Penumbra

by Carolyn Haines

  He walked across the porch and got in his car. Frank watched him drive away, right past Jade’s car without even looking at it.

  She came down the steps behind him, her footsteps soft and feminine. “What did Daddy say?” she asked.

  When he turned to her, he saw she was dressed, the stylish green brocade a mocking nod to morning. “He doesn’t want me to see you.”

  She nodded. “I could’ve told you that. Why did he come here?”

  “A man’s been beaten on the highway. Your father tried to help him, and he came to tell me so I could go look at the scene.”

  “A man killed?”

  “Beaten to death. The men who did it wore hoods, like the men who attacked Marlena.”

  “This is terrible.” Jade sat on the steps as if her legs could no longer support her.

  He got a cup of coffee and handed it to her. Once he retrieved his cup, he sat down beside her, his arm supporting her. “No,” he said, “this isn’t terrible. This could be a break in the case.”

  22

  Dotty tapped her fingers on the steering wheel of the car and waited for visiting hours to start at Jebediah County Hospital. To her aggravation, her entire life had become one form of waiting or another. This time, though, her patience was going to pay off. Once Marlena heard what Dotty had to say, she’d snap out of her coma and get busy making Lucas pay. Dotty’s intention was to tell Marlena every single thing that had transpired between her and Lucas and finish it off by telling what she’d found. After all, Marlena had been her friend through thick and thin. Lucas had just been a user. Possibly a lot worse. Junior Clements was mean enough to brutalize a woman, but he wasn’t smart enough to think it up on his own. Everything had clicked into place: Lucille’s questions about Marlena’s activities, the savagery of the beating, and Junior showing up at Lucas’s home. Lucas had put Junior up to it.

  Once she’d seen the flour sack hoods in Junior Clements’s truck, she’d abandoned all thoughts of confronting Lucas. She’d been so badly frightened she’d gone running through the woods, cutting her ankles and face on briars and tree limbs. She’d finally made it to her car and had driven to the Friendly for a few drinks to calm her nerves. Well, more than a few. Yes, she’d been afraid last night, but today she was thinking clearly. Lucas had made his bed, and she was going to make him lie in it. He thought he could play God. He’d used her and then cast her aside. He didn’t have time to give her a call to say a simple thank you. He deserved everything that was fixing to come down on his head.

  She got out of the car, swiping at her leg where blood had trickled down onto her white sock. Her ankles and calves were a mess, torn by blackberry thorns and God knew what else. One side of her face had four deep furrows from a tree branch. She didn’t care. Let the stupid women who were so ugly they had to get a job nursing to touch a man think what they wanted about her. They were nobodies and their judgments didn’t matter. She strode through the hospital, down the yellow hall, and walked into Marlena’s room without knocking. She was pulled up short when she saw Lucille sitting by the bed, holding her daughter’s limp hand.

  “I didn’t see your car,” Dotty said.

  “Jonah is running some errands for me,” Lucille said. Her hair was a frizzy mess and her makeup smeared.

  Dotty considered the situation. Lucille looked like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet. “Is something wrong?” she asked. She cast a quick glance at Marlena, who could have been a corpse. It would be just Dotty’s luck if Marlena had passed on without being able to punish Lucas. Then again, the charge would be murder.

  “A man was killed last night. Beaten to death on the road to my house. It was just terrible.”

  Dotty felt the gut punch of good gossip. “Who was it?”

  “A stranger,” Lucille said.

  Dotty closed the door, shutting out the sound of a cart creaking down the hallway. “That’s awful. Did you get any details? Why would someone kill a stranger?”

  “They should find whoever did this and shoot them like dogs. Not even give them a chance to beg for mercy.” Lucille dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

  Dotty walked over to the bed and put a hand on Marlena’s cheek. “You think it was the same men who did this to Marlena, don’t you?” Her heart thumped against her ribs. If her assumption was right, Junior Clements was headed to the gas chamber.

  “I have no way of knowing that.” Lucille rose swiftly to her feet, her gaze imperious. “Looks like someone got after you.”

