Thicker Than Water - 31. Chapter 31

December came in with a small blizzard. School had been canceled, which left everyone stuck at home. Caleb spent most of his time in his room, avoiding his father. Bryan tried talking to his little brother, but he couldn't find a way of explaining Diego's situation without talking about the sexual assault, which meant that Caleb wasn't accepting that their dad had his reasons.

Steve decided to use the opportunity—and his captive audience—to convince the boys to try Dungeons and Dragons. Kenny, who still couldn't go home, was excited to try it, as was Caleb. Bryan joined to not hurt Steve's feelings, while Diego politely bowed out, promising to make it up, triggering a chorus of “Ews.”

Calvin spent most of his time along the East Coast, between Pennsylvania and Florida, mostly in rural areas. Diego wasn't sure how to take that. Most jobs were in the larger cities, but Calvin seemed to avoid them for the most part. The place he stayed the longest was in Georgetown, South Carolina, but that was about 16 months. He spent about a year bouncing around Kansas, Washington State and Rhode Island, which was a huge distance for such a small period of time.

“Alright, Caleb,” Steve said, sounding conspiratorial, “A goblin stands before you, sword drawn. He snarls at you, with blood dripping from his pointed teeth. What do you do?”

“I don't know,” Caleb said, trying to visualize the scene Steve was describing.

“Hit it with your sword!” Kenny suggested enthusiastically. “Take the bastard's head off!”

“Language!” Diego called from the living room.

“Sorry!” Kenny yelled back. “But, yeah, kill it!” Kenny said to Caleb in a hushed voice.

“How do I do that?” Caleb asked, looking at the pile of oddly shaped dice in front of him.

“Grab two of those big ones,” Steve said, pointing at the dice. “Those are twenty-sided dice, also called d20s. Roll them both, since you have advantage on his attack.” Caleb rolled the marble-like dice in a decorated box Steve owned. “Good, you rolled a 10 and a 13. Since you have advantage, you get to use the higher of the two numbers, which is 13. Then you add your attack modifiers and proficiency bonus, which adds three to the roll, for a total of 16.” Steve checked his notes. “You needed to roll 14 or higher to hit it, which you did. Now, roll the six-sided die. Okay, you got a four, so you add your strength modifier, which is also a four, for a total of eight...and you killed the goblin!”

“Yes!” Kenny said loudly. “Sorry, again, Mr. Padilla!”

“It's okay,” Diego said, trying to ignore the noise.

“There's a lot of math to this game,” Bryan said, disliking the game even more.

“It's basic math, though,” Steve said, ignoring the boy's complaint. “The game isn't about math, anyway. It's about the story and having fun. The math is just there to make sure everything is fair.”

Bryan flipped through the book they used to make their characters. He didn't understand most of it, but it did have nice pictures of dragons, fairies and other fantasy creatures. He wanted to be a bad guy, but Steve wouldn't allow it.

Diego's eyes hurt a lot from looking at the screen of his laptop, so he put it down and went into the kitchen. The table was covered in grid paper with a bunch of doodles he didn't understand but somehow the boys did. Steve was talking about some dwarven mines being invaded by gnolls. “Everyone ready for lunch?”

“Yeah, we can take a break for lunch,” Steve said, leaning back. “Might as well get up and stretch before we take on this dungeon.”

Bryan looked relieved but didn't say a word, while Kenny and Caleb discussed strategies. Bryan moved around the table and pointedly asked his father, “Do you need help?”

Diego grinned and said, “No, I think I've got this. Besides, do you need to work on your plans with your crew?”

“Party,” Kenny corrected. “We're a party of adventurers.”

“My bad,” Diego said to Bryan with a wink. “I'd hate to break up the party.”

“Ugh,” Bryan said before sulking his way back to the table.

“Mijo, what do you want for lunch?” Diego asked Caleb.

Caleb tensed up. “I'm not hungry.”

Diego was prepared for his son's defiance and attitude but it hurt, nonetheless. “Chico? How about you?”

“I'm fine with whatever.”

“Steve, Kenny?”

“Tacos?” Kenny asked.

“Yeah, tacos sound great,” Steve agreed.

“You know I can make more than Mexican food, right?” Steve and Kenny shared a look that caused Bryan and Caleb to chuckle.

“Babe, we didn't--” Steve started to say.

Diego laughed and said, “I'm just fucking with you. We can have tacos. They pair well with white guilt.”

Bryan and Caleb busted up laughing, while Kenny and Steve blushed.

Due to the table being overtaken by Steve's game, they ate in the living room. Diego filled Steve in with what he found on Calvin, leaving both disappointed with the outcome thus far.

“Johnson is like the most common last name in the US,” Steve said. “I'm surprised you found anything at all.”

“Luckily, Calvin isn't common, but yeah, I get your point. I was hoping for a smoking gun or something, like a criminal record; instead, I keep running into address changes.”

“Maybe he was running from something bad?” Bryan offered, unable to ignore the conversation between his parents.

“Maybe,” Diego said, guessing at what his son was implying, “but I can't find what that might be.”

“Can't Charlie do that? Isn't that his job?”

“Charlie is more of an assistant who fills out paperwork,” Steve clarified. “It wouldn't hurt giving him this information, but Billy will have to hire a private investigator to do most of the work, provided he hasn't done it already.” He looked at the clock and empty plates. “Alright guys, let's get back to the game and let your dad do his work.”

Bryan gave a small groan but followed the others back to the kitchen.

Once everyone got back into the game, Diego decided to take a detour and explore something that had been bugging him for awhile. He felt nervous, but he needed answers. He looked over at the table, and Steve was too engrossed with describing a fight with some creature to pay attention to anything else. Diego hastily typed the name: William Parker IV.

Google gave him Billy's professional website, some ads, and a ton of articles. Diego started with Billy's Google page and looked at the reviews. He had a 4.6 out of 5, with mostly five-star reviews. A few were average, while a handful were one-star without giving any kind comment. One negative comment was from a woman who claimed that Billy purposefully derailed her boyfriend's criminal defense. Billy replied with, “LOL.” Classy guy, Diego thought.

Diego opened the first and most recent article. It was from a small time, local newspaper about Kenny's expulsion hearing. The details were all given with a liberal slant, which made Diego happy. He was concerned the conservative media would have a field day trying to turn the Thomases into martyrs. There was, however, a small blurb at the end that caught his attention:

“William Parker IV, son of infamous lawyer and criminal, William Parker III, declined to comment on the pending litigation filed against him and his firm.”

Diego was aware that Billy's father died at the hands of the police, but he wasn't aware that Billy's father was also a lawyer or at least he didn't remember being told as much. There was also a potential lawsuit. Diego had read a couple more articles to get an understanding of the latter. Apparently, the Thomases and former superintendent were suing Billy for slander. Diego rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised by any of it, given how self-righteous that group was. However, it was Billy's father much more interested in the moment.

After checking on his family one more time, Diego entered his new search history: William Parker III.

“Oh my fucking god!”