Penumbra

by Carolyn Haines

  The hood of the car was hot beneath her thin dress, and she suddenly thought of Frank’s hands. At one point in their lovemaking, he’d grasped her buttocks and lifted her. His hands had been hot on her skin. She slid off the car and got behind the wheel. Nat King Cole’s voice came out of the radio tuned to the Memphis station. “Unforgettable” was one of her favorite songs, romantic, filled with tenderness and the joy of loving. Frank was unforgettable. For better or worse, her life had been changed by him. He might disappoint her, but he had also given her the gift of dreaming. He’d awakened something inside her that had been asleep for all of her life. She was strong enough to suffer disappointment if she could feel alive, and she suddenly realized that her mother was not. Ruth, whose back was unbent by forty years of toiling in another woman’s home, was not truly strong. The simple disappointments of life would snap her, and in trying to protect Jade, Ruth had also cheated her.

  Jade thought of her half-sister, living in a twilight world of pretense, afraid to show a spark of life to those who claimed to love her. She decided to go there, to sit with Marlena. She could do nothing for herself, nothing for Ruth, who’d made her choices so long ago. Maybe she could help relieve Marlena’s fear. She set off across town, the breeze from the open car window cooling her with a sweet and gentle touch.

  The hospital was quiet on a Sunday afternoon, the parking lot almost empty. Visiting hours were not until four, and the impending storm would keep many people at home. Jade wasn’t worried about visiting rules; Lucas had arranged it so she could see Marlena whenever she chose. It had not been meant as a kindness to Jade, but a convenience for Lucas, who had no intention of visiting Marlena, much less sitting with her. A lump of coldness settled in Jade’s heart when she wondered how much Lucas really knew about Marlena’s relationship with the potato chip salesman. After the night with Frank, Jade understood how Marlena could risk so much for a man’s touch.

  Before Frank, she hadn’t allowed herself to understand. She’d wanted to believe Marlena foolish and willful and reckless. Now she knew, she was none of those things, but simply a woman desperate for a man’s caring touch.

  Lucas was not a man to show his feelings, or to value the feelings of others. He hadn’t been to the hospital a single time to see his wife. Not once. A lot of things could explain Lucas’s absence. Selfishness was what Jade hoped it was.

  Her thoughts absorbed her as she walked down the tiled corridor of the hospital. The sight of Junior Clements coming out of Marlena’s room abruptly halted her, and she barely suppressed a gasp. Junior’s eyes were hungry, filled with something that swirled in the gray depths.

  “Has she told you anything?” he asked.

  Jade’s heart thudded. “She’s in a coma,” she lied, swallowing the taste of iron that threatened to make her gag. Junior frightened her.

  “I heard she could identify the men who hurt her?”

  “Where did you hear such a thing?” Jade asked, indignation forced into her voice.

  “Does it matter?” Junior’s eyes were shrewd.

  “I don’t know. Does it?” she countered.

  “I got myself a reliable source. Someone who’s been sitting up here and knows what she’s talking about.”

  The only other person who had sat with Marlena was Dotty Strickland. “Some people lie when it would be easier to tell the truth,” Jade said. “Keep that in mind, Mr. Clements.”

  He stepped closer, and she arched an eyebrow, waiting for him to speak. She could feel the thud of her heart in her ears, but she lifted the other eyebrow and waited.

  “Are you getting uppity with me?” he asked. There was a hint of excitement in his voice.

  “I wouldn’t think of it,” she answered, but she didn’t drop her gaze.

  “Marlena hasn’t spoken except once, on Friday. The doctor thinks she probably won’t ever wake up.” She was acting on instinct, protecting Marlena from Junior’s interest in her. “The nurse said Frank was here.”

  Jade shrugged. “He was. I told him Marlena wasn’t going to wake up. Since a sheriff’s deputy has already been here, I don’t understand your business in Marlena’s room.”

  “Could be old Lucas offers a reward to the person who finds his daughter. I’m right certain he will, as a matter of fact. I’d like to get that money, and if anyone knows who took the young’un, it should be Mrs. Bramlett.”

