A Touch of Sin [Sin Hospital 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Tara Rose

  Savannah and Kay-Jean had never been friends. Then again, Kay-Jean wasn’t really friends with anyone in the unit. Most of the nurses felt that Jackie Jones, their manager, should have fired Kay-Jean for what she’d done to Preston last month, and they’d made no secret of that fact.

  “Okay. Why are you in here, then?”

  “What the blazes is going on between you and Dr. Drake, Noah Kirkland, and that odd kid who works for the Hendersons?”

  Savannah took a deep breath. She would not give Kay-Jean the satisfaction of seeing how much she wanted to punch her right now. “Kid? Jimmie is thirty-two years old. I’d hardly call him a kid. And he’s not odd. He’s had a hard time in life.”

  Kay-Jean snorted. “Oh, yes. We all know what he’s done in life.”

  “That’s not really for you to judge, is it?” Savannah kept her voice quiet on purpose because she knew it would piss off Kay-Jean even more.

  “I can judge anyone I want to.”

  Savannah shrugged, resisted the urge to quote Bible verses related to judging, and returned to attaching the lead wires. “Suit yourself.”

  “You haven’t answered my question.”

  Her hands were shaking now. “Which question is that?”

  Kay-Jean sighed out loud. “What is going on between you, Noah, Ethan, and Jimmie?”

  She forced her voice to remain neutral and quiet. “That’s really none of your business.”

  “There’s been a lot of talk about you lately.”

  So what else was new? Savannah finally faced her again and smiled. “Kay-Jean, what do you want? I mean really? What do you want me to say here?”

  “What is wrong with you? Jimmie’s father is a preacher!” Her voice held an annoying hissing quality that made Savannah’s skin crawl.

  “And?”

  “And I saw that picture Ellie and her sister took with Ellie’s phone last week. In Murfreesboro? At the movies? Did you really go out on a date with three men?”

  Oh, so that’s who took the picture. It all made sense now. And perhaps there was a bit of jealousy going on here, too? Kay-Jean went through boyfriends like water because none of the men in this town could stand her caustic personality.

  Ellie Adams was a respiratory therapist who had a major crush on Noah, and wasn’t shy about letting everyone know it. He, however, wasn’t even remotely interested in her.

  Ellie also made no bones about how much she appreciated the pastor at First Baptist Church, and his proclivity for listing the sins of the town each week at Sunday morning service. Of course, these were mostly “sins” he’d heard in the form of gossip during the week, and hadn’t bothered to verify on his own.

  Had her date with Noah, Jimmie, and Ethan made the list last week? “You still attend First Baptist, right?”

  Kay-Jean narrowed her eyes. “Yes. Why do you ask?” She spat it out like Savannah had uttered something really filthy in asking such a question.

  “To answer your earlier question, yes I did go on a date with three men. We saw Fifty Shades of Grey. It was good. We liked it. You should see it if you haven’t.” Savannah glanced around the room. “It looks like you’re all set here. Let me know how I can help when the patient gets here.”

  She left Kay-Jean standing there with her mouth open, and tried not to laugh as she walked into her own patients’ rooms to check on them before fixin’ to give report to the night shift nurse taking her place.

  * * * *

  A week and a half after her date with Ethan in Nashville, and the Wednesday before Aunt Ruthie’s picnic, Savannah had the night off, along with Noah. Jimmie made sure he could leave work early, and so did Ethan. The four picked up pizza, wings, and salad from Pedro’s, and had a selection of Blu-rays to watch that Noah and Jimmie had rented in Murfreesboro earlier in the week.

  Ethan had built a movie theater inside his house and had finally finished hooking up everything, so they were excited to try it out. He even had a real popcorn machine in there, so while they inhaled the buttery smell as it popped, they ate their food and decided which movie to watch first.

  “When does Fifty Shades of Grey come out on Blu-ray?” asked Jimmie.

  Noah laughed. “Why? Did you like it that much?”

  “Yeah. It was okay.”

  “Speaking of that movie,” said Savannah, “did I tell you all what Kay-Jean said to me one night last week?” She related the story to them. Noah rolled his eyes and Ethan laughed, but Jimmie looked upset. “What is it?” she asked.

