BaCC in Widespot: Round 2 - Mann
In three parts. (Or so the plan goes.)
"There you are! Come on and take these pants off of me-get 'em off, hurry up!"
Candy lurched forward. "You're taking too long, c'mon, c'mon! Just pull 'em down. I can't get the button."
"Finally!" she said, running, kicking the door for him to move his ass
and open it, and then dashing past him. "I gotta pee like a bitch, man!"
"Charming. Do you need a hand?"
Nah, she could manage-oh what the hell, she was about to burst and his hands were free.
Ah, relief at last.
Rich reached over her to pull the blinds down in the window-so freakin' paranoid. She held up
her hands to him to undo the cuffs. "You're somethin' else, locking up a preggo's hands, where the
hell was I goin' anyway? And what if the baby came?" Candy got huffy now she thought about it.
"You know what you did," he said.
Candy pursed her lips and shoved her wrists up at him again. Rich cackled and produced a tiny silver key.
"Hey, where are my pants?"
"Don't worry, my sweet, you won't need them."
"What am I, like your sex slave?"
"Damn straight!"
"No, for real, Rich, where are my jeans? They're tight but I don't have nothin' else to wear. You said we were-"
"I think it's about time we broke you of your denim dependency, don't you?"
"You mean! Finally, shit! So many stores I wanna hit but, I dunno, lookin' like this? Oh well, least we're finally gettin' a
move on but I'm not wearin' none of Lana's old lady crap, okay, so I'm gonna need you to gimme back my jeans. Rich?"
"Change of plans. I hate to disappoint you but there are spies lurking in the shadows" he said. "Who's been in this house?"
"I don't know what you're talkin' about. C'mon, you said we were goin' to the city. I don't wanna keep stayin' here, Rich.
Stuck in this stupid room. If I gotta crap out this kid I wanna be somewhere they can give me the good stuff."
"We can't leave yet. Oh, don't pout, my sweet. You have behaved like an angel," Rich said, "More or less.
I need to figure out who was in my house and what you said to them. But I have not forgot my promise."
"I didn't say shit to nobody! How could I? Nobody was here! And if somebody was they didn't come nowhere near me, I know that much, and I think
it's really fucked up for you to blame me for some shit I didn't do, after everything else, and it was prolly your fuckin' wife. Or Junior or somethin'."
"I agree." It probably was the thief but he'd issued Lana the warning.
He stroked her cheek to calm her down and lightly cuffed her chin, to which Candy puckered up for her kiss.
Good girl. (But not too good, he'd have no use for her if she were broken. Broken in, yes, but not broken.)
"Your lips are chapped."
"Gee, I wonder why."
"I'll bring you up some balm."
"Fine," she said, already resigned to her prison, "at least can I get the cat, too, to keep me company?"
Rich did not like leaving his best lady with the tramp.
But he could come back for D.D. when Candy was asleep.
"Hey, D.D., what's wrong, huh? Thought you and me were havin' fun, chillin' out?"
"Oh, you wanna play. I dunno if I can dip down that low again."
Oof. Shouldn't have even tried. But this was a different kinda pain. Oh no!
"No, no, no!!"
Meow, meow, meow!! Doomsday caterwauled along with Candy.
"Shit! Shit! Please don't have green eyes, please don't have green eyes," she repeated like a mantra. Her ma's eyes were green but that
wouldn't be enough to trick Rich. "C'mon brown eyes! Please don't have green eyes," Candy pleaded, "and-and if you can, can, can make 'em
grey, kid, you'll be home free. He'll never be able to touch you if they're grey. Just don't be green! Shi-shoo...shoo-flee!!! Please. Help me!"
No help came, not til way too late. But the main thing is those eyes weren't green.
Those were grey eyes on this kid, bitch! Grey, grey, grey! Now how was he gonna complain?
Can't say shit, baby boy's eyes are g-rey!
"What are you thinking?" Rich interrupted her mental gloating, she looked entirely
too sedated, like she'd somehow got her hands on 'the good stuff' anyway.
He'd been standing there watching her for a full minute and she didn't seem to know it.
Candy craned her head toward him in slow motion. "Baby boy's eyes are grey," she enunciated in a clear,
flat, lifeless voice. "Will you take him now?" She held up the naked baby who squirmed at the sudden change.
Rich rocked on his heels, hands clasped behind him while he inspected the specimen, top to toe.
