Identity (16 page)

“One day I came home from work and she had a woman there, a woman she’d picked up over on Dupont Circle in downtown DC, one of her favorite hunting grounds.”

Shay sighed and looked at the hands clasped in her lap. “She wanted a three-way with this woman.”

“My God,” Liza blurted. “What did you do?”

“I said no, of course, but that made no difference. She told me I was stupid and old-fashioned, then she started sweet talking me and pushing me until…” She stood abruptly and walked to the sliding glass doors.

“Things escalated after that. She burned me with sticks of incense and cigarette lighters. For talking back, she said. She once threw me down the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial because I challenged her. That one put me in the hospital with a fractured shoulder and ribs. I think the worst thing was when she’d drug me and lock me away. It didn’t matter what appointments I had…what clients I needed to meet…what training schedule I’d set up. I’d wake up one morning and be locked away in a closet, listening to my cell phone ring in the other room. The first time it was just a few hours. Later it was for days. I became so afraid that I wouldn’t eat or drink anything she’d touched.”

She paused and took a deep breath. “I can’t even begin to tell you how many clients I lost. I was lying to everyone, even my parents. I couldn’t tell anyone.” She looked at Liza briefly. “I was so ashamed.

“When I started refusing the women, she beat me more, usually where no one could see. Never in the face. There was one woman I worked the dogs with, a woman named Carla. I showed her once, the bruises, the burns. She ended up testifying.”

Shay turned from the glass doors, obviously irritated with herself. “Wait, I’m jumping ahead. The abuse went on for about two years. By this time, Pepper was having to supplement my income just so I could make the mortgage. This gave her so much power over me that it kept getting worse and worse. I started selling household things and jewelry on the sly and saved every cent I could. In cash so she wouldn’t know.

“Eventually I had some saved and I sold the house and kennel through a separate postal box without telling her. I had the locks changed when she was at work and then I moved. I went all the way across town.”

“Good,” Liza said quietly. “That was the right thing to do.”

Shay shrugged and resumed her seat next to Liza.

“I don’t know. Maybe not. It took her two months to find me, but she did and boy, was she angry.”

She turned a keen gaze on Liza. “You know how she found me? By methodically watching at all the malls in the DC area during those months. Especially the pet stores and grocery stores. She was searching for my car, for me. Even though I seldom went out, she found me, just plain bad luck. She hid and followed me home. I didn’t know.”

She sighed deeply and Liza could see the pain grow. “Then I went to visit my parents for one night. Mom was sick so I didn’t take Hattie with me…”

“You put her in the kennel with the other dogs,” Liza offered.

Tears cascaded along Shay’s cheeks and she brushed them away impatiently before continuing. “I did. Thought it would be a nice visit for her. When I came home early the next morning, I called to her and went out to let her come inside and…the gate was open. Then I saw them. They were so cold, just lying where she’d left them, not even on the sheepskins in their warm little houses or inside the shelter, but on the concrete and in the frozen grass. Several had fought back because they found her blood there, and it helped build the case against her.”

“My God, what did you do?” Liza found Shay’s hands and held them to try and comfort her.

“At first, I don’t know. After seeing them, I…I went out of my head, I think. Don, my friend who’s coming today, he lived a few houses down from me. I didn’t know him then, but he knew me by sight. He said he found me on his back lawn curled into a fetal position, right on the frozen grass. I was sobbing and muttering crazy stuff. After wrapping me in a blanket—he said I was blue from the cold—he took me back home but saw what had happened and rushed me to the hospital. He called the police on the way, which I don’t remember, and he also called a therapist friend, Rachel Frye, to meet us at the hospital. He told me later he knew how much I loved the dogs, just by watching me work them from his back porch deck, and knew I’d need some heavy duty help to get past it.”

“Can you imagine what would have happened had he not helped?”

“I think about that every day,” she replied, lifting wet, reddened eyes.

“So then what happened?” Liza prodded gently.

“Well,” Shay took a deep breath. “After several weeks of therapy, I got
really
angry. I stayed with my parents after they released me from the hospital because I was just too afraid. Dee came to visit all the time and with his help and reassurance, I went after Pepper. My mama was getting sicker and even though we tried everything, she passed the following month. I stayed with Daddy a little longer, but he went soon after.”

