from the place.“Fat lot, you know about it.My dad said I could have some cash so I can get me something to eat.Not that it’s any of your business.”