  “Don’t mess with her, Savannah. She’s trouble.”

  “I’m not afraid of her. She’s lucky Jackie didn’t fire her. Vivian wanted to, from what I heard.”

  Ethan nodded as he slipped the disc into the machine. “That’s true. Preston actually talked her out of it.”

  “Why?”

  “For one thing, Kay-Jean is best friends with Ellie Adams, whose brother Rodney is married to Vivian’s sister, Amy. But Rodney can’t stand his sister, and believes she and Kay-Jean are the most vicious women alive.”

  Noah shook his head. “Ellie is a piece of work. I wish she’d quit already.”

  “And Kay-Jean already hates Vivian because she blames her for what happened last month.”

  “That’s crazy,” said Savannah. “What happened last month has nothing to do with Vivian. Kay-Jean filed a false sexual harassment complaint against your boss.”

  “I know that, and Preston knows it. But he didn’t want anyone in the unit thinking that Kay-Jean had lost her job because of him. He said it was better if she stuck around, so that others could see her true colors.”

  Noah snorted. “They already know her true colors. She and her BFF, Ellie, are both bitches.”

  “Ellie is the one who sent my father the picture, then?” asked Jimmie.

  Savannah nodded. “Yes. Kay-Jean would have no reason to lie to me about that.”

  “Jimmie, why are you letting this bother you so much?” asked Noah, as they settled back into their seats. “They can’t hurt you.”

  “Ellie was in the same grade as me.”

  Ethan shot Savannah a confused look at Jimmie’s bizarre comment. She shrugged. She had no clue where this was going or why Jimmie was so freaked out by Ellie and Kay-Jean.

  “She was in the same grade as both of us,” said Noah. “I had classes with her. What’s your point?”

  The movie started, and they ate and watched in silence for about ten minutes before Jimmie spoke up again. “I went out with Ellie a few times in school.”

  That was news to Savannah, but it hardly mattered now. Ethan stopped the movie and leaned forward in his seat so he could see Jimmie’s face better. “What’s bothering you? Talk to us.”

  “My father didn’t like Ellie.” He shook his head slowly, and goose bumps broke out over Savannah’s arms. Jimmie’s voice sounded odd. Kind of far away, like he was in a trance or something. “He didn’t like anyone I dated in school.” He shot her an apologetic look. “Including you. Your parents left his church, that’s why. And he thought you were too…too flighty. His word, not mine.”

  “It’s all right, Jimmie. I don’t care about any of that now. It’s been a dog’s age.”

  “Did you know Kay-Jean’s father? Do you remember him at all?”

  She exchanged a quick glance with Noah, who was sitting on the other side of Jimmie. “Um, not really. Didn’t he leave the family when she was in middle school?”

  “First year of high school, actually. She was fifteen. And he left because Kay-Jean’s uncle threatened to shoot his balls off if he didn’t.”

  Savannah didn’t say anything, but she did hug herself. Her entire body had just gone cold. She had a sudden, horrible premonition although she couldn’t say what it was about, or why. She only knew she wanted Jimmie to stop talking and not finish this story. Not ever.

  “The year me, Kay-Jean, and Ellie were fifteen, was the year that Kay-Jean’s father raped her mother.” He cut his gaze quickly toward Noah. �
�That was right before you moved to Sin. My father told me that’s what Kay-Jean’s father had done. Raped his wife. But then he also said a husband can’t technically rape his own wife, so there you have it. Never mind what the laws say. But the local talk in the church was that Kay-Jean’s father came home very drunk one night and forced himself on his wife. She was bruised and bleeding by the time he was done, and she called her brother for help.”

  “They were friends, weren’t they? Ellie’s father and Kay-Jean’s father?” asked Savannah.

  “They were. Back when Kay-Jean’s father was still around.”

  Savannah knew something had happened to ruin the friendship, but Rodney had never told them what it was. He did, however, still have difficulty talking about his sister and his father. When he did, the words came out as if merely saying their names left a bad taste in his mouth. How he’d turned out so differently than his sister was a mystery to everyone in the town.