Black hair. Grey eyes. The little mister. Fingers and toes, a full complement by his count (which is more than Candy did).
"Come along," he said.
The child looked the part, all right, but Rich was not to be so easily hoodwinked by a fluke of the genetic lottery.
Candy snapped to as soon as she realised her sentence was being commuted.
Yeah boy! Yeah baby, baby boy!
Commuted, yes, but her crimes against the Mann were too flagrant to be pardoned.
The warden (and acting judge) was not inclined to absolve her debt.
~ ~ ~
Mary was settling into a comfortable routine...but there was no place like home, she felt.
She hadn't quite accepted yet that this was home now, that she wasn't on vacation.
Junior was buzzing with nervous energy. Even more had changed for him. And quicker. So much responsibility!
He had a wife and this baby was coming and he hadn't sneaked a cig in weeks! He was fresh out. He needed
to be doing something. Something with his hands, maybe, like her. What was that she was sewing there?
Was it for him? Or just another cuddly somethin' for the baby?
Mary didn't like him hovering, it only made her nervous, too, and Junior didn't want that. He wandered out to see
what he could see. The Post Office sold other stuff so maybe Daytona'd got smart-or just had a heart, man-and stocked
some cigs for sale. They wouldn't be like his flavoured favourites, those only his dad could get-oh shit, his Dad!
Junior jumped back behind the wall and hid from him. He didn't know why, he just did it.
After everything that went down, plus the stuff his mom told him-the surprise divorce! He wasn't ready to face him.
His old man was an old man, if things got heated and, and out of hand he might, well, he might really hurt him.
Best to avoid a confrontation.
*Hey, whatever gets you out of there.*
Mary was so happy to see her Mama, even if she was sendin' her upstairs to get off
her feet while she took over in the kitchen. It was nice bein' looked after for a change.
Junior had come home to find Mary's mom bakin' up something good but she'd ordered him, in no uncertain terms, not to touch that cake
until Mary came down from her nap. Junior didn't want to fool with Mama B, no way, so he found other ways to keep his hands busy.
Junior had excellent hearing. The second he noticed that sliding shuffle-step of Mary's in that skirt, he was on it. Cheesecake!
Mary was ravenous. But Junior still finished first.
(A pattern in their marriage. But they were young, if one of them learned to speak up they could conceivably find the rhythm.)
Clearly, Mary is exploring (and enjoying) her newfound independence in, um, interesting ways.
Or is that just Junior's bad habits rubbing off on her already?
~
~
"I swung by your house, I mean, I swung by Ms. B's for a cake the other day.
Kinda weird not seeing you there but you and Junior together like this, it's so great!"
"Thanks. It's a big change. It be so quiet here, Penny. All the time!"
"That's good, right? Enjoy it while you can, once that baby comes you won't even remember what real quiet sounds like."
"Shoot, that ain't gon' be nothin' new for me," Mary said, grinning. She was looking forward to the noise of a baby and then
more babies and children, she wanted her house full, to sing wit' 'em. That's when it'd feel like home to her. It didn't yet.
"Mama came over and made a cake for me last week. There's some left if you want a piece o' cheescake-I had to hide
it from Junior. But when we went over to my folks' for supper...I don't know, I sure miss 'em a lot but it, it's sorta
like you said...you know..." Mary prompted Penny to supply the word again, she didn't want to say.
"Weird?"
"Yeah. There's l'il River grew up on me and I ain't even remember. And Mama been so nice, too, so extra
nice to me 'cause o' the baby, but sometimes the things she say...I just..and I don't mean to get so mad."
"Blame it on the hormones. While you can. Because I know I'm still mad,
madder than Una ever was inside me, but that's a whole other story."
Mary couldn't tell Penny just how much she knew what it was like dealin' with them Hart
men, 'specially when they not ready to be daddies (again). But she could warn her friend.
"He been spendin' a lotta time here lately, Rhett has. Him and Junior, you know."
"Figured as much. That's why I didn't bring Una. Sorry, I know you wanted to see her. It's just, he is not going to stumble his way
into some 'accidental' meeting. If he wants to see his daughter he's going to have to get it together and make an appointment."
Mary didn't know what to say. She couldn't blame Penny but she didn't know if that was going to work with Rhett.
"Mary, have you seen my lighter? I can't find it anywhere. Oh, hey Penny."
