Broken Pieces

by Carla Cassidy

  “You want company?”

  “No, I’m a big girl. I know you wanted to get started on that wallpaper in the dining room and I won’t be too long. I know Kelsey is spending the night with Katie. I could drop her off there on my way out.”

  “Okay,” Mariah agreed. Although she and Janice were as close as sisters, Mariah knew Janice enjoyed her time alone. They had been together for nearly every minute of the week and a half Janice had been in Plains Point and it was no wonder Janice might feel the need for some time alone.

  At seven thirty Mariah stood on the front porch and waved as Janice and Kelsey drove away. “It’s just you and me, Tiny,” she said to the little dog who clumped around at her feet.

  She bent down and scooped him up in her arms. She’d grown ridiculously attached to the dog. She scratched him behind his ears, then laughed as he closed his eyes in pleasure, his mouth appearing to smile at her.

  “You’re a mess,” she exclaimed as she put him back on the floor. “Come on, let’s go see if I can manage to put up that wallpaper border without destroying the entire dining room.”

  She’d barely gotten started when there was a knock on the front door. A peek outside let her know it was Hannah. She opened the door and greeted her neighbor, who carried in one hand a tray of chocolate cupcakes. “I come bearing gifts.” She held the tray out to Mariah.

  “What’s all this?” Mariah asked.

  “I baked them this afternoon and didn’t realize the recipe I had was already doubled. I doubled it and wound up with enough cupcakes to fatten up the entire population of Plains Point. I knew you had a friend here, so I thought you all might enjoy some.”

  “That’s so nice,” Mariah said. “Come on into the kitchen. I’ll put on a pot of coffee and we’ll sample your wares.”

  “I can’t stay but for just a minute,” Hannah said as she followed Mariah. “Finn is meeting some of the guys in town for a few beers. I promised him I’d be home quickly. Wow,” she exclaimed as she entered the kitchen. “This room looks awesome. You’ve really been busy.”

  An unexpected burst of pride roared through Mariah as she set the cupcakes on the table. The kitchen did look awesome, but more importantly it looked warm, like a place where laughter occurred and people were welcome. It looked like a home, the home that Mariah had longed for when she’d been growing up.

  “I can’t imagine doing all this work and making everything so nice, then putting it up for sale so somebody else can live in it,” Hannah said. “That’s kind of like healing a man’s wounds so he can fall in love with somebody else.”

  Mariah laughed. “But that’s the plan,” she replied, surprised to feel just the faintest stir of bittersweet regret. She was turning this place into the house of her dreams and it felt somehow wrong to just walk away from it.

  “Well, I’d better get back home. It’s time to get the kids in bed and if I leave Finn in charge, he’ll have them so wound up they’ll never get to sleep.”

  Mariah smiled. “He’s a good daddy.”

  Hannah beamed. “The best, but he’ll be a bear if he is late for his beer with the boys.” She rolled her eyes as the two walked back to the front door.

  “Thanks, Hannah, for the cupcakes. It was really nice of you to think of us.”

  “That’s what we do in small towns. Don’t you remember? We take care of each other. Have a good night,” she said as she stepped out into the evening shadows.

  Mariah watched from the porch as she got into her car and drove down the lane toward the house next door. Thoughts of Finn filled her head. Of course he was a good daddy. He’d had plenty of practice raising his two little sisters.

  Funny, as close as she and Finn had been, it had never crossed their minds to be a couple. Their relationship had always been that of friends and confidants. Never once had he given her an indication that he wanted anything different from her, nor had she wanted anything different from him.

  She smiled as she returned to the kitchen. Maybe it was because Finn had been the first boy to see her puke after they’d tried to smoke a cigar. He’d been one of the few people who had seen her cry and she’d guess that she was probably the only person on earth who had seen him cry. Or maybe it was because from the time he’d been thirteen, he’d had a crush on Hot Pants Hannah. It was nice that they’d ended up together. It was always nice when the good guy won.