“I guess everything has a reason. His death gave me the extra resources I needed to hire the best DC prosecuting lawyer around and we brought out the big guns.”

“That must have been so horrible,” Liza said, shaking her head.

“The whole lesbian thing was a nightmare. My lawyer kept trying to disregard it and say Pepper was a stalking lunatic who would no doubt have killed me if she’d had the chance. Her defense attorney was a tough old bird and he may have won in the end, but she kept stepping on his toes and losing her temper in court. They tried to drag my character through the mud, saying I’d led her on and promised undying love and that
she
was the one thwarted in the relationship. Her behavior in court allowed the jury to quickly make up its mind.”

She sighed. “I was never so relieved in my life. I’m just glad my parents didn’t have to go through it.”

Liza nodded. “The universe just somehow always knows what’s best.”

Shay squeezed Liza’s hand, then rose to look out the window at the darkening afternoon. “The best part is, all the money she makes in prison has to go to pay the dog owners for damages, for losing their livelihoods. I was glad of that. She deserved to pay. With money
and
jail time.”

Silence descended and settled for a long minute.

“I wonder where they are,” Shay mused, studying the drive.

As if on cue, her cell phone sounded. Shay strode across the room and eyed the glowing screen. She winked at Liza. “Wanna bet they’re lost?”

Liza stood, amazed by the sudden shift in mood. She shook her head in the negative.

“Don, where are you?” Shay asked calmly. She listened intently a few minutes, then smiled. “Yes, we’ll walk down so you can see where to turn,” she said. “Go around slow one more time.”

“Where is he?” Liza quizzed after Shay signed off.

Shay walked to the table beside the door and picked up her keys. “They’ve been driving around the pond, not sure where the driveway is.” She held out her hand to Liza. “Let’s walk down and show them where to turn.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The ease Shay manifested in switching from the painful topic of Pepper onto the brighter topic of dealing with the imminent guests gave Liza pause. She wondered if Shay was forcing emotions away into neat cubicles and not bringing them out to be dealt with fully. She decided to query her about it as they strode along the drive.

“Shay, how do you think Pepper’s abuse has changed your life?”

Shay bristled and her reply was brusque. “You see how I live. I’m incarcerated in my own home. I even stagger my jogging days so there’ll be no pattern. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get over it.”

Liza dropped her head, pondering Shay’s brittle anger, clearly a protective cloak. “I realize that, and I have one thing to say. I want you to think about this okay?”

Shay paused near the end of the drive and studied the other woman. “Okay.”

“It is not up to Pepper how soon you get your life back. It’s up to you.” She pressed a quick kiss to Shay’s forehead. “That’s all I have to say.”

Shay studied Liza, then smiled slightly and nodded. “Do my eyes look red?”

“You look great. Let’s go find those boys.”

They stepped onto the asphalt of Dooley Drive and, after a few minutes, saw the slow approach of a champagne-colored Toyota Camry.

“That’s them,” Shay whispered excitedly, taking Liza’s arm.

As the car pulled close, the man driving, Don, as Liza learned later, lowered his window.

“Can we say ‘backwoods,’” he said, laughing. “Shay, you need to get in this car and come right back to DC this minute.”

Shay placed her hands on her hips, elbows jutting out like triangle points. “Absolutely not and just for fun, we’re going to make you tour the single, one-room bank here in town.”

“No, no,” Don cried in mock horror, “anything but that!”

Laughing, Shay leaned in for a kiss and quick hug. She studied his face, hers mere inches away. “I am so glad to see you,” she said, her voice low.

He smiled and touched her forehead with his. “You look great, kid. This place must be agreeing with you.”

Shay straightened and motioned Liza close. “Don, this is Liza.”

Don and Liza shook hands, exchanging pleasantries. He was older than she had expected.

“Greg, meet Liza and Shay,” Don said, leaning back so his companion Greg could shake hands.

“Okay,” Don said, “introductions made. Can we get out of this car now?”

Shay laughed and pointed up the sloping drive toward the house. “Right up there, sweetie. We’ll be right behind.”

