by ANDREA SMITH
I growled at him tossing him an eye roll. “Yes, I’ve got everything.”
“You two gonna take turns driving, right? Can I see your license, Gina?”
“Oh, are you serious?” I asked, giving him a playful push on one shoulder. “We will be fine, I promise.”
He looked choked up and it was gutting me to be honest. “Come here, you,” he growled, wrapping his strong arms around me. “You call me every night, you hear? I wanna know where you’re at and that you’re safe. Call collect if you want, Sunny. Just please, don’t let me worry, got it?”
He gave my ponytail a tug, and my eyes immediately brimmed up with tears. All I could do was nod my agreement.
“Oh now look what you’ve done, Jamie,” Gina chastised, her hands on her hips. “Now she’s gonna bawl like a baby the whole way out of California.”
That brought a smile to my face as I quickly wiped a tear away. “Shut up, Gina,” I warned playfully. “This is tough for me.”
“I know it is, girlfriend.”
Mel took the few steps to wrap her arms around me, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I love you like you’re my own sister, Sunny. I’m going to miss the hell out of you, you know that right?”
I nodded again, thinking that Gina just may have nailed the whole crying like a baby thing just now. “I’ll call you too, Mel. I love you right back.”
I gave each of them another hug and then piled into the car where Gina was already buckled in, anxious to start our cross-country journey.
I backed up, tapping the horn a few times as I drove down the drive, checking them in the rearview mirror until I turned the corner and couldn’t see them anymore.
Several minutes passed before Gina spoke.
“Hey, you okay?”
“I’m gonna miss them like crazy, Gina. They saved me, you know?”
“Yeah. I get it. But now it’s time to save yourself, Sunny. And we’re going to do it together.”
“So, fill me in on what you have?” I asked, pulling onto I-8 East towards El Centro.
“Well, after months and months of you not taking my calls or answering my letters I had enough. I was barely speaking to my mother and that in itself was driving her fucking nuts. She knew things had changed between us after you left. I guess she thought I’d get over it. Kept buying me shit, letting me stay out as late as I wanted, but in the end, the semi-silent treatment did her in.”
I turned to glance over at her. “Are you serious? My mother would have loved it if I never opened my mouth once Avery came into her life.”
“Yeah,” she said in agreement, “Avery changed a whole lot of people in town it seems. Anyway, here’s what I know. Apparently Mom was screwing around on Dad—one of the reasons she wanted to stay silent, I mean what the hell? It’s not like I didn’t already find out she’s been screwing around on Eddie with Avery, you know? But, I guess she thought I’d really think she was a slut or some such shit, so whatever. She talked your mother into going with her to some New Year’s Eve party at this private club near the capitol.”
“That’s what my dad told me—well, he didn’t know exactly where it was, he just said it was out of town,” I finished.
“Yeah, I don’t know exactly where it was either, Mom didn’t remember the name of the place, but I think we can find out. You see, while there, your mother got sexually assaulted. My mother finally talked her into filing a report with the police. Hopefully, we can go there and get the blanks filled in from that. You know, find the owner of the club, get started with him.”
“Oh Gina,” I said, “that’s like looking for a needle in a haystack! Who’s to say the police report hasn’t been pitched out by now?”
“Hold up,” she interrupted. “I did some checking and those are permanent records. It’s there. And I promise, we’re going to find it.”
“Well Dad never mentioned any police report. Wonder why?” I asked, furrowing a brow.
“Maybe he was never told that part,” Gina scoffed. “My mother is a piece of work. I hope you won’t hate her forever.”
“Oh, Gina,” I sighed. “They made their share of mistakes I guess. It’s funny, when you’re growing up it just seems like they do everything right, doesn’t it?”
“Hell yeah, because they’re always yelling at us. It’s all a smokescreen chicky.”
“No doubt.”
“So, are you going to fill me in about the reconciliation that occurred with your dad? That blew my mind!”
And for the next hour, I filled Gina in on everything. She did the same for me. When I asked her about the twins, I was surprised to find out they no longer spoke with one another.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I was damn sick and tired at how damn judgmental they were about you. So, about a month ago, I was well…stoned, and I told them off. I even spilled it about their mom and Avery.”
“Oh shit, Gina! You didn’t!”
She nodded, “Oh, but I did. And you know what? I’m not sorry about it. At some point people in Layton need to pull their heads out of their respective asses and get a grip.”
“Can’t argue with that I guess. Still, I don’t want to go back there, Gina. Although, I’m down with checking out the police report because I’m curious as to whether Mama knew his name or not. The way she’s been spinning tails all over the place, hell, for all I know you and me could be sisters!”
She screeched loudly. “Wouldn’t that be way cool?”
I gave her a dry smile. “I was kidding.”
She scrunched up her pert little nose. “Still and all.”
Chapter 55
This was Julie’s third week with the congregation and Avery was more than impressed by the way she had melded seamlessly into his flock. The members of the youth group adored her, and their parents weren’t far behind in that respect.
