Jones, Beverly R

by All Things Sacred (Lit) (Triskelion)

  They entered into the safety of the forest and began ambling down the path, Kendall ducking every now and then to avoid an occasional hanging branch. She looked back down the dirt road, which was quickly disappearing from sight, saw no sign of him and was grateful to see that the dust was beginning to settle. They continued on, Kendall patting Sam’s neck and mane, speaking gratefully and soothingly to him.

  “Good boy. That’s my boy.” She smiled broadly and added, “Wherever I end up after this, I can promise you one thing, Sam. No more corral life for you. I’ll do my best to see to it.”

  They continued on for nearly a mile, then reached the end of the trail and Kendall breathed a sigh of relief as it opened onto the secluded pond. She dismounted and led Sam toward the hard, wet sand that sloped into the water. She released his reins and stood looking back toward the trail as Sam drank from the pond.

  Feeling safely hidden, Kendall sat on the smooth, flat rock at the water’s edge. Her quivering panic slowly subsided, though the deep-hidden fear and distress at the morning’s revelations left her in anguish. How odd it seemed that she had suddenly remembered it all. And now that the truth lay exposed in front of her, she shuddered at the thought of having to explain it all to Jackson and Casey and Tom. Her history was sure to bring so much pain to them, and she knew there was nothing she could do or say that would lessen the blow.

  She watched the tiny ripples along the pond’s surface, heard the slurping, gurgling sounds as Sam lapped at the water, listened to unseen birds call to one another as they flitted among dense branches, but this time it brought her no comfort. Instead, her thoughts wandered back to that horrible day. And as she recalled the horror of having lost someone she had once loved, she knew she was about to lose Jackson, as well, and it filled her with renewed sadness. She sat on the rock, defeated, the memories playing in her head once again.

  He held the knife so close to her face that she feared her slightest movement would bring the sharp blade slicing against tender skin. She remained still, her mouth closed, her only breaths coming in short spurts through her nose. She gripped the steering wheel, the only tangible thing she could hold on to, as though it made her feel less helpless, less alone.

  “You really thought you’d get away with this, didn’t you?”

  He pressed the blade against her cheek with one hand, while gripping her throat with the other.

  “You think I’ve been kidding all along? That I’m not serious about getting that money? I don’t give a damn what you think about it, you got that, Katherine? I don’t care whether you think it’s right or wrong, smart or stupid. I’m sick of your babbling about good will and honor. God, I’ve spent enough years listening to all that crap from you. Maybe cutting your tongue out would be an added bonus, just so I won’t have to hear any more of your preaching about work ethics, for God’s sake. Well, where did hard work ever get you, Katherine? Huh?”

  She could do nothing but sit and pray he wouldn’t angle the blade into her cheek. She was frozen in fear. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she dare not blink. She wished she could reason with him, but knew now, finally, that he was beyond listening to reason. She also realized for the first time that he wouldn’t even consider her pleading. If she were to tell him that she no longer had the money, she knew he would easily kill her. And enjoy doing it. There was only one thing that would satisfy him now. And that was getting his hands on the money, all $500,000 of it, and no less.

  “Are you hearing me, Katherine?” He leaned his face so close to hers that his breath seemed to scorch her skin. “I want that money. It’s mine, I worked for it, and I’m through playing around with you. I want it today.”

  She sat quietly, her pulse throbbing in her ears, waiting, hoping he would remove the knife from her face. And leave. She’d promise him anything if he’d just leave.

  “Say something, stupid,” he snarled at her. “Or at least nod your head if you get what I’m saying to you.”

  “Y-yes,” she whispered, barely parting her lips, afraid the movement would send the knife’s blade slicing into her. “I’ll get it for you, Ted. I promise.”

  He removed the knife from her face, then replaced it with a kiss to her cheek. “That’s a good girl. You’ve got one hour.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m going to the office now, to clear out a few more things, but I’ll be back at four. Wherever you’ve got that money hidden, it better be here by then. And if I drive by here later and see anything suspicious, the next time you see me…well, let’s just say you won’t see me coming. You call the cops and you’re dead.”

  He opened the car door and placed a foot on the driveway. He turned then and grinned at her. “Aw, come on, Katherine. Don’t look so depressed. You know I love you. I’m just not feeling five hundred grand worth of love for you.” He wailed with laughter then, proud of his joke. He slammed the car door shut and walked back to his own car, parked just behind hers.

  She watched him drive away through her rearview mirror. Even after his car had turned off of Winston Avenue and disappeared beyond the houses on the adjoining block, she still sat quietly for a moment, her shoulders trembling from pent up tears she was too frightened to release. She allowed herself a few deep breaths to regain enough composure to move, then opened the driver’s side door and fled into the house.

  When she entered through the front door, she found Jim sitting on the couch. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Waiting. I knew he was coming.”

  “What? You knew he was out there? Do you know what he did to me? He had a knife, for God’s sake, and you’re sitting in here on the couch?”