Shay took Liza’s hand and they followed the rental car in companionable silence.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Don and Greg were both small people, no bigger than Shay, and Liza began to wonder if all DC folk were this size. Maybe a race of fairy people, the Tuatha Dé Danann, had settled there as they had in Ireland. At five foot eight inches, Liza felt like a big-boned giant in their presence. They didn’t seem daunted in the least, however, buoyed as they were by a type of high, ethereal energy.

Don talked a lot, wittily. His round head was balding gracefully, and he seemed to have become comfortable with the fact. He did have a thick mustache to compensate, but it was neat and well-trimmed. His large, dark Mediterranean eyes were friendly, and full lips danced across large white teeth as he chattered.

Greg, though just as small, was very different. He had a full thatch of thick, black hair, Asian eyes and a smooth, clean-shaven face. His manner was calmer as well, his movements slower.

“So, Liza, you grow vegetables?” Don said after they settled at the table. “Where’s your base of operations?”

Liza leaned to accept the glass of blush wine Shay passed to her. She nodded a warm thank you, meeting Shay’s gaze to connect momentarily, before answering. “Montgomery. Meadows owns about two hundred acres there just outside the city proper. We have about forty-five regular employees and use some seasonal migrant labor.”

“How in the world does one even start such a business?” Greg asked.

Liza explained the history of the startup as Shay, also listening intently, placed the last few serving dishes of food on the table. Shay took her seat and sipped her wine. When the conversation lagged, she held out one hand to Liza and the other to Don. Don took Greg’s hand and Greg took Liza’s. Shay murmured a small blessing of gratitude and then released the hands.

“Okay, dig in. I hope you like everything.”

Liza gazed hungrily at the food and was amazed at the feast before her. Sliced ham and turkey artfully arranged on a platter was the focal point. Spreading out from that were bowls bearing steaming mashed potatoes, green beans, cooked squash, cornbread stuffing, whole cranberries, asparagus spears dribbled with hollandaise sauce and homemade crescent rolls.

“Wow,” she breathed. “I didn’t realize all those good smells would pan out like this.”

Shay laughed and nudged Liza gently. “Just workin’ my way to your heart, darlin’,” she explained.

Liza laughed and blushed.

Don watched them, a bemused smile adorning his lips. “So, seriously. Who catered?”

“I did it,” Shay retorted. “All by myself. Liza brought the wine and the asparagus. But I cooked everything. I used a great cookbook.”

“Well, how about that? See what spending some time with food rather than dogs does for you?” He winked at Shay and continued chewing appreciatively. He glanced once at Liza, then cleared his throat. “Speaking of that, do you have any plans?”

“Plans for what?” Shay sliced a piece of turkey and popped it into her mouth.

“More dogs. Will you start training again here?”

Shay saw the way he was perusing Liza and set his mind at ease. “It’s okay, Don, honey. She knows all about it.”

“About what?” Greg asked, helping himself to more asparagus.

Silence entered the room as if a physical being. Liza and Don both waited for Shay to say what she would. She hesitated a long minute.

“A woman stalked me and killed my dogs,” she explained.

“Oh, that,” he exclaimed too quickly, eyes downcast. “It must have been horrible. I hope you sued her ass.”

Liza chuckled hollowly, effectively breaking the tension. “Spoken like a true lawyer, Greg.”

“Well,” Shay began, “she
is
in jail in North Carolina and shouldn’t be out for two more years. I just hope she has learned her lesson. That’s all I can say.”

Liza and Don both eyed Shay, worried about how calmly she was treating the ongoing, crippling fears they both knew about. Don looked at his plate guiltily.

“Dee was the one who found me,” Shay told Greg. “After it happened. He took me to the hospital and stayed with me. This guy’s a sweetheart. I hope you realize that.” She pointed her fork at him for emphasis.

Greg smiled at Don and his face lit with love and admiration. “I do, girl. You know I do.” The two touched hands in a brief caress as Don turned his attention back to Shay.

“Okay, Shay, this is important,” Don said, clearing his throat. “As much as I like your business at Regional, I need to tell you there are fifteen,
fifteen
, online banks now that pay more interest than we can. You need to choose one and we’ll move some funds over, okay?”