  “Except she’s in a coma,” Jade said.

  “For certain?”

  Jade focused only on the lie. “It would be a miracle if she regained consciousness. Go and ask her doctor if you don’t believe me.”

  Junior nodded, one hand rubbing the back of the other where blood oozed from his skin. When he saw her gaze on his hands, he stopped, putting both in his pockets.

  His right knuckles were swollen, the rough skin a light purple beneath the flaking. “How did you hurt your hand?” she asked.

  “The stretcher up at the funeral home rolled into a door.” He smiled. “Do you want to kiss it and make it better?”

  Jade almost gagged. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Maybe the nurse will take a look at it.”

  His eyes narrowed and his mouth flattened. “You think you’re too good to doctor my hand?”

  “I’m a beautician, not a nurse,” Jade said.

  “You’re full of sass. But I like a woman with a little spunk.” He leaned closer so that his breath puffed on her cheek. “It sure is pretty out there where you live.”

  Jade felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. He was telling her he’d been at her home. He was toying with her, wanting to frighten her. She lifted her gaze calmly. “Yes, it is pretty. My granddaddy bought that land a long time ago. There’s an old cemetery behind the house. Sometimes, at night, just before I go to sleep, I hear the dead waking up.” She saw the doubt in his eyes. “They tell me stories,” she said softly. “I don’t always want to hear, but when they want to talk, there’s nothing to do but listen.”

  “You’re lying.” He did not step away, but he leaned back from her. “You think you can scare me off, but I’m not afraid of ghosts.” He laughed. “I sort of like ‘em. Dead people are just dead. Nothin’ more.”

  She could see he’d regained his nerve. Threats of ghosts would not keep him away from her property any longer. “The dead tell me their secrets.”

  “You’re a feisty little gal,” he said, showing yellowed teeth in a grin. “I might bring you another present. I got some cash. Maybe you could put on a show for me.”

  Her mouth was dry and she could find no other words to ward him off. He’d peeped at her, and now he was admitting it because he viewed her as helpless. This was sport for him, and he enjoyed it. Fury coursed through her. She was about to respond when a nurse hurried toward them.

  “It’s Mr. Lavallette on the telephone. He says he needs you to drive the hearse, Mr. Clements. There’s a body needs to go to Pascagoula. That man who was beaten to death. The family wants him brought home.”

  “I’ll be seein’ you,” Junior whispered softly to Jade. “You and your pretty little sister. Real soon.”

  He brushed past her, and she forced her legs to hold steady as she watched him walk down the corridor. She had a visceral urge to plant her knee in his crotch, but she didn’t move. Jade felt the nurse’s stare, but Jade held her tongue. Talk would only make matters worse. She had evidence of that. There could be only one person who’d been telling tales on Marlena. Dotty Strickland. Jade had a grim desire to make the woman pay for running her mouth.

  She tapped lightly on the door of Marlena’s room and entered. The blond head was turned away, the once bright hair, in need of washing, flattened to Marlena’s skull. Jade heard the sound of soft sobs.

  “Are you okay?” Jade asked. She closed the door firmly. “Be careful. The nurses are out in the hall. They’ll hear you.”

  Marlena worked at holding back her tears.

  “What happened?” Jade asked. She got a clean washcloth, wet it under the t
ap in the bathroom, and wiped Marlena’s hot face. “What did he say?”

  She inhaled, shuddering with the effort. “He pulled the covers back and looked at me,” Marlena said. “I had to pretend that I was asleep.”

  Jade gritted her teeth. Junior was a pervert. He’d been spying on her and now he was exposing Marlena’s poor, beaten body to his view. He was bolder, too, acting as if there was no recourse that could be taken against him. Jade thought of Frank and felt true fear. If Junior suspected she’d slept with a white man—she halted her thoughts.

  “Did Junior say anything?” she asked.

  Marlena sniffed. “No. He just pulled the covers back and pulled up my gown.” More tears leaked out of her eyes. “He just made this grunting noise, like a pig at a trough.” Her voice rose in hysteria. “I can’t stay here. You have to take me away!”

