Darlene knew he meant it. She broke out in a cold sweat the way she always did when he threatened her. She clamped her lips shut and walked over to the window, where she told the office girl she needed to file a report. She was told to take a seat, and one of the detectives would be right out.
Forty minutes later, Darlene was on her feet screeching her head off. Adam was blustering and cursing. Two police officers approached, and Adam sat down. Darlene stopped her caterwauling and sat down next to him.
“You need a lawyer, Ms. Wyatt, or whoever you are, not the police. I’m filing your report, but you have no credentials to back up your identity. We can’t go around harassing our upstanding citizens with complaints like this. My suggestion is the same as I told you when you first sat down. Hire a lawyer to investigate your case.”
“I can’t do that, since I have no money. Everything was taken away. We’ve been robbed of our money, our credit, and our identities.”
“You are not in the system anywhere, that’s all I can tell you,” the detective said patiently.
Adam got up and kicked at the chair. “You’re probably in on this, too. No one is that good to pull off something like this without help from the authorities. If you were any kind of a police department, you’d be trying to help us.”
“Yeah,” Darlene said, sliding off her chair. “Thanks for nothing.”
Outside in the boiling sun, Darlene started to wail about the long walk home in the hot sun. She was thirsty, and she was hungry. Adam ignored her as he headed toward home. Jesus, God Almighty, how had her life gotten to this point?
She knew exactly how it had gotten to this point. The moment she cheated on Larry was when it had all started. Her dreams of a rich, lust-filled, wonderful life with Adam were nothing but pipe dreams. There hadn’t been a single thing wonderful about it at all. And, to this day, she had not seen one penny of her husband’s money. Not one penny.
Olivia was set for life—maybe for two lifetimes—but thanks to that bitch Julie Wyatt, Larry’s sisters controlled his daughter’s funds, and she would have to be at death’s door before those two would give up a dime. She couldn’t even petition the court, because she didn’t have any money to hire a lawyer. And, in the end, what lawyer would represent her? She’d stiffed everyone she’d hired to represent her back in the beginning when Julie went after her following Larry’s death. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
“Look, birdbrain, there’s your mother-in-law’s house,” Adam said, thirty minutes later. “A house you’ll never see the inside of again,” Adam sneered. “Ah, look, she’s just pulling out of her driveway. Aren’t you going to say hello, Darlene?”
“Shut up, Adam.” She’d loved Julie’s house and the big dinners and the family parties. Julie had always had a birthday party for her, even though Julie didn’t really like her. Julie tolerated her because of Larry and Olivia. She’d never been unkind to Darlene, though, until Larry died. Deep in her gut, she couldn’t blame Julie; she should have called 9-1-1, but she would never admit to it.
Darlene was close enough to the truck to actually see the freckles on Julie’s face. How nice she looked, how calm and serene. Back in the day, she’d liked that about her, that nothing ever ruffled her. Darlene stopped, because she had nowhere else to walk; she waited for the oncoming traffic to abate so Julie could pull out onto the road. The windows were down in the truck, probably so Julie could see traffic better. She looked right through Darlene like she was invisible.
Darlene pushed past Adam and was about to put her face in the truck when Adam pulled her back. “You did it, you bitch! You happy now? I hope you rot in hell, you piece of shit!”
Julie looked at Darlene and smiled just as a break in traffic came. “Do I know you?” She was still smiling as she whizzed down the road.
“Do I know you? Do I know you?” Adam snarled. “She looked just like the cat that ate the canary. She did it, all right! Did you see that smile? She’s got you right where she wants you now. What are you going to do about it, Darlene? When are you going to wise up and do something to get back at her?”
“Will you just shut up? I can’t stand all your yacking. You’re making me sick.”
“I can’t stand you, either, so maybe we should just call it a day,” Adam snarled again.
Darlene hated the words she’d just heard. If Adam left her, she’d have no one but Olivia. She hated being alone. She needed people, she needed the chaos in her life. She didn’t mean to say it, but she said it anyway. “Whatever you want, Adam. I hope you are going to like living with that crazy-ass mother of yours in Kansas. You better hope they send you enough money for a bus ticket.”
Then she shut up as a vision of herself in an orange jumpsuit, being some convict’s prison bitch, flashed in front of her eyes. She thought she was going to puke her guts out right there on the side of the road. Darlene started to wail and snivel again, sweat covering her body as she trudged along beside Adam.
Darlene’s steps quickened the moment she set foot on her street. She looked all around, knowing that the neighbors, who hated the two of them, were watching her every move. They were probably all cheering that all the cars had been repoed and the kids had moved out. She knew the neighbors reported her every move to Julie Wyatt. She hated them as much as they hated her, because they let her know she didn’t belong and they didn’t want her in their pristine neighborhood. Darlene’s nude sunbathing and Adam’s kids’ drunken parties didn’t help matters, either, what with the police on the street at least twice a week.
Those same neighbors had loved Larry, though. When Larry was alive, they’d been invited to all the neighborhood Christmas parties, the backyard barbecues, the block parties. The kids in the neighborhood played with Ollie, and Darlene had even played golf and tennis with a few of them. They knew early on about her infidelity, because Larry had told them. The minute they set eyes on Darlene—with her bleached hair, the makeup she put on with a trowel, the sleazy outfits—it was all over. Ollie, not really understanding what was going on, told her that one of the neighbors had said Darlene had to go through a car wash to remove her makeup. Well, she had Botox now, and in her opinion, she looked fabulous.
Inside the house, Adam went right to the coffeepot. “Look, Darlene, give me your ring; we have to pawn it. Even as stupid as you are, you have to know it’s all we have going for us right now. Later, when this is all over, and we pin it on Julie, we’ll sue her ass off, and I’ll buy you an even bigger ring. Don’t fight me on this because, if you do, I will kill you right here and now.”
For the first time in her life, Darlene didn’t put up a fight, and she didn’t say a word. She removed the engagement ring Adam had bought her on credit back in the beginning and slapped it into the palm of his hand.
“You’ll be lucky if you get two thousand,” she sneered. “I told you I wanted a bigger diamond, but oh, no, you said this measly two-carat piece of shit was good enough for me. I bet you wish you had listened to me back then.”
“Why don’t you hock Larry’s rings, huh?”
“We’ve been over this before, Adam. One more time: because they go to Olivia when she’s old enough to appreciate them. It’s the least I can do for her.”
“Get the rest of your jewelry, the stuff you said Julie gave you. We need to sell it all or starve. I won’t tell you twice, Darlene.”
Darlene scurried away. Adam could hear her clomping up the steps in her designer shoes. When she returned with a small plastic bag full of jewelry, she said, “This is pathetic. This shit is all crap, and to think I thought it meant something. Go on, take it, you bastard!”
Adam took it, but he wasn’t finished yet. “While I’m gone, get together all those designer handbags and fancy shoes and the clothes you said you needed but never wore, and we’ll take them to a consignment shop.”
Darlene screamed her outrage. “What about all your junk—those fishing poles, your golf clubs, all that crap in the garage?”
; “That’s going to go, too. How much do you think I can carry at one time on my motorcycle? Get it all together in the garage. I’ll take one load at a time. But first we have to get some food.”
“Don’t forget the cigarettes and beer.”
“Those aren’t necessities, Darlene. You are so stupid, I can’t believe I am actually standing here talking to you. When are you going to get it? And don’t start with the threats, either. This might be a good time for you to call your own mother or maybe your ex-mother-in-law to see if either one of them will take you in, because right now I’ve had enough of you and your shit. I rue the day I ever set eyes on you.”
Darlene slid down to the floor and started to howl her unhappiness. Adam ignored her as he whirled through the door like a tornado.
No one bothered to check on Olivia. The little ten-year-old simply was not important enough in their lives to care about.
Two hours later, Adam was back in the house with two meager bags of groceries and money in his pocket. Darlene’s greedy eyes sparkled. Adam couldn’t remember how much he’d paid for the special contact lenses that allowed Darlene’s eyes to turn various shades of green. He’d been so happy to have a green-eyed blonde on his arm, he would have paid any amount for people to look at him and envy him. It never occurred to him that the looks those people were giving him were not envy but pity.
“How much did you get?”
“Twenty-eight hundred. Did you do what I told you?”
Darlene shot him a look that could have killed him. “It’s all piled up in the garage.”
“Make us some lunch and fresh coffee. I got pizza for Olivia. Since the landline is still working, start calling around to used-furniture stores. We’re going to have to sell off the furniture, starting with my kids’ stuff since they are not ever coming back here, according to you. Do not open your mouth, Darlene. We need money to hire a lawyer. After you fix lunch, do the laundry. Give me any lip, and I’ll stick your head down the toilet and flush till you turn blue. Then I’ll dump your body in the well in the back. Then, again, maybe I won’t do that since those artificial tits of yours will just make you float to the top. I’ll bury you instead.”
“Do you have any idea how much I hate you, Adam Fortune?” Darlene spit.
“Only half as much as I hate you, you bitch!”
Chapter 16
“Watching and listening to that was really terrible,” Annie said as she turned off the television in the guesthouse. That poor man was just cleared by the FDA, and now he’s dead. It’s sad because he was so generous, such a great philanthropist. I don’t mean to sound flip or uncaring, but it just goes to show: here today, gone tomorrow, so live right because you don’t know what’s around the corner.”
Myra nodded. She wasn’t in the mood to talk about dead people. “Let’s take a walk around the yard, Annie. I’m starting to get homesick.”
“I hear you, Myra. A walk sounds nice. Maybe the dogs will join us when they hear us outside. Julie isn’t back yet—unless she parked up front. This is really a gorgeous piece of property, with all the azaleas and camellia bushes. And I love that two-hundred-year-old Japanese maple tree. Everything is pruned so nicely. It’s like a very private oasis in the middle of town. You can’t see beyond the shrubbery. I like that,” Annie said.
“I do, too. Julie values her privacy just the way we do. I think I hear her truck, and here come the dogs!” Myra laughed as Julie stopped her truck just inches from where they were standing.
“I have news, ladies. Boy, do I have news!” A second later, she was out of the truck and standing, hands on hips, and about to explode.
“Tell us,” both women said in unison, as Julie threw Cooper’s ball for him to catch.
“I saw Darlene! Right there at the end of my driveway. She was walking with that greasy boyfriend of hers. Ooooh, she looks awful. So does he. She was screaming I did it, it was all my fault. Adam told her to shut up. I was this close to that . . . that person,” she said, holding up her thumb and index finger so that they were almost touching. “I even said, ‘Do I know you?’ or something like that. They were walking, and they were sweaty and cranky. I loved every minute of it. But that isn’t the best part. I got four phone calls while I was out. One of the secretaries at the police station called to tell me both Darlene and her boyfriend were there to file a report. They did file it, but it won’t do them any good. Darlene pitched a fit, to no avail. They told her to get a lawyer. Then Helen Masterson called and told me Adam went to Dollar Sam’s pawnshop and pawned a ring and some other tacky jewelry. She was getting gas next door at the station, and when she saw him, she beelined to the pawnshop and learned that he got twenty-eight hundred dollars.
“Then Sadie Wilkerson called to say Adam bought forty dollars’ worth of groceries at Food Lion and took off on his motorcycle. I no sooner hung up from Sadie than Hank Marshall called to say that Darlene called and asked him to come to the house to look at some furniture they wanted to sell. He told her they had too much inventory, then called two other shops like his and spread the word. They won’t be selling Larry’s furniture anytime soon. What do you think?” Julie asked, falling into step with Myra and Annie as they walked around the yard.
“I think we have her on the run,” Myra answered. “Now all we have to do is fine-tune our plan and set it in motion. We need to get the snatch-and-grab down pat, so nothing goes wrong. And we have to be ever mindful of young Ollie. But I think we need to let Ms. Darlene and her boyfriend sweat for a few more days.”
Julie agreed. “So what did you ladies do while I was off running my errands?”
“Not much; watched some TV,” Annie said.
“I haven’t turned on my television in days, or read the newspapers. The only thing they’re talking about is the nuclear power plant they want to build in Hollywood. Hollywood, Alabama, that is, just ten miles from here; and the hurricane that seems to be headed our way. Everyone is up in arms with meetings and petitions. I signed two of them when I was in town this morning. I don’t object to the plant, but it’s just a little too close to Rosemont for my liking. There are all kinds of places they could build it away from our little town. It will be years before anything is decided, so I’m not going to worry about it today, or even tomorrow.
“There’s nothing I can do about the hurricane other than to be prepared, and that I am. I just close the hurricane shutters, crank up my two generators, and I’m good to go,” Julie explained.
Both women nodded. “I love this little alpine cottage. Did anyone ever live in it, or is it just for guests?” Myra asked.
“I lived in it for well over a year. Actually, almost two years, after Larry died. For some reason, I couldn’t stay in my own house. In the cottage, I felt safe and insulated, for some reason. Sometimes even now, when things pile up on me or I get stressed, I go over there and just sit. Larry and Ollie loved it. Did you see her little playhouse in the back?”
“We did see it the other day. It’s wonderful. Just what any little girl could want,” Myra said.
“Larry . . . Larry had so much fun fixing it up. My daughters made those checkered pink curtains. We used to let Ollie nap in there, with Cooper and Gracie guarding her. But only in the summertime, and Larry and I were right outside drinking iced tea under that big old angel oak in the middle of the yard. She’s too old for it now, though,” Julie said sadly. “I’m never going to forgive Darlene for denying Ollie her childhood. Every day, I think about her and wonder what Darlene has told her. I hope she remembers us and knows in her heart that we fought for her and that we did everything we could. You don’t think she believes all the lies Darlene tells her, do you?” Julie’s voice was so fretful, so full of angst, the two women wanted to cry for her.
“Not for one minute!” Myra said forcefully. “Children—I don’t care what age they are—know what love is. They feel it, and that’s the one thing you can’t drive out of a person’s heart; I don’t care what age that person is.”
> “Myra is right, Julie. I’m certain that little girl is pining for you just the way you and your family pine for her. I know in my heart she remembers everything just the way you remember. We’re going to get her back for you, but we have to make sure we do this right. We have to make sure that nothing bounces back at you and that DSS doesn’t take Olivia away from you. But then, we have Abner, our hacker friend, who will make absolutely sure nothing like that happens. We still have to be extra careful, though,” Annie warned.
“I understand. Impatience is my middle name these days. I never used to be like this. I just went with the flow. That’s not to say I didn’t rear up every so often.” Julie laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound.
The tour of the yard complete, Annie and Myra followed their hostess to the house. Julie whistled for the dogs, both of whom came on the run.
“I think it’s time to take a break from today and everything going on for some iced tea and a visit on the veranda,” Julie said. “We’re having an easy dinner this evening. I bought everything in the supermarket already cooked. All we have to do is set the table. A picnic of sorts indoors, without the flies and ants.”
“Works for us,” Annie said.
Julie’s veranda was especially nice at that time of day, with the sun at the back of the house. The paddle fans whirled as the misters sprayed the opulent ferns hanging from the beams. The overall effect was that it was at least fifteen degrees cooler out there than anyplace else on the property.
The three women rocked contentedly, conversation at a minimum.
Julie broke the silence by asking Myra and Annie what they thought Adam and Darlene would use the $2800 for.
Gotcha! Page 15
