Thirty and a Half Excuses

by Denise Grover Swank

  “But did the prostitutes and tax collectors deserve Jesus’s attention and love? If anyone should die, it should be me, Mother, so I can follow Jesus’s example.”

  I shook my head, although it took more energy than I’d expected. “No. Jonah, don’t do it,” I said, but my words came out slurred.

  Rhonda turned to me with a glare and whacked the side of my head with the butt of her gun. “Keep your heathen mouth shut!”

  White light burst into my vision, but I clung to consciousness, even though my stomach rebelled.

  Jonah cried out. “Mother! No!” He stood and crept toward her, his eyes wide. “There’s another way.”

  She held the gun to my temple, and I fought a sob rising in my throat.

  Jonah held up his hands. “Wait! Wait.” He was close to hyperventilating. His gaze turned to the doorway, and Rhonda’s followed, even though she was still holding the gun to my head.

  Mason stood there, a shotgun in his hand, his face deadly calm. “Put the gun down. I can assure you that I won’t hesitate to use this.”

  She sneered, “I know who you are. You’re the assistant DA. You won’t shoot me.”

  A murderous gleam filled his eyes. “Don’t be so sure about that. I beat a man into an irreversible coma. Shooting you wouldn’t begin to faze me.”

  Her hand shook, jabbing the tip of the gun into the place where she’d hit me. Bolts of pain shot through my head. I started crying harder.

  Jonah reached out his hand. “Momma, just hand me the gun, and everything will be okay. Please.”

  For the first time, she faltered in her conviction, tears filling her voice. “I just want what’s best for you, Jonas.”

  Mason still stood in the doorway, his gaze turning to me for a moment. When he saw the blood dripping down the side of my face, his eyes hardened.

  Jonah moved closer. “I know you do, Momma. You always have. That’s why we’re here. You realized I was about to get in trouble in Homer, so you suggested we move here.”

  Rhonda nodded. “Yes! It needed to be done, Jonas. I needed to keep you pure. But I didn’t want people to blame you for killing those women. But women in this town are so much looser.” Her voice hardened again. “Like this one here, throwin’ herself at you.”

  Mason turned the shotgun toward Jonah. “How much do you love your son?”

  Rhonda gasped.

  I tried to shake my head, but pain sent spots into my vision. “Mason. Stop!’

  “I assure you, if you kill her, I will kill your son.”

  Jonah lifted his hands in resignation. He would truly die to help save me.

  The gun dug into my head. “You wouldn’t,” Rhonda challenged, but she didn’t sound so certain.

  “Are you willing to risk his life to find out?”

  I couldn’t sit here and let Jonah get killed or Mason ruin his career again, especially over me. I also knew Rhonda was too crazy for there to be any hope of reasoning with her.

  The effects of the stun gun continued to fade. My body no longer felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. If I could create a distraction, I could keep the two of them from getting hurt. The problem was I needed to move quickly, and I wasn’t sure how well my muscles would cooperate.

  “You poisoned the women in Homer, but what about the women here?” Jonah asked, his voice cracking. “How did you kill them?”

  She laughed. “It was so easy. I used my taser on them. The first one died of a heart attack, but the others had to be smothered as they laid there incapacitated.”

  “What about the windows?” Mason asked. “Why were their windows closed and their air conditioning turned off?”

  She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I wanted them to see how hot hell was going to be when they got there.” She turned back to me. “I have special plans for you.”

  “I changed my mind,” I said. “I don’t want someone as evil as you to pray with me.”

  Anger filler her eyes, and her open hand connected with my cheek. But as she hit me, she lowered the gun. Then next thing I knew, Mason dropped his shotgun and both men lunged for her, all three of them falling to the ground and wrestling. A gunshot filled the room, and everyone stopped moving.

  “Mason!” I cried.

  I heard a moan, and Jonah rolled to the side, holding his arm. Blood seeped through his sleeve, and he looked like he was about to pass out.

