Author

Gail Koger

I became a member of the Stone family when I was eight years old. How?  My parents died in a house fire, and I was sent to live with my grandfather, Raul Garza. He worked as a night watchman at the Sunshine Orchard’s warehouse and railyards. Papa Garza was an alcoholic who lived in a dilapidated single-wide trailer situated on a narrow strip of land between the orange groves and the railyard. I quickly found out he had no interest in dealing with a traumatized kid.

Papa Garza pushed me out the trailer door. “Go to school.”

“It’s June. There is no school.”

He waved a whiskey bottle around. “Whatever. I need to sleep, and I can’t do that with you hanging around making noise. Go to the mall or something.”

“What mall?”

Papa Garza pointed at the roadway. “It’s about ten miles that way.” He shut and locked the door.

“I don’t have any money and it’s hot out here.”

“Not my problem. Git and don’t come back until dark.”

I stared at the door in disbelief. “Dark? I haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

“If you’re not gone in five minutes, I’m taking my belt to you.”

Desperation and fear welled up in me. I didn’t know what to do. All my friends were in Albuquerque, and I didn’t have a phone to call for help.

“Git!” The anger in Papa Garza’s voice had me stumbling down the rickety stairs. Which way did I go? I didn’t see any houses, just the orange groves, and fields of roses. Heat waves danced over the empty asphalt road. Where was everyone? It was like I was the only person left alive, except for my jerky grandfather.  

Papa Garza banged on the window. “I said git!”

I ran down the road until I couldn’t run anymore. Sweat rolled down my body and my stomach rumbled hungrily. All I wanted was something to eat and drink. The first house I came to, I was going to ask to borrow their phone.  If Papa Garza didn’t want me, I needed to find a new home.

A silver truck pulled up next to me and a big man with black hair rolled the window down. “Where are you going, peanut?”

“To find a new family.”

“What happened to your last family?”

I burst into tears. “They burned up. I tried to save them, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t.” I fell to the ground and sobbed. “I couldn't.”

“Holy hell!” Jumping out of his truck, the big man picked me up and cuddled me against his chest. “I’m sorry you lost your family, but it wasn’t your fault. You know that don’t you, peanut?”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Was my fault. It was. The handle was so hot. I couldn’t open the door to let them out.”

He rubbed my back. “Sssh. It’s okay. It’s okay.” The big man put me in the truck. “Let’s get you cooled down.”

I scuttled away from him. “I’m not supposed to get in a stranger’s car, and you have a gun.”

The big man pulled out his wallet and showed me his police ID. “I’m Captain Alexander Stone and police officers help little girls find their families.”

“My daddy was a police officer too, but he was a lieutenant,” I said proudly.

“What’s your name?”

“Julie Garza. Do you know someone that would want me? Papa Garza doesn’t.”

A muscle twitched in Captain Stone’s jaw as he handed me a bottle of water. “Drink all of it, peanut.”

“Yes, sir.”

He had a funny look on his face as he watched me guzzle down the water. “You’ve been staying with Papa Garza?”

I nodded. “He picked me up at the airport yesterday, but he doesn’t want me in the trailer while he is sleeping. He told me to go to the mall, but I don’t have any money and I’m not sure where it is.” My stomach growled loudly.

“He didn’t feed you, did he?”

“No, sir, and I’m really hungry.”

Captain Stone opened the glove box and pulled out a bag of trail mix. “Here. This will hold you over.”

“Thank you!” I opened the bag and crammed the trail mix in my mouth. “Good. So good.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“Monday, I had pretzels on the plane,” I mumbled.

Captain Stone got in the driver’s seat. “I’m going to have a talk with your grandfather. Show me where he lives.”

I frowned. “If you wake him up, he’s gonna be mad.”

“Too bad. Fasten your seatbelt.”  He did a U-turn and drove slowly down the roadway.

I put my seatbelt on. “He lives in a stinky old trailer by the orange groves.”

“Do you have any other family you could stay with?”

“No, sir. My other grandparents were killed when a tornado hit their house.”

He patted my shoulder. “You’ve had a run of bad luck, haven’t you, peanut.”

“Yes, sir.”  I pointed. “That’s his trailer.”

Captain Stone parked next to Papa Garza’s old Malibu. “Stay put, this won’t take long.”

I shot him a disbelieving look. “Papa Garza kinda mean.”

“So am I.” The captain got out of the truck, stalked up the rickety steps and banged on the door.  “I know you are in there! Open the fucking door!”

Ummm. He said a bad word.

Papa Garza cracked the door open a couple of inches. “What the fuck do you want?”

Captain Stone showed him his ID. “We need to have a talk about your granddaughter, Julie.”

“What about her?”

“You can’t leave her outside in this heat.”

“I can do whatever I want with her.”  Papa Garza hollered and tried to shut the door, but Captain Stone’s boot was in the way. “No, you can’t.” He forced his way inside.

Papa Garza used a bunch of bad words and swung at Captain Stone.

The captain blocked the blow and with one punch Papa Garza flew backward and slammed into the front window shattering it.

A shudder shook me. Papa Garza was awfully mad. Was he going to lock me in that room again? I hoped not. The bugs kept crawling over me.

Through the open front door, I caught a glimpse of Papa Garza charging Captain Stone. Maybe I should tell him I would find another place to stay.

A loud crash sounded.

Nah. I was going to wait in the truck like Captain Stone said.

A cellphone rang.

I looked around and noticed a fancy phone mounted on the dash. I picked it up. “Hello?”