  She poured herself a glass of milk and grabbed one of the cupcakes, then sat at the table. She expected Janice back soon and had a feeling this last night with her would involve a lot of talk and too many cupcakes.

  The park in the town square was dark, but Janice wasn’t afraid of the deep shadows of the night in this small town. In Chicago she wouldn’t be foolish enough to enter any of the parks at night, but Plains Point was a different animal altogether.

  She walked to the gazebo and entered. As she leaned against one of the wooden sides, she remembered that this was where Mariah and Clay Matheson had professed undying love for each other. Of course few seventeen-year-olds really understood the true meaning of love. How many other young lovers had stood here over the years? Janice tried to imagine what it would have been like to be raised in a town like Plains Point.

  Janice was born and raised on the dangerous west side of Chicago. Her mother had been an alcoholic and her father an over-the-road truck driver who was mostly absent from her life. Being small for her age had made her vulnerable, but it also made her street smart. At an early age she knew the only way out for her was education.

  She’d studied hard, graduated from high school early, earned a full ride to college and had chosen the nursing profession. She’d left the west side behind, but had never considered leaving the Windy City.

  She’d been a nurse for a year when she began doing charity work, making the rounds of shelters to check for children and women in need of medical attention, and she’d never forget the night she met Mariah.

  Despite being eight months pregnant, Mariah had been beautiful and scared to death. Initially she’d insisted that she was eighteen years old, that her parents were dead and she’d been kicked out of her boyfriend’s house.

  She’d been slightly belligerent with a tough-guy exterior belied by the abject terror that shone from her eyes. Janice would never know what forces pushed her to take Mariah on as a personal project, to invite the pregnant teenager into her home, into her life, but it had been the best thing she’d ever done.

  Mariah and Kelsey had become the family Janice never had, and Janice had needed somebody to love, somebody to worry and care about.

  Now, taking a deep breath of the clean-scented night air, she stepped out of the gazebo and instead walked to a nearby bench and sat down.

  She was losing them.

  The minute she’d walked into the house and had seen all the work that Mariah was doing, she’d sensed that a change was about to occur. Mariah was nesting as she’d never done in her high-rise Chicago apartment.

  There was a part of Janice that was happy for her friend, that finally Mariah was making peace with a part of her past that had been so tragic. In renovating the house, she was healing the inner child who had longed for parents who were loving and kind.

  But there was also a little piece of Janice that mourned the potential loss of Mariah and Kelsey in her life, that feared that once the house was ready to be put on the market, Mariah would change her mind and see her future here.

  And Janice wouldn’t blame her. She leaned her head back and stared up at the stars. She never saw stars in Chicago. And the silence was amazing. She closed her eyes and listened. Okay, it wasn’t completely silent, but she wasn’t accustomed to the sounds the night held in Plains Point.

  Instead of blaring horns and sirens, there was the click and whir of insects. Instead of police whistles and the squeal of brakes, a dog barked in the distance and a light wind rustled the leaves of a nearby tree.

  Life would be slower here, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. She
told herself her melancholy was silly, that if Mariah and Kelsey decided to stay here, Chicago was only an hour and a half plane ride away and another forty minutes in a car. Just a little over two hours. There was no reason why they couldn’t visit each other often.

  She frowned, her eyes still closed, as she realized the night had truly become silent. It was a silence as if everything held its breath, a heavy potent quiet that shot uneasiness through her.

  Time to head back to Mariah’s. If it grew any later, Mariah might worry. Janice opened her eyes and prepared to rise.

  A gasp escaped her as something dark and slick was yanked over her head and she was slammed backward, up and over the top of the bench.

  She hit the ground on her back, the air whooshing out of her lungs as a heavy weight fell on top of her. When she caught her breath, her hands automatically rose in an attempt to rip off whatever covered her face, whatever pressed against her mouth and nose, threatening to suffocate her.

  “Don’t make a sound or I’ll kill you.” The guttural voice of a man iced her to the bone.

