Jaded (24 page)

“You want some mint tea? I just brewed a fresh pot.”

Jase smiled. “I’d love a glass.”

She got busy in the tiny kitchen right next to one of the two chairs in the tiny space. He looked down at what may have been a hallway and saw a futon-type bed at the end. Despite the shabbiness of the abode, everything was neat and clean and in its place. “My name’s Millie, Millie Saunders.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Millie.”

She chuckled and bustled into the room, handing him a glass of iced tea. “Nice to see a young man with manners.” She hoisted her glass and took a long drink before she sat in the overstuffed chair next to his. “Now, why you come ’round here asking about Ruby Leigh?”

“I want to know what happened to her mother.”

“She done died, fried right next door, some eleven years ago.”

“Can you tell me what you remember?”

“’Course. I might be gettin’ up in years, but the old noggin still works.” She grinned and tapped her head.

Jase waited patiently.

“All right, so it’s suppertime. I hear ol’ Bobbie Jean yelling at Ruby Leigh to hurry up and get in the trailer, she done got a surprise for her. Ruby’s a good girl. I never paid no never mind to her goin’ up the hill to the colonel’s. Ruby knew if it weren’t for what she done, her baby sister would have up and died of that cough of hers. Ruby never complained. And Bobbie rode her hard every chance she got. That poor girl deserved more than she got. And her mama got just what she deserved. Why, drinkin’ an’ whorin’ all those years sucked her dry. She—”

“Miss Millie? What happened that night?”

“Oh, yes, ’course. Well, after Ruby done gone into the trailer, I heard her yelling at her mama. Telling her no, she wasn’t gonna let no friend of the colonel’s take care of Crystal. Said her mama would have to kill her afore she let that happen. Well, one thing you didn’t do was back talk Bobbie Jean, ’specially when she’d been drinking, which was pretty much any time of the day. I heard a hard slap, and then the baby cryin’. There was quiet for a while after that. I thought Ruby done took her sister and skeedaddled. But I looked out front there and saw Ruby pacing the dirt yard. When she went in a few minutes later I heard yellin’ an’ screamin’, then she run out with Crystal and took off for the woods with only the clothes on their backs. Haven’t seen hide nor hair of either of them since.”

“Millie, I want you to think real hard about my next question. Did anyone else come into the trailer after Ruby left? Did you hear anyone or anything before or after the fire?”

Millie scrunched her face up and scratched her chin. “I reckon I did hear some screamin’. Most likely Eda Mae and Herbert. Those two were always slapping each other, then making up. I don’t know what was worse, the screamin’ or the caterwauling!” Her old eyes narrowed. “You think someone came in and finished Bobbie Jean off?”

“Why didn’t you tell Sheriff Taylor about the screams right before the fire?”

“Well, he never asked me, and—it just didn’t occur to me until this minute that it may have been Bobbie Jean. I figured it must have been Eda Mae behind me. Her and her old man were always a fightin’. Then makin’ up, but when I think back to that night, they didn’t come outta their trailer. Prolly ’cause they weren’t home.”

J
ase headed back to the sheriff’s office. The good ol’ boy looked up from the open file on his desk. Jase noticed it was the Gentry file. “I didn’t figure you’d be back so soon, Detective.”

“I just had an interesting conversation with Millie Saunders. She said she heard screams right before Ruby and her sister fled, then about an hour later more screams before the trailer went up in flames.”

The sheriff sat back in his chair and pushed back his sweat-stained cowboy hat. “I suppose I’d scream if I was on fire.”

“My point exactly. Bobbie Jean was alive and well an hour after Ruby left. I bet you a case of those cigars you like that Ruby didn’t come back.”

“Now, tell me why old Millie would tell you she heard screams, but didn’t tell me?”

