Breath of Scandal (8 page)

Timidly she opened the door and checked the lounge. The nurse was alone, sitting on a sofa watching a TV talk show. When she saw Jade, she stood up. "Would you like something? A Coke? Coffee?"

"No, thanks. "

"They called from the desk. The sheriff's deputy is here to talk to you."

"I'm ready."

The booties whispered along the floor. The deputy was chewing the fat with the janitor and Dr. Harvey when she and the nurse approached the emergency-room desk. The law officer pushed his hat back on his head, assumed an authoritative stance, and regarded her suspiciously.

"Miss Sperry?" "That's right."

"Please, sit down over here.

Gingerly, Jade sat on the edge of a lavender vinyl divan. He dropped into a chair facing her. Dr. Harvey remained standing at the end of the couch. The deputy, who wasn't any older than the doctor, took a small spiral notebook from the breast pocket of his uniform jacket.

"Dr. Harvey here says you claim you were raped tonight. "

She divided her incredulous gaze between them. "Why does everybody keep saying I 'claimed' this or I 'said' that? I was raped. Do you think I'm lying?"

"Hold on. Nobody's accused you of lying. I'm just trying to find out what happened. Calm down, okay?"

Jade composed herself. It wasn't easy. She had to call upon all her reserves of self-discipline to keep from scnmm-

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ing. The janitor and the nurses were once again huddled together at the desk nearby. Jade didn't think she was being paranoid in assuming that they were whispering about her.

would glance in Every once in a while one or all of them   resume their furher direction, then quickly look away and

tive conversation.

"What's your full name?" the deputy asked.

His image began to blur. She realized that her eyes were filling with tears. "I was raped," she stressed. "My rapists are running around free while I'm here being humiliated and insulted." She drew a ragged breath. "I've already given the doctor my full name, address, birthday, and so forth. Wouldn't you rather know what happened to me tonight and who committed the crime?"

"All in good time," he replied, unfazed by her tearful appeal. "I'm using standard police procedure in response to this complaint. If the case comes to trial, you don't want the perps to get off on a technicality, do you, little lady?"

"Why don't you just answer his questions, Miss Sperry?" the doctor suggested, speaking softly and courteously. "In the long run, it'll go faster. Can I get you something to drink?"

"No,  thank you.

"I can give you a sedative if you want one." Vigorously, she shook her head. Returning her attention to the deputy, she supplied unemotional responses to his routine questions,

"Now, about tonight," he said after clearing his throat, "you told Dr. Harvey that three men attacked and forcibly raped you."

"That's right." "Were they armed?" "No."

"No? They didn't hold you at gunpoint or anything like that?"

"They overpowered me and held me down on the ground.

-Hmm. Did they all achieve penetration.

"That's in my report, Deputy," Dr. Harvey said helpfully.

"I'm doing the questioning, Doc, thanks. Answer the question, Miss Sperry."

"Yes," Jade said. "They all . . . penetrated and and completed the act."

"Were you sodomized?"

"No, she wasn't." The doctor answered for her again when Jade appeared too stunned by the question to speak. "Were you forced to have oral sex?"

She shook her head as she slowly bowed it. "No." I,Where did this alleged attack take place?"

Alleged? The word annoyed her, but she responded to his question. "Near a channel off the coastal highway. I don't believe the turnoff has a name. It's only a dirt track. I could lead you straight to it. Unless they took them, you could find articles of my clothing there."

"Can you provide the department with a description of the alleged assailants."

"I can do better than that, Deputy. I can name them." "You know their names?"

"Oh yes."

I 'Well, hey, that's a real break for us. Shoot." His pencil was eagerly poised over the spiral notebook.

"Lamar Griffith."

The pencil lead scratched noisily against the paper. Then, cocking his head to one side in puzzlement, the deputy read the name he'd just written down. He looked up at Jade.

"Myrajane Griffith's kid?"

"Lamar Griffith," Jade repeated firmly. "Neal Patchett. " The blood drained out of the deputy's face. Nervously, he wet his lips. "And Hutch Jolly. "

For several moments he stared at her. Then, leaning forward, placing his nose inches from hers, he whispered, "You're shittin' me, right?"

