by Stacy Green
“What about the birth father?” Elaine asked. “They have rights too.”
“The fathers in cases like yours are always out of the picture.”
Or need to be hidden.
Nick patted his wallet. “You said we’d have to pay fees for ourselves and the mother. How much?”
He knew most private adoptions ran between $5,000 and $7,000. Attorneys could only charge for their legal work, and most worked with an agency. But an attorney looking to scam the parents would pad their fees, and desperate parents often didn’t question the rate.
“It’s $25,000. Up front.” Debra didn’t blink as she dropped the figure. “We work with a private agency, RLN Enterprises, who will handle the filing of the adoption.”
His foot jerked, and Nick barely managed to stop his knee from banging the table. He pressed his fingertips to his mouth and plastered a mask of sincerity on his face.
“And you’ve never had a mother change her mind?” Elaine said.
“Never. They only want what’s best for their children.”
Elaine looked at Nick, fiddling with the collar of her dress. “I don’t know. It seems very shady.”
Her hands far too delicate for the beast they belonged to, Debra leaned across the table to lay her manicured fingers on Elaine’s arm. Elaine flinched but didn’t pull away. The smell of sunscreen grew stronger, and Nick knew he’d be disgusted by the scent for the rest of his life.
“We need more people like you,” Debra said. “These mothers–they don’t want to be parents. They’re too busy living their own lives, not ready for the responsibility. That’s all well and good for them, but they’re hurting their children. Precious babies are the victims. If more people like us don’t come in to save them, who will?”
“It’s incredibly unfair,” Elaine said. “We’ve tried so hard for a baby.”
“And you deserve one,” Debra said. “Let me help you.”
Elaine pulled her hand away and sat rigidly back in her chair. “Nick, I’ve heard enough.”
“Me, too.”
Debra’s icy gaze flashed in anticipation. “I’ll need a deposit of good faith, of course.”
“Fine,” Nick said. “I’d like to know when Reverend Wilcher and Royce Newton get their cut.”
Her china-like skin turned gray. “I–who?”
“Newton is the real attorney,” Nick said. “You play the part because you’re easier on the eyes and a lot more convincing. Holden helps farm the girls to you. Then you come into Hannah’s House pretending to be a social worker, just like you did with Jaymee Ballard. Remember her?”
Debra’s mouth opened and closed. Her fisted hands pushed off the table as she started to stand.
Elaine leaned forward. “Bitch, I swear to God, you even think about running out of this place, I’ll tackle your ass flat to the floor.”
26
If she’d had a bit of common sense, Jaymee would have kicked Gereau in the balls and run out of Magnolia House. Instead, she followed him down the steps. Her eyes took a minute to adjust, and she scanned the room. She didn’t know what she expected to see. Civil War relics? Guns? A room used in the underground railroad?
She saw only rotting furniture, broken bottles, and some decaying crates.
“This is the original cellar,” Gereau said. “I’m sure you figured that out from the kitchen. No one’s really used it in decades. But it served my purpose.”
He pulled a second rotting string, and another crappy light bulb flashed on.
Jaymee heard the groan before she saw him. She stuffed her knuckles against her lips to keep from screaming. Holden Wilcher sat on the ground, hands bound behind his back and thick twine around his ankles. His eyes looked bruised, and blood had dried on his forehead and chin. He didn’t move.
“What have you done, Reverend?”
“He deserves to be put down. For what he did to so many women, but mostly for what he did to you.”
“There are other ways.” The cellar air was thick with mold, and Jaymee tasted a mixture of earth and mildew on her tongue. “You know that. You’re a preacher, for Christ’s sake. If he’s dead, you’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison.”
Unless he meant for her to help him hide the murder. Jaymee prayed to God that wasn’t the case.
“I’ve been living in a prison of sorts for twenty-five years. He’s not dead, and I did this for you,” Gereau repeated his words from upstairs. “So you could get answers.”