“She said she thought at the time it was Eda Mae behind her fighting with her husband, like they did every other night. But it wasn’t until later that she realized that Eda Mae and her hubby weren’t even home. I took the liberty of asking Eda Mae, and she said they were up visiting her sister in Arkansas and didn’t come home until the day after the fire.”

The sheriff scratched his chin. “Well, that may be true, but all the evidence points to Ruby killing her mama.”

“Where was the body?”

“It was in the bedroom, by what was left of the door.”

“According to Ruby, she and her mother argued. She pushed her mother in the kitchen, where she hit her head on the Formica table. Not getting it bashed in from behind in the bedroom. Sheriff, would you mind letting me look at that file?” Jase asked, pointing to it.

Taylor gave him a narrowed glare.

“The life of a woman is at stake here. And you owe it to her to make this right.”

“Either way, son, you need to bring that girl back here.”

“I realize that, sir. I hope the next time she leaves Louisiana, she leaves a free woman.”

Taylor looked long and hard at Jase, then slid the manila folder across his desk to him. “You got thirty minutes, boy. Then I want you outta here and I don’t want to see you again unless you have Ruby Leigh Gentry with you.”

Jase nodded and opened the file.

As she tossed the last of her cosmetics into her suitcase, Jade debated answering her cell phone. She looked at the LCD:
P
RIVATE
C
ALLER.
What the hell, she was going to be history in a few hours.

“Hello,” she answered as she crooked the phone between her ear and shoulder, continuing to toss products into her bag.

“Jade, it’s Mac.”

Jade tightened her grip on the phone. “Hello, Mac.”

“I thought you might want to know, Genny is in the hospital. She tried to kill herself.”

Jade dropped the bottle of Chanel No. 5 in her hand. “Oh my god! Is she going to be all right?”

“I’m not sure. Her brother called me. He’s pretty upset. She’s at Valley Memorial.”

“I’ll go by to see her, but she may not want to talk to me.”

“I think you might be surprised. It may do her good.”

“Thanks, Mac.”

Jade hung up the phone, guilt riddling her thoughts. What had she done? Should she have given Genny another chance? She hurried and dressed, taking care not to move too fast. Who was she not to give Genny a second chance? Had Sam not given her a second chance, who knows where she and Tina would be? No, she owed it to Genny to at least stop by and see her, and to apologize. And to tell her she would recommend her for her job. It would be up to Genny and Jack Morton what happened then.

“Genny?”

Genny opened her eyes, the haze of drugs blurring her vision. She tried to smile. Her fingers wiggled and he took her hand. His warmth gave her strength.

“How do you feel, sis?”

Genny licked her dry lips and tried to focus. Her brother’s red hair glowed molten under the shards of sunlight that managed to slip through the curtains in her room. He was a good brother.

“What happened, Dickie?”

“You took a lot of pills. Why’d you do that? Why’d you try to leave me?”

Genny closed her eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them, tears brimming. “I’ve failed us. I got fired.”

“It’s okay, Genny.”

“No! It isn’t! I can’t support us, Dickie. All of Daddy’s insurance money is gone. I—I didn’t want to tell you.” Great racking sobs crashed through her chest. Her world had come to such an abrupt halt. “I feel like such a failure.” She looked up through her tear-filled eyes to her brother’s solemn face. Even through the thick haze of tears, she saw anger spark in his eyes. He was blaming himself somehow. “I begged Jade for a second chance, but she told me no,” Genny sobbed. “I don’t know how I can take care of us.”

Dickie’s hand tightened around hers. “I never wanted you to work there. I told you those men only wanted one thing from you. I watched them lust after you every night. But I still have my job. I’ll take care of us.”

Genny tightened her grip on his hands. “Jade doesn’t know you’re my brother. We can’t tell her, she’ll fire you, too, for lying.”

His voice took on the low measured tone of a man in control. “I’m not worried about Jade Devereaux. I fooled her, playing the poor pathetic Rusty. I’ll continue to fool that bitch.”

