My phone beeped immediately, and I felt a little victorious. I tapped the car and watched her drive off into the night. “Delphia…” I let the name ring around on my lips. “I’ll be seeing you.”
I was a little slow off the mark the next day, but I managed to knock a quick run out. I was just about to set up to do a little circuit of bodyweight exercises when my phone rang.
“Angie Carmichael. What is going on friend? You got any juicy news?” I asked.
“No, but you might have. I heard that you have been cavorting with my potential witness. I want to know what you know, friend,” she teased.
I put her on speaker phone, so I could start my workout. “You don’t miss a thing, do you? Who told you?” I lowered to the ground and started some pushups.
“I got my spies in places that you wouldn’t believe,” Angie insinuated.
“Incredible, we could have used you in our unit back in the day. Pity, you weren’t available then.” I wasn’t paying too much attention to Angie, but I did have an idea that I wanted to present to her.
“Well, I’m here now. Did Delphia say anything to you? She let her guard down?” She was nosing in on the information hard.
“You really gotta back off with her. That’s her brother and it’s painful enough. I didn’t break her down. No, Angie. I do think you should let me mediate, because your hard-hitting nature is not going to get your story.” I stretched out my hamstrings while Angie hung silent on the speakerphone.
She huffed through the phone. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my style. I think you’re exaggerating.”
Scoffing at her lack of awareness, I spoke clearly into the air above my phone, “I don’t. Are you trying to help her, or do you just want the story? Tell the truth.”
“I want justice for her and her family. Rocky came after me too, remember?” she declared with force.
I bent over, running my hands down the back of my legs. “So this is about revenge for you.”
“No, stop trying to twist this into something it’s not. I want her to have justice. Rocky has to be brought to trial. I won’t stop until he is. I can help her. If there’s anything she knows, then I can get the trial reopened. I know I can.”
Admiration for her tenacity made me stop and pick up the phone again. “Okay. Let me ease her in. I think I have a better chance of her listening to me, than you.”
“Okay then, let’s get to work.”
I eased Angie off the phone and got back to the rest of my workout, or at least attempted to. My phone rang again, right when I was mid abdominal crunch. I wanted to throw the thing against the wall. I morphed into a grumpy bear, but answered the call anyway, “What is it this morning? Bug Bear day or something?”
“Ayeeee! It’s Keys, how you doing man? You sound like you’re huffing or puffing. Caught you at a bad time?”
I sat up and put Keys on the speakerphone too. “Keys. Man. I was in the middle of crunches so I don’t turn into a dough boy. Whatcha doing?”
“Not the bear. You’re out of hibernation now. Can’t be,” Keys mocked.
“Hardy, har. You guys got a date set yet to come through here?” Keys coming to town would be good fun. The guy was a goofball and if I was ever going to bank on someone in my life, he would be the guy I would want watching my back.
“Yep. We got a date.”
“Yeeha, what are we talking about six months from now, two months from now, what…talk to me, man.” My crunches weren’t so important anymore. It was more important that my brothers were coming to town to rock out with me.
“Six months? Come on, man. We’re coming earlier than that. We are looking at coming up there soon. All the planets are aligned. You ready to rock and roll? Make sure you get Holbeck ready for us, because we are stepping right into your house, man.” Keys sounded just like the kid of old that I knew.
“I’ll have her warmed up, trust me. I got some things up my sleeve for you guys.”
“I would expect nothing less.” He chuckled.
The next couple of months were shaping up to be a ride and a half, and I was more than up for the challenge.