Vin Tanner exited the elevator and moved across the dark office to his desk, intent on retrieving the tickets he had left tucked under the blotter. He'd wheedled and bargained, practically selling his soul, to land the front row seats for Casey Wells. She had wanted to surprise JD with them.
He'd been leaving Inez's thinking about heading out to help Nettie mend some fences in the morning when he remembered the tickets. Waiting for the others to leave the parking garage he'd headed back to the office.
His steps paused in the middle aisle, his blue eyed gaze roaming over the area suddenly feeling he wasn't alone. Vin couldn't have explained it if someone had asked how he could be certain the dark silent office was occupied but he was as sure as he was of his own name. His worried eyes came to rest on the barren corner desk opposite his own.
Saying he had some things to take care of and would join them later if possible, Ezra hadn't joined them for a drink at Inez's as had become the Friday night custom when the team wasn't on an assignment.
The leather desk chair faced the window and his teammate sat staring out over the twinkling lights of the city. Ezra gave no indication of being aware of Tanner's presence even when the sharpshooter crossed to stand beside him.
"Everything all right, Ez?" He questioned softly.
The southerner sighed softly and nodded once. "Yes, Mr. Tanner, everything...is all right..."
It was clearly evident the statement was a lie and Vin moved to slouch against the wall unit next to the window staring down at the gambler.
"Wanna try that again Ez? I ain't quite buyin' that one." He said softly, offering the gambler a small smile. The gambler had been exceptionally quiet and distracted since receiving a call on his cell phone that afternoon but knowing how the con man valued his privacy no one had bothered to question him.
The con man shrugged, still not meeting his worried gaze. "I wasn't offering it for sale..." Ezra trailed off, sighing again as he realized the quiet Texan would stand there until Hell froze over awaiting a response. Looking down at his hands, which were nervously twisting his Mont Blanc pen, he spoke lowly. "I received a phone call...It seems my mother was in an auto accident in San Francisco..."
"She gonna be okay?" Vin asked, his concern evident.
"The doctor said it's touch and go," he admitted, still twisting the pen in his agile fingers.
"I'll let Chris know. Ya got a flight out yet?"
A sharp snort of laughter sounded from the gambler, startling the tracker with its inappropriateness. "What for Mr. Tanner?"
Vin frowned, "Yer gonna fly out to be with her, ain't ya?" He quizzed, his frown deepening.
With another short dry laugh, the con man shook his head. "No Mr. Tanner, I am not."
Tanner blinked, stunned by the man's seemingly callused response. The others had always said Standish was heartless but Vin knew better, however...
"Ya gotta go Ez. She's yer ma," he stated.
Ezra turned to look up into the sharpshooter's puzzled face then, his own expression devoid of any emotion. "And that is supposed to mean something to me?"
Vin sagged down on the unit, running long fingers through his hair as he searched for the right words. "Sure it does. She's yer ma..." He reiterated as if those three words answered any and all questions.
Ezra sighed heavily. "I'm sorry to say Mr. Tanner, those words mean nothing to me. A stray cat in an alley has more maternal instincts than my so-called mother. She may have given birth to me but that's the only maternal action she may lay claim to. Why should I run to her side when she never came to mine?" There was a hint of underlying hurt in the soft statement. "She only wanted me around when it would further her cause with some mark or husband to be. Otherwise, I was pawned off on every so called relative from New York to California."
The gambler fell silent stunned he'd revealed so much of himself to another human being, let alone a man who was still a virtual stranger. He'd reacted without thinking because Tanner had expected him to do exactly what the southerner longed to do.
Ezra had desperately wanted to tell the doctor he would be on the first flight out but he was well aware of what his mother's reaction would be to such blatant sentimentality. How many times growing up had he heard her lectures about not permitting anything to interfere with business?
Logically he knew her current husband could offer any comfort she required and Ezra could console himself with the knowledge she wouldn't be alone if she passed. That was far more than he could ever hope for when his own time came.
Vin stared at the floor. "That musta been hard but it don't change nothin' Ez. She's still yer ma. She deserves yer respect and concern. Yer honor like it says in the Bible."
"Oh please Mr. Tanner, don't get all pious on me. I get enough of that from our Brother Sanchez. If you think she deserves respect and concern, why don't you give her some of yours? I'm sure your own mother wouldn't mind." The consummate con artist, he sounded as cold and heartless as people believed him to be. Maude could at least be proud of his acting skills.
The Texan's soft eyes flashed with hurt and he shook his head his gaze dropping to the floor. No don't reckon she would...She dead."
Ezra's eyes widened and his mouth worked soundlessly before he finally blurted out, "I am sorry Mr. Tanner. I had no idea..."
Vin shrugged it off, turning his gaze out the window to stare at the twinkling lights in the distance.
Unbidden, the words found their way of Ezra's mouth. "When?...How?"
'Damn! What was happening to him?' He was supposed to just pretend sympathy, not truly care about this longhaired, unshaven ex-bounty hunter's feelings. Maude had always been able to read him as easily as the serial numbers on a hundred dollar bill and she would have a hissy fit if she ever found out he was genuinely interested in being a part of these men's lives.
"I's just a little feller," a sad wistful smile flashed over the tracker's face reflected for a fleeting moment in the glass he was facing. "Weren't no more'an five or six. Don't remember all that much, other than we's livin' in government housin'...ya know, poor folks apartments. She worked at some all night convenience store so we could have a little money and most times she'd leave me home. The old woman next door'd check in on me. Sometimes, though, when Ma knowed the boss wouldn't be 'round she'd take me with her."
A rare sweet smile tugged at his lips as he quietly went on. "Tween customers we'd play and she'd read ta me. I'd go ta sleep on a quilt in the supply closet...but that was okay with me, cause she always left the door open enough so I could see her and I knowed she was right there with me." He sighed, closing his eyes, trying to capture that feeling of security just one more time.
With a hitch in his voice, Tanner quietly continued without looking at Ezra. "One night, I's sleepin' in the closet with the door half open when a coupla junkies come in. They's flyin' high. One of 'em had a gun, the other a knife...They wanted beer, cigarettes, money...I guess Ma wasn't fast enough gettin' it fer 'em and one sonuvabitch shot her..." He licked dry lips and fell silent.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am Mr. Tanner," Ezra whispered with low choking breath. Although they'd been teammates for the past few months they really hadn't gotten to know each other.
The gambler would readily admit it wasn't because the tracker hadn't tried. The quiet man had pushed aside his own shyness in an effort to befriend the southerner but a lifetime of training was hard to forget and Standish had continued to keep the men at arm's length.
Vin hitched his slender shoulders in a dismissive shrug. "She died right there on the floor...I's scared ta stay in the closet and too damn scared ta come out...I could hear her..." His voice trailed off with a soft sob. It was several moments before he cleared his throat and softly went on with his tale. "I could hear her, tellin' me ta be brave...Last thing she said other'an she loved me was ta always remember I's a Tanner...Made it sound like that's the grandest thing in the whole wide world."
He tilted his head back, falling silent as he stared at the ceiling in an effort to keep his tears at bay.
"Did they find the men?" Standish questioned discovering he had an uncommon urge to know. Was it any wonder the Texan had spent his adult life in one form or another pursuing criminals?
Chewing at his lower lip, Tanner shook his head. "Nope. Didn't really have any leads. They investigated for a bit but without anything ta go on...She weren't important enough fer 'em to pursue the case..." He attempted a short laugh which sounded more like a sob. "She's just some poor woman killed for cigarettes and beer. Least that's what the reports read like when I went back a few years ago. Wanted ta see if anything had ever been done...She just wasn't important enough..."
"What happened to you?" Ezra asked studying the younger man with concern in his emerald eyes. "You remember all this?" The very notion appalled the southerner to his very core.
""Member some of it. Some I read when I's at Children Services and sneaked a peek at my files." He shrugged again as if it didn't matter. "I do 'member layin’ there hatin' that small dark closet but afraid ta come out...layin’ there waitin' for Ma ta tell me it was gonna be okay. When the manager came in the next mornin', he found her...and me still in the closet. There's a policewoman and she coaxed me out," he swallowed hard and straightened slightly as if fortifying himself. "She tried ta block my view but I seen Ma...layin’ there on that cold hard floor...blood all over the place....Only thing I'd seen all night long...Hard thing ta forget."
Ezra stared at the young man in stunned silence vaguely wondering if Larabee knew then realized from his actions this was something Vin hadn't openly shared with anyone...until now. He couldn't help but wonder what, in the Texan's eyes, made him worthy of such confidence. Part of him snickered at the irony...he was after all a confidence man...
He watched the quiet man staring out the window. No one should witness such a horrendous event, especially an innocent child, yet this man had. With only the help of an over-worked, under-staffed and often unfeeling government agency, Vin Tanner had grown into a caring and compassionate man with more heart than most people who had a normal, loving, stable childhood.
"Mr. Tanner...Vin...I am truly sorry but..." he struggled with the question.
"But what's it got to do with you and yer ma?" Vin finished, going on before the gambler could answer. "Yer lucky ya still got yer Momma Ez. Lots of us don't. Guess maybe that's why we hold 'em special. Ya said yourn wasn't the best, but that's no never mind. She brought ya into this world...Give ya life...She's yer Ma," he repeated firmly.
Ezra toyed with his Mont Blanc pen, turning it over and over in his agile fingers. He could well understand the sharpshooter's feelings. Not having a mother growing up, it was obvious all mothers were sacred to the Texan. He brought his green-eyed gaze up to meet the tracker's blue eyes. Sadness and longing reflected back to him, emotions he understood all to well, seeing them in the mirror each morning.
He drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. The uncouth, longhaired man did make sense. Maude was his mother...despite the many shady actions in her past of that he could be sure. Perhaps it was time to stop harboring ill will for things that couldn't be changed, only accepted.
He truly loved his mother and even though he was often less than certain, in his heart, Ezra knew she loved him too...in her own convoluted way. Perhaps if he took this first step, it would show her just how much he cared.
Reaching for the phone he eyed the Texan, "Do you really think Mr. Larabee would be willing to grant me some personal time?"
A quick lopsided smile danced on Vin's handsome face. "Ain't no doubt about it! He'll go with ya if ya need him to."
The smile grew as Standish dialed and quickly ordered a round trip ticket on the first flight to Frisco.
THE END