“May I help you?” he said, coming onto the porch.
“Mr. Jessup, I am Matthew Ferguson, and this is my brother, Eric. We need to talk to you,” Matthew said, looking at Carl.
Carl smiled at Eric. “I remember you from the dinner. You’re married to my cousin, right?”
“That’s me,” Eric said. “I’m married to Nadine.”
“Well, come on in,” Carl said. “I didn’t get to talk to Max or Nadine much at the dinner. Everyone was so busy.”
He held the door for them to come in and then led them into the living room. “Kara!” he yelled.
The young girl who answered the door came to the doorway.
“Yeah, Papa?” she said, grinning while slyly eying Matthew and Eric.
“Get some lemonade,” he said, turning back to them.
“This is my daughter Kara,” he said as she moved closer.
“Hello Kara.” Matthew responded pleasantly. “I’m Matthew, and this is my brother, Eric.”
“Hi,” Kara replied, grinning broadly. “You the one with the twin girls, right? Which one of you is the youngest? Weren’t you at that Thanksgiving dinner?”
“Yes, we were at the dinner,” Eric said. “I’m the youngest, and the twins are my daughters.”
“Go on now and get that lemonade,” her father said, noticing that she was lingering. She gave Matthew and Eric another long look and then turned and left the room.
Carl turned back to Matthew and Eric. “So what’s up, fellas?”
Matthew stared at him a moment searching for the right words. “This is kind of awkward, Mr. Jessup.”
“Carl. Call me Carl. We’re practically family, after all,” he said, leaning back in the chair. “And according to Nellie Ferguson we are kin. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one!”
“I can imagine,” Eric replied shaking his head.
“Well, Carl, we need to talk about a man you brought to the dinner.” Matthew began.
Carl looked surprised. “You mean Rogers? What about him?”
Just then Kara came back with the lemonade. She handed each of them a glass.
“You’re married to Nadine, right?” she said, looking at Eric. “I remember you now.” She turned to Matthew. “Are you the single one?”
“Yeah. I’m married to Nadine,” Eric said, sipping the lemonade.
“I don’t see a ring,” she observed, smiling at Matthew. “You’re cute.”
Matthew laughed. “Thank you but I think I’m a little old for you. How old are you?”
“I’m sixteen almost seventeen,” she replied still grinning.
“Well, Kara, I’m too old for you,” he smiled looking at Carl who rolled his eyes at his daughter’s antics.
“Teenagers!” he replied shaking his head at his daughter.
“You got a girlfriend?” Kara persisted.
“Yeah, your cousin Max” Matthew replied.
“That’s enough, Kara,” her father said before she could say more. “You’re lucky if I let you out of the house to date at all. I should make you wait until you’re eighteen.”
“Ah, Papa!” she said, pouting. “I was just trying to be friendly.”
“Go on now.” Carl said, laughing “Before I make it nineteen!”
She laughed then walked out of the room swaying her hips for effect as she left.
“She’s a little boy crazy, but she’s a good girl.” Carl said.
“She your only child?” Eric asked.
“No, I have a son who is nineteen. My wife died of cancer about five years ago. It’s been hard on all of us.”
He then put down his glass of lemonade and looked at them.
“So what about Rogers,” Carl asked.
“Well, he’s the one that attacked Max,” Matthew replied. “He’s the one that raped her when she was a child.”
Carl stared at him. “What? Are you sure? I knew he had been to prison. Why did they send him back here if he did his crime here? It doesn’t make sense. He told me that he was in for armed robbery!”
“We don’t know,” Eric said. “Nadine recognized him. Luckily Max didn’t see him and we haven’t told her either, nor her parents.”
“I’ll call his work release officer first thing Monday and have him reassigned. I don’t want him working for me anymore. He was a good worker, but I can’t have him working so close to Max. I had no idea!”
“Does he know where she lives? Did he say anything about her?” Eric asked.
“No, nothing. I mean he asked about her when she gave her testimony and sang, but he didn’t ask me a lot of questions. He just was ready to go right after he ate. Now I know why. I don’t think he knew Max would be there beforehand.”
Matthew breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good. Where is he now?”
“He was just reassigned to a halfway house in Aynor. He has no transportation, so he can’t get around that easily, plus he has that thing on his ankle. They keep tabs on him. Still, I don’t want him back,” Carl said, standing up. He paced back and forth, clearly agitated.
“I mean, I have a young daughter. I never would have taken him on if I had known. They didn’t tell me what his crime was even though I asked several times. I think they knew I wouldn’t accept him as a worker if I’d known and the State wanted him working!”
“Can you take us over to the halfway house?” Matthew said. “I want to talk to him myself!”
“Look, I’ll take you, but I don’t want no trouble.” Carl said.
“No trouble.” Matthew said, throwing up his hands. “Just talk.”
Carl looked at him. He didn’t believe him for one minute. He could tell that Matthew was upset.
“You told Kara that Max is your girlfriend,” Carl said. “You seem to me to be a little worked up about all this and I don’t know if it would be good for me just to take you over there. What are you planning to do?”