  “Take it easy,” Jade urged. “He can’t hurt you here.” She didn’t believe the words even as she said them, but she had no idea where Marlena could go that would be safe. Now she understood her sister’s desire to stay comatose. Waking up brought only pain and danger. Junior Clements scared her. Junior was capable of cruelty, and lately he had an air about him that was different, as if he thought himself above the law. She looked at Marlena. “Was it Junior who hurt you?” The expression on Marlena’s face was answer enough.

  “Jade, you have to help me.” Marlena glanced around the room as if escape were hidden behind the draperies. “I can’t stay here! I can’t pretend any longer! They’re going to find out I’m awake!” Marlena’s eyes were wide. Her fingers dug into Jade’s arm, clutching in terror.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Jade said. She couldn’t leave Marlena alone in the hospital. There was no safe place for them. At least not when Junior got back from Pascagoula.

  “Take me somewhere safe, where no one can find me. Not Lucas or Junior or anyone.” Marlena’s voice dissolved into tears. “I’m afraid.”

  “Okay,” Jade said, putting an arm around Marlena’s thin shoulders. “I’ll think of something.”

  Dotty tried to hold her weight off the jouncing truck seat, absorbing some of the punishment with her arms. There was nothing around them but trees, a thick wall of them with their gray-black trunks and bitter green needles. They were deep in the woods in a place Dotty had never imagined, going into the dense forest and away from town. Dantzler was driving like a maniac on the narrow dirt road that was little more than a pot-holed path. Outside the windshield, the sky had taken on a dark gray cast with hints of green in the center of the front. Bad weather, really bad weather, was about to hit.

  The truck hit a deep hole, and Dotty’s head bounced into the roof of the cab. She let out a yelp, and Dantzler’s fist flew across the seat and backhanded her in the mouth. She tasted blood but didn’t say anything. She’d learned in the first few minutes that trying to talk only brought more slaps and slugs. The man beside her had no interest in anything she had to say.

  “Ole Frank’s going to be surprised when he gets home and finds you gone without a trace,” Dantzler said, chuckling to himself. “He’ll be hunting that little girl and you.”

  Dotty felt the tears slide down her cheeks. Frank wouldn’t know she was gone. The one thing that might have tipped him—her car—had been left in the old garage behind the Kimble house. Frank might not find it for days. No one would know she was missing. She lived alone and hadn’t made any plans to meet anyone. She had no job, no place of employment for someone to miss her. Marlena was in a coma and couldn’t tell anyone she was missing even if she knew. Worst of all, Dotty realized she’d made a terrible mistake. She’d been at Frank’s house ready to tell him that Junior Clements had abducted Suzanna Bramlett, and she’d been dead wrong. She was locked in a truck going forty miles an hour down a pig path with the kidnapper.

  The tears ran into her split lip and she wanted to cry out with pain, but knew better. She cowered against the passenger door and prayed for deliverance.

  “I’m not Frank’s girlfriend,” she said, the words a little distorted by her now swollen lip.

  “Did I ask you a question?” he asked.

  Dotty knew she had to make him understand before it was too late. “Frank doesn’t even like me. He won’t care that you have me.”

  Dantzler stopped the truck. He slowly pulled his belt from the loops of his pants. “You want to play games?” he asked. “I’ve got a few I really enjoy.” He was laughing as he reached for her, his fingers knotting in her hair, dragging her across the seat and clear of the truck, her cries bouncing back from the trunks of the huge pines.

  27

  Jonah sat on the back steps of his home, sweat draining from every pore. It was a sick sweat, the smell of shame in it. He stank, and he felt nothing except contempt for himself. He could not face his wife. Thirty-seven years of neglect had weighted his marriage down in a bog of hurt. He’d never committed adultery; that was not his sin. His was worse, because he had put Ruth always last in the trinity of his allegiance. Before Jade had come home with them, Lucille had always come first. He saw that now. Yesterday, he would have denied it. Such an accusation would have angered him. Lucille had lifted the veils from his eyes, and he saw plenty now. His relationship with his wife was built on resentment and anger. She had the right to it, but he did not. Jade had become his first priority, with Lucille dropping into second place, and then Ruth. Always at the last, Ruth. Shame swept over Jonah and he put his head in his hands and wept.