  “My father always said both Kay-Jean’s family and Ellie’s family were bad blood,” said Jimmie.

  “Rodney isn’t bad blood,” said Noah. “Vivian thinks the world of him.”

  Jimmie didn’t answer. His eyes had taken on a dull look that scared Savannah.

  “Patty, Kay-Jean’s mother, called Timothy, her brother, for help that night. The night Jeremy Harrell raped his wife. My mother and I were home when my father heard about it. It was pretty late, but it was a weekend so we were still up. My mother was reading her Bible, of course, and I was doing homework. My father was working on his sermon for Sunday. Timothy called my father after Patty called him, and my father said he was going over to Kay-Jean’s house to see if he could help. My mother begged him not to go.”

  “Why didn’t she want him to go?” asked Ethan.

  “Because my father had been to their house before. They had a lot of drama over there all the time. Kay-Jean’s brother, Danny, was always in trouble. He just got out of jail again recently.”

  “I think it was aggravated burglary this time,” said Noah. “But he’s been in jail for everything from arson to grand theft auto. So what happened when your mother asked your father not to go, Jimmie? Did he anyway?”

  “Yes. She didn’t want him to go, but she couldn’t say why other than she had a bad feeling about it that particular night.”

  Savannah swallowed hard. Jimmie’s mother died when he was fifteen. Was this the real story of her death he was finally telling them?

  “They argued. My parents did. Violently. When my father finally left, my mother went upstairs and slammed the bedroom door closed. She never did that. She was a quiet as a mouse. I could hear her crying. I finally went upstairs and asked if she wanted me to sit with her, but she told me to go to bed.”

  Jimmie shifted in his seat. “I woke up sometime later, but I’m not sure how much later. I know it wasn’t midnight yet because I remember looking at the clock and thinking I hadn’t been sleeping long. To this day, I don’t know what woke me up. I listened at the door to my parents’ room but didn’t hear anything.”

  Savannah wiped her face quickly. She didn’t want them to see her crying. She’d never heard this story, and sensed it was vitally important that Jimmie get it out without interruption, or they might never hear him talk about it again.

  “I crept downstairs because I heard voices arguing. Angry voices. One of them was my mother, another was my father, and the other two I couldn’t place until I saw their faces. Cletus, Ellie and Rodney’s father, and Jeremy, Kay-Jean’s father, were in the living room with my parents. I sat on the top step and listened to them talk about the ambulance coming for Patty, and how Timothy had gone to Sin Hospital with her.”

  “So she was hurt badly enough that EMS had to come for her?” asked Noah.

  Jimmie barely nodded. “Jeremy was angry that Cletus had called EMS. Jeremy hadn’t wanted her to go to the hospital, because then the cops would be called.”

  “How did Cletus end up calling EMS for Patty?” asked Noah.

  “After Patty called Timothy, he called Cletus. My father sided with both Timothy and Cletus about calling EMS once he saw how badly Patty was hurt.”

  “So did your mother end up going to Kay-Jean’s house, too?” asked Noah.

  “Yes. After I went to bed. She left the house and went after my father. I didn’t even know she was gone. When she got there and saw how badly Jeremy had hurt his wife, she wanted to call the cops in addition to an ambulance. But then my father talked her into leaving Kay-Jean’s house with him and Cletus. They told her it would be better to come home and call the cops from our house. But Jeremy followed them.”

  Ethan and Noah exchanged a worried glance.

  “So I was sitting on the top step, listening to all this. They were arguing so fast, and I tried to keep up, but then they started talking about things that had happened in the past and I didn’t know about them. I’m not sure anyone did. My father kept a lot of secrets for the people in his congregation. Secrets that weren’t his to keep. My mother walked away to call the cops. She said she was going to do it, and I saw her walking. I heard her say she was tired of all this and was going to make the call herself. She said this wasn’t right, and that it was time to do what should have been done a long time ago.”

  Jimmie’s breath hitched in his throat, and without thinking about it, Savannah put her arms around him. “Go on,” she whispered. “We’re right here.”