Wednesday evening’s services had more in attendance than he’d seen in months. Yes, he was quite taken by Julie’s abilities to draw people in without putting undue pressure upon them. That served to make them life members he hoped.
Julie had reported on the status of their ongoing fundraising activities and they were nearly at a thousand dollars. He was pleased. He looked out at the members of his faithful congregation as he gave the closing prayer and his eyes met Donna’s. She was wearing her usual scowl that seemed to have appeared in lockstep with Julie’s arrival to the community.
She’d just have to get over it. At this point in time, Julie was more of an asset to him than his wife. In fact, he was working on some future projects that would allow them to travel to a conference or two together. He’d cross that argument when the time came.
“So, my brothers and my sisters, please go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” Avery hit the sound system button and the beginning chords of ‘Amazing Grace’ resounded through the small church.
As Donna took his side, they walked out of the church, shaking hands and ushering the people downstairs for the weekly bake sale that Julie was now heading up. She had even went so far as to spending hours last night in their kitchen, baking several batches of her grandmother’s secret recipe for butterscotch brownies with caramel icing drizzled over the top.
As she took her post behind her section of the table, Avery was again impressed as the majority of his flock gathered around to purchase her baked goods.
“Hmmph,” Donna said, taking it all in, “You’d think the people of this town had never tasted a brownie before!”
Avery turned to her, taking a moment to respond. “Perhaps, dear wife, they’ve never sampled a brownie of such perfection. But I’m sure your cupcakes will eventually sell, that is, once the brownies are gone.”
With that he left his wife’s side to buy a sample of his protégée’s tempting baked goods, which seemed to be a smashing success.
Chapter 56
DAY ONE
“Want me to drive for a bit, Sunny?”
“I’m okay for now. You can drive once we
get to Texas.”
“Okay, just say when. Where are we stopping for the night?”
“Las Cruces, New Mexico.”
“Cool.”
Chapter 57
“I’m beat. I’m gonna fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow tonight.”
“You’re actually gonna put your head on one of these pillows, Sunny?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Because chick, this place is a dump. New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, my ass!”
“Oh fuck off, Gina.”
“Which reminds me—still a virgin?”
“Double fuck off.”
Chapter 58
DAY TWO
“Finally,” Gina said, “I get to be behind the wheel of this baby. Let’s see what she can do!”
“Gina,” I warn, “you’re supposed to drive friendly, remember?”
“I am driving friendly, girlfriend.”
“Umm…you’ve flipped off three people and we’ve only been in the car for fifteen minutes.”
She chuckled. “Point taken. Let’s hope that all Texans don’t drive the way they were. How long are we in Texas anyway?”
“According to my AAA trip-tick, about fourteen and a half hours at sixty miles per hour.”
“Oh fuck that!”
“Remember, Gina. We don’t expect to do it all in one day.”
“Where do we stop for the night this time?”
“Abilene”
“On to Abilene then.”
Chapter 59
DAY THREE
“Sweet home Alabama, where the skies are so blue, sweet home Alabama, Lord I’m coming home to you! Here we come, Alabama!” Gina sang the chorus about three times before I finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“You do realize we’re in Louisiana, right?” I asked, glancing over at her as she continued desecrating the Lynyrd Skynyrd tune. No one with a Jersey accent should ever sing that song.
“I know, but Alabama’s the next state, right?”
“Yes. We’ll arrive in Montgomery around nine o’clock tonight. I don’t want to think about it.”
“I know you’re nervous,” she said, patting my arm, “but you also know that it’s the right thing to do.”
“Is it?” I asked. “What purpose does it serve now that my dad—Michael Gardner, I mean, and I have resumed our father-daughter relationship? I mean, shit, it sort’ve feels like a betrayal now.”
“You didn’t tell him did you?”
“No. I told him I was going back to Alabama to go to school with you. That’s all.”
“And he was down with it?”
“Sure. He’s only ever been adamant about me continuing my education since we reconciled.”
Gina was thoughtful for a moment, biting her lip. “You know, if you don’t want to make the stop in Montgomery, we don’t have to. I don’t want to push you into anything you no longer want to do. We could go on to Millersburg.”
I sighed. “I’ve already made our hotel reservations. We might as well stay the night. I’ll see how I feel in the morning and take it from there.”
“Cool with me.”
Chapter 60
Stella Martin had just pulled two pear pies from the oven and set them on the cooling racks when her doorbell rang. The clock on the wall read just past one o’clock. She wiped her hands on her apron and went through the front room to see who’d come calling in the middle of the day. No, in the middle of the week for that matter. She and Kenneth hardly ever had company what with their folks living up in Kentucky.
As soon as she opened the door and saw the well-dressed, extremely attractive blonde woman, she immediately knew who she was. The whole community was talking about the Reverend’s new minister-in-training. Although Stella hadn’t seen her in person, she had been described to her so many times she felt she could pick her out of a lineup.
