Deborah Mello - Reunited By The Badge

“Sit!” Mama Hill snapped, seeming to read his mind. Her dark eyes narrowed slightly. “You need to eat!” She stopped stirring the pot she was standing over. “Answer the door first, though. Make yourself useful.”

Paul hesitated for a moment, then turned on his heel. He hadn’t heard the doorbell, but the look the old woman threw in his direction had him thinking there might be a problem if he protested. He made his way back to the front of the home and pulled open the door. Simone and Mingus stood on the front porch. As Mingus brushed past him, entering the living space, he rolled his eyes skyward. Paul instinctively knew Simone was not a happy camper. He didn’t know if he should be scared or not, but the sight of her instantly calmed his nerves.

“Hey,” he said, greeting her softly.

When Simone didn’t respond, instead giving him a dirty look before she followed her brother, Paul figured it probably wasn’t a good time to tell her about the two strangers being at the hospital. Laughter suddenly rang loudly from the kitchen, the matriarch in high spirits as she greeted Mingus. Paul blew a soft sigh. He closed and locked the door and moved back toward the kitchen.

Mingus was making introductions. “Mama Hill, this is my baby sister Simone. Simone, this is Mrs. Pearl Hill, but everyone calls her Mama. Mama has helped me out with a few cases in the past.”

Mama Hill pulled Simone into a warm hug. “Any family of Mingus’s is family here. Y’all sit down. We was just ’bout to have us some breakfast.” She pointed them toward the table.

“It smells good, Mama. And you made your special candied bacon!” Mingus chimed as he pulled out a chair at the head of the table and sat down.

The older woman grinned, her toothy smile gleaming under the morning light. “Made it just for you. I know how much you like my bacon.”

Simone looked all kinds of confused as she sat down next to her brother. She clearly had questions, but she sensed she needed to wait before asking. She was also tense, her nerves feeling like she might explode. She was angry at Paul and relieved and all she wanted was to throw herself into his arms and then slap his face for making her worry.

For the briefest moment she stared in Paul’s direction, then snatched her eyes away when he sat down and stared back. There was a hint of relief in her gaze and then that sliver of anger revved back up to full throttle. Paul smiled, vaguely amused by the wealth of emotion she was struggling to contain. Mama Hill suddenly tapped him against the back of his head, snapping him back to attention.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed as he reached to rub the offending bruise.

Simone and Mingus both laughed.

“Mama was asking you a question,” Mingus said.

“Sorry,” Paul responded. “I wasn’t paying attention, Mama Hill. What were you saying?”

The old woman chuckled, her head shaking from side to side. “Liza is calling for you. She needs you to come downstairs.”

“Who’s Liza?” Simone suddenly questioned, giving him another look.

Mingus grinned, eyeing him with a raised brow.

Paul shook his head, looking slightly flustered by the sliver of jealousy that blew over her spirit. “She’s a friend of your brother’s. She’s helping us out.”

Mama Hill looked from him to Simone and back. “Take Simone downstairs with you and introduce her. Then the three of you come back up dem stairs and get you some breakfast. Tell Liza Mingus is here.”

Paul nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Simone sat for a second too long before the older woman admonished them both. “Y’all ain’t got all day now!”

Mingus laughed, a deep belly guffaw that made Simone shift her annoyance in his direction as she stood and followed Paul to the basement.

“Dude! Did you know that the pharmaceutical industry raised prices on thousands of drugs this year? Including medications to treat arthritis, high blood pressure and diabetes? Some of these guys hauled in over $25 billion in profits last year. That’s some serious price gouging!” Liza looked astonished as Paul and Simone went downstairs.

Paul nodded. “Americans routinely pay more for prescription drugs that are just a fraction of the cost in other countries. The bigger question is why we’re the only industrialized nation that allows pharmaceutical executives to raise prices with zero consideration for public health.”

Liza pointed her index finger at him. “This really is some shysty mess!” She shifted her gaze toward Simone. “Who are you?”

Paul tossed a look over his shoulder. “Liza, this is Simone. Simone, this is Liza, Mingus’s friend.” He emphasized the word friend so there was no doubt in Simone’s mind about his association with the young woman.

“You a friend of Mingus’s, too?” Liza questioned.

“Mingus is my brother. He’s upstairs, by the way. He got distracted by the food.”

Liza’s excitement shimmered across her face. “Cool beans! It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Simone said, her eyes sweeping the room and taking in all the technology in the space.

Paul could see the questions that caused her brow to furrow. “Liza is trying to find some information for me.”

“I see. And how many laws are we breaking right now?”

“You really don’t want to know,” Liza answered, shooting her another look.

“Were you able to find anything?” Paul asked.

Liza pointed to the printer. “You know none of this is admissible in a court of law, right?”

Paul nodded, moving swiftly to the stack of paper spilling out of the machine.

Liza stood. “The CEO of Lender Pharmaceuticals is a freak, too. He has all kinds of porn on his computer.”

“Porn?” Simone questioned. “What kind of porn?”

“Golden showers seem to be his perversion of choice. Some real nasty stuff. But his emails make for interesting reading.” She suddenly jumped up excitedly. “And do you know that if he leaves the company his severance package will pay him over eighty million dollars? How crazy is that mess!”

Paul was shifting through the printed documents, having barely heard Liza’s last comments. His focus was singular, his attention distracted. He was surprised by the volume of information Liza had managed to obtain and a lab report had him crunching data in his head.

Liza shrugged her shoulders and headed for the stairs. Simone started to follow but Paul suddenly called her name, looking up abruptly from the documents he was reading. She turned around to see what he needed.

Paul was staring at her intently, emotion flooding his face as he struggled with how to make things right between them. How to assuage her anger and get her to understand how much he appreciated her help. He was searching for the right words and struggled with finding them. How best to give her an out before they were both too deep in the midst of it to find their way out.

“Yes?”

“I would understand if this is too much for you to handle. If you didn’t want to see this through with me.”

Simone bit down against her bottom lip, twisting her hands together anxiously. “Does that mean you don’t want me to help?”

“It means I understand if you think it’s too much for you to handle.”

She gave him a nod and turned, her hand on the railing. He called after her a second time.

“Simone?”

She took a deep breath before turning back a second time, her brow raised ever so slightly. Her tone was soft, just a hint above a whisper. “Yes, Paul?”

“I still love you. I never stopped. I don’t know what may happen, but I needed you to know that.”

When Paul admitted his love for her, time seemed to come to an abrupt halt, the minute hand on every clock stalling. Words caught in Simone’s chest, a wealth of emotion smothering her thoughts. They stood staring at each other, something shifting in their relationship that clearly neither had anticipated. Unable to find the words to respond, Simone could only give him a nod of her head and then she turned, almost running back up the stairs.