Rebourne's Rules

Prologue

            The woman wiped the silver knife on the hem of her shirt leaving behind a dark red stain on her crisp white blouse. She stuffed the knife back into her stocking, pulled her pants leg down and pulled her purse across her shoulder. The job had taken longer than expected but had ended without a hitch.

            A soft wind brought with it the smell of water, garbage and blood. The woman pulled out her phone and tapped a message onto the screen, instructions for the disposal unit. It wouldn’t take much to get rid of the body, a big cement block and rope would be sufficient enough.  She checked her phone again it was already past midnight and she had had to cancel her dinner plans. She thought about the three faces of the people she had canceled on, they would understand but still be disappointed; she would have to make it up to them somehow. She shook her head, she had to get home. She stepped over the crumpled body on the ground, not bothering to avoid the blood and walked on the gray scaled cement leaving red footprints in the shape of a stiletto boot taking the lover’s path, a well secluded road hidden in the grove of the trees. She walked alone in her own little world until the snapping of a twig brought her back to reality. She jumped to attention every muscle pulled tight on alert, the knife in her stockings on her calf burning with anticipation.

            “You’re pretty good at that.” a deep voice called from the shadows.

The woman turned around to see a lean figure emerge from behind a fat oak tree. Her muscles eased a bit, it wasn’t exactly an enemy nor was it a friend but she had to be a little cautious.

“At what exactly?” she called back. The person standing before her was a man about his fifties with pasty white skin and black hair closely cropped to his head and a goatee mustache combo. He wore an expensive looking suit with even more so expensive shoes. It was a nice suit but it looked like it was going to swallow him any minute. He was skinny probably smaller then her but there was something about him that said lethal, something that made you want to avoid him.

“Oh, don’t be so modest. Miss Krae.” He cooed. “The work you did tonight was excellent, exquisite even. We should have you come in more often.” He smiled a wicked smile, mocking.

 “What do you want Fletcher?” she asked not masking the irritation in her voice or on her face. Whenever she came in contact with him she always received some kind of news none of it ever being good and all of it always directly from the governor himself.

“Awww, is that how you greet an old friend.”

“What do you want Fletcher?” she repeated more acid in her  tone. She didn’t have the time to deal with him.

“It’s a message from his majesty the governor.” he grimaced changing his entire façade in seconds as he pulled a black package out from behind his back, holding it in his left hand. “Here.” He walked to the woman and held the package out, his face serious.

            “What is this about?” the woman demanded.

            “Come on Terin, you know.” He added in a sad voice.

            “What is this about?” the woman named Terin demanded, her voice hard. Her hands shook as she balled them into fists at her side. She knew exactly what it was about but she wanted him to say it; to acknowledge it.

            “’I’m only doing my job Terin,” he pleaded as he cautiously placed his hand on the woman’s shoulder crumpling the package in his left hand. “I’ll make sure they’ll get what they need so you won’t have to worry.”

            The womans face was a mask, perfectly controlled. Fletcher couldn’t read her, he wanted to know what she was thinking but he just couldn’t read her dark brown eyes; evidence of years of practice.

            “Don’t worry about the disposal unit.” He added.

            Terin stayed still, staring straight ahead into the pitch black of the night. Fletcher squeezed her shoulder, one last act of kindness and placed the black package on the ground at her feet. He walked away and disappeared into the shadows, silent tears falling from his grass green eyes as he said goodbye to his first and only love.

            After a moment of immobility and shock the woman removed her mask, reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet taking from it a plastic sleeve full of mini photos. She removed the one on the top and stared down at the faces printed on the photo paper. She rubbed her fingers over the two little boys who were identical only in looks, and the girl who was going to go to college in a year.

Terin knew what was coming and she realized she wouldn’t be there for those most precious to her.  The idea that she could just run and take them with her had crossed her mind but within a few hours they would be tracked down and she wouldn’t be the only one to get punished. She choked back her sobs and pulled out one more photo from the sleeve.

            “I leave it to you then.” she whispered as she kissed the photo and closed her eyes holding them to her chest right above her heart.