Genny stiffened and looked up at him. Her chest squeezed. She’d never heard that tone in his voice or seen anger in his eyes. Suddenly, she felt afraid for Jade. “Dickie, honey, don’t be mad at Jade. She’s a good person. I was stupid. I broke the biggest rule she had. When I feel better, I’m going to ask her for my job back.”

“No, Genny. Those men will only force you again.”

“But we need the money. And,” she sighed, “the truth is, I really don’t mind. I like the attention.”

His eyes sparked like wildfire and he stepped away from her to the other side of the room. His hands clenched open and closed. He began to pace the small area of the room in slow jerky steps. “I’ve always given you attention. Isn’t that enough?” he accused.

Genny strained to smile as pieces of her shattered life slowly fell into place. Did he mean…? “You’re—my brother, Dickie, and yes, you’ve given me lots of attention, and I love you for it. But I want a lover.”

He moved closer to her, his shadow falling over her face. His big brown eyes were bright, his nostrils flared in excitement. His fingers stroked the back of her hand. “I love you, sweet sister. I’ll take care of you now. You’ll never have to let another man touch you again.”

Genny’s fingers flinched as his touch grew stronger. He hovered over her, his eyes intense. “No,” she whispered, understanding. “Not like that, Dickie. It’s wrong.”

His eyes hardened, his lips drew taut. His fingers pressed harder into her skin. “You call what you did with Townsend in the back of the club right? And that Japanese guy? The one with the little prick? Sucking him for cash was right?”

Genny tried to pull away from him, but his fingers tightened around her wrist. Her blood pressure spiked. Bile rose in her throat. “And that piece of shit Otis? The things he made you do to him?”

“Dickie, how do you know about them?”

“I watched you and Townsend, the pig. The drunk didn’t even have the decency to call you by your name! He called out Jade’s name as he came in your mouth.”

“Did—?”

“I couldn’t let him live after disrespecting you that way. Then I thought maybe if the club got shut down, you wouldn’t do that nasty stuff with any of those men. When that didn’t slow down business, I went after Hiro. Jade had a turn with him before I got to him. She’s a whore, Genny! She’s whore, and she fired you for the same thing!”

Genny started to cry. “Dickie, you killed those men? Why?”

“I wanted you to stop! I don’t want you fucking other men! You’re mine!”

Genny yanked her hands from his grip and put them over her ears. “Stop this! It can’t be that way.
Ever.
Even if you weren’t my brother I wouldn’t want you that way. I can’t—I can’t be with you now, even if I wanted to. You’re a murderer!”

He pulled her hands down and leaned into her. “I did it for you! For us! I have money saved, we can go away.”

She moved as far from the crazed look in his eyes as she could in the narrow bed.

“Jade did this,” he whispered. He turned blank eyes to her. He began his agitated pacing again. Genny lay in the bed, terrified that if she argued with him he would hurt her. He mumbled to himself, his voice raging then lowering, as if he were arguing with another person in the room. Genny realized her brother was far more disturbed than the doctors ever suspected. “Dickie?” she softly called. As if he were alone in the room, he continued his pacing. Slowly, she reached down the sheet to where the call button was. As she was about to grab it, he turned on her. His eyes had a faraway vacant look in them.

“Jade turned you against me.” His tone was closed, clipped, leaving no room for argument. He slid the button from her hand and yanked it out of the wall. “Yes, she did.” He nodded. “She made you like this.”

“No, Dickie, Jade has nothing to do with me. She’s worked hard for her sister, just like I’ve worked hard for you. It’s what family does, not—what you want. It’s not right. I could never be more to you than a sister.”

His eyes glittered now. She could see the wheels turning. “Please, leave Jade out of this,” she begged.

“I have no intention of going after Jade. I hurt her enough when I ran her off the road.”

Genny gasped. “You did that? You—” Genny weakly pushed at him. He didn’t budge. “Get out of here. Get out of here and never come back. I hate what you’ve done.”

