The Kept Woman (Will Trent 8) (40 page)

Even if he wanted to, Kip wouldn’t let him.

The video was their only leverage. Angie had to copy the file off Jo’s phone before the police scooped her up. She didn’t trust the backup iPad, even turned off and locked in a motel safe. Sam Vera was too good at his job, and Angie wasn’t willing to roll the dice with Jo’s life.

Dale wasn’t a fortune-teller, but he understood how these things worked. Jo was an uncertainty. People hated uncertainty, especially when money was involved. It would only be a matter of time before Marcus got paranoid and Kip got desperate. Laslo had stabbed a man to death in Boston. There was other dirty work she knew about in Atlanta. His job was to keep the trains running on time. Angie didn’t see him having any qualms about neutralizing Jo. Which meant there wasn’t much time left for her daughter to get away.

‘Let me call my mother.’

Angie felt her stomach flip. Jo was talking to her. She was standing ten feet away. She held a peach in her hand. Her voice was raised just loud enough to carry.

Jo said, ‘My son is at school. Let me call my mother before you take me.’

Angie looked around, making sure no one could hear them. ‘What are—’

‘I know Reuben has you following me.’ Jo put down the peach. ‘I saw you at the Starbucks. You were at my son’s school last month.’

‘It’s not what you think.’

Jo was trying to sound like she wasn’t afraid, but the muscles in her neck stood out with tension. ‘I won’t come willingly unless you let me take care of my son.’ Her composure started to break. She was clearly terrified. ‘Please. He’s Reuben’s boy, too.’

Angie felt a sharp pain in her chest, a physical response to the helplessness that her daughter was obviously experiencing. ‘Your husband didn’t send me. I’m here to help you get away.’

Jo laughed.

‘I’m serious.’

‘Fuck off, woman. Don’t waste my time.’ She pushed her shopping cart to the next aisle. She tore off a produce bag and started loading it with oranges.

Angie said, ‘You’re in danger.’

‘No shit.’

‘Marcus went to Kip about the video.’

Jo laughed again. ‘You think I didn’t figure something like that happened? The laptop crashed this morning. Won’t even boot up. Everything on my phone got erased.’ She opened her purse. She took out her phone. She offered it to Angie. ‘You want it? Take it. I don’t even have pictures of my boy anymore.’

Angie slapped her hand away. ‘Listen to me. I’m trying to help you.’

‘You can’t help me.’ Jo turned around. She pushed her cart over to the juice section.

Angie followed her. ‘You’re going to be arrested.’

Jo looked confused, then angry. ‘For what?’

‘They planted Oxy in your car.’ Angie left out the part where she’d been the one to do it. ‘The cops are going to be waiting outside when you leave. They’re going to keep you in jail for two days.’

‘But—’ Jo had the look that Angie had seen before when rich, entitled people found out they were going to have to bend to the law. ‘I didn’t do anything.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Angie told her. ‘They have it all planned out. They want to teach you a lesson.’ Angie gave her a moment to let reality sink in. ‘You’ll get out of jail Saturday night, you’ll go to LaDonna’s party with Fig on Sunday night, then Monday morning, you’ll go to rehab.’

‘I won’t be able to walk Monday morning.’

‘Reuben’s knee will be in a brace.’ Angie felt the words rush into her mouth like water. She had to make Jo believe that she could keep her safe. ‘He’ll be effectively crippled.’

‘You think that matters?’ She shook her head again. ‘You can’t outrun a bullet to the back.’

‘The press will be everywhere. If he hits you, they’ll see it.’

‘If he leaves a mark.’

Angie struggled to convince her. ‘You tell him if he touches you, you’ll go out into the yard and take off your clothes and let the photographers record exactly what he’s done.’

‘What photographers?’ She looked even more panicked. ‘Reuben doesn’t like the press.’

‘They’ll be following you the minute you get out of jail.’

‘Oh God.’ Jo put her hand to her neck. Her breathing was shallow. ‘Marcus told Reuben I met with him. Alone.’

‘No. Reuben doesn’t know about the motel, the video, any of that.’ Angie watched the relief pass through Jo’s body like a muscle relaxer. ‘Marcus took the problem to Kip. This is how Kip’s handling it.’

Tears filled Jo’s eyes. She was clearly terrified. ‘Do you know what my husband’s going to do to me for bringing attention down on him?’

Angie couldn’t stand her distress anymore. ‘I’m going to help you get away.’

‘What?’ Jo sounded disgusted. ‘Are you crazy?’