She snatched the notebook and pencil from his hands and printed the three names on the ruled paper. Jabbing the bold message with the tip of the pencil, she cried, "Those are

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the names of the men who raped me. it's your duty to see that they're arrested and locked up in jail."

He swallowed visibly and glanced at the doctor, as though seeking help. "Miss, uh, uh-"

"Sperry, " she shouted.

"Miss Sperry, you can't mean what you're saying." "I mean every word of it."

"You got things mixed up."

"Neal, Hutch, and Lamar abducted me from my girl friend's car, took me to that remote spot, and all three of them raped me. After that, they left me there - " She jumped to her feet. "Why are you just sitting there looking stupid? Find out about Donna Dee! Go after those boys! Put them in handcuffs! Take them to jail!"

"Miss Sperry." The doctor took her arm. He guided her back down to the sofa and signaled for the nurse. "Maybe you'd better bring her a Valium."

"I won't take it," Jade snapped, shaking off his arm. To the deputy she said, "If you're incapable of apprehending three criminals, call somebody who can."

" Shit, lady. You just named my boss's kid as a rapist." "That's right. Hutch went second. He was the roughest. And the biggest. He nearly smothered me." She didn't realize she was clenching her hands so tightly, until they began to hurt. She glanced down at them and saw four halfmoons gouged into her abraded palms.

"You'd better call the sheriff," the doctor told the deputy.

"Christ almighty," he said as he reluctantly stood up. He dragged his hand down his youthful, pudgy face. "I ain't looking forward to this, a'tall. The shit's going to hit the fan when I tell Sheriff Jolly that his and Ivan Patchett's boy have been accused of rape."

6LIAV,

An hour later, Jade sat alone in the interrogation room. It smelled of stale tobacco smoke and anxious sweat. The deputy had driven her straight from the hospital to the court-

house and deposited her in the cubicle as though washing his hands of the whole nasty affair.

Jade was certain that before it was over with, things were going to get nastier. The legal ramifications were overwhelming, but they were diminished by the personal affronts she would have to endure. How would she tell Gary?

She couldn't think about that now or she would go crazy. She had to deal with the here and now-Donna Dee, for instance. Jade was concerned for her safety. It was conceivable that after the boys left her, they had gone back and done the same thing to Donna Dee. Perhaps that had been Neal's plan-to separate them and render them virtually helpless. Donna Dee could be severely hurt, lying unconscious somewhere along the highway. Even dead.

Her anxious thoughts were interrupted when Sheriff Fritz Jolly entered the room. Instead of his uniform, he was wearing blue jeans and a flannel pajama top beneath a camouflage hunting vest. Obviously he had been roused from his bed. Rust-colored whiskers sprouted from his chin and cheeks.

"Evenin', Jade." "Hello, Sheriff Jolly."

She frequently sold him chewing tobacco at the store. They were always friendly with each other. Now, he lowered his large, imposing frame into the chair across from hers and folded his hands on the scarred table between them. "I understand you got into some trouble tonight."

"I didn't get into trouble, Sheriff Jolly." "Tell me about it."

"Can I wait until my mother gets here?" She didn't want to have to tell her story more than once. "The doctor at the hospital promised to call her and tell her to meet me here." The deputy hadn't given Jade time to place the call herself.

" Velta's already in the squad room, chomping at the bit," he said. "But I'd like to hear what you've got to say before we bring her in."

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"Why was I put in this interrogation room?" " 'Cause it's convenient and private."

She gazed at him mistrustfully. "I didn't do anything wrong. "

"No one said you did. What happened?"

He won their staring contest. Jade glanced down at her tightly clasped hands and took a deep breath. "Neal, Lamar, and Hutch came up on Donna Dee and me where we had run out of gas. They took me away in Neal's car against my will. They drove to a place where they had been drinking beer and fishing earlier this afternoon and they . . . " She raised her head and met his eyes. "They took turns raping me."