“Who wouldn’t be worked up to know that this dog raped a thirteen year old girl? You have a daughter Carl. How would you feel? What if someone you love had been the one?”
“Someone I love was the one, remember?” Carl snapped. “I care about Max. She’s family. The whole family was devastated when that happened. Max was never the same after that. We could all see it. So for me, it’s personal. I’ll take you over there. I just don’t want us to get locked up in the process.”
He stood up “Kara! I’m going out. Lock the door and no company before I get home. Your brother should be home from work soon.”
“All right Papa,” she yelled from the kitchen.
They walked outside and Matthew watched as Carl locked the door and then headed for his truck.
“Look Carl I didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t care. I guess it’s personal for me because I care for Max.” Matthew said, walking with him.
Carl looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised. I didn’t think Max liked men. How long have you two been an item?”
“A few months, not that long and I don’t want anything messing it up.” Matthew replied. He was surprised that he no longer cared who knew about him and Max. He walked to his car and got in and started the engine.
“I’ll lead the way. We should be there in about forty five minutes,” Carl said, climbing into his truck.
Matthew pulled out behind him. He didn’t know what he was going to do when he saw James Rogers, and he knew that it would take all of his self-control not to beat the man to a bloody pulp.
Rogers sat back on the bed and smoked a cigarette. He knew that they were not supposed to smoke in the room, but he never followed the rules.
He sat by the open window and had a fan blowing so that the smoke could not be detected.
He told Greta at the desk that he was going to the mall with a few of the other residents. He then quickly doubled back to get his cigarettes and never came back out before the van pulled off. He was sure that they believed him when he said he changed his mind. Greta and the other
s left behind believed that he was at the mall. He knew that if they knew that he’d changed his mind they’d insist on him being in the common area looking at television or playing checkers. He just wanted some peace and to enjoy his smoke.
He didn’t want to do anything that would cause them to question him. If they found out that he didn’t go on the van, then he’d just tell them that he hadn’t felt well and wanted to lie down. Push come to shove, he knew that they could always locate him by the bracelet he wore on his ankle and he couldn’t wait to get it off.
He knew a guy who’d told him that he could get it off of his person without the state’s knowledge for about $250. Rogers had just enough money from working to pay them to take care of it for him. He took another drag on the cigarette still staring out the window.
As he was thinking he noticed a truck turning off of the main road onto the driveway up to the house. He recognized that the truck was the one Carl Jessup drove. What was he doing coming up here on the weekend? He then saw a car following the truck.
He backed away from the window and closed it and pulled down the blinds. He left them cracked enough just to look through wondering what Carl was up to.
He saw Jessup get out of the truck and two men get out of the car. He immediately recognized them from the Thanksgiving dinner. One was Max’s boyfriend! The other was her sister’s husband! They must have seen him and told Jessup!”
He quickly tried to think. That old hag Greta was working the desk. He had known immediately that she took a liking to him. He had worked that in his favor by pretending to like her too. She was too old for his taste, at least forty but he knew that he could use someone in his corner. He had even slept with her to seal the deal. He had told lies about how he wasn’t that far from the people he had robbed and how they had vowed to ‘get him back.’ He always tried to cover his bases. Greta of course was very understanding; she’d promised him that she would look out for him.
He hoped that she would take care of this situation until he could think of what to do. He crept down the back stairs and came into the kitchen. He slipped into the hall closet and tried to listen as they came into the house.
“Hi may I help you?” Greta asked. “Carl it’s good to see you.”
“This isn’t a social call Greta. We need to talk to Rogers. Can you call him down here?”
Greta paused a moment.
“He’s not here, Carl.” She picked up the clipboard and began thumbing through it. “He signed up to go to the mall. The van should be back around seven for dinner.”
“You mean he can just roam the mall?” Matthew snapped. “Is he out and about unsupervised?”
“No, he’s being supervised, sir. Only four residents went to the mall. Two of our people plus the bus driver are with them.” Greta said.
“Well, look. We’ll just come back tomorrow.” Carl grumbled.
Rogers watched as they walked out of the building. He waited for a moment and waited until he thought that enough time had passed for them to be gone. He walked out and walked up to the front desk.
“What are you doing here? I thought you went with the group?” Greta said, looking up shocked. “I thought you’d gone to the mall with the others!”
“I wanted some time alone with you, baby,” Rogers said, putting his arm around her. “What did they want?”
Greta smiled back at him and he knew that he had her completely snowed.
“I don’t know, but I doubt if it was a social call,” Greta said, sounding worried.
“I know.” Rogers said. “Thanks for looking out.” He gave her a quick kiss.
“They are going to be back, you know,” she said.
He gave her another kiss. “When they do, I’ll be ready.”
He looked at her a moment and then put his arm around her.
“Remember I told you there might be trouble? I think they want to have my parole revoked. I won’t be able to see you anymore, Greta,” he said in the saddest voice he could muster.
“James!” She was obviously upset. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “But I may need your help. You with me or not?”