Chapter 1

One Year Later

            Thursday’s Top Stories:

            Anniversary of terrorist bombing at historic Tamerin Square

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Tamerin Grove Square bombing.  On this day one year ago a terrorist bomb went off around midnight in the middle of Tamerin square by the known “Lover’s Grove”.  The park was deserted except for three homeless men who claim to have seen a hooded figure holding a package head into the center of Tamerin Square. At around 12:36 the bomb went off near Lover’s Grove destroying several of the squares amenities including a portion of Robin Rebournes statuette. There were no casualties.

When the police arrived at the bomb scene they recovered a black package that was later sent to Kilies Crime Lab in Cartrell. The results were inconclusive and the person(s) who planted the bomb have yet to be apprehended.

            Reinstatement of Alden R. Rosswell as juvenile judge

Alden R. Rosswell was reinstated today as chief judge in cases involving minors. He will now head Governor Lhyes SS Act, which will increase the time of which a youth can be charged and processed by law. The SS Act will go into effect later this week.

Murphey Krae tapped the interface pad switching it to off.  She had been up for about 40 minutes and it had just turned 7:30. It hadn’t taken that long for her to throw on some jeans, a t-shirt and put her hair up into a pony tail, she didn’t bother with the make- up today. The sun was already climbing its way into the sky and she still hadn’t heard any noises from the other room.  She placed the pad on the wood countertop and padded down the hallway in her chocó brown slippers.

She stopped at the first door to the right. The door was ajar from where she had slipped in about five times earlier. She squeezed through and stood by the light switch. From her position she could make out two heads, one facing the left and the other the right. She watched her brothers sleeping, their slow deep breaths simultaneous even when asleep. They were the same person in two separate bodies.

Checking the cell in her pocket she decided they were going to get up this time. “Come on guys, stop playing, and get up now!” Murphey shouted at her brothers.  It had been like this for almost six months, ever since mom had disappeared. The first sixth months the boys had just moved through the motions, but now they had taken to doing whatever they wanted and no longer listened to their big sister.

She pulled back the moss green curtains flooding the room with warm rays of light. One of the twins eyed her openly from his place under the comforter.

“We’re not getting up.” He whispered. There was something like an echo from the other side of the bed.

“The hell you are.” Murphey grabbed the comforter and ripped it from the boys’ hands and the bed. “Now get up and get dressed Uncle Frank is going to drop you guys off at school today and since you guys decided to sleep later than usual you probably only have ten minutes to get ready before he gets here.” She lectured. Murphey turned to leave but was pushed out of the way by a little seven year old.

“You’re not my mother!” the one named Cody yelled. Carlisle ran after him repeating the same thing.  Murphey stood there stunned. She doubted if the boys knew that today was the day when their mother disappeared, they barely knew how to count to one hundred let alone the difference between the minutes, hours, days, and months that Terin their mother had been gone. It would be simple enough if they had a dad to take over the role of mom but that too had been deprived of them. One parent lost to the war and one parent gone without a trace. The Krae’s just have shitty luck, Murphey thought.

The doorbell rang before she could fall any further into her depressive state. She walked back down the hallway to the front door. She opened the door knowing who was already at the door.

Uncle Frank stood in the doorway taking in the sight of his niece. He smiled as she ushered him into the apartment.

“You’re looking more and more like your mother.” He commented as she led them to the kitchenette as they waited for the boys.

“Thank you.” She replied quietly. She looked nothing like her mother but she wouldn’t dispute this fact with her uncle. She had bronze colored skin, sandy brown hair and was slightly bigger than her mother’s 5’4 frame, whereas her mother had that signature ravens black hair and white skin of the Krae family.

She had often wondered if she was adopted but she never met her father and had only heard about him in the stories her mother used to tell but even then it was never really much of a description.