  He moved against her and his erection stabbed her in the thigh. She gulped in a breath, drawing the plastic into her mouth and gagging. Terror like she’d never known twisted her bowels and stole any strength she might possess. She was about to be raped. God help her, she was about to be attacked just like Mariah had been.

  As suddenly as the weight of him had fallen on top of her, it disappeared. She remained unmoving for a second, afraid to hope that he’d just gone away.

  Once again she raised her hands to get rid of the covering over her head. The kick connected with her ribs with such vicious power her hands fell and tiny spots of light flickered in front of her eyes.

  A second kick followed the first and it was as if a beast had been unleashed. Fists pummeled her face and all she could do was writhe and curl up in a ball in an attempt to protect herself.

  “I broke you,” he hissed in her ear. “And now a piece of you belongs to me.” He kicked her once again and the tiny lights inside her head exploded and she knew nothing more.

  Chapter 22

  The Tavern was one of the most popular drinking establishments in Plains Point. It certainly wasn’t the atmosphere that made it a favorite watering hole. It had no atmosphere other than the smell of cheap beer, the noise of clacking pool balls and a jukebox that hadn’t been updated since the 1970s.

  Location, location, location, that’s the only thing that kept the Tavern in business. Located on the town square, it was the easiest place to get to if you wanted to get your nose in the sauce, and it was the place Clay and his friends gathered for their weekly beer-drinking night.

  “I’m heading out,” Clay said to Henry, the bartender. He scooted back from the table. Finn and Roger and Charlie had left almost half an hour ago. Joel Clarkson had sat with them for a little while, but even he had called it a night.

  Clay didn’t want to be here anymore, but he was also reluctant to go home to another night of sleeping on the sofa.

  He’d always known that Sherri was the jealous type, but who would have thought she’d be so nuts about a girl he hadn’t seen for sixteen years? A girl he barely remembered on his best days.

  As he thought of the charged silence that would greet him at his place, he sat down once again. “Ah, what the hell, bring me one more,” he said to Henry.

  Henry had just delivered the draft beer to the table when Sam Kincaid crashed open the door. “Sheriff! We need you in the park. I think there’s a dead woman there.”

  Clay jumped up, spilling his beer as he raced for the door. His heartbeat ripped through him as he looked across the street where a small crowd of people had begun to gather near the gazebo.

  “What happened?” he asked Sam.

  “Some kid saw a man beating the hell out of somebody on the ground. He hollered and the man ran away.” Sam hurried to keep up with Clay.

  “Do me a favor—call the office and have Hazel call in all my deputies,” Clay exclaimed.

  “Hey, she’s alive!” a voice cried out.

  “Somebody call for an ambulance!”

  “Everybody get back. Get back!” Clay yelled. Jesus, the crime scene would be compromised for sure. His blood turned cold as he saw the figure behind the bench. With the head covered by a garbage bag, it was impossible to know who it was, but Clay’s mind quickly assessed other details.

  It was obviously female and if he was to guess, it was somebody young. She was so small, so dainty, and she looked so broken.

  At that moment her chest rose with a discernible breath and Clay fell to his knees beside her. As gently as possible he ripped the garbage bag to free her face and nearly gagged.

  “Oh my God,” somebody cried.

  Her face looked like chewed-up meat. Blood oozed from her nose, which was obviously broken. Her eyes were swollen and already turning black and her bloody mouth was twice the size of what it had once been.

  “Get back. Goddammit, everyone get the hell back,” Clay shouted as he took her poor, pitiful hand in his. The sound of an approaching siren filled the air.

  He knew who she was, that friend of Mariah’s from Chicago. Why would anyone want to hurt her? Jesus, why would anyone want to beat the hell out of her?

  Within minutes two of Clay’s deputies had arrived and had moved the ever-growing crowd back from the scene. An ambulance arrived and Janice Solomon was loaded onto the gurney and carried away to the hospital, where Clay wouldn’t bet she’d survive the night.