‘I’m going to help you,’ Angie repeated, and she realized that she had never spoken truer words in her life. She had abandoned Jo once before, but she was going to do everything she could today, right now, to guide her daughter to safety.

She said, ‘Let me help you.’

‘Fuck off, lady.’ Jo turned furious, the same as you would expect from any trapped animal. ‘You ambush me at the grocery store and tell me you’re my savior, and I’m supposed to believe you, risk my life for you, risk my son’s life for you? Where do you get off, bitch? Who the hell do you think you are?’

Angie didn’t have the words to tell her.
I’m your mother. I’m the teenager who didn’t want to raise you. I’m the woman who abandoned you.

‘I’m a friend,’ Angie said.

‘Do you know what happened to the last friend who tried to help me? He ended up in the hospital. Probably won’t ever walk again.’

‘Do you know what happened to the last woman who threatened Marcus Rippy?’

Jo looked away. If she didn’t know, she had a good idea. The despair was back, the helplessness. ‘Why would you risk your life to help a stranger?’

‘I had a daughter who was in your situation.’

‘Had,’ Jo repeated. ‘She got killed?’

‘Yes,’ Angie said, because she knew that’s how most of these stories ended. ‘She was killed because I didn’t help her. I’m not going to let that happen again.’

‘Jesus.’ Jo saw through the lie. ‘You think you can get me on your side, make me trust you? I’ve seen you at One-Ten. If you’re not working for Reuben, you’re working for Kip Kilpatrick.’

‘You’re right. I work for Kip,’ Angie admitted. ‘And I do a lot of bad shit for him, but I’m not going to do this.’

‘Crisis of conscience?’ Jo gave a hard laugh. She knew what fixers did. She’d been wrapped up in professional sports for her entire adult life. ‘Reuben keeps a knife by our bed. His gun is two inches from his hand when he takes a shower. He beats me.’ She realized her voice was too loud. People were starting to stare. ‘He beats me,’ she repeated, softer. ‘He rapes me. He makes me beg for him to keep doing it. I have to apologize afterward for making him lose control. He makes me thank him when I’m allowed to get a fucking cup of coffee or take my son on a playdate.’

‘Then leave.’

‘You don’t think I’ve tried?’ She looked away, shaking her head. ‘The first time, I went back home. I stayed at my mama’s. Three days away from him. Three days of freedom. Do you know what he did?’ She glared at Angie. ‘He dragged me out of my mother’s house by my hair. He near about beat the life out of
me. He locked me in a box and he kept me in his garage and you know what the cops told my mama when she called, telling them that her daughter had been kidnapped by a madman? “Domestic problem.” That’s all I am—a domestic problem.’

Angie wasn’t surprised. The small-town cops who had arrested Jo with those prescriptions were probably the same cops who had looked the other way on Jo’s abduction. If you were willing to take one pay-off, then it was just a matter of time before you took another.

‘There is a wall of money backstopping these men. They don’t lose things. They don’t lose their wives. They don’t lose their children.’ She told Angie, ‘I tried in California. I tried in Chicago. Each time, Reuben came and dragged me back. He used my mama against me. He used Anthony.’ Jo’s tone changed at her son’s name. ‘My birth mother abandoned me. I know how that feels. I’m not going to do that to my child.’

Angie felt her stomach clench. ‘Do you know anything about her?’

‘Does it matter?’ Jo asked. ‘I can’t run to her for help, if that’s what you’re asking. She’s probably dead by now. Even back then, she was a prostitute. A junkie. Exactly the kind of trash you’d expect to give up a baby.’

Angie took a deep breath.

‘I’m not going to leave my boy. If Reuben was father of the year, I still wouldn’t leave Anthony. That kind of damage, it rots your soul.’

Angie had to get away from the subject. ‘What was your plan when you showed Marcus the video? What did you think you’d get out of him?’

‘Money. Protection.’ She slowly exhaled. ‘Without the video, I’ve got nothing.’

‘It doesn’t matter. It’s what you’ve seen. It’s your ability to open your mouth.’

‘Nobody cares what I have to say.’

‘You know too much,’ Angie told her. ‘As far as Kip and Marcus are concerned, your mouth is a loaded gun.’

Jo took a deep breath, just like Angie had. ‘So here I am again, trapped right back where I started.’