  “What are you doing sitting on the back step crying?” Ruth asked him from inside the screen door. He hadn’t realized she was in the house. She was so quiet, like a wraith, and that was his fault, too. He’d taken the softness from her, drained it out of her as surely as if he’d put a siphon in her.

  “So much time has gone by,” he said, not bothering to hide his tears from her. “I’m an old man now.”

  “You’re crying for your lost youth?” Her tone bespoke her impatience with him.

  “No, Ruth, I’m crying for the years that I was a fool, for the time I treated you poorly and was so stupid I wouldn’t admit what I was doing.”

  He felt the screen door touch his back as Ruth pushed it open. It slammed softly. She came onto the step and sank to a seat beside him. She didn’t touch him. She hadn’t touched him in years. That was another thing he’d stolen from her, from both of them. His tears had dried, but the pain of remorse was wicked cruel in his heart.

  “So you finally woke up?” she said. Her eyes were soft, the anger finally gone. “It’s a hard fall, Jonah. I know it hurts.”

  “Maybe I need to hurt. I’ve hurt you plenty over the years.”

  “Yes, you have.” She said it without anger.

  “Ruth, I didn’t mean it.”

  “Most folks don’t mean to bring suffering to others. Still, it happens. When you love, you risk pain.”

  He thought about her words. “Do you still love me?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve spent so many years hating you, I don’t know what’s beneath that. Hating you was the only way I could survive. Hating you and Miss Lucille.” Those last words were spoken with bitterness. “You never saw her for what she really is.”

  “I did today.” He would not tell her that Jade was his daughter. It wasn’t his cowardice about not knowing that he wanted to hide. He’d believed every syllable Lucille had told him, because he’d wanted to believe the baby she carried belonged to another man. As a young woman, Lucille had been free with her body, and so he’d never questioned her story of a Negro lover from New Orleans. He’d met Slidin’ Jim at the Longier party, had seen the man’s charm. Knowing Lucille the way he had, he’d never questioned her lie. Lucille had tricked and manipulated him like a wooden puppet. Jade was his daughter. Lucille had hidden that from him for thirty-six years. Ruth would never know. He wouldn’t taint the one thing she loved with all her heart. “I saw Miss Lucille for what she’s become, over the years. I saw her, and I saw myself.” H
is head lowered. “I’m ashamed.”

  “The truth can be harsh,” Ruth said. “But when you turn that light on yourself, I’m forced to see the woman I’ve become. That’s not pretty to me or anyone else.” She sighed. “I haven’t looked in a mirror in better than ten years. I can’t bear to look at myself, an old dried up woman burning with hatred.”

  “You can look, Ruth.” He touched her cheek, feeling skin that was unfamiliar to him. Ruth’s face was soft, belying the hardness he’d come to associate with her. He turned her face so that they gazed at each other. “There’s a lot to see besides hardness. There’s goodness and a real love for our daughter.”

  “I wanted to love you, Jonah, but there wasn’t any room for me in your heart.”

  He closed his eyes. The damage he’d wreaked was worse than any Lucille might have done. He had no excuses. He’d had a woman who loved him and wanted him. Lucille had been alone.

  He stood up. “Where’s Jade?”

  “She went into town to talk to Frank Kimble about the peeping Tom. I told her not to. I told her the white law didn’t care what happened to a black woman.”

  Jonah thought his heart could get no heavier. The idea of Jade and Frank tore at him. Jade would suffer, as he had suffered. And the end result would be that anyone else who dared to love her would suffer, too.

  “Is there something between Jade and that lawman?” Ruth asked.

  Jonah didn’t answer instantly. He thought about it. He’d neglected his wife for many years. Now he wanted to protect her, but to do so, he’d have to lie to her again. That was a road he wouldn’t travel twice. He wouldn’t lie to anyone, especially not himself.

  “Frank says he cares for Jade,” he said. “She was with him. Last night.”