  “Mosquitoes.” Dotty rubbed the outside of her right ankle with the toe of her left oxford. She saw Lucille’s eyes sharpen and smiled at the eagerness in the older woman’s eyes.

  “Been out in the woods?” Lucille asked.

  “Maybe. Maybe I haven’t been alone out there either.” Dotty liked knowing things that others didn’t. “Where’s your son-in-law?” “What do you want with Lucas?”

  Dotty had the upper hand with Lucille Longier. For the first time in her life, she was in control. “Now, that’s really none of your business, is it? I’d think you might be wondering why Marlena’s husband is never here to see about his wife.”

  “Lucas is where he belongs. At home, trying to find his daughter.” Lucille’s tone was cold. “What are you implying?”

  “Has Lucas even been up here to check on Marlena?”

  “What’s it to you?” Lucille asked.

  Dotty gazed down on Marlena’s lifeless profile. “It could mean a lot to Marlena. A whole lot.” She stared directly into Lucille’s eyes. “If Marlena ever wakes up, call me. I know things she needs to hear.” She turned and left the room, smiling at the expression that she’d left on Lucille Longier’s face. The rule of the Longier women was coming to an end in Drexel. With Marlena’s attack and injury, Lucille had lost her position. Once Lucas was brought low, the entire social order of the town would shift.

  Dotty walked out of the hospital and into a morning that had turned cloudy. At least the heat had broken. She stopped by the Coke machine in the lobby and found a nickel in her pocket. She was bone tired. She hadn’t had a wink of sleep all night long. Now, though, she had two trumps to barter. She’d come back to see Marlena when Lucille wasn’t there.

  “Miss Dotty.”

  She heard the voice and recognized Jonah before she turned around. He looked worn, like old leather. “What is it?”

  “Sometimes you go up to the Friendly Lounge, right?”

  Anger flushed her cheeks at the audacity of a black man asking her about her personal business. “That’s none of your affair.” She turned and started to walk away, taking the Co-Cola with her. If they wanted their damn three-cent deposit on the bottle, they could come take it away from her.

  “Did you meet a man named Sam Levert last night?”

  That stopped her. She remembered the tall man with dark hair and an easy smile. He was a married man, she’d deduced that right away. He hadn’t been wearing a ring, but he was married. She could always tell. Still, she’d danced with him and let him buy her a drink. He liked her tight jeans and her saddle oxfords, had told her she was beautiful. She’d gone out in the parking lot and leaned up against his midnight blue Ford and let him kiss her and feel her breasts. He’d been a good kisser, and she’d had to break it short when Pet showed up.

  “What about Sam Levert?” she asked.

  “He was beaten to death last night.”

  Dotty felt as if her swagger had been pulled from her spine. Her knees grew weak, and she was aware of Jonah’s hand steadying her. “You’re lying.”

  Jonah didn’t say anything.

  “He said he was going to Pascagoula. He said—” She stopped herself.

  “Who else was in the Friendly last night?” Jonah asked.

  Dotty thought of the men from the new sawmill on the edge of the county. They were brawlers, but none had shown an interest in Sam Levert. Pet had been there, though, and wherever Pet went, Junior was nearby. They’d killed Sam Levert. Ju
st like they’d attacked Marlena. Jonah was trying to steal her thunder. “Why are you asking me about the Friendly? If you need a list of customers, go ask Boo Bishop and see what he has to tell you.”

  “I found a coaster in the dead man’s car. It came from the Friendly. I was just wondering who else was up there last night.”

  “I can’t think of a soul at the Friendly who would harm a stranger.”

  Jonah stared at her. “Might be you should drive over to the sheriff’s office and tell what you know.”

  “I don’t need your help or anyone else’s, and I certainly don’t need your advice. I’m fine just by myself.”

  Jonah shook his head slowly. “Miss Dotty, I’ve always heard if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.”

  “What are you implying?” she demanded. Her face was flushed with anger. “You’re out of line. Just because you work for that old bag, Lucille Longier, doesn’t give you the right to talk to me like that.”