“Why?” She was tired of circling the truth. “Why do you care so much about my honor?”
Even in the murky light, Gereau’s expression, full of pain and remorse, sent shockwaves through Jaymee’s body. Cold bumps burst over her skin. Her esophagus filled with air, and she held her breath, waiting for Gereau to speak. Instinct told her whatever he was about to say would change everything.
“I’m the reason Paul Ballard has treated you so badly,” Gereau said. “I’m so sorry.”
Jaymee’s lungs threatened to explode. She forced herself to take a raspy breath. “Why?”
“Jaymee, Paul Ballard isn’t your real father,” Penn Gereau said. “I am.”
Surely Jaymee was stuck in the throes of a ridiculous dream. Somewhere above their heads, a grandfather clock chimed, the noise echoing loudly in her head while she stared at the reverend. His cheeks were pale, and his face lined with pain. But his watering eyes said more than his words.
“No.” Jaymee heard herself speak. “No.”
“The year before you were born, I was a brand new pastor in Vidalia. Your mother was taking some courses offered through the church. We’d already met here in Roselea, with my visiting my aunt so much, but once she started attending the classes, we really connected. She was unhappy in her marriage, frustrated with her husband’s lack of affection and domineering ways.”
“So you slept with her?”
“I didn’t mean to do anything wrong, but we fell in love. Paul was a tyrant back then too, and with your brother still in diapers, Sonia was trapped. She knew if she tried to divorce him, he’d see it as shameful. His reaction would have been brutal.”
Jaymee’s hands throbbed. She looked down realizing she’d drawn her hands into such tight fists her circulation had been cut off. She flexed her hands. “Did you love her?”
“I still do.”
“Paul knows I’m not his?”
“Your mother felt so guilty when she found out she was pregnant, she told him. He raged but had the sense not to beat her too badly.” Gereau’s agonized expression twisted into something more sinister. “He forbade an abortion. Against his beliefs, of course. Mine, too, but I would have supported her regardless. I tried to convince your mother to take your brother and leave the state with me. We’d start over together, be a family. I would have been a good father to both of you.”
“But she was too scared.”
“She cut off all ties to me, and soon enough, Paul showed up in Vidalia. Threatened my job, which I could have lived with. But he also threatened Sonia.” He reached for Jaymee’s hands. She pulled back. “And you. I couldn’t live with that, and I truly believed he was capable of harming you.”
“Why did you come to Roselea?”
“Foolish pride. And a need to be closer to you. I thought I could keep an eye on you. Once a year, your mother sent me a postcard to let me know you were safe and excelling in school. Paul would have killed her if he’d found out. When the position at Roselea Baptist came up, I jumped at it. But I knew there would be a price to pay.”
“Being under Ballard’s thumb,” Jaymee said.
Gereau sighed. “If I’d known how badly he treated you, I never would have agreed to be silent. I’d foolishly hoped he would leave his children alone, but it wasn’t until I started watching you with your family in church that I realized what a black sheep you were. I should have stepped in.
“When you got pregnant, I was grateful for Wilcher’s help in talking Paul down. And when Wil
cher offered to help with the adoption and keep your secret, I thought it was the perfect solution. I knew if you kept the baby, Paul would destroy both of you. If I had known then, Jaymee, I swear to you, I would have stood by you. I never would have let Wilcher be involved. I would have killed him then.”
“Why didn’t you ever stand up to Paul?” Jaymee’s throat ached with the effort. “If you had, you could have taken me away. My life would have been different. Instead, you were a coward. You protected yourself, not me.”
“I won’t deny that,” Gereau said. “I didn’t want to lose all I’d worked for. But I swear I believed I was doing what was best for you. I didn’t want to take you away from your mother.”
“I would have been better off.” Jaymee wasn’t sure she meant that, but she couldn’t think straight. “You could have saved me, saved Sarah.” This was too much. Too much anger, too much guilt, too much selfish pride.
