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Rose

Rose

Two days earlier…

I start to worry when the wheel rolls toward my head. It's the first time I think he’s going to call my bluff.

It'll be interesting to see what gives out first, the driver's nerve or my skull.

I'm not moving out the way. That's the one thing I'm certain about. I am lying here and either getting killed or stopping them from doing it. Simple as that.

I close my eyes. If this is my time, so be it. I'll die knowing I did everything in my power to stop the animal shelter from getting demolished.

They waited until Amelia was back at college. That was their trick. They waited patiently until she was gone and I was all that was left. That was when they started to move.

They've no idea I'm willing to die to save this place, even if it means lying down in the road so they'll have to drive over me to demolish the shelter.

Ever since the permits were granted, I've been sleeping up here just in case. Dad tried to get me to come home at night, but I wouldn't listen. This is too important. Besides, it's not that bad sleeping in the shelter.

Weird with no dogs inside, but warm enough. I've watched movies on my cellphone and wrapped myself up in plenty of blankets. It's been fine, really it has.

Until today. Today they seem to mean business.

The wheel is less than six inches from crushing me and still moving. I close my eyes. Are they actually going to do it?

There's a hiss of brakes and then the digger stops.

I think the strangest thoughts. First, that the asphalt underneath me is surprisingly comfortable. The sky looks so blue, it could be a dream. Then does it count as a wheel when it's a tread like on a tank? Is that still a wheel?

The digger backs up again. A shadow falls over me, and I look up at a man in a black suit. He's blocking out the sun so his face is just a silhouette.

He's huge, broad-shouldered, clearly used to dealing with stuff like this a lot. His arms are folded as he examines me like he's found a bug in the dirt, one he wants to crush before it has time to bite him.

"Get up," he says. "Now."

I'm almost up just at the command. It's hard to disobey a voice like that. A deep rumbling growl like the digger's engine.

"I'm not getting up ever," I say as bravely as I can manage, coughing to clear my throat. "Not until you lot take your diggers and your trucks and your wrecking balls and pack them nice and tight into a compacted metallic dildo and then shove them up all your asses, one at a time. Go fuck yourself up the ass. I'm going nowhere."

"Quite a mouth on you. "

"Go fuck yourself twice. Without lube."

"Get up. You're in the way."

"It's my legal right to protest and you can't stop me."

"Can't I?"

He waves an arm to his left, and immediately a sheriff's deputy appears. It's Jenny. The nicest one. "Jenny Judas," I say to her when she reaches me. "I thought you cared about the shelter."

She looks down at me and sighs. "Rose, I don't want to arrest you. Why don't you just get up and let them get on with it?"

"Because they're going to demolish the shelter, Jenny. We can't let them do it. Come and lie here with me. They can't run over all of us."

"There's only you protesting, Rose," she says as the man walks away, letting the sun shine in my eyes once again. "You know why that is?"

I glance right. The tread of the digger dig gets very close to my face. "Because I'm the only one who cares?"

"Because everyone else seems capable of accepting that this old place is being knocked down to be replaced by a shiny new one right over there." She points to her left. "Twice as big. Everyone else is happy about that. Why aren't you?"

"You believe their bullshit?" I say with a bitter laugh. "Some city douchebag wants to build a mansion out here and pinky promises that he'll build a new shelter a quarter of a mile that way and you believe it'll really happen? As soon as the shelter's down and the mansion's up, that'll be the end of it, and then where will the dogs go?"

She runs a hand through her hair before beckoning over a colleague. "I don't want to arrest you, Rose, but if you don't get up in the next two minutes, I'm going to have to take you in."

She goes to talk to one of the other deputies. I fold my arms, cross my ankles, and lay back in the sun. I will not move. I will not let them demolish the shelter. If Amelia was here, she'd stop them. She'd make them see sense.

Just because I'm eighteen, no one listens to me. No one listened when I tried to cash in that casino chip I found in my safe deposit box. Laughed at me and told me to come back when I'm twenty-one. No one ever listens to me. It's so obvious.

The douchebag only agreed to replace the shelter with a whopping big donation in order to get his permits. We don’t even need the money. Amelia still has plenty in the bank.

Not that it matters. As soon as the mansion's built, he'll have lawyers explain in ten different ways why a shelter near his new place is no longer a viable option and the stray dogs that come my way will get euthanized upstate.

Not on my watch.

The man reappears. The big man. The handsome man. Boy, is he good to look at. "We're willing to cut you a deal," he says. "You get up and we'll hold off demolition while you get a lawyer to examine the contracts, see for yourself that the new shelter is a legally required part of the deal. This is what Amelia wants, you know. A new shelter, bigger and better than before. Ready for when she finishes her veterinary training. It will be done in time as long as you stop causing problems."

"Bullshit. You just want me out of the way while you knock the place down and I won't let you. I put my heart and soul into the shelter and I won't let you destroy it."

"What's your name?"

"Rose Silver. What's yours? "

"Listen, Rose. In about thirty seconds you're getting arrested and then these diggers can do whatever they want. I could toss you into the sheriff's car myself and no one would bat an eyelid. I could take you over my knee and spank you for pissing me about, but I'm being reasonable. I give you my word no one will so much as remove a fence post until you've examined the contracts for yourself."

"Your word? Like I'm just supposed to accept the word of a security guard."

A smile flickers across his face as he walks away.

"All right," Jenny says, tapping her watch. "I'm done waiting." Two deputies grab hold of my arms, lifting me off the ground.