  Jonah sighed. “I’m trying to save a little girl that everyone seems to have forgotten about. The men who attacked Sam Levert wore hoods, just like the men who hurt Miss Marlena. Now I think it could be the same two.”

  Dotty realized that her expression had given her away. “Mind your own damn business.” She started around him, but he stepped in her path.

  “Miss Dotty, you’d best take care. There’s some true meanness running loose in Jebediah County. If you know something and don’t tell, it’ll be on you.”

  “If you’re so damned smart, why don’t you ask Junior Clements and Pet Wilkinson what they were up to last night?” She pushed past him. “You can tattle that back to Frank.” “Thank you, Miss Dotty.”

  Jade hung the dress in the closet and took her underthings to the laundry basket. She needed a bath, but she didn’t want one. She could still smell Frank on her skin, the peculiar odor that identified him in the intimate way of a lover. She twirled around her bedroom, feeling as light as air, and as powerful as a force of nature. She’d surprised Frank. She’d seen it in his eyes several times. Once when she’d straddled him, clenching him tightly with her knees as she rode him, and another when she’d taken him in her mouth. He was not naïve or inexperienced, yet she’d still surprised him. That pleased her. In fact, most everything pleased her this morning. The only dark edge on the morning was her father’s visit to Frank, and his knowledge of what she’d done. Jonah would worry for her, and that troubled Jade. She was thirty-five, old enough to make her own choices, but that didn’t stop her daddy from worrying. She’d explain to Jonah that it had never been so right as it was with Frank. There was something between them so perfect that she couldn’t ignore it. He wouldn’t like it, but he might understand. She had no worries that Jonah would tell Ruth. He wouldn’t.

  Naked, Jade went to the kitchen and put on water for a cup of tea. She went into the bathroom and ran the water in the tub for her bath. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t spend the rest of the day naked and smelling of Frank. She had no illusions that it would be a “happy ever after” romance. She and Frank would not marry. That was out of the question. But she wasn’t his black mistress. Not that. They were equals, two adults who shared an incredible connection. Was it love? She didn’t know. She’d never loved a man, only Jonah and Ruth.

  Back in the kitchen she made the tea and took the steaming cup into the bathroom with her. The window by the tub was fogged with condensation. The bath was hot, but she needed to soak. Her body was pleasantly sore, and she wanted to pamper it. She turned off the water and stepped in, sinking beneath the hot water, the mug of tea still in her hand. By rights, she should have a hangover, but she didn’t. She’d never felt healthier. She came up, blinking the water from her eyes. Something wasn’t right. She listened for a moment, trying to figure out what was wrong.

  A strange clicking caught her attention. The kettle was turned off. There was nothing in the house to click. It took her a moment to realize it was coming from the window. She looked over and felt a jolt of fear. A hand was pressed against the glass, ring tapping the pane. Beside the hand was the foggy outline of a man’s face. Two dark eyes peered at her through the condensation.

  With a scream, she flung the mug of hot tea at the window. She heard the crash of glass and a low, tearing sound that wasn’t human. Scrambling out of the tub, she grabbed a towel and ran. The back door was closest, and she ran there and threw the thumb bolt into place. Dropping the towel she raced through the house to the front door. She slammed it and shot the bolt home, feeling a moment of relief. She looked at the windows she’d never wanted to curtain, terrified of what she might see. Marlena had been beaten nearly to death. A stranger had been killed. The men who’d done those things were capable of anything.

  Jonah had taught her to use a gun, but she’d never owned one. She’d never imagined a time in her life when she might need to kill another human. Now, though, she would have traded anything for a pistol or a rifle or a shotgun, because she knew if someone tried to come through her door, she would kill him. If Marlena had had a gun, she might not be hurt, and Suzanna might not have been taken, and for the first time, Jade experienced a hint of the horror that Marlena must have felt, the helplessness.

  “Goddamn you!” she shouted. “I’ll blow your guts out if you try to come in my house.”