“You know I am, baby,” she replied. “As long as it’s nothing illegal.”
He kissed her again. “Good. I knew I could count on you, Greta.”
“Good. I need you to get a message to Bob Jones and let him know I want to see him. You know I can’t do it myself without drawing attention. He works in the prison system.”
“You know we have to be careful, James,” Greta said, looking at him. “I could lose my job if I’m connected with any illegal shenanigans you’re cooking up. You need to forget trying to get that thing off your leg and just walk the straight and narrow until it’s removed legally.”
Rogers tried not to roll his eyes.
“They won’t suspect you, baby, and I would never get you mixed up in my business,” he insisted. “I’m not telling you any details of my plans just for that reason. If they ask then you can truthfully say you don’t know,” he pointed out. “Now get me something to eat.”
“Sure baby, I’ll do that,” she said, smiling.
Rogers walked back up the steps to his room. He’d have to think of something quick. He had Greta under control and he had vowed that under no circumstances was he going back to prison and he meant it.
Matthew looked at his phone when they reached their parents’ house. He listened to the message from Max and noted how happy she sounded. How long would that last if she found out about Rogers? Why would the prison system assign him in the very area of his crime and then not tell the community that he was here! They had an obligation! He was going to check into that himself first thing Monday morning.
“Max called,” he said to Eric and then quickly dialed her number. He knew that he had to keep Max in the dark about what was going on and he tried to keep his voice light.
“Matthew! I hear you and Eric have been out bonding,” she said teasingly. “How did that go?”
“Yeah, we had some family business to handle.” Matthew replied. “Everything’s good.”
“Good. What time are you picking me up?”
“In a couple of hours. I’m over at my parent’s now.” Matthew replied. “I’ll be heading home shortly.”
“Both you and Eric?”
“Yep,”
“OK, but don’t be late.”
“I won’t,” Matthew reassured her. “We’re going to have a wonderful night Max.”
Max agreed and he hung up the phone after talking several more minutes. When he finished his conversation he looked up and saw Nadine standing in the doorway. The got out of the car and walked up the front steps.
“So what happened?” she asked as they walked into the house.
“He wasn’t there. He’d gone with the group home to the mall. We’re going back tomorrow.” Eric said.
“We found out that his being at the dinner was purely coincidental. He didn’t know Max would be there. Carl just asked him to come not knowing who he really was. He felt bad about it. I can’t believe that he was assigned in the very area that he committed his crime.” Matthew shook his head in disgust.
“I just want him to be reassigned.” Nadine said, sounding worried.
“Carl’s going to handle that.” Matthew replied. “However, I still want to talk to him on tomorrow.”
“What are you going to do, Matthew?” Nadine asked. She did not want Matthew to get into any trouble because of Rogers. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go over there. What will that prove?”
“I’m not sure,” he answered truthfully.
“Don’t worry about my brother. I’m going with him.” Eric said. “We don’t need to be posting any bail.”
Matthew looked at Eric and didn’t respond. He knew that he was going to confront Rogers, but he was going alone. Eric just didn’t know that yet. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say or do. He just wanted to see this
man that had ruined Max’s life and he knew that he wanted to do more than just talk.
“I’ve got some appointments early in the morning,” he lied “Eric, why don’t you call me around noon and we can go over there together.”
“Sure, Matt,” Eric said.
Just then Rachel came out of the kitchen and smiled.
“I have chili if you guys are hungry. The babies have already been fed and are fast asleep so we can have a quiet dinner.”
“I’m starved,” Eric replied rubbing his belly. “I love your chili, Ma.”
“Max and I are going out. I won’t be staying.” Matthew replied.
“So how is that going?” She asked grinning.
“Great,” Matthew responded. “Though I would like to take some of your chili home.”
“Of course.” His mother snickered.
They went into the kitchen and Matthew quickly put some chili in a container and bagged it.
“So are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Rachel asked looking at her two sons.
“Why do you think something is going on?” Eric asked dipping the ladle into the chili and putting some in his bowl.
“Well, first Nadine comes by here with the babies, totally unexpected. Pleasant surprise, but totally unexpected. She said that you two went to ‘bond’. Now you must remember that I was the one who had both of you and you two going somewhere to bond just doesn’t sound right. If she had said you two were going somewhere to ‘duke it out’ then I might have believed her.”
Rachel pulled up a chair and sat down. “So out with it. No lies!”
Nadine looked at Eric and Matthew. “You might as well tell her.”
“To make a long story short, the man that raped Max was at our Thanksgiving dinner.”
Rachel was stunned. “You’ve got to be kidding? Why is he out of jail?”
“He’s on work release and by sheer coincidence, got assigned to Carl Jessup, Nadine’s cousin.” Eric said. “We’re going over there and have a friendly chat with him and Carl is going to make sure that he gets reassigned far, far away from here.”
“Thanks to your grandma announcing it to the whole world, seems like Carl’s your cousin too.” Rachel replied. “I’m surprised that he even talked to either of you.”
Broken: The sequel to THE PREACHER'S SON Page 26