“I thought she’d be better off with a good family. You were so young, and if the truth came out about me and your mother, you would have been ostracized. Sarah, too. The adoption seemed the best option.”
“I’ve already been ostracized,” Jaymee shouted. “Paul Ballard saw to that.”
“I know. I was so relieved when you left for Jackson. I hoped you’d stay.”
“Paul lured me back.” Jaymee tried in vain to make sense of the information he’d just slung at her, but her mind refused to get past his being her father and saying nothing. Doing nothing but standing by and watch her be mistreated. And Sarah…
“So what now? You’re going to kill Wilcher for revenge?”
“I’ve failed you your entire life. I had no intention of killing him, but I wanted some answers.” Gereau cast a scathing look at the unconscious man. “Unfortunately, I hit him too hard this morning, and he’s been in and out ever since.”
“Where’s his car?”
“In the garage. I called him yesterday, told him I wanted to speak with him about you. Thought if I had his side of the story, I could help fix this mess. For him, of course.”
“So you got him here and attacked him?”
“I used one of the Italian statues from the foyer. Broke its arm off. Aunt Maggie probably turned over in her grave. He woke up just as I got him down here, and we started talking.”
“Did you at least get the truth out of him?” Her shrill words died against the earthen walls.
“He admitted to seducing you but denied the baby was his. His story is you were sleeping with Cage and wanted to protect his reputation. Holden said you begged him to help.” Gereau nudged Holden’s expensive shoe. “Once he wakes up, you and I are going to make him talk.”
Jaymee stared at the reverend. Her mind teetered on the brink of a breakdown. Stuck in a nearly two-hundred-year-old basement with a man who’d just told her he was her real father and wanted to make things right by beating her tormenter–to death, if need be.
“This can’t be happening.” Panic brewed in her veins, threatening to dwarf her last bit of sanity. Jaymee closed her eyes, shoved the panic down, and strode forward in the dirt. Kneeling next to Holden, she took his wrist. A faint pulse ebbed beneath his skin.
“We’ve got to get him to the hospital.”
“What? We need the truth.”
Her last sliver of control shattered. “Not this way,” Jaymee shouted, getting to her feet. “You think this will help me get my daughter back? She leaves the country soon, and I’ve got to find her.”
“We make him tell you.”
“And then what? Even if we managed to stop her parents from leaving, how am I going to get custody from jail? You think a court’s going to hear me after I’ve helped beat the hell out of Holden?”
“I’ll take the blame.”
“When he wakes up and sees me here, he’s not going to keep it a secret.”
“Then we don’t let him wake up.”
“Listen to yourself.” The damp air closed in around Jaymee. Cobwebs tickled her face. She rubbed her skin until it stung. “You’re talking about killing a man. That’s not who you are.”
“After all these years I’ve lied to you, how could you possibly think you know who I am?”
“I hate you for lying. I hate my mother for being so noble. But I know both of you did what you thought was right at the time. You may have kept a horrible secret, but so have I. Doesn’t make us bad people. You’re not a killer!”
Gereau stared at Holden’s broken body with a frustratingly blank expression.
“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” Jaymee said. “I just want Sarah back.”
“Selling Sarah was deplorable,” Gereau spoke in a hollow, defeated tone. “Holden deserves to pay for that, as do his accomplices. But is taking her away from the happy life she’s known for seven years the right thing to do?”
“You don’t know that it’s happy.”
“I pray it is. And if that’s the case, is it fair to rip her world apart to soothe your broken heart?”
Jaymee glared at Penn Gereau. At her father. At a life she could have had. At a life she would never have. She wiped the single tear trickling down her cheek and then headed for the stairs. “I’m going to find a phone and call an ambulance. Then Detective Charles. You may be a cowardly ass, but I’m not going to let you ruin the rest of your life and mine.”
The ambulance came first. Gereau led paramedics to the basement while Jaymee sat on the steps and waited for Detective Charles. Pink-faced and huffing, he hauled himself to the porch. “You all right?”