  There was only silence.

  The house was old, and it creaked and groaned when she walked across the floorboards. This had always been a friendly sound to her, but now it was deadly. She moved along the edges of the rooms, avoiding the middle where the boards talked. There was a hammer in the bathroom. A heavy one, and if she had an opportunity, she would sink it into the skull of whoever was outside her house.

  She made it back to the bathroom and retrieved the hammer. Her nightgown was hanging on the back of the bathroom door, and she slipped it on, trembling. There were two options available. She could make a dash for her car and hope to drive away, or she could stay in the house, hoping someone would come looking for her. She realized that if anyone came, it would be Jonah. He would come straight into danger.

  Hefting the hammer, she went to her bedroom and got underwear, shorts, and a blouse. She dressed quickly, picking up her old gardening shoes because they wouldn’t slow her down if she had to run. She was going to her car. From the front door she had to get across the porch and the twenty feet to the car. Because she never anticipated trouble, she left her key in the car. All she had to do was get there, lock the doors, and drive away. It wasn’t hard. She could do it.

  The thumb bolt slipped free without a sound, and she eased the doorknob slowly to the right. The door opened a crack, and then enough for her to ease out. Once on the porch, though, she stopped. Her heart was pounding, and nausea mingled with fear when she saw what her intruder had left for her.

  The flowers were store bought, a bright orange ribbon wrapped around the stems. There were roses and sunflowers and daisies, a beautiful spray of color tumbled on the worn wood of the porch. Jade stepped over them as she ran to her car, aware that the man who’d been peeping at her believed he was paying court.

  23

  Some fifty years had passed since Jonah had the first memory of coming up the long drive to the isolated house where he’d grown up. Jade’s home now. He was proud that he and Ruth had been able to give it to her.

  Trees that had been saplings were now thick of girth. Some older trees had died, rotting back into the soil from which they’d come. As a young boy, Jonah had walked the driveway two and three times a day, going to the road to wait for Mose to come home. He always had a sense of peace when he was on the property of the old home place, and he sought that peace now, praying for guidance in the things he had to say to his daughter. He drove slowly, knowing Lucille would be fit to be tied if she knew he was running personal errands in her car. Jade was more important than Lucille’s tantrums. He had to talk to Jade.

  He rounded a curve by an old mimosa tree, his mind on his daughter. He w
as completely unprepared for the big black Hudson that came at him, careening around the curve. Jonah wrenched the wheel, and the Buick swerved into the woods, taking down a small sapling and some huckleberry bushes. As it was, he narrowly avoided a head-on crash with Jade. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw she’d slammed on the brakes, sliding in the sand until she came to a sideways halt in the driveway, her body slumping against the steering wheel. He got out of the Buick and ran to her, fearing she’d struck her head. He opened the door and was relieved to hear her sobbing.

  “Jade,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “Jade?”

  “I’m okay,” she said.

  She clung to him in a way she hadn’t done since she was a small girl. Anger rushed to his head, and he thought of killing Frank as he held his daughter. “What did he do?” he asked.

  “He was watching through the window.”

  Jonah didn’t understand. He’d seen Frank heading out the highway to the scene of the murder. “Who was watching?” “A man.” Jade burrowed into him.

  Jonah stroked her hair and back, rocking slightly with her. The anger was gone, replaced by a fear colder than anything he’d ever experienced. “What man?” he asked, when her tears had begun to dry.

  “I didn’t see who it was. He watched me through the bathroom window. He left flowers on the porch.”

  He felt her relax, and he assisted her in sitting upright. There were things that had to be done, but for this moment, he would hold her and keep her safe. She was his daughter, the one thing he loved most of all in this world. No one else could hurt him as she could. Jade, alone, had the power to tear out his heart.

  When she had quieted and he could feel that she’d gathered her emotions, he asked, “Did anyone know you were at Frank’s?”

  He felt the subtle shift in her body, the shift from pliant to tense. “No one saw me,” she said. “There wasn’t anyone else on the roads. This isn’t about Frank.”