He stared at her for several long moments but said nothing.

Jade added, "I'm afraid Donna Dee might have been hurt, too. I I

"The deputy told me you had asked about her. I called her house. She's at home. Unharmed."

She took a deep breath of relief. "Thank heaven."

His voice was low and confidence-inspiring when he spoke again. "That's a real serious charge to be making against those boys, Jade."

"Rape is a serious crime."

"It's hard for me to believe they would do something like that."

"It was hard for me to believe, too. This time yesterday, I would never have thought it possible. "

"Well then," he said, "why don't you tell me what really happened?"

CHAPTER Four

Neal's room was still dark when his father flung open the door and stormed in. Ivan moved straight to the bed, whipped back the covers, and brought his hand down hard on Neal's bare buttocks.

"You little shit!"

Neal rolled to the other side of the bed and leaped up. Father and son confronted each other across the rumpled bed. Neal was naked. Ivan was wearing boxer shorts and an old-fashioned white tank T-shirt. His iron-gray hair was standing on end at various points around his head. Even so, he didn't cut a comic figure. His scowl was fearsome.

"What the fuck got into you?" Neal demanded, settling his hands on his narrow hips. He looked tousled, drowsy, and sullen. His fine, hard body was a product of genetics rather than conditioning. It performed well in sports arenas, but Neal didn't exert it unless it was absolutely necessary. He took his lean, strong physique as his due.

"I just got a telephone call from Fritz," Ivan told him. "So? It's the middle of the night. I'm going back to bed. "

"Like hell you are."

Neal's head was halfway back to his pillow when Ivan caught him by the hair and pulled him up. He gave him a swift kick in the rear. Neal careened into the nearest wall. He spun around, fists raised, ready to do combat.

"Did you rape a girl last night?"

Neal immediately lowered his fists. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

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,,I'm talking about Jade Sperry, who's down at the courthouse accusing you of rape, that's what I'm talking about." Ivan pointed a stem index finger at the center of Neal's chest. "You'd better tell me the truth, boy." Ivan's roar would have awakened the dead.

Neal's eyes darted around the dim bedroom, lighting briefly on several items before finally coming to rest on Ivan's thunderous countenance. "If she claims it was rape, she's telling a goddamn lie."

"So you do know what I'm talking about, you lying little son of a bitch - "

-I'm not lying!" Neal shouted. "Hutch, Lamar, and me picked her up and took her fishing with us. We drank some beer. Had some laughs. She got friendly-I mean real friendly, Daddy. She asked for it, and she got it."

Ivan glared at him, his shrewd eyes reflecting the breaking dawn light like shards of glass. "Bullshit. That Sperry girl ain't white trash. She's stuck like glue to that Parker boy. What would she want with you three stooges?"

Neal cursed beneath his breath and plowed a hand through his mussed hair. "I tell you, Daddy, she's been asking for it. She makes out like she's hot for Parker and nobody else, but every chance she gets, she wags her tail in my face. Then, when her boyfriend comes around, she goes back to being snooty and treating me like a pile of dogshit she's stepped in.

-You think I'm going to take that kind of crap from a girl? Hell no! Last night I decided to give her a taste of what a real man is like. If she wants to call it rape, that's her problem."

"The hell it is!" Ivan had listened to Neal's explanation with surprising patience. Now he ground his teeth. "It's not just her problem. She's made it the sheriff s problem. And now it's my problem."

Neal idly scratched his crotch. "What are you going to do?"

"Not a goddamn thing."

"Huh?" Neal's stance lost some of its swagger.

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"I'm doing nothing until you level with me and tell me what happened. Did you force that girl?"

Neal's shoulders rose in a tense shrug. "Things got a little rough. " Quickly he added, "But I know she wanted it. "What about Hutch and Lamar?"

is I 'They wanted a piece, too." He grinned. "I'm not selfh. "

Ivan almost backhanded him for his insolence, then decided not to expend the energy and lowered his raised hand. "Hutch, I can see. But I can't imagine that titmouse of Myrajane's forcing himself between a girl's legs."