"Hey," I yell at them, fighting to free myself as they put my wrists into cuffs. "You have no right to do this. I'm a citizen. I have rights."

"You have the right to remain silent," Jenny says as she loads me into the back of her patrol car. "And Christ, I wish you'd do it a bit more often."

"I can't believe you're siding with them," I tell her as she climbs into the driver's seat and sets off. "You know what men are like. They're all liars. We should be sisters together. Solidarity."

"What? Why?"

"Because we're women. We should stick together, defend each other."

"I'm a woman. You're a child."

"I'm eighteen. I'm an adult."

"Which means you get charged as an adult. Why didn't you take his deal? Go look at the contracts for yourself? He's going to build a replacement, it's right there in black and white. Why not just look? "

"Because while I'm looking, the shelter will get demolished. I'm not an idiot, Jenny."

"He promised, didn't he?"

"Mom promised she'd never die. Jimmy Pendine promised he wouldn't try to finger me if I let him take me out for one drink. Promises get broken."

"I just hope this is worth you getting a record."

"I'll never stop fighting for what's right."

"Just shut up, will you? You're giving me a headache."

I scowl at the back of her head. I can't believe she thinks that guy was telling the truth. I know that right this minute the diggers are slamming into the walls of the shelter. The wrecking ball is swinging. The shelter is gone and all so some out-of-town business owner can build a mansion in its place.

The thought makes me sick and what's worse is I couldn't do anything to stop it, only delay it by a few minutes. What good was that?

We get to the sheriff's office and Jenny opens my door, beckoning me out. "Don't say anything," she says. "You'll only make things worse."

"What happened to you?" I ask. "You used to babysit me, remember?"

"I grew up," she replies. "About time you did the same." She turns to look at me on the steps leading inside. "It was a shitty thing that happened to your mom, Rose, but it was a long time ago. Not everyone is lying to you all the time. Did it occur to you he might be telling the truth? That the new shelter will be built and it will be better than the old one? Or did you just think man equals liar? Just because you got dicked around in high school doesn't make all men assholes. Some of them do what they promise to do."

"Yeah, right. Did Oscar do what he promised?" As soon as the words are out, I know I've made a mistake. She winces as if I've punched her in the stomach.

"Get inside," she says, giving me a shove toward the door.

"I'm sorry," I try to say, but I'm stuttering. It's always been this way. Things fall out of my mouth before I get a chance to stop them.

Sure, I was angry but did I have to lash out like that, have a go at her for her husband running out on her, taking the kids with him? Way to get her onside, Rose. Excellent work. That'll do it.

Inside the office, I'm dumped on a wooden bench and told not to move. I look around the office. You can tell this is a small town station. I could get up and run out and no one would notice.

I could log onto the computer, it's got the username and password taped to the top of the monitor. There's a gun in a holster slung on the back of Jenny's chair. No one is looking my way. I could grab the gun and go back up there and...

And what? Shoot the demolition crew? That would really help my cause.

Jenny is on the phone at the far side of the room, occasionally glancing at me. She doesn't look happy. I watch as she hangs up and walks back over. "Your lucky day," she says, undoing my cuffs. "Get out of here."

"What? What's going on?"

"Get out, Rose. Go home before I think of something else to charge you with."

I go out the door. Outside an enormous man in a jet black suit is leaning back against a jet black Bentley. I recognize his outline.

It's the security guy who was trying to get me out of the way back at the shelter. "Come see the contract," he calls over to me. "We will go right now."

"Are you serious?" I ask with a laugh. "You expect me to just get in that car with you? Haven't you ever seen the news?"

"What news?"

"Strange men, black cars, body found assaulted and then strangled, bites taken out of them. Ring any bells? It's been all over the news."

"You saying you don't trust me?"

"You got it, bub."

"I got them to drop the charges against you. Doesn't that earn me any trust points?"

"Tell me one thing. Has the shelter been knocked down while I've been here?"

He shakes his head, walking toward me. "They will not touch it until you see the contracts."

As he gets closer, I get a better look at him. He's handsome, sure, but arrogant with it. I can tell by the turn at the corner of his lips. Smug, like he knows how handsome he is. Used to having people do whatever he says.

Square jaw, deep blue eyes, nose that's been broken at least once. Scar on his cheek, not too noticeable. Short black hair neatly tended to.

He's staring at me like he either wants to spank me or eat me. I'm not sure which it is but either way I start feeling nervous.

There is no way I'm getting in his car, no matter how persuasive he might be. There have been two women's bodies found in the last six months. Both washed up on the shore. Both unidentified.

"You're lying to me," I say.

"I keep my word," he replies. "The shelter will not be touched until you examine the contracts for yourself. Amelia and Leo looked them over. Gave their approval. Signed all the forms. They approved, Rose. Why can't you?"

"Why do you even care what I think?"

"Because you're making waves and I don't like that."

I scrutinize him. "Oh, God. You're another one like Leo, aren't you? You're one of them."

"One of what?"

I lower my voice to a whisper. "The mafia. You're in the mafia, aren't you? Of course you are, it all makes sense. That's why you've got the police in your pocket."

"I'm a business owner, Rose, that's all. You're making it hard for me to do business and I'm offering a way for you to make it easier."

"By kidnapping me. No, thanks. I'm walking home."

"Suit yourself," he calls after me as I march off down the street.

I make my way back up to the shelter and it's like the demolition crew were never there. The parking lot is empty. I walk all around the place. No damage. Maybe he has kept his word after all.

I think about staying there overnight again but I decide to go home and see how dad is first.

Big mistake.