Angie couldn’t abide the resignation in her voice. ‘I’ve got a plan to buy you some time, get you away from your husband.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Jo’s mouth twisted into a scowl. ‘You think you can take on Reuben Figaroa? Shit. You’ll get a gun in your face. That man doesn’t back down and he does not give up control.’ She counted down on her fingers. ‘I’m not on the bank accounts. I’m not on the investments. I’m not on the pensions. I’m not on the house. I don’t own my car. I signed a prenup before we got married.’ She laughed, this time at herself. ‘I was in love, baby. I didn’t want money. I willingly signed myself into slavery.’

‘I can get you out,’ Angie said. ‘I can keep you safe.’ She had thought through some of this already. Dale’s trust fund for Delilah. Angie was authorized to pay for an apartment and living expenses. She could use the money for Jo instead. ‘I can get an alias for you. I’ll help you hide out. Once you’re safe, I’ll find a lawyer who can negotiate with Reuben.’

‘How’re you gonna get me out?’ Jo asked. ‘That’s the hard part. You might as well be saying to me that you’re gonna hide me out on Mars, and we’ll figure out how to fly me there later.’

She was right. Reuben would be waiting for Jo outside the jail. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight until she left for rehab.
If
he let her leave for rehab.

‘You don’t get it, do you?’ Jo seemed genuinely perplexed. ‘Reuben doesn’t care about basketball. He doesn’t care about Anthony. He doesn’t really care about me. He wants control.’ She closed the space between her and Angie. ‘I’ll do whatever that man wants.
Anything
, you feel me? He just says the word. Snaps his fingers. And he still holds a knife to my face. He still wraps his hand around my throat. He can’t get off unless I’m terrified.’

Angie couldn’t think about all the ways her daughter had been shamed. ‘Tell me something, what’s it going to be like when Anthony gets older? How are you going to protect him?’

‘Reuben wouldn’t hurt his son.’

Angie wondered if she could hear herself. ‘He’s going to see how his daddy treats you. He’s going to grow into that same kind of man.’

‘No,’ she insisted. ‘He’s sweet. He’s got nothing of his daddy in him.’

‘Wasn’t Reuben sweet when you first met him?’

Jo pressed her lips together. She looked down at her hands. Angie thought that she was going to come up with another excuse, but she said, ‘What’s your plan?’

‘You’ll bail out Saturday. I know Reuben will be waiting for you outside the jail. So will the photographers. I’ll make sure of that. You can go with me instead.’

‘That’s your plan?’ She looked more dejected than before. ‘Step two of that is Reuben either pulls out his gun and shoots me in the head, or I get a call from his lawyer saying I’m a junkie with
a record and I’m never gonna see my son again.’ She laughed. ‘And he still shoots me in the head.’

She was right, but Jo had spent years trying to think of a way out. Angie had spent two days. ‘What about when you go to the party on Sunday?’

Jo started to shake her head, but then she stopped. ‘Anthony will stay with my mother. She’s the only one Reuben allows to keep him.’

Angie asked, ‘Can you get away from Reuben at the party? Go to the bathroom or something?’

‘He’ll be with the guys. With Marcus.’ She explained, ‘That’s when they made the video. It was that girl, the one who charged Marcus with rape.’

‘Keisha Miscavage?’

‘Yes.’ She wiped her eyes. She couldn’t wipe away the fear. ‘You should know what you’re up against. What they do to women who don’t matter. That girl was drugged. I know they put something in her drink. An hour later, she’s in that bedroom, arms flopping around, out of her mind, telling them no. And they just laughed while they took turns with her.’

Angie knew what a gang rape looked like. She wasn’t shocked by the details. ‘Sunday night, as soon as you’re on your own, slip out of the house. Go down the driveway. Take a left. There’s a turn-off for an alleyway that the gardeners use. I’ll be parked there waiting for you.’

Jo didn’t answer. This was happening too fast. ‘Why?’

‘I told you about my daughter.’

Jo shook her head, but she was still desperate enough to listen to a complete stranger. ‘I meet you at this turn-off. Then what?’

Angie said, ‘I’ll go to your mother’s and pick up Anthony.’ She talked over Jo’s protest. ‘That’s the first place they’ll look for you. I can handle them better than you can.’

‘Why not get Anthony first, then meet me at the party?’

Angie could tell she needed something to push her over the line, to make her take that first step. ‘What happens if you don’t get away and I’ve got your kid in my car? How do I explain that? How do you explain it?’

Jo looked down at the floor. Her eyes tracked back and forth. She chewed her lip. Angie recognized the signs of negotiation. Jo’s escape from the party would set the plan in motion. That was the point at which there would be no turning back. If she didn’t slip away, if she changed her mind at the last minute, then Anthony would stay at her mother’s and Jo would take a beat-down and everything would go back to normal.