"Lamar needed some egging on, but he did all right." There ws a knock at the door. They turned to see their housekeeper, Eula, standing on the threshold. "Will y'all be wanting your momin' coffee now, Mr. Patchett?"

"No!" Ivan barked. "I'll tell you when I want my coffee. "

"Yessir. Just askin'."

She withdrew. Ivan stared at the empty doorway for a moment, then said to Neal, "Why didn't y'all go to nigger town and pick a gal who would keep her trap shut? Why'd you have to poke that Sperry girl?"

"She had it coming, that's why." "Christ, what a mess."

Neal, seeming unconcerned, moved to the bed and stepped into the jeans he'd slung over the footboard the night before. "What're you going to do, Daddy?"

"I don't know yet. Let me think." Ivan paced the length of the bed. "They could lock you away for quite a spell on a rape conviction, you know. "

"Why, that's crap," Neal stammered. "That's bullshit. They can't send a guy to prison for screwing a girl who damn well needed to be screwed."

Ivan said, "I know that and you know that. We just gotta make certain everybody else feels the way we do." "Well, I'm not going to jail, that's for damn sure. In jail

the niggers fuck white boys in the ass. You've got to do something, Daddy."

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"Shut up and let me think!" Ivan shouted. Then suddenly he slapped Neal hard across the face. "You little bastard. You perfectly ruined my day."

Jade rested her head on her folded anns on the table in the interrogation room. The backs of her eyelids were hot and gritty. She had been kept at the courthouse all night. She had been allowed to go to the restroom only once, and then a deputy had escorted her there and back. It was as though she were under arrest, while, to her knowledge, nothing had been done to apprehend her attackers.

She had told Sheriff Jolly her story twice, keeping her descriptions precise. During the second telling, she hadn't altered a single word from the first. Her remarkable memory had always served her well in school. Tonight, she had used it to give an accurate account of the gang rape. No matter how embarrassing the details, she hadn't glossed over them.

Without being abusive, the sheriff had tried to confound her. "Jade, Hutch was at home when I left a while ago." "I don't know where he is now. I only know where he

was and what he was doing about seven o'clock this evening. "

"That's when you say it happened?"

"That is when it happened. Hutch wasn't at home then, was he?"

"He came in around nine and said he'd been out with Neal and Lamar."

"He had been. They raped me."

Fritz had dragged a large hand down his ruddy face, stretching the loose skin. "How do you account for the time between seven o'clock, when the alleged rape took place, and the time you arrived at the hospital, which was . . . " He consulted the deputy's spiral notebook. "You got to the hospital at eleven -thirty-four."

"For a long time after they left me, I lay there. Then I crawled to the highway. When the car came up behind

-

me-

"I thought you said it was a pickup."

"I did. It was a pickup. But at first I imagined it was Neal's car. I panicked and tried to hide in the ditch. The black man coaxed me out of the ditch and into his truck. He drove me to the hospital."

"He didn't give you his name?" "No.-

"And you can't describe him?"

"It was dark. All I know is that he had on a hat and overalls. "

"That could be any man in the South. Wonder why, if he treated you so kindly, he didn't come into the hospital with you? Why'd he just vanish into thin air?"

"If you were a black man from around here and you were bringing a white girl, who had obviously been raped, to the emergency room, would you have stuck around, Sheriff Jolly?"

He had the grace to look chagrined. Then he said, "Some white women would rather die than be raped by a black man. "

Jade came out of her chair, circled it, and gripped the top rung as she squared off with him across the table. "You think I got picked up by a black man, was raped by him, and want to make your son and his two friends the scapegoats? Is that your theory?"

"I have to cover all the angles, Jade. Especially when my own son is being accused of a felony."

"Well, rather than badgering me, why aren't you asking Hutch the questions?"

"I intend to."

Shortly after that conversation, he had allowed her mother to join her. Velta was always well groomed, so it was a shock to Jade to see her looking harried and disheveled. She rushed into the interrogation room, almost knocking aside Sheriff Jolly in her haste.