  “Those were her exact words. That it was time to do what should have been done a long time ago. That’s what made me think, right then and there, that Jeremy had done this to Patty before.”

  “What happened then, Jimmie?” asked Savannah.

  “He hit her. Jeremy did. He ran up behind my mother, knocked her down, and as she fell out she hit her head on the edge of a marble table we used to have in the front hallway. She let out this…this sound. This horrible deflating sound, like all the breath in her lungs just left at once. No one moved. It was so quiet I could hear the clock ticking in their bedroom.”

  Savannah had to wipe her face again, but Jimmie didn’t even notice.

  “My father…my own father…he started babbling about it being an accident, and that they’d call the cops now, and explain it was all a misunderstanding. He wasn’t even going to blame Jeremy. She was dead. She was lying there, dead, and all he wanted to do was save face!”

  She pulled Jimmie closer and rocked him slowly as he cried. “That’s why Jeremy left that night. They planned it. My father and Cletus. Ellie’s father and my father covered up my mother’s death to save the cops from arresting Jeremy for two crimes that night. Raping and beating his wife, and killing my mother!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Noah sat in his father’s office at work, watching his reaction after telling him the story Jimmie had told them the night before.

  “What do you want me to do?” asked Nicholas.

  “I was hoping you could find the films the night they brought in Jimmie’s mother.”

  His father gave him a sympathetic but stern look. “You know I can’t do that.” His voice was quiet, but left no doubt as to his decision.

  Noah leaned forward. “Look, I know it’s not ethical, but they covered up a murder.”

  “Son, even if they did, if I dug up those films I’d be out of a job. You know that.”

  “But if we could look at the chart, there might be something in there that proves Jeremy Harrell pushed Loretta James and then she fell. Not the way they told it.”

  His father shook his head. “I doubt there is. Based on what you told me, and from what I’ve learned since we moved here, when the pastor of a church calls the cops and says my wife tripped, hit her head on a marble table, and oh my dear sweet Jesus I think she’s dead, that’s what goes into the police report, the medical records, and the coroner’s report.”

  Noah let out a loud exhale. “So you’re admitting they might have done it exactly like Jimmie remembers. Not the way they probably told the cops and everyone
else that night it happened.”

  Nicholas frowned, and then he gazed down at the blotter on his desk. “I have no reason to doubt Jimmie’s memory. You know I’ve always liked him. But most people in this town would seriously doubt he remembers his own name, let alone a traumatic event like his mother’s death.”

  Noah slapped his palms on the arms of the chair and stood, pacing the office. “It’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair! Just because he got hooked on pain killers doesn’t mean he’s the village idiot, and nothing he says can be trusted.”

  “I agree with you.”

  “There has to be a way to get someone to listen to him. Can’t he ask for the investigation to be reopened?”

  “He’d have to go to the DA and give him rock-solid proof of why he should dig into a seventeen year old accidental death. Do you see that happening? In this county? I don’t.”

  “So what does Jimmie do, then? Just live with this?”

  “He has so far.”

  “Yeah. And look where it’s landed him.”

  His father pulled up something on his computer, and then slid a pad of paper over and wrote down two names and addresses. “These are psychologists in Murfreesboro. I would trust either of them, and they aren’t related to anyone in this town.” He handed Noah the paper. “I know you’re still his best friend, and I can’t even imagine what he’s gone through. But if you really want to help him find some kind of peace with this, the best thing you can do is encourage him to talk to a professional.”

  Noah stared at the names on the paper, not really seeing them. Then he looked his father in the eyes again. “Why did you become a physician?”

  He raised his brows.

  “No, really. Why did you?”

  “For the same reasons most of them do. To help people.”

  “And is that what you’re doing right now?”

  His father sighed in that way Noah hated. That way that said Noah was being a pain in the ass and he didn’t understand how the world worked.

  “Because I became a respiratory therapist for the same reason. To help people. When I participated in that study in high school on lung capacity in athletes before age twenty-one, I knew this was what I wanted to do. Help people breathe better, you know? But helping people goes beyond writing reports and making sure you publish something every quarter so your name gets into peer-reviewed journals. It also means—”