Dickie moved away, his eyes going blank again before they cleared. He smiled, sanity replacing the twisted, crazed look. “I will always love you, Genny. Never forget that.”

He took her hand and kissed it. “Good-bye.”

“What are you going to do, Dickie?”

“An eye for an eye, sweet sister, an eye for an eye.”

He turned and ran from the room. Genny started to scream.

Jade’s cell phone rang. “Hello?”

“Jade Devereaux?”

“Yes?”

“This is Dr. Hernandez at Valley Memorial. Miss Monroe requested I call you and ask you to get here posthaste. She’s quite hysterical, we need to sedate her, but she insists on speaking to you first. Room two forty-five.”

“I’m on my way now. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Jade rushed into the hospital. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t Genny pacing her room. The minute Jade walked in, Genny cried out and threw her arms around her. Jade flinched, the pain of the embrace tweaking her sore ribs. Genny didn’t notice and Jade endured it. “Oh my god, Jade. It’s Dickie. He killed those men, and I think he’s after Tina!”

“Who is Dickie?”

“Rusty!”

Jade’s entire body went rigid. Her adrenaline spiked and she felt no pain. Her stomach twisted as bile shot through it.

“How does he know where she is?”

“Otis had the picture. He must have told Dickie before he was killed. I don’t know if he is, but you have to warn her.”

Jade shook Genny and pushed her to sit down on the edge of the bed. “Calm down and tell me what’s going on.
Everything,
from the beginning.”

When Genny finished her story, Jade called Tina. No answer.
Shit.
Then she called Jase. No answer.
Double shit.
She left a message telling him where she was going. Her flight was leaving in less than an hour. She would be on campus in less than three hours.

Jade called Tina again and got her voicemail. She left her a message instructing her to leave the dorm, go to a safe house, anywhere, and to stay put until she got down there and called her back.

Jade was nervous the entire flight down. She had the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched, but when she looked around there were only passengers too busy with their own thoughts to pay her any mind.

She went to the rental car kiosk. As she was getting into her car, her alarm bells shrilled. Rusty slipped into the passenger seat and gone was the half-addled teenage boy. In his place, a cool menacing killer held a gun trained on her heart. Jade swallowed hard and forced her blood pressure to stabilize. In her injured condition, she could not hope to overpower the man beside her. Once again, she would have to outwit a man to survive.

“Hey, boss lady, let’s go. I can’t wait to meet your little sister.”

When Jade didn’t move, he jammed the gun into her chest and leaned into her. His breath stank, and his brown eyes burned bright with crazed glee. “Start the car, and drive normal. I have nothing left to lose, Jade, so if you try something, we both go down in flames.”

Jade started the car, put it in gear, and slowly drove from the parking lot.

“The cops will be there, Rusty.”

“No, they won’t. You’re public enemy number one.” He leaned closer and softly said, “By the way, my name is Richard.”

She looked straight ahead. “I guess you’ll find out the hard way, then.”

Richard settled back into the seat. “Nice try, Jade. Or should I call you ‘Ruby Leigh Gentry’?”

He laughed when she stiffened and groaned in pain. “I knew you were a whore at heart. Otis showed me your video and told me about all the nasty things his daddy did to you. Then you had the nerve to fire my sister for a blow job? Hypocritical bitch!”

“My past doesn’t change the fact that the cops will be there.”

“No, they won’t. You didn’t call them. You don’t want to get arrested for killing your mama.”

Touché.
“I guess you don’t know me that well, then. I’ll go to jail for my crimes before I’ll risk my sister’s life.”

“You’re lying.”

Jade’s confidence built. Let him underestimate her. “I guess we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”

Richard settled back comfortably in the bucket seat and flashed a false smile. “In the meantime, sweet Jade, why don’t you tell me more about yourself.”

She kept her eyes focused on the highway ahead, refusing to be drawn in by him. “I think you know enough about me.”