"Hey, Mr. Married Mann. Didn't invite me to the wedding."
"What you need it for?"
"I just need it, that's all. C'mon, Penny, you know if we had done it up big, like at the Manor, you'd have been first
on the list-Mary, I know you moved it. It wasn't even empty yet, it was only almost empty, did you throw it away?"
"Smoking's no good for you, Junior," Penny jumped in before she remembered that they're
married now and she probably shouldn't do that anymore, "thought you were gonna quit?"
"I did quit. I just, I want my lighter."
Mary conceded and told him where it was. It wasn't easy on him, bein' cut off from the kinda life he always had.
She ain't never heard him complain, not like Lana did, but sometimes the littlest things really got to him.
Penny dragged her out of the house and they ran into Dora's daughter-in-law. Penny knew Samantha wasn't too keen
on her and Woody but that wasn't going to stop her from being friendly. And maybe it wasn't what she thought it was.
Either way, she would hardly be the first reluctant friend that Penny had worn down.
"It's the battle of the baby bumps! I almost miss mine when I see you two like this.
Almost. But Una's my one and only, I'm not sad to say. The one and only love child."
"No little baby brother like you had?" Mary chided her friend.
"Not from this body," Penny said.
Samantha was befuddled. "But, but what about when you get married finally. Your husband will expect-"
"Then he won't be my husband." Penny didn't know what else to say to that, Sam's own husband was proof that
some women really did stop at one, but that look on her face told Penny they weren't going to become BFF today.
At least she had been able to introduce her to Mary. They had more in common.
What a rude girl, barrelling her way past two pregnant women to get to the bathroom!
Samantha made sure to remember her face in case she ever came around trying to be friends with her David.
"First baby, right? You are in for such an adventure. But you come from a big family, don't you?"
"Pretty big," Mary said, "there were five of us kids."
"Oh, I've got 5. Well, 5 already, 6 with this little one here. Unless it's twins again, but Dora says it isn't and I trust her." Samantha stepped back and surveyed
Mary's 'situation'. "I'm no expert like my mother-in-law," she said, "but you look like you might be in for twins yourself. You ready for that, new mommy?"
Mary wasn't sure about all that but she liked Samantha. Penny was the only other woman around that she could talk to but
Sam was someone who'd already been there, done that but she was still young-like. An older sister type like Mary never had.
Samantha's experience didn't steer her wrong much. She let Mary go ahead to the vacated stall.
She heard voices. Familiar, bickering voices.
"Now what are you two doing here? Where's David?"
"At home kissin' on Goldie!"
"He's watchin' the twins! You talk too much...tattle-tale."
"You talk stuff, too," Tommy defended himself.
"To Gran, not to Mom. Stupid."
"Sharla, how many times have I told you about your mouth? You need to be nicer to your brother."
He wasn't even supposed to be there, she didn't bring him. Oh, and that was never gonna happen.
~
Mirror, mirror, tell me true,
Who in the land is prettier than you?
Lana winked at her reflection the way Valentine had winked at her the other night.
One Land, at least, had done her justice. Lana had been fully Dixie'd-though she'd never call it that-and she loved it!
She couldn't wait for either of her beaux to see her again...even Rich could eat his heart out. Bastard.
But Lana had more than one surprise that bastard didn't know about. She liquidated funds she'd had secreted away in (mostly) tangible
assets over the years-they were less fungible than Rich himself had proven so it took some doing to get full value-and she'd purchased a
smallish piece of property and negotiated a deal with a supplier to stock the store. Now she was handing it over, deed and all, to Junior.
The boy was floundering, he needed purpose, and he needed to contribute to the maintenance of his family and this household.
It was a done thing, all he had to do was say thank you and, with his child bride, figure out how to make this little venture profitable.
"Hey-hey, good mornin' Sexy!"
"Junior, I did somethin' wrong when I was makin' my shirt or when I washed it. It ain't got 'nough give no more. I need, I need to wear yours."
*So, why are Mary's maternity/granny panties peeking out over the top of her skirt? Well, let's just say she's an
old-fashioned gal; she likes her drawers pulled up high, over her navel, and her hemlines dragging the floor.
In other words, I didn't have that particular bra as a separate so I had to use alternative means to get this picture.*
Not bad, this place...not bad. Junior didn't know where his mom had gotten the money but she had bought the
Round Barn General Store outright, for him-for them. No money owed, all they had to do was start rakin' it in. Cool.