  “I knew he wouldn’t do anything to you as long as you still had the money.”

  “Gee, that’s great comfort.”

  “Besides, I didn’t want him to know I was here. I parked down the street. He thinks I’m still on his side.”

  “On his side?”

  “On his side, as far as getting the money from you. When he found out all that money was missing from the account, and you refused to turn it over, he became furious and started making all kinds of threats. I tried to reason with him. I told him to just let it go. Just to take what he already had and leave. But he was like a raging animal. So I told him that I was behind him one hundred percent, that I’d do whatever I had to get the money from you.”

  “Whatever you had to?”

  “That was just to pacify him. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. But I thought you’d listen to reason. Instead, you continue to preach to him about ethics, for crying out loud, as if he were just going to say, ‘Oh, gee, I see what you mean. I’ve been a bad boy.’ Christ, Kath, don’t you know what a madman he is?”

  “I didn’t. I honestly didn’t. Until today.”

  “Well, now you know. And he’s definitely ready to leave for St. Lucia now, and you’re the only thing holding him back. You’ve run out of time, Kath. For Christ’s sake, just give him the money.”

  She paced around the coffee table. “He’ll be back in an hour. He says I have to have the money here for him by then.”

  “So give him the money. Nothing else matters anymore. Not even my share of it.”

  “Your share of it?” She was dumbfounded.

  “Well,” he mumbled, “I pocketed some of the premiums in the beginning. It seemed too easy. And he said there was a lot more where that came from. I’m sorry, Katherine. I know it was a mistake. But you know how he can be. He was so convincing. St. Lucia and all that. No worries. Fun in the sun. I was ready to leave this place.”

  “God, Jimmy, I obviously never really knew you, either.”

  “Don’t say that. I’m still the same old me. I just screwed up. I know that. But I wanted out when I realized the scope of what he had planned. He’ll never get away with what he’s done. He’s way out of control, I could see that a long time ago. And I didn’t want to go to prison with him.”

  “Is that the only thing that made you stop stealing? When you
thought you might end up in prison? It didn’t bother you that you’d stolen money from unsuspecting people, as long as you thought you could get away with it?”

  “What’s a few thousand? That’s nothing compared to what he’s done. He’s scammed the insurance companies out of a lot of money, too, Kath.”

  “H-how much?”

  “Over a million so far. I think he’s already stashed a lot of that away. He covered his tracks with you on that one, though. He made sure you couldn’t find any evidence in the office of what he’d done. I guess he figured when the time came, he’d clean out the rest of it, too, and leave.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “I should have called the police in the beginning,” she continued, “but I thought I could make it right. Pay everyone back and keep him out of prison. But I had no idea the extent of what he’d done. How ruthless he is. I’m afraid that prison is where he belongs.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s not in prison. He’s lurking around Hardison with a knife and God knows what else. He’d probably be gone by now, if you’d left all that money in there, if you hadn’t started snooping around.”

  “Snooping around? Is that what you call it? I became concerned when I started getting calls from people who were wondering why they hadn’t received their policies yet. Then I discovered what he’d been up to. God, I should have known better than to ever bring him into the business. I’ve always known what he’s like when it comes to work ethics, but I never thought he’d do something like this. And until tonight, I had no idea that you’d taken part in it, too.” She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, before facing him again. “I really don’t know who you are anymore. What’s happened to you?”

  “I’m sorry. Really. I don’t know what made me think…” He looked away.

  “What would make you want money so badly, you’d stoop to stealing it from innocent people?” She started to cry then, letting the tears of fear and frustration flow.

  “I’ll make it up to you. I just wanted a lot more for us, that’s all.”

  “Why? What do we need that we don’t have? I thought we were doing fine. I thought you and Ted were happy with the business, that you both came into it with me because you liked the idea of a family business, Jim. Instead, all it was to either one of you was a front for your criminal activities.”

  “That’s not true, Kath. I just got a little greedy, that’s all. I never meant for it to go as far as it did. That was all Ted’s doing.”

  “But you stole money, Jim. Why didn’t you come to me if you weren’t satisfied? Why weren’t you at least honest with me? I thought everybody was happy with the way things were. I know I was. God, I’m such an idiot.”

  “It just takes a lot less to make you happy, I guess, than it does me. I want to be wealthy, Katherine. I mean, really wealthy. I want to travel, live an exciting life. Considering where I came from, is that so hard to understand?”

  “Considering where you came from? For God’s sake, you act as if you grew up in a tenement or something.”

  “I said I wanted to live an exciting life, and watching a tree grow is not exactly what I call exciting. I hated that place. I’ll never go back there. You know that. And you know why.”

  “You were just a kid. And if money were so important to you, you could have gone back for what was rightfully yours. You wouldn’t have had to stay there.”

  “You know why I couldn’t do that, why I wouldn’t do that, and it doesn’t matter now, anyway. We’ve got more immediate problems. You’d better go get that five-hundred grand from wherever you’ve hidden it and give it to him. He’ll be back for it in less than an hour. Just give it all to him. Hell, it’ll be worth it just to be rid of him.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Sure you can. You’re the one who’s always saying that money is at the bottom of your totem pole of happiness.”