“Who are you?” A lady asked.

“I’m Julie. Who are you?”

The lady laughed. “I’m Tess. How old are you, Julie?”

“I’m eight.”

“What are you doing in Alex’s truck?”

“He found me.”

“I see. Where is he now?”

“He’s fighting with Papa Garza.”

“Why is he fighting Papa Garza?” Tess sounded angry.

“Because of me. Papa Garza locked me out of the trailer and told me not to come back until it was dark. Which is okay because it stinks, and there’s lots of bugs, but it’s so hot outside and I’m really hungry.”

“Where are your parents?”

I burst into tears. “Dead. I need to find a new family. Can you help me?”

“Yes, sweetie, I can. Stay in the truck and don’t go anywhere with your grandfather.”

“Yes, ma’am.” A beat-up Ford van stopped next to Captain Stone’s truck. “Ah oh.”

“What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“I think one of my grandfather’s friends just came for a visit.”

“What does he look like?”

I shivered at the expression on the man’s face. “Creepy.”

“Describe creepy,” Tess ordered.

“He smiled at me and licked his lips.”

“Is he white, black or Hispanic,” Tess demanded.

“He’s white, tall, has a bushy red beard and lots of tattoos,” I replied.

Tess growled, “Sonovabitch! That sounds like Igor Clements. Lock the doors.”

“Yes, ma’am.”  I quickly hit the door lock button.

The creepy guy got out of his van. “Aren’t you a pretty little girl.”

“Go away.”

Creepy guy pulled on the door handle. “Open the door, my pretty.”

“Nope. Not gonna. You’re creepy.”

He slammed his hand against the glass. “Open the door. Now! I told Raul I would take you to the park.”

“I don’t want to go to the park,” I cried as he yanked on the door handle again.

“Honk the horn until Alex comes,” Tess ordered.

I lay on the horn.

Captain Stone stepped out of the trailer, scowled and shouted, “Get away from my truck!”

“Make me,” Creepy guy yelled back.

“Ah oh.”

“Alex can handle himself,” Tess reassured me.

I chewed on my lower lip. “Creepy guy is awfully big.”

“So is Alex,” Tess replied.

“I’m a cop.” Captain Stone held up his badge and ID.

The creepy guy smiled. “A dead cop.” He pulled a gun.

“Noooo!” I threw open the truck door, knocking the gun out of his hand.

Roaring in fury, the creepy guy reached for me and was yanked back by Captain Stone.

The creepy guy spun around and punched him in the face.

Captain Stone staggered back a step, wiped the blood off his mouth and grinned. “That was a mistake.”

My eyes bugged as the captain kicked the crap out of the creepy guy. I was never, ever gonna make him mad.

The whump whump of a helicopter got louder and louder.

Papa Garza charged out of the trailer with a baseball bat.

“Look out!” I cried.

Captain Stone ducked the wildly swinging bat, spun and landed a solid sidekick to Papa Garza’s stomach.  

My grandfather crumpled to the ground and moaned pitifully.

The creepy guy grabbed his gun off the ground.

“No!” I jumped on his back and chomped down on his left ear.

With a yowl of pain, the creepy guy yanked me off his back and threw me at the trailer.

I slammed into the metal and for a moment everything went black. I was dimly aware of Captain Stone saying a lot of bad words. Ugh. The ground was burning me. Rolling into the shade, I opened my eyes and grimaced. Everything was going around and around and around.

“Julie!” Captain Stone called. “Are you hurt?”

I squinted at him. He was handcuffing Papa Garza, and the creepy guy wasn’t moving. “Hit head. Dizzy.”  

A helicopter landed on the roadway and a pretty lady in a tan jumpsuit climbed out. “Backup is coming, Alex.”

“Get your first aid kit, Tess. The kid got hurt trying to protect me,” Captain Stone ordered as he cuffed the creepy guy.

Tess leaned into the helicopter and grabbed her kit. “How did that happen?”

“He went for his gun. Julie jumped on his back and almost bit off his left ear,” Captain Stone said.

A worried frown on her face, Tess hurried over to me. “Next time leave the bad guys to us, Julie.”

“Yes, ma’am. When I grow up, I’m gonna be a cop like my dad.”

“You remind me of my daughter, Gemma. She wants to be a cop too and you’ve got her spunk.”

A wave of dizziness rolled over me and I threw up the trail mix I had just eaten.  “I don’t feel so good.”

 “I know, sweetie. I know.” Tess pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and gently cleaned my face. “Where do you hurt?”

I touched the back of my head. “Here.”

She carefully probed my sore head. “I think you might have a concussion. We need to get you to the emergency room.”
 
“Okay, but I don’t think Papa Garza will take me, and he has been drinking too.”

I’m going to take you in my helicopter. Would you like that?”

I grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am.” I got to my feet and almost fell over.

“Whoa!” Tess caught me. “Easy now. Let me help you.” She led me over to her helicopter.

“You fucking little bitch, I never want to see you again,” Papa Garza snarled.

“You won’t,” Tess snapped. “Julie belongs to us now.”  

And to my delight, I did. A judge owed them a favor, and they got temporary custody of me. Gemma and I were instant best friends. The boys were another matter altogether. 

Turns out Igor was a child molester, who Papa Garza owed the astounding amount of five thousand dollars. Once the judge was informed of the facts, he severed my grandfather’s custodial rights. A year later, I was officially adopted. 

STILETTOS & WHISKEY

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