He'd been needing something to do and Mom fixed it so that it was perfect for both him and Mary, working together.
Mary agreed. This place was perfect, like a blend o' both o' them. The business'll be like their other baby.
Daytona was the first customer. Daytona is always the first customer!
A couple more 'customers' trickled in to support them, and be nosy. Mary held down the register...
...while Junior took charge of inventory.
It was a good day. There was space upstairs for Mary to rest up a bit but, still, they both came home exhausted.
It was a good kind of exhaustion, though. Working together was, like, a whole new way for them to bond.
Lana got home shortly after they did.
"Mary, dear, I've brought in some steaks, do you mind? Thanks, dear. I'm positively famished."
"Ooh, yeah, steak. I could murder a porterhouse."
"Actually, it's a t-bone, but this friend of mine, the one I got them from, he, well, he swears by his meat."
"Uh, o-kay. You can do that, right, honey?" Junior turned to Mary. "Cook 'em up real quick?"
"Sure, I can, I can do 'em up for supper."
"You're a doll," Lana said and collapsed into Mary's vacated seat beside her son.
Junior was in the habit of deferring to his mom, it was like instinct, but he broke rank after he thought about it.
Mary had been on her feet too much already, she was tired, and he could tell she didn't really want to cook tonight.
So she didn't have to.
"You look so sexy, wearin' my shirt...havin' my baby. Why don't we, uh, head on upstairs."
"Junior! I'm makin' supper, now. Quit it."
"You don't have to," he said, "I'm not hungry. And Mom-"
"You're always hungry."
"But you can, I don't know, make something simple then. It don't have to be the steak."
"I already started it. Won't take long. And then...we can head upstairs," she mouthed those last words.
"Yeah, dessert!"
Mary sure knew how to feed her hungry Mann. And his mother.
Junior made short work of the food on his plate but once he started poking at Mary's
foot under their crowded table to hurry her up Lana was all too glad to see them go.
Junior is definitely diggin' this being married business!
Rhett made his way over to their store on his lunch break and found himself mesmerised by the pretty colours.
Not that he sewed or crocheted or nothin' like that, hell no, but Sandy kept saying how she wished she could knit something
warm for Proxima-Rhett thought that swaddling blanket Sandy had her in all the time looked pretty warm-but now that
they've got this kinda stuff for sale, he can help her out. He's gonna need Mary to point out the right stuff, though.
Kaching? Oh, that can't be good for the baby.
Rhett decided to take a more dude-ly interest in the tools and things these other dudes kept gravitating to when they came in.
Mary got nervous.
"Hey, where you going? We're practically just getting started."
"I don't feel so good. I'm gonna go home for a little bit." By home she meant her Mama and Daddy's house, it's right there around the bend.
She was so scared that she could've hurt the baby, or...anything, all her fears came rushing back on her and Mary needed her Mama.
"Okay, honey." Junior didn't know enough to be worrying and he was in his glory looking after the store.
He wasn't sure how he was going to run it alone but he could manage, right? It was a challenge.
*Dun, dun, dun.*
What the hell was he doing here? Junior took a deep breath and headed over to the old man.
"I don't know what you're doing here but I think you should leave."
"Do you now?"
Junior didn't back down. That was new.
Rich took his leave. But he left smiling. Had he satisfied his curiosity? Junior didn't care. Long as he left.
Beulah had been able to calm Mary down, she told her not to worry about one little pop to the stomach since
it sounded like she was mostly only startled, she just needed to be careful from here on. Then she sent her home.
Mary tried to get some rest like she was told but there were all these messes Junior'd left in his wake. She couldn't ignore 'em.
Lana was having a very good day.
She was promoted again and then she came home to find Valentine Hart waiting on her doorstep.
"Well, hello there..."
Valentine had no business there but let's say he had his own curiosity to satisfy, and not just about Lana-oh, oh, all right now...
Mary.
She caught and held his gaze, made him bear witness to her hurt, he wasn't allowed to look away.
Lana felt him pull back. "What's wro-oh, Mary."
"I didn't know you were home, dear," she said after they'd straightened up.
"Lana, I'm sorry, I didn't, I, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Is Junior with you, I mean is he upstairs? Rather early to be closing up shop already, you two."
