Under the Bleachers

The Birthday Party

One Week Later

"Happy Birthday, Marcus!" Ruby said as she took him from Beth. "Are you having a fun birthday?"

Marcus replied with a giggle as his godmother tickled him under the chin.

"I thought you said you invited Jimmy? I don't see him anywhere," Ruby said as her eyes darted around the room. "Stan was hoping to have someone to talk to."

The party had been going on for over half an hour and neither Jimmy nor Rio were in attendance. Beth really did wish Jimmy could be here, but she was more worried about why Rio wasn't. He'd gone out to take care of something early this morning and she hadn't seen him since.

Things were definitely weird between them and had been since their failed date night a week ago. What was supposed to have been a romantic evening turned into an evening of interrogation. She'd dropped the box and its contents off at the police station. Well, almost the same box. She'd made a few modifications first. She'd used a box that didn't have Rio's name written on it and had added Devante's name to the bottom of the note. She'd explained to the police that it had been left on her doorstep, but she didn't know why. They'd looked inside and were just as horrified as she had been to find pieces of a dead body inside. Detectives had spent the next five hours interrogating her. She feigned cluelessness the whole time and she thought they had bought it. If they hadn't, she figured she would have been brought in for questioning again.

She didn't know if turning the box into the cops was a good idea, but it was the only one she had been able to think of. She'd been backed into a corner with very few options. She couldn't let Devante get away with this. He couldn't leave this kind of stuff at her house. What if Annie had opened the door and found the box? No, she wasn't going to allow it.

Beth hadn't told Rio what she'd done. Was too scared to if she were honest. He'd been moody and had worked late all week. She could tell that "work" wasn't going so well. She hoped it was because Devante was in trouble. That the cops were on his tail

She wanted Rio out of this life so bad. If he got out now, there was still hope. He could go to college. They could forge a different life.

As another half hour passed, Beth grew even more worried. It wasn't like Rio to say he was going to be somewhere and then not show up. It was his son's birthday for goodness sake. He should be here.

As Beth was slicing the train shaped cake she'd made for Marcus's birthday, she heard a phone ringing in the distance.

A minute later Annie walked up. "Rio's on the phone for you."

Ruby took over the slicing of the cake and Beth headed towards the phone.

"Where have you been?" She asked without even bothering to say hello.

"I need you to bail me out. Get the cash out of the shoebox under our bed."

"It's your son's birthday. We're in the middle of his party."

"Like I don't know that? Look ma, I don't got all day to be on the phone. Come and get me. You can whine and moan about this later."

Beth slammed the phone down, feeling as if steam were coming out of both her ears. How could he do this? On today of all days? On their son's birthday?

She walked over to Ruby. "Hey, umm...I have to go pick up Rio. Would you mind watching Marcus for me? I've left some money on the counter for the pizza when it gets here. Just have everyone keep playing and eating. We can open presents later."

"Sure. Is everything OK?" Ruby asked, looking at her worriedly.

Beth shook her head not trusting herself to talk. Everything was most definitely not OK.