“Aren’t you going to ask me if I had anything to do with this?” Jaymee had given Charles the light version over the phone.
“Hell, no.” He stood aside as Holden was brought up from the basement and then told Jaymee to stay put while he questioned Gereau. As if she could muster the energy to go anywhere.
Paul Ballard wasn’t her father. The knowledge brought a mixture of relief and agony. Sarah was all but lost to her. Now her real father, a man Jaymee could have learned to like again, was going to jail.
Charles sat down next to her on the steps. He was sweating and red as a crab. “Gereau’s charge depends on Holden’s condition. Right now, we’re talking assault and battery, kidnapping. If Holden don’t make it–”
“Kidnapping and assault’s enough to get him a long stay in prison.”
“Not if you help him get a good attorney.”
“With what money?”
Charles waved an envelope in her face. “Seems Gereau figured he’d be in the slammer no matter how this turned out. Gave me a copy of his papers, including his will. And power of attorney in case he’s incapacitated. Which he will be.”
“So?”
“So he’s given you power of attorney. Also made you the executer of his estate. And his sole heir.”
Jaymee looked at Charles. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you not being poor anymore. His aunt’s will stated that Magnolia House remain in the family. That’s you.” Charles fiddled with the envelope. “There’s some paperwork to fill out, but having power of attorney means you’ve got access to everything that Gereau has specifically outlined, including his bank accounts, which is what he intended. Seems Aunt Maggie left him a fat inheritance, so you can find him a good attorney. And as of right now, you’re in charge of this place.”
A sharp, uncontrollable laugh bubbled through Jaymee’s chest. She’d had enough ridiculous news for one day. “I need to leave.”
“I’ve got to finish processing Gereau, but I’ll have an officer take you home.” Charles stood up and offered Jaymee his hand. Eyes tearing up from the afternoon sunlight, she took it.
###
“You’re crazy.”
“You’re a fraud,” Elaine shot back. “Ten years ago, Holden Wilcher convinced me to sell our baby. Said we were doing a good thing for everyone involved. I thought that was true until I heard about Jaymee Ballard. He did the same thing to her, with the
help of a social worker. A social worker with your name and description.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Save it,” Nick said. “Royce Newton’s wife was murdered last week. But you probably already knew that.”
A barely discernible eye twitch was Debra’s only reaction.
Nick continued. “My wife was killed four years ago. Her name was Lana Samuels.”
A brief flash of sudden panic, then Debra quickly regained her poised features. “I don’t see what that has to do–”
“Both women had information that could bring your scheme down. And another woman, a prostitute Newton enjoyed visiting, knew the truth as well. She was killed just a few days ago.”
Debra gnashed her teeth, her carefully painted face suddenly ugly and menacing.
“She doesn’t care,” Elaine said. “Long as her bank account’s getting fat, and she’s kept in her precious lifestyle.”
“Holden Wilcher showed up in Roselea, and now he’s missing.” Nick dropped the news as casually as if he were commenting on the hot weather. “So’s Newton. Interesting how they both slithered out the back door after Jaymee confronted Holden in front of the whole town. And went to the police.”
Face ashen, icy eyes watery with rage, Debra shot forward, knocking her expensive bag to the floor. “Holden’s missing? What’s happened? Are there suspects?”
Now he got it. He should have figured it out as soon Debra walked into the restaurant. Holden liked younger women. She was at least ten years his junior. She liked wealth and power–a perfect combination.
“You and Holden,” Nick said.
“Jesus Christ,” Elaine said. “Of course.”
“I asked if there were suspects.” Debra’s cold voice grew shrill. “Answer me.”
“Theory is Holden and Royce beat it out of town, tails between their pompous asses.” That was only a working theory. Charles still feared something else had happened to Holden. “Cops got some interesting information from Royce’s financials. Took a while to discover since he’s got them hidden under RLN Enterprises. Not a great name for a doing-business-as operation, by the way.”