“Sorry to bother you without calling first, Mrs. Martin, but it’s really important so I wanted to approach you personally. Oh, forgive me, my name is Julie—”
“I know who you are,” Stella halfway snapped. “There’s very little that doesn’t get around in a town like Layton. What is it I can do for you?”
“Just give me a few minutes of your time, please? I want to help you—I want to help this town, but I can’t do it by myself.”
Stella paused for a moment, still not opening the screen door to allow her access to their home. Kenneth was out in the fields and wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours. “If you’re trying to make it your mission to get me and Kenneth to come back and join your congregation, you’re wasting your time and mine.”
“No,” Julie quickly assured her, “it’s not about that at all. It’s about what Avery Dawson did to you—and to others. It needs to stop and that’s the only reason I’m here in Layton. Can you trust me on that?”
Stella was dumbfounded. Not that Avery had done what he’d done to her with others, but that someone actually was reaching out to stop him and his evil ways. Aside from telling Kenneth about what she’d done, and promising him she’d never step foot in that church again, she had tried like hell to put it out of her mind. But it was still there and it festered and their marriage hadn’t been the same since.
“Come in, Ms. Bailey.”
“Please, call me Julie. And know that I’m only here to help you and the others.”
Stella ushered her inside, shut the door and offered her a seat on her new floral sofa. “Tell me what you need to know, Julie.”
Donna Dawson was trying to rearrange the pile of boxes in the basement. She’d finally bought some steel shelving so that she could put some order to her basement once and for all. It had been two years and the cartons of Avery’s personal items remained unpacked. If he hadn’t needed them in two years, the stuff likely should be tossed out in her opinion.
She’d added boxes to the pile when she’d packed up Sunny’s things to make room for Miss High & Mighty Bailey who’d become part of the household, much to Donna’s chagrin.
Oh, she didn’t miss the way that her husband was constantly eyeing the young woman. He hadn’t even wanted relations since she’d arrived, which, in all honesty, Donna couldn’t decide as to whether that was a blessing or not.
She lifted the boxes with Sunny’s items up and onto the rack at the top since she doubted her daughter would be asking for her stuff anytime soon. Once that rack was filled, she went over to where Avery’s stuff was located.
Donna was curious. What exactly had he brought into her home that couldn’t be unpacked? She was about to find out.
She slid her fingernail down along the flap, tearing the tape. Once she had it opened, she started taking out the items one at a time.
A bible.
Another bible.
A framed picture of a church. She wiped the dust off of the glass to get a better look. The white wooden church looked quaint. There was a minister standing at the door, shaking hands with his congregation she supposed. She looked closer and read the sign over the threshold. “First Southern Baptist Church of Tupelo.”
Tupelo?
He’d never mentioned Tupelo before. She shrugged and put it on the stack of the other items she’d unpacked. She reached back in and pulled out something that was wrapped in a black silk cloth. When she peeled back the cloth, her breath caught in her throat.
Thankfully, Donna Dawson was alone in the house. If she hadn’t been, everyone inside would have heard the horrific wail that emanated from her and that seemed to go on forever.
Chapter 61
I was standing on the sidewalk outside of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office with Gina, but the administrative office didn’t open until eight a.m. sharp according to the deputy we spoke to in the lobby.
Gina was puffing on a cigarette as she paced back and forth, and for about the tenth time, she checked her watch.
“Jesus, Gina, why are you so nervous? I’m the one that’s probably opening up Pandora’s box here.”
<
br /> She dropped her cigarette to the sidewalk, and crushed it out with the toe of her shoe. “You know me by now, chick. I thrive on suspense. Come to think of it, I just may write suspense novels one day. It’s like in my blood I think.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “No, what you like is drama. There’s a difference.”
“Small one, maybe,” she conceded. “Well, it’s eight, so come on, let’s do this.”
Once back inside, the deputy directed us to the second floor records section. We walked up to the counter where another badged member of the department was filing something in a cabinet. He looked up at us, and immediately gave us a big smile.
“Gina? That you?”
“Oh my God! Larry?”
“Yep.”
“I thought you worked at the lumber yard?”
Oh that Larry. The one she’d broken up with a couple of years ago because he didn’t get her.
“That was a couple years back. Went to the community college and got my degree in Public Safety.”
I could tell that Larry was proud of his accomplishment.
“Who would’ve ever thought you’d be a cop!” Gina said, laughing loudly.
“Gina,” I said under my breath, giving her a nudge.
“Oh come on, he knows I didn’t mean that in a negative way, right Larry?”
“Sure, Gina. Sure I do. Now, what can I do you for?” Larry asked, obviously a bit prickled by her reaction. Who could blame him? Gina didn’t have a filter.
“Okay so see, what we need here is a copy of a police report that would’ve been filed on January 1, 1962 about a rape that happened at some club.”
“That’s all you’ve got?” he asked, a frown creasing his forehead.
“Well geezy-Pete, are you telling me that was an everyday occurrence back then?”
He sighed, placing his pen on the countertop. “You got a name?”