  Sam pointed out the young man who had seen what had happened and had raised the initial alarm. Clay found him leaning against a tree, having just puked up his latest meal.

  Clay knew most of the young people in Plains Point and recognized the slightly green-around-the-gills kid as Jess Cooper.

  “You okay, boy?” he asked. A sheen of sweat lay on the young man’s brow. Jess nodded and drew a breath as if to pull himself together. “Want to tell me what happened?” Clay asked.

  Jess leaned back against the tree again, his legs still wobbly. “I was supposed to meet a few of my friends at the café and I was cutting through the park to get there when I saw a man beating somebody on the ground. Man, he was beating the hell out of her. He started to pick her up and I yelled. He dropped her and ran.”

  “Which way did he run?” Clay asked.

  Jess pointed to the left, toward an alley between the post office and a dry-cleaning business. Clay knew whomever Jess had seen was long gone by now. “What did he look like, Jess?”

  “Like a big, dark shadow.” The young man swallowed hard, the bob of his Adam’s apple visible in the faint illumination from a nearby streetlight. A sob suddenly escaped his lips. “You think she’s gonna die?”

  “I don’t know, son. You didn’t recognize the man?”

  Jess shook his head feverishly from side to side. “I think I was in shock or something, but no. I can’t tell you anything about what he looked like.”

  “Not even how he was dressed?” Clay asked.

  Jess shrugged. “Sorry, it was just so dark.”

  “All right, stay here and I’ll have somebody take an official statement from you.” Within minutes Clay had delegated a variety of tasks to his men.

  Two deputies were combing the area around the gazebo for evidence, one had taken Jess to the sheriff’s office to get a written report from the traumatized young man, and Clay was on his way to the hospital to see if he was beginning an investigation into an assault or into a murder.

  Chapter 23

  Mariah didn’t start worrying until it was nine o’clock. Most of the stores in Plains Point closed by eight thirty, and only the café, some fast-food joints and a few bars remained open later. So what was taking Janice so long?

  Mariah couldn’t imagine her friend going into any of the bars, nor could she see her stopping in for a late evening snack by herself.

  “She’s a grown woman,” Mariah said to Tiny, who was in her lap. He raised his
head and looked at Mariah with loving eyes. “There’s no reason to worry about a grown woman.”

  Tiny lowered his head and snuggled back down. He certainly wasn’t worried about Janice’s absence. And you shouldn’t be either, Mariah told herself.

  But by nine thirty she was pacing in front of the window, watching the drive that led up to the house for familiar headlights.

  When her phone rang, she raced to answer it, fully expecting the caller to be Janice apologizing for getting held up. Instead it was Jack.

  “I was getting ready to call it a night and realized the whole day had passed and we hadn’t talked to each other,” he said.

  Despite her worry, she smiled and sank down on the sofa. “We’ve had a busy day. I’m thinking Janice will be glad to go home tomorrow, since I’ve been working her to death around here.”

  Jack laughed. “She’s a neat lady.”

  “Yes, she is, but at the moment I’m a bit worried about her. She took off in my car earlier to go into town and when she left, I had the impression she’d be home soon. But here it is after nine thirty and she still isn’t back.”

  “You sound like a worried mother,” he teased. “Maybe she met somebody or decided to get a cup of coffee at the café.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. I’m just being silly,” she replied. But by the time she hung up with Jack, her worry hadn’t decreased but rather had increased.

  By ten thirty her mind began to play all kinds of scenarios and before she could make herself completely crazy, she called Jack back. “I’m sorry to bother you, but Janice isn’t home yet and I’m worried sick. I’ve been calling her cell phone, but it’s going right to voice mail. Would you mind coming to get me and taking me back into town to see if we can find her? I know I’m probably overreacting, but I just have a bad feeling.”

  “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Jack promised.

  True to his word, precisely fifteen minutes later he pulled up in her driveway. She met him at the car and jumped into his passenger seat. “I feel bad about getting you out, but I didn’t know who else to call.”