“Today’s the day isn’t it?” he changed the subject as he grabbed the interface pad and read what she had read earlier that morning.  She looked at her uncle as he read the news. He looked nothing like her mother although his black hair was a similarity.  Her mother always seemed as if she had some kind of pent up energy and could never use it all while uncle frank was similar to a turtle, very slow and her mother although small had muscle but uncle Frank was very lean and looked like he couldn’t put up much of a fight and his green eyes were uncharacteristic of a Krae whose eyes were big and brown, well that was what she concluded from her brothers and her mother. They were the only Kraes’ she knew.

“Did you hear what I said?” Uncle Frank asked again. Murphey had taken too long to answer lost in her own thoughts. Before she could answer Cody and Carlisle ran into the room into their uncle’s embrace.

“Hey boys, you’ve been given your sister hell?” he asked them with a smile on his face.

“Yes sir.” Both boys replied simultaneously giving him their best military salute.

“Well don’t do that.” He winked back at Murphey. The boys nodded in understanding.

“Let’s move out troops.”

Murphey followed them to the door and called a goodbye to the boys who both ignored her.

“Don’t worry I’ll talk to them.” He said as she began to close the door as he walked down the hall.

“One more thing,” he put his foot in the door before she could close it. “Be careful out there, always watch your surroundings, stay away from weird people and avoid the square today.” He removed his foot and walked back down the hallway towards the elevator.

Murphey shut the door.  What the hell was that she wondered? Her uncle had never moved like that but she didn’t have time to worry about that. Cruise would chew her out if she was late for work again. She grabbed her purse and duffle with her work clothes and headed out the door locking it behind her.

The streets were crowded with more than the usual workers who took the transport. They were filling up more than they ever had even during Christmas holidays. Murphey got onto the third transport trying to avoid having to stand but in the end still had to. Most of the passengers were men and women in their early to late thirties. Anyone over the age of 39 didn’t really get work unless it was a top official job like judge or city official.  There were others her age on the transport but they were probably headed to school; a luxury that she couldn’t have now that she was basically the provider of her siblings.

The transport made its first stop at Aberforth and most of the men and woman got off and headed for one of the nicer buildings surrounding Harpers square. Murphey watched as the empty seats were taken by those that were standing. She spotted an empty seat off in the corner and headed for it right before the transport proclaimed its departure. She was almost there when a man stepped in her way blocking her path to the seat.  She tried to maneuver around him but it seemed like he didn’t want her to go anywhere.

 The transport announced its stop at Crichton and more people piled into the vehicle. She knew that the seat was probably gone now.  She looked up at the man who had blocked her way. She stared him down willing him to look at her. He had tanned skin and black curly hair with a strong jaw and was wearing what looked like an expensive suit. She guessed he had a body under the suit. He looked to be in his early twenties maybe twenty one but she didn’t care at all, what she did care about was the fact that he had stepped in her way.

The next stop was Calloway and the man finally looked at her. She lost her breathe for a moment his eyes were light gray almost white which when you factored in the rest of him made him look unearthly.

“Is there a reason why you seem to be giving me this death glare?” the man asked with a smirk on his face.

Murphey tried to think of a good comeback but her reaction time was too slow. The man shifted with the new onslaught of passengers and moved closer to Murphey to the point of invading her personal space and as the people settled and the transport pulled away she realized that she had missed her stop.  

She turned away from the guy and pushed her way through the people ignoring the grunts and hostile stares. She realized it was pointless even as she kept pushing her way through to the closest set of doors.

“Damn it.” She dropped her duffle on the floor and banged her head and fist on the steel doors. She pictured Cruise her boss checking the clock. This would no doubt be her last day having a decent paying job.

“That must hurt.” She heard a deep voice whisper in her ear. She jumped, turned and came face to face with the same stranger who had blocked her earlier.

“What now?” she huffed and looked at him with disgust. She couldn’t possibly think of anything else that could go wrong that day. 

“Most women are intrigued by my looks and always have a curious expression but you’re the first one I’ve met that keeps looking at me with such revulsion.” he quirked an eyebrow and looked at her waiting for a response.

