I went out behind the diner to a rather unusual addition that Gran had installed at my request. It was basically a free-standing, two-car garage. One side held Gran’s Passat. The other side was filled with a tarp-covered shape. I allowed myself a mercenary little grin at the fate waiting for the poor fool who tried to break into that building. I’d been very creative when I set the traps around the place. I went inside and pulled the tarp off a vintage Porsche 911 with a paint job so dark it could give black holes a run for their money. The engine gave a satisfying growl when I fired it up. I pulled the car around to the front and gave a little honk. Gabriella came out and stared at the car in total shock. I noted that her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Score one for Team Gran, I thought. Gabriella snapped out of her shock and came down to the car. She slid into the passenger seat and looked around like I’d offered her a ride on a rocket ship. For all I knew, though, that was exactly how she felt about it.

“You’re the navigator,” I said. “Where’s home?”

She told me and I nodded. “Buckle up.”

It wasn’t strictly necessary, but I might have given the car a little workout on the way. By the time we got back to her place, Gabriella’s eyes were huge, but she wore a big, uncomplicated smile like the ones I’d seen on kids who just got off an especially good roller coaster. I parked the car and considered the little ramshackle house. There was a rusted-out pickup parked in the driveway. Way too many empty beer cans littered the lawn around the porch. Yeah, I was getting the picture all too clear. Gabriella saw where I was looking. She must have read some kind of judgment on my face because the smile vanished.

“Thank you for the ride,” she said, quick and quiet.

She started to get out, but I put a hand on her arm. “I’m supposed to make sure you get inside. Gran’s orders. I’ll walk you up.”

I saw the million unspoken protests in her eyes, but she just nodded. The eyes of the neighborhood bore down on us as we crossed the yard. More specifically, they bore down on me and on the car. I could practically hear the telephone calls being made and the rumors that were starting. Let them talk, I decided. We got to the door and Gabriella reached out for the knob. Before she could touch the knob, the door swung in, and the stench of old beer rolled out like an alcoholic ocean swell. A man swayed in place as he glared at Gabriella. He wasn’t what I expected. He was white, for one. He was also a little younger than I expected, or he looked it anyway. I wondered if he was her father or just the guy her mother was hooking up with at present. Based on the way Gabriella hunched at the sight of him, I concluded it didn’t matter. He was certainly the one who left the bruise on her face.

“Where you been, you stupid little whore?” He slurred at her.

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He was drunk enough that he hadn’t noticed me yet, so I stepped between him and the girl. I gave him a big, bright smile.

“Hi,” I said.

Then I punched him in the face so hard that I heard one of his teeth break. He flopped backward on the floor with a dull thud. I didn’t give him an inch. He managed to roll to one side, so I kicked him in one of his kidneys. He bellowed and rolled again, so I kicked him in the stomach a couple of times for good measure. I’d been trained. I knew how to make it hurt, and I did. I waited for him to get it together enough to get up on his hands and knees, then I kicked him in the ribs. Not quite hard enough to break them, but plenty hard enough to make them ache for the next month. That was all it took before there was no fight left in him. I crouched down, so only he could hear me.

“I’ve got a message for you from Gran. You know who that is?”

His eyes went wide, and he nodded.

“Good. Here’s the message. You ever lay a hand on anyone in this house again, and she’ll send me back here to really hurt you. You ever so much as touch Gabriella again, Gran will make your balls rot off before I take you somewhere they’ll never find the body. Do you understand me?”

The abrupt urine smell in the air told me everything I needed to know. He understood me.

“Yeah,” he said. “I understand.”

I really wanted to drive the point home to him, so I ad-libbed a little.

“I’m going to be around here, a lot, for the foreseeable future. I’m going to be watching. Personally, I hope you fuck this up because you aren’t worth the air you breathe.”

I think he might have pissed himself again at that point. Then I gave him another big, bright smile. “Okay, great! So glad we could have this little talk.”

I got up and nodded at the pair of stunned family members who couldn’t believe what had just happened. Gabriella’s mother was easy enough to spot since she looked just like her daughter. She had her arms wrapped protectively around a young boy with bruises on his neck. Gabriella’s mother had a black eye. I seriously considered beating the man some more, but you must draw the line somewhere. I’d delivered the message. If it didn’t work, then things would get serious. I walked over to the door. Gabriella was still standing on the porch. She stared at me in total disbelief. I shrugged at her.

“You just need to know how to talk to some people,” I said.

Gabriella started looking around her with a wild-eyed, trapped expression. “I can’t stay here! He’ll, you don’t know what he’ll do!”

“He won’t do a god damned thing to you. First of all, he’s going to be in way too much pain to do anything to anybody for at least the next few days. Trust me on that, I know what I’m doing. Plus, Gran told you what to do if he even tries to do anything, right?”

Gabriella nodded, the animal fear going out of her eyes. “Yes, she told me.”

I lowered my voice. “Stop by the diner on your way home from school from now on, just to check-in. I’ll walk you home tomorrow. Really drive home the point to that waste of space in there.”

She gave me a look, half hopeful and half cynical. “Yeah?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll make time for this.”

She started to go inside and then she looked back at me. “You were right. I liked the pie.”

She vanished inside and the door closed behind her. I smiled. Of course, she liked the pie. Everyone liked Gran’s pecan pie. It was pure magic.