Slim to None

by A. H. Shelton

  “Oh God, this sounds just like what Mama wrote in her journal,” I say, feeling sick. But I needed to hear the rest, so I nodded, indicating for her to go on.

  “She wouldn’t talk to us, so we started asking her questions about what had happened. When we asked if Nick hurt her, she became inconsolable, sobbing, tearing at her clothes…she was a wreck. We tried to get her to go to the police, to let them do a rape kit, but she refused, saying between sobs that she’d come home and immediately showered, scrubbing herself until she bled. She wouldn’t go to the police, because Nick had told her that he’d have the nurse whom he was paying, to murder her parents in their sleep. This girl was utterly petrified. She’s still here in California, but she moved away from Irvine so she wouldn’t ever run into Nick again. Last I heard from her, he was still paying for nursing care for her parents…unless she turns him in to the police, that is,” she says.

  “Desperate as she was for her parents to have the healthcare that she couldn’t afford to provide, she didn’t refuse his offer – but she never came anywhere near him again,” Katie says sadly.

  “This is awful,” I say loudly, furious with this monster who calls himself my dad. “Something needs to be done! Do ya’ll have any way to contact Natalia? Maybe I can convince her to go to the police – or at the very least, share her story with the public…keeping her identity concealed, of course. This man – a man that I don’t even know anymore – needs to pay for everything he’s done to destroy women’s lives!”

  I am beyond livid over all of the information that has been thrust into my lap. I hadn’t in my wildest dreams thought I’d get any dirt on him beyond a few Sexual Harassment claims that could be used against him in court. But this – this opens up a whole new can of worms.

  I can only pray that I can convince Natalia not to let him get by with what he did to her, and what he allowed to happen to Mama. This man is a destroyer of lives, and he needs to be stopped. No other woman should have to cry herself to sleep over the actions of Nick Kane…and God as my witness, I’m gonna do everything in my power to see to it that he’s held accountable for all of his actions

  Chapter Forty-One

  Kassidy

  I don’t know how they manage it, but somehow Michelle and Katie talk Natalie into meeting me. This still doesn’t ensure that she’s going to press charges, or even let her story be taken to the press, but it’s a promising start.

  When I get the knock upon the door, I quickly open it to find the ladies, along with a beautiful dark-haired woman who looks to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She looks so frightened; it breaks my heart. As soon as I usher them into the room, I impulsively hug Natalia.

  “I’m so happy to meet you, Natalia…I’m Kassidy. I’m guessing the ladies told you all about me,” I say, trying to sound as soothing as I can. I don’t want anything about my demeanor to spook this little filly into high-tailing it back to the barn.

  Nodding, she still seems too shy to speak, so I motion for her as well as the ladies to have a seat, and offer them a water.

  “I suppose you’re wondering why I’d want to ruin the reputation and business of the man who gave me life,” I say, getting straight to the point. No need in mincing words at this juncture. Natalia gives a shrug and a nod, indicating that she’s questioned my motives.

  “If the ladies have shared my story with you, you’ll know two things – one, I personally am the victim of rape, and two, so was my mama. The difference is, Nick Kane put my mama into the position that caused her to get raped in the first place…and then made her too ashamed to do anything about it, or even talk about it to anyone for that matter,” I tell her, not being able to disguise the anger and disgust in my voice.

  Finally, Natalia decides to speak. “How did he do that?” she asks, a look of disbelief on her face. Understandable, because I don’t think that anybody would be able to process this sort of thing. It takes being aware that there is such evil in this world – and most of us are in denial when it comes to that.

  “First, by making her change jobs so that he could continue his affairs undetected. I also have my suspicions that he spoke to his old friend Marty and asked him to hire my mama as a favor to him. Mama didn’t have any office experience – she’d been working as a salesperson since she’d graduated from high school. Seeing as he and my daddy had been buddies all throughout school, I’m sure that Daddy knew what this man was capable of and what kind of sick ideas he had towards women,” I say, pausing to let all of this sink in.

  “Then there’s the part where she went to my daddy – her husband, who was supposed to be her protector, and told him what was going on with Marty. Not only did he not believe her – he made fun of her, and made her go right back to work, essentially placing her right into the hands of her attacker.

  Just like you, she was ambushed as she was leaving his office. She was raped right there on the couch, with everyone outside, yet was too afraid to make a sound. And just because she worked for this man, he thought she was his property, and that he had the right to do this to her.”

  Natalia is having flashbacks of the day she was attacked by my daddy, it’s a clear as day by the traumatized look upon her face. It breaks my heart to have to dredge these memories back up for her, but she needs to stand up to this monster, once and for all.