Before Murphey made a reply she glanced around to make sure she didn’t see anyone she knew. Most of the people weren’t regulars and plus she had gotten on a different transport no one would ask why she did what she was about to do.  She was going to let this guy have it; she was already frustrated with the weight of what today was and this guy was pulling every string that she had perfectly crafted to put up her in-perfect-control façade. 

“Well?” he had repeated what he had said earlier when they were stuck in the throng of new passengers.

“Listen,” Murphey started. “ I don’t care nor  do I want to know who you are and the reason why I keep looking at you like your dirt under my fingernails is because you’re an asshole.” She pushed him in his chest as hard as she could, she figured even If she pushed as hard as she could he wouldn’t fall but it would make a great exclamation point, what she didn’t count on was the fact of him actually falling. 

He fell on another passenger, an older gentleman who immediately went off in a rant about lovers’ quarrels and innocent bystanders. The man she had pushed looked at her with that same smirk on his face, Murphey almost continued with a string of insults that she had on the tip of her tongue but stopped when she saw the faces of the other passengers which were mixed between utter shock and disbelief.

The transport announced its arrival at Handler Square and as soon as the doors opened Murphey ran out into the sunlight of the early spring morning. She decided she would rather walk the three blocks back to work than re-ride the transport as it made its rounds again. She glanced back as the steel doors glided shut and the last thing she saw was the strange man holding up her black duffle bag and smiling as he waved back at her.

“Damn it!” she had overreacted that whole morning and this was her divine punishment. Every move she had made was one of stupidity, any normal person would’ve just forgotten about it but not her. She sighed and began walking dreading every step that brought her to the supermarket.

The doors to the supermarket on Tamerin slid open as Murphey slunk in and headed to the employees’ room. She nodded at a co-worker who greeted her as they were restocking the shelves.  As soon as she reached the employees locker room a male voice came on the intercom.

Murphey Krae to manager’s office; Murphey Krae to the manager’s office. Thank You.

Murphey sat on the long seat in the employee locker room preparing for what she knew was coming. There was probably nothing to save her this time. She walked to the long mirror and looked at herself. She straightened her t-shirt, redid her ponytail and put her mask back on, if need be she would beg , this was one of the best jobs she could have found and they often gave their employees special bonuses, losing a job like this would ruin her chances of ever being hired by any other business.

Murphey made her way to the manager’s office located behind the seafood department giving it a perpetual fish smell.  She slipped quietly into the room shutting the door behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief, the manager wasn’t in there. His seat was empty and his desk which was usually full of papers was clear.

“Don’t get so comfortable.” A voice called from the corner. Murphey turned and looked at the boy standing in the corner holding a manila folder.  Damn it.  Instead of the manager it was the owner.

“Cruise, how are you?” 

Cruise stepped away from the file cabinets and walked around the desk sitting in the roll chair facing Murphey. He clasped his hand in front of him and placed his chin on the top of his hands eyeing her.

“Your late.” He finally replied.

Murphey looked at him. He was about nineteen with brown eyes and black close cropped hair. He had average looks and build save for the crook in his nose, nothing like the asshole she had met on the transport and he only wore tees and jeans. He had inherited the family business from his father when he’d gotten too sick to run it two years prior.  They were a well off family, probably a step down from the governor and city officials.

The elder Lark had been a good boss but his son was different. Cruise didn’t accept excuses, he often fired people for being late more than two times and he was known for booting someone for an improper uniform.  He could either save you or end your career.

“I know.” Murphey looked down at her clasped hands.

“You want to tell me why?”

“Well…” Murphey looked at him, his eyebrow raised almost reminiscent of the man earlier except this guy didn’t have a smirk on his face.

“Well what?”

Murphey sighed and relayed to him the events of her morning starting from the overcrowded transports and ending with her walking the three blocks back to the supermarket. She left out the part about her taking her frustrations out on the stranger on the transport.

            Cruise tinkered with the pens on the desk nodding as she continued. When she finished relaying her story he looked up at her. He was quiet for some time. Not able to stand the silence anymore Murphey spoke up.

            “So?”

            “What?”

            “What are you going to do.” She asked fearing the answer.