  Mason still lay on the floor with Rhonda. My breath caught in my chest as I waited for him to move. Finally, he pushed up off the floor with one hand and groaned, holding her gun with the other. “I’m getting too old for this nonsense.”

  Rhonda rolled from her stomach to her back, her face a mask of hate as she stared at me.

  “Mason, thank God… I thought…” I started crying harder. Sirens sounded in the distance.

  Mason knelt in front of me, fear in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded and winced.

  “We have to stop meeting like this,” he teased, but his hands began to shake as he untied me.

  Ernie and another officer rushed through the doorway, then headed straight for Jonah.

  “Not him,” Mason barked, pointing to the floor. “Her!”

  They pulled Rhonda to her feet as Mason turned back to me. “I’m taking you to the hospital. Do you want to go in the ambulance or my car?”

  “Your car.” I didn’t want to go, but I knew there was no point arguing with him. Besides, it looked like Jonah needed the ambulance more than I did.

  Mason took my hand, paused when he noticed the ring on my left finger, and then put an arm around my back so he could help me outside. “What did she do to you, Rose?”

  I forced myself to walk without falling on my face. “I think she tased me in my house because I felt a jolt of electricity before I passed out and woke up in the back of car. The second time she tased me was in Jonah’s kitchen.”

  “And the side of your head?”

  I shrugged. It seemed obvious enough.

  We rode the short distance to the hospital in silence, mostly because I kept trying to fall asleep, but Mason always woke me up, asking me some stupid questions. When we got to the hospital, he didn’t even find a parking space. He pulled right up to the emergency room’s sliding doors. He opened the passenger-side door for me, and I looked up at him in annoyance. “You’re not supposed to park here.”

  “This is one of the few perks of my thankless job. Don’t tell me you’re going to begrudge me that.”

  When we got through the door, Mr. No Nonsense was back. “I need someone to look at her immediately. She keeps trying to go to sleep, and I’m not sure if it’s the effects of the stun gun or her head wound.”

  Someone brought a wheelchair and made me sit in it while they took me behind the double doors. Mason stayed in the waiting room, and I protested all the way back. When they tried to lift me up on to the gurney, I refused to cooperate. “I want Mason back here with me.”

  The nurse’s eyebrows lifted in confusion. “You mean Mr. Deveraux? I’m sure he’ll be back to question you later.”

  “No, I want Mason Deveraux. My friend. Just tell him. If you don’t, I’m gonna get up and leave right now.”

  The nurse shook her head and looked at the aide who was helping her. “Go see if Mr. Deveraux wants to come back.”

  Mason came through the door moments later with a look of disapproval that turned to relief when he saw me. “You’re nothing but trouble, Rose Gardner.”

  I tried to laugh, but it hurt my head. “You know you like me this way.”

  His smile fell. “Usually, but you scared the shit out of me tonight.”

  “I had the shit scared out of me too.”

  The nurse watched our exchange in annoyance, and then her eyes widened as they landed on my hand. “I didn’t know you were engaged, Mr. Deveraux.”

  Mason glanced at the ring on my hand again. “Rose isn’t my fianc�e. We’re just friends.”

  She looked relieved as she picke
d up my chart. “Well, that’s good to know for the rest of us single girls out there.”

  “You’re still the second most eligible bachelor in Fenton County,” I teased, but my heart wasn’t in it. Mason’s reaction to my ring bothered me.

  “Second to Brody McIntosh, of course.” But the teasing was gone from his voice too. Mason sat in the chair by my bed. “I suppose congratulations are in order.”

  I self-consciously grabbed the ring, and then I looked into his face. “I didn’t really say yes.”

  “But you’re wearing his ring,” he said, grabbing my hand.

  I leaned my head back on the bed, so exhausted I was sure I could sleep for twenty years like Rip Van Winkle. “It just all happened so fast. We were at his parents’ house, and they—”

  “You were at Joe’s parents’ house tonight?”