  “No, I mean I can’t, because I don’t have it anymore.”

  The blood drained from his face. “Tell me you’re joking.”

  “I paid it back.”

  “What?”

  “After I moved the five-hundred thousand dollar overage to another account, I started writing checks left and right, trying to reimburse the people he stole premiums from. I knew that if I wrote the checks from our business account, he’d notice it and start demanding to know what I was doing.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “I thought you just said earlier that you were wrong in stealing that money.”

  “Yes, but, my God, giving it back is not worth dying for.”

  “This insurance agency has my name on it. And neither you nor Ted would even be a part of this business if I hadn’t started it. Do you really think I’d let those people suffer a loss like that and not try and make up for it?”

  “Okay, so now what do we do?”

  “We go to the police. Right now. Come on.” She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, then headed for the front door.

  “Katherine, I don’t want to go to jail.” He arose from the couch, but remained standing in front of it.

  “We’ll explain to them that you had very little involvement in it. They can’t prove otherwise. Besides, the only evidence that you did anything wrong would be the copies of the fake applications you left with your customers. Did you sign them?”

  “Yeah. Pretty stupid, huh?”

  “Just shows you don’t have the mind it takes to be a criminal. Ted probably signed your name to the applications he faked. Besides, most of that money has already been paid back. They should go easy on you, considering restitution’s already been made.”

  “But, Kath.”

  “What other choice do we have now? He’s a thief. He’s stolen over a million dollars. And he’s dangerous.”

  Jim nodded his head and expelled a deep sigh of resignation. “You’re right. He needs to be stopped.”

  Katherine opened the front door, Jim right behind her now. They both stopped suddenly, then turned at the sound of footsteps across the kitchen linoleum.. He had entered through the back door. He leaned against the doorway to the kitchen and folded his arms across his chest. He made clucking sounds with his tongue as he grinned at them. “Shouldn’t you have left some time ago, Katherine?” He laughed and shook his head. “I knew you wouldn’t go get the money.”

  “Ted.” The name escaped from her lips like a whisper of certain death. She stood facing him, momentarily paralyzed, as she watched him pull the pistol from the pocket of his jacket. “Ted, what are you doing? You don’t want to do anything crazy. Not now. It will just make things worse for you. Whatever you’ve already done, we’ll make it right somehow.”

  “How? By going to the police and telling them everything and begging for their mercy?” he laughed. “Too late. I just came from there.”

  “What do you mean, you just came from there?”

  “Yeah. They should be at your office by now. Looking for you, Katherine. I told them you were just fronting as an insurance agent, how you’d stolen premiums from all these poor, unsuspecting people, how you defrauded over a million dollars from major insurance companies.” He jutted his lower lip out in a feigned pout. “Really, Kath, how could you do such a thing?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “No? Well, let me explain it to you. I told the police that I’d been suspicious of you for a while and that I was coming to them now because I finally had the evidence that you had stolen all this money. Also, that Jim had been in on it with you from the beginning. I also told them you were dangerous, greedy, and that I was afraid your plan was to turn on Jim and take all the money for yourself.”

  “You’ve lost your mind.”

  “Yeah, well, I really don’t have time to talk about that right now. I’m in kind of a hurry. The police will be coming here next, might show up any minute.”

  “Why did you tell me to have the money here in an hour, then?”

>   He laughed. “Well, do you have it here?”

  “N-no. Not yet.”

  “That’s what I thought. Did you really think I trusted you to have the money waiting for me here?”

  “I-I was just going to go get it.”

  “You’re such a liar.” He turned and sneered at Jim. “And, you. Where do you think you’re going, partner?”

  “With Katherine. To get the money.”

  “I don’t think so. You’re staying here. Katherine and I are going to take a quick ride to the bank, then I’m out of here and on to brighter days. Which bank, Kath?”

  “Bank of America.”

  “You’re lying again.”

  “No, it’s the truth. I moved the five-hundred thousand to an account there, under a fake name. I’ll take you there now. I’ll get the money for you. Just don’t hurt anyone.”

  Ted walked to the couch and removed one of the throw pillows. He grinned in their direction, baring teeth as a cougar would before the kill. “I told them there was no telling what you might do to poor Jim.” He jammed the pillow in front of the barrel of the pistol as he pointed it at Jim and fired.

  Katherine didn’t understand what had happened at first. She saw the stuffing explode outward from the pillow, then heard the muffled report of the Colt .45, the wood splintering from the door behind Jim. Her eyes widened in horror as she turned in time to see Jim staring down at the gaping hole in his chest. He raised his head as his knees buckled and their eyes met briefly. He died within seconds, his eyes still holding that confused, pleading expression, as he lay on the floor. Her screaming resounded off the walls of the living room until Ted reached her and crammed the pillow into her face.