            “What do you think I should do? This isn’t your first time, plus you know the rules. So you tell me what I should do to you. “

            “Well, you usually fire people but I really need this job and if you keep me I promise it won’t happen anymore.” Murphey looked at him hopefully. He was quiet again looking at a snow globe with the logo of the supermarket in it; finally he gave her an answer.

            “I’m not going to ask why you really need this job nor am I going to fire you...”

            “Thank you so much!” Murphey shot out of her chair heart thumping so loud you could hear it.

            “Wait, I’m not done yet. If you let this happen again then I will have no reservations about firing you. You Got it.” He stood and crossed his arms.

            “Yes, thank you so much! I won’t take this for granted! I’ll show you how great an employee I can be!”  She was relieved and couldn’t hide it. She was so excited that she ran around the desk and gave Cruise a hug who immediately stumbled back into the bookshelf.

            “I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to hug you. Please don’t fire me.” Murphey pleaded.

            Cruise ran his fingers through his hair. “Am I that bad that people think I would fire them for physical contact.”

            Yes Murphey thought but didn’t say it. “Thank you again.” She turned to leave.

            “One more thing, where’s your uniform?” he looked her right in the eyes.

            “Umm.” She tore her eyes away from his gaze. “I forgot to put it on at home. “ She refused to tell him about leaving it on the transport and the stranger who probably had it. This would probably change his mind.

            “God Murphey I’m trying to give you a break here.” He said exasperated. He reached into the desk bringing out a white letter. “Here take this.”

            “What is it?” Murphey asked confused. He’d said he wouldn’t fire her.

            “Just take it.” He held it out for her to grab. She reluctantly took it in her hands.  “It’s a gift if you wanted to know. Don’t open it here though. Now go get a uniform from the storage room.” Murphey looked at him bewildered as she turned to leave.

            “Hey Murphey,” he called to her again as she was at the threshold. “Happy Birthday, now get to work.”

            Murphey called another thanks and walked out of the office with a smile as she wiped at the tears falling from her eyes.

The stranger got off the transport two stops after the girl. He was excited. He had never met anyone let alone a woman who had brazenly treated him like that.  He walked with her duffle bag in hand and a smile on his face into the City Hall. He showed his I.D. to the security and continued back into the inner recesses of the court house. He came to a door with the name Rosswell plastered onto it. He could already hear voices coming from inside the room. He opened the door and stepped in closing it behind him. 

            “I’m sorry I’m late gentlemen.” He placed the duffle bag on a table and grabbed a seat pulling it into the conversation. “Well?” he smiled at the two older men.

            “What’s with that stupid grin on your face.” The one with a head full of gray hair remarked. 

            “It’s nothing that you would appreciate old man.” The younger one replied.

            “Judge Rosswell we’ll continue this later.” The man replied to his other companion.

            “Yes, I think we will. I have a few cases today so I will meet you later on, a good day to the both of you. Rebourne. Leighton.” The man exited the room silently closing the door.

            “You too old timer.” The young man named Leighton called after the judge Rosswell as he laughed.

            “What in blazes is wrong with you? You come in here looking like a fat kid in a candy store holding some unsightly duffle bag. What is it?”

            “If you must know old man it’s a friends, I’m just keeping it for her.” He got up and poured himself a cup of water.

            “A woman, I should have figure d.” Rebourne scoffed. “That’s the only thing you’ll ever be good at being a Casanova. “What you stole some random girls clothes. You will never follow in my footsteps like you are now. “

            “Who said I wanted to old man. Oh I apologize I mean father, no Governor.” Leighton laughed. “I’m only nineteen I have some time to be Casanova as for you, you’re already one foot in the grave.” Leighton eyed his father with a look of contempt.

            Before his father could get another word in Leighton jumped up and grabbed the duffle bag and headed for the door. He looked back at his father and said one last thing. “Sorry to cut this meeting so short but there’s a lonely maiden waiting for this Casanova to return something very important. Have a great day Your Majesty the Governor.” He smirked then laughed out loud.