  “They insisted I come to dinner. Once I got there, I immediately understood why.” I opened my eyes and sighed. “They announced that Joe is running for the state senate seat. You were right.”

  “I’m sorry.” His hand tightened around mine. “Joe didn’t warn you?”

  “He says he didn’t know. He found out when I did. When his father made the announcement to all their dinner guests.”

  “You didn’t mention going to see them when I talked to you this afternoon.” He sat back in his chair, looking defeated. “Although it’s pretty presumptuous to assume you would.”

  “Mason, I would have told you, especially after our talk on Sunday. But Joe called at around five and said his mother wanted me to come. When I showed up, they had about twenty of their oldest and closest friends there. Including his ex-girlfriend.”

  “Ouch.” He paused. “After the day you had, why didn’t you say no?”

  “Because Joe really wanted me there. And I wanted to get it over with. When his father announced he was running, Joe really was completely caught off guard.”

  Mason remained silent, still staring at the ring on the finger of the hand he was holding.

  “Joe’s family hates me. You were right about that too.”

  He glanced back at me, sadness in his eyes. “I take no pleasure in being right about that, you know.”

  “I know.” I sighed. “They tried to make me look like a fool at dinner, but when I thought about what you told me—that no one can make me feel bad unless I let them—I realized I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “Good. Because you don’t.”

  “Where do they come off being so hateful and judgmental? Your mother has money, and she doesn’t hate me.”

  “No, I can assure you she doesn’t.”

  “I’ll never be good enough for Joe’s family.”

  Mason didn’t answer.

  “I don’t think I want to be a senator’s wife,” I whispered.

  “Did you tell Joe?”

  “It’s partially my fault his father forced him into this.”

  Mason shifted in his seat. “How do you figure that?”

  “Part of this is the favor Joe’s father expects him to repay. I was one of the scrapes he got Joe out of. If he hadn’t used his father’s political clout to get me out of jail, he wouldn’t be stuck now.”

  “He’s not stuck, Rose. And he had plenty more scrapes than you and Savannah. If Joe doesn’t want to run for the senate, then he needs to grow a pair of balls and tell his father no.”

  “Mason!” I sat up, pain shooting through my head.

  His expression softened, and he started to pull his hand away from mine. “Maybe I should go.”

  “No, don’t leave me.” I squeezed his hand. I hadn’t noticed we were still holding hands. But I did now, and I was surprised at how comforting the gesture was. But then again, he’d just saved my life. That had to count for something.

  “I’ll stay with you as long as you let me.”

  I was pretty sure he meant something else. It wasn’t fair to ask him to stay when I knew how he felt, but I couldn’t bring myself to send him home either.

  We were silent for a few moments, and I stared at our joined hands. I could always count on Mason to be there when I needed him. Especially if I was in trouble. “How’d you know where to find me?”

  He leaned forward, resting his arm on the bed. “You told me your vision was coming true. You said it happened in Jonah’s kitchen. So once I got to your house and you were gone, I knew where to find you.”

  “What made you bring a shotgun?”

  “I’m a Fenton County boy now,” he teased. “All us good ol’ boys carry shotguns.”

  I shook my head, then winced from the pain. “No, really.”

  A fierceness filled his voice. “Because if someone hurt you, they were gonna have hell to pay.”

  I turned to my side and looked into his eyes, asking softly, “Would you really have shot Jonah?”

  Mason’s eyes hardened, and his jaw tightened. “I guess we’ll never know.”

  An orderly came in and took me to x-ray for a CAT scan. I wondered if Mason would still be there when I got back, and he was. He was sitting in the same chair, his chin on his chest as he dozed.

  He roused when the aide helped me onto the bed. “Everything go okay?”

  “It was fine. They said they’d tell me the results soon.” He settled back into the chair, obviously tired. “Mason, you don’t have to stay with me. Go home and go to bed.”

  “Someone has to make sure you get home okay,” he teased.