  “Please don’t get me wrong – I’m not trying to exploit you to settle a score…the score that needs to be settled is yours as well – not to mention all of the women that he’s touched inappropriately over the years. It all counts,” I say with conviction. “We just cannot let him get away with this any longer.”

  Shaking her head sadly, Natalia speaks, her voice trembling.

  “But I’m afraid,” she says, sounding very much like a little girl, bringing tears to all of our eyes. “What if he makes good on his promise to hurt my parents?” she says, her eyes wild with fear. “The nurse will kill them in their sleep.”

  “I’ve already taken care of that,” I assured her. “I’ll call the agency and have them assign another nurse to her care – one that doesn’t even know Nick Kane. Besides, he’s gonna be too worried about his own ass to even think of calling in a hit on anybody – trust me, I know the selfish pig too well.”

  “I cannot tell the police what happened – or the press. I cannot shame my family in this way…” she begins. I quickly cut her off to calm her fears.

  “The Victims Rights Act declares that law enforcement cannot include the victim’s name in any proceedings without the sole consent of the victim…in other words, if you tell them that you want to remain anonymous, even during trial, they have to respect that. Therefore, the press will never know your identity. If you give any interviews, which you don’t have to, you can request for your identity to be hidden from the cameras, and even change the sound of your voice. The point is, you have rights, and no one – not even Nick Kane, can take those from you.”

  I stop to let this sink in properly…not wanting to overwhelm the poor girl. This is a lot to take in, and I’m well aware of that – it was the same with me when I read Mama’s journal.

  “I just don’t know,” Natalia says weakly. “Can you give me some time? I just need to think about all of this.”

  “Of course! I’m not trying to pressure you at all – I’m just giving you an open door to fight this man, if you choose to do so. I’ll be here for a few more days. Please, keep in touch,” I say, hugging this sweet young girl, who didn’t ask for any of this any more than Mama or I did. I just pray that she lets me fight for her the same way I’m fighting for Mama.

  Days go by – one, then two – and I’m getting the sinking feeling that whatever small flame of injustice that I saw in Natalia’s eyes in that brief instance before she left the other day, has burned out completely…then, the phone rings.

  “We did it!” Katie says triumphantly. “We got her to agree! She’s ready to talk to the DA and tell them her story…and she wants it to go out to the p
ress. She says she’s so afraid that he’ll do this to some other poor unsuspecting girl,” she says.

  “She has a little sister who lives with their brother back in Delhi, and we asked her how she would feel if it happened to her – that’s what sealed the deal,” she says, speaking so quickly that I can barely keep up. But I hear enough to know one thing…Nick Kane is going down.

  The next week goes by in a flurry of activity. The girls and I are involved in every step of Natalia’s approaching the DA, seeking to press charges against daddy for Sexual Battery and Rape. Although there is no longer any DNA evidence, Katie checks the security footage and finds that daddy was too arrogant or too stupid to delete files…as a matter of fact, he sick bastard has a copy of the rape footage saved to his desktop, titled “Spicy Treat.” This information sickens me, as well as the other ladies.

  Natalia’s story, as well as news of the DA’s office seeking indictment, has been leaked to the press, via yours truly, and I decide to show up at my father’s door the very hour that all of this is scheduled to take place.

  When I ring the bell, Daddy opens the door, pizza slice in hand, and appears shocked to see me.

  “Kassidy? What on earth are you doing here?” he asks, his jaw slack. “Is everything alright?”

  Walking into his massive foyer, I take a sweeping look around his incredibly ridiculous mansion…looking like something that Hugh Hefner would live in, instead of a fake ass wannabe from podunk Clayton, North Carolina.

  “Where’s your TV?” I ask, a smug smile upon my face. “There’s something you’ve just gotta see.”

  Ushering me into his den, filled with plush furniture and gawdy-looking pillows, he turns on the giant set. Taking the remote from his hand, I quickly tune in to the local news, the story is just beginning to be revealed. I turn the volume up, to make sure we don’t miss a single word. Just then, Shelley walks in, a baffled look upon her face.

  “Kassidy?” she starts, before I shush her, turning up the volume a little more.

  As the news anchor begins, I watch Daddy’s face intently, not wanting to miss his reaction.

  “And in local news tonight, a man is being indicted for Sexual Battery and for Rape. The victim, who chooses to remain anonymous, states that while employed at Kane Labs, in downtown Irving, manufacturers of the diet product, Sexy Slim Max, she was sexually assaulted by this man – Nicholas Dale Kane…”

  Daddy drops his pizza, a look of shock and confusion on his face, followed by fear. