the person Susie would come crying to when she fell and skinned her
knee, the person who could, with a few well-chosen words, plant a lot
of lies about dear old dad that would slowly and surely turn his
daughter against him.
And he wouldn't put it past Megan, not after what he'd learned about
her after they had split up. She had a mean streak, and it was a lot
wider and deeper than he'd ever imagined it could be.
Getting into a tussle with her mother over Susie's affections would be
a losing proposition, no question. At least until she became a
teenager and rebelled ... Susie, now eight, continued to talk about
what a swell guy Byron was, and as much as he didn't want to agree with
that, Michaels didn't say so. Poisoning a well was never a good idea
in his mind, you never knew if somebody you loved might drink from
it--or if you might have to drink from it yourself someday. Susie was
going to be living with the man, and what good would it do her to be in
the middle of a pissing match between her real father and the new
stepdad?
What harm might it do her?
Truth was, Byron probably was a nice guy. If he'd met him away from
Megan, he suspected he wouldn't have had any problems with him. Yeah,
he'd been out of line when he got between a divorced couple in a
long-running fight he didn't understand, but he would have done the
same thing in Byron's place. Michaels had been ragging on
Megan--justifiably so, in his mind--but what kind of man were you if
you didn't step up to protect your woman? Even if she was in the
wrong?
Or even if she was somebody like Toni, who could protect herself better
than you could?
Michaels shook his head. Toni isn't your woman anymore.
Don't go there.
'So when are you coming to see me, Dadster?'
'Pretty soon, Li'l Bit. Next month.'
Yeah, next month. Friday, July 1. The day of the first round of the
custody hearings. His lawyer, Phil Buchanan, was confident they could
win, or at least stall things for a long time, or so he said. But the
question was: Did he really want to do that?
'Spiffy! Did Morrister tell you that Scout caught a rat?'
'A rat?' Scout was a toy poodle Michaels had come by when an assassin,
a woman disguising herself as an old lady walking her dog, had used the
little beast as part of her subterfuge. Fortunately for him, the dog
had barked at just the right time, saving his life. He'd thought about
keeping the pooch, but figured he needed more attention than he could
give a pet, so now Scout was his daughter's companion.
'Oh, yeah, we heard them fighting under the porch last night and then
Scout came out dragging it by the neck!
It was a big rat, all brown and bloody, and it was dead, but he bit
Scout on the leg, so we had to take Scout to the vet to get a shot so
he wouldn't get rat disease. He's okay, though.'
The idea of the toy poodle tangling with a wood rat and coming out the