  The door opened and Joe walked in, looking irritated. “Yeah, that someone is me.”

  My heart leapt with either fear or joy, I wasn’t certain. Maybe both.

  Mason gripped the arms of his seat, clearly holding back what he wanted to say.

  Joe turned to me, concern on his face. “What happened?”

  I waved my hand. “Oh, you know. The usual. Kidnapping, attempted murder.” But inwardly I cringed, waiting for Joe to blow up.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Really. Just bruised and banged up.”

  He moved away from me, his face twisting with anger. “How did this happen. Again? Why can’t you leave these things alone?”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer that.

  Mason stood. “I don’t like how you’re talking to her.”

  Joe turned around. “What are you still doing here? When did it become the job of the prosecuting attorney to hold a vigil with a victim?”

  “Joe,” I warned.

  “She doesn’t think about the consequences of what she’s doing, and you damn well know I’m right.”

  Mason stood his ground. “Are you suggesting that she brings this on herself?”

  Joe ran his hand through his hair, looking even more frustrated. “I’m saying she’s going to get herself killed if she doesn’t stop and think about her own safety.”

  Mason’s chest rose and fell as he fought to control his fury. “Perhaps if you were actually here to witness what goes on in her life, you’d see that she did nothing to bring any of this upon herself.”

  Joe’s back stiffened. “You’ve made damn sure you’re close at hand, haven’t you, Deveraux?”

  Mason moved next to the bed. “I’m not doing this to Rose tonight. She’s been through too much trauma.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “You know how to find me if you need me.”

  I smiled up at him, despite Joe’s glare. “Thanks, Mason.”

  Joe’s face tightened, turning his attention to the wall and not looking at either of us. “Thank you.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you for saving her.”

  Mason stopped in the open doorway, his back rigid. “I’ll always be there for Rose when she needs me.”

  When Mason left the room, Joe sat on the bed next to me, picking up my hand. All the fight rushed out of his body, leaving a profound sadness in its wake. “You’re still wearing my ring.”

  “Yeah.”

  He looked like he was about to cry. “What happened tonight?”

  I wanted to ask which p
art. So much had happened, and there was so much he didn’t know about.

  “Detective Taylor said Jonah’s mother kidnapped you and threatened to kill you.”

  “That sounds about right.”

  “I told you that Jonah Pruitt was trouble.”

  “Jonah Pruitt is the furthest thing from trouble I’ve met in ages. He’s just as much a victim as those poor women are.”

  “You collect them don’t you?” He sounded disappointed, but somehow I knew it wasn’t directed at me. “You can’t help yourself.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The outcasts. Bruce Wayne. Jonah Pruitt…”

  I sat up. “If you add Neely Kate to that list, I’m liable to hurt you.” Something about him had changed over the last week, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. “When did you get back to Henryetta?”

  “Just a few minutes ago.”

  I looked up at the clock. “But it’s almost two in the morning. Have you been with your parents this entire time?”

  He avoided my gaze. “Yes.”

  And then I knew.

  “You’re running for the senate aren’t you?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “What about us?” I asked.

  He picked up my hand and kissed my palm, then looked into my eyes with a ferocity that reminded me of Joe McAlister, not Joe Simmons. “What about us? I still want to marry you, Rose. Nothing’s changed there.”

  “I’d make a terrible politician’s wife, Joe. What if I have a vision at an important event? What if people ask me about my education?”

  “Not everyone is like my parents.”

  I started to cry.

  He lifted his hand to my cheek and carefully wiped my tears. “Don’t cry, Rose. Nothing’s going to change the way I feel about you. I don’t care what anyone says.” But something was missing from his words. This wasn’t my Joe.

  I stared into his eyes, afraid of my sudden decision. “I want to have a vision.” I might not see anything useful, but I was hoping I’d see us happy, so I’d know things were going to work out.

  He looked surprised. “Of me?”

  I nodded.

  “But you hate doing that.”

  “I tried one on purpose today, and now I want to try it with you.”