"We didn't. I mean, he's still there," Mary said, absently rubbing her stomach, "I only came home 'cause of-"
"The baby, of course. Oh yes, where are my manners, but I'm sure you already know Mr. Hart?"
"Y-yes," Mary whispered feebly, "I'll, I'll leave you-I'll get out of your way now."
He wished she hadn't pretended, wished she'd screamed and cried and hit him. Anything but this.
Valentine knew this wasn't the first time he'd broken her heart but he'd never had to watch it.
It was too much.
It was always Mary...when he screwed up-did it have to always be Mary?
"Valentine? You're not really going, are you? You don't have to go. I swear I thought we were alone but Mary,
well, I promise you she won't bother us again. But we can take this upstairs if you like, to be completely private."
The lilt, the smile, the look in her eyes, that effect never failed yet Valentine still left.
He excused himself like the perfect gentleman but Lana was definitely disappointed.
Was she losing her touch?
This was all Rich's fault!
Junior wasn't sure he was gonna say anything but when he was sitting around with his mom it came out.
"Dad showed up at the store."
"Didn't I tell you to stay away from your father!"
"He's the one not staying away from me. I don't know what you expect me
to do," Junior said, "It was real awkward, too. Rhett was there and everything."
"I just know you're going to blow this, Junior."
"Blow what? With all the dirt he does, Rhett don't ask no questions."
"Maybe not but I know his father is still looking for a way to corner you so you'll 'fess up'. Be alert.
That 'girl' has caused enough trouble for us-do not get involved. She is not our problem now."
Mary had not shown her face downstairs for the rest of that day and she was fast asleep by the time Junior came to bed.
That night she dreamt about what it might be like to escape. Widespot was complicated. Marrying Junior
didn't make her life any less complicated. Mary dreamt about what it'd be like if she'd gone a different way.
Mary refused to go in to the store today and Junior wasn't about to make her. She told him about the mishap
with the cash register and, now her term is winding down, she said bed rest is the advice her mama gave her.
Bed rest it is, then. But Junior was a little anxious about how he
was gonna manage to handle everything completely on his own, all day.
Ooh, snow. Pretty.
It was a lot of work, a lot, but Junior did all right manning the store.
Whoa! Mary was right. Junior just barely backed out of the way as the cash drawer flew
open but he wasn't sporting a third-trimester belly! That probably hurt like hell when it hit her.
Nowhere near as much as catching Valentine and his mother pawing at each other had hurt her.
But having to live with Lana made it easy to transition quickly into anger as Lana ordered her around, asking for
favours that weren't favours at all while she expected to be waited on. (And Junior was oblivious. To them both.)
Later, Lana overheard Junior on the phone downstairs and she cut him off at the path.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"C'mon, mom, I'm a grown Mann. Cut it out."
"Junior, tell me you are not honestly considering meeting up with your friends at The Dugout."
"Mom, the only somebody I answer to now is my wife and that's what I'm trying to do now, let her know where-"
"Junior you cannot go to The Dugout! What's wrong with you?"
"Why not? You go. Don't you?"
"Well, yes, I have been there-but I am in no danger whatsoever of the proprietor suspecting me of being the horndog who got his whore
of a daughter pregnant, hiding her away with the unknown grandchild, like an ugly mistress not fit to be seen by the light of day. Am I?"
Mary didn't mean to be so nosy but...
"Mary? What the hell are you-were you eavesdropping?"
"I-"
"On me and my mom! What the hell did you expect to hear?"
"I ain't hear nothin', only she don't like you bein' so chummy with Rhett so much. Maybe
she feel like 'cause he's a single guy and not too, not so responsible he's a bad influence?"
"Well, yeah, there is that. And it's not like she's wrong. What do you think? I mean, your
friends are your friends, right? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. Forgive me, honey?"
"It's okay. I think you're right. Just 'cause your friends ain't perfect don't mean you should
be not-not be loyal to 'em...but can you, can you stay home with me tonight anyway?"
That was easy. Junior was happy to oblige.
There might come a time once the honeymoon phase was over and done when that won't be so.
For right now, though, Mary knew what she had to do.
Val found Mary waiting for him outside The Dugout.
But it was a nightspot mainly, wasn't even open today. She must've been watching him, looking for him.
"Everything all right, Mary? With the baby?" he asked, but he asked with his hands.
Mary pushed him away and snapped at him, "Don't touch!"
"Okay, okay."
Not really okay.
Still, she did come looking for him. He knew they would have to have it out one o' these days.
"I didn't mean to disrespect you in your own house, I wasn't thinking. Mary, I'm so sorry-"
"What for? Lana's a single woman now. And you're sure a single man, doin' what come
so naturally. What you got to be sorry to me about? I don't fit in to y'all's business-"
"Mary-"
"And it ain't what I come to talk to you 'bout."
Val crossed his arms and peered at her from under the lowered brim of his hat. "Did you have to come wearin' that shirt?"
"What?" Mary jumped up. She thought she heard Ms. Daytona passin' by, and everybody
knew 'bout them, too. She didn't want nobody to see her here but especially not Ms. Daytona!
"Mary, I'm sorry."
"You say somethin' 'bout my shirt?"
"Believe me, I want you to be happy, hun. I do."
"That's what my husband calls me. Honey. You can call me Mary."
She'd gotten better at this, that one cut him.
"He's a lucky Mann."
Mary had to-she wasn't gettin' nowhere with what she came to say.
"But he don't deserve you."
"What?" Here she was and...she couldn't believe the nerve o' him.
"We both know it's true," Val said, "he don't deserve you."
"Neither did you."
Smooth.
Rhett didn't have a whole lotta friends. There was Junior and...there was Junior. Plus his wimmins but they didn't always feel too friendly
toward him. With Junior it was like a two-way street, his situation wasn't so totally different and Rhett could talk freer, young buck to young buck.
"You should've come out, man. I was on bar. And there was this chick, y'know, like damn. Never seen
her 'round before. But I'd like to. See the round-round, y'know. Hey, how 'bout tonight? You up for it?"
"Dude, I'm working. Like, right now. Working. And after I finish up here I'm goin' home to my wife, man. Don't you gotta get to yours too?"
"Low blow, man. Screw you."
"It was a joke."
"Whatever. Anyway, Sandy did say all the screwdrivers in that kit I picked up before were Phillips head, only different sizes, and
she needs one of those flat dealies for whatever the hell she's workin' on. Flat heads? However you call 'em. Got any o' those?"
"We should. Check the tool counter...you tool."
Rhett improvised an obscene gesture and went about his search for a flat head dealie-o.
Mary calmed herself and tried this again. Valentine was gone from The Dugout but she found him at his house.
Comin' this way was exactly what she had hoped to avoid but this was important enough for her to be bold.
"I'm an old man, Mary."
She didn't want to hear that.
"How you say that? You ain't that-"
"Three grandkids, Mary. Least...I guess, I mean, it should be three."
"That's what I need to talk to you 'bout."
"Come on, then," he said, bounding past her toward the front door. Just as spry as he wanna be, Mary thought.
"Wait, where? I don't b'lieve I should be goin' in there."
"It's gettin' cold out here and we need to talk. I've done the calculations, Mary."
"What's that s'posed to-what you mean by that?"
"I mean I'm lookin' at how far along you are and I know when you got married. And I know when the last time-"
"Valentine!" Mary grabbed her belly protectively. Little legs started to kick up a fuss inside her. "What makes you think me and Junior
had to wait to be married. You ain't ever marry me, did you? And you ain't wait none." That wasn't no kick that she felt this time!
Her knees buckled under with that first powerful contraction and Val tried to steady her, keep her upright and on her feet.
"Don't you worry, I'm gonna get you home," he said, leading her through the house, "you just
keep on breathing. We got a few minutes before the next one. That's it. Easy now. I got you."
They made it to her back door before the next full-on contraction hit.
She was in so much pain, poor girl, and wasn't nothin' he could do about it.
She'd have to bear down and ride it out. But Valentine did so hate to see her hurtin'.
Mary heaved herself against him, willing her labour pains to subside long enough for her to get the words out.
She buried her forehead into his neck and Val tried to inch her back toward her door-he had to get her home safe to have
this baby-but Mary dug in her heels. She clenched her eyes and clamped down around the pain, exhaling into his ear,
"I know where Candy's at."
~
Thanks for reading!
Hopefully, it won't take quite so long to get to Parts Two and Three.
The Mann Act, for anyone unfamiliar, is an interesting bit of US law that originally criminalized interstate travel with/transportation of women for "immoral purposes". Rich had to rearrange that part of his plan, since the "spies" they are lurking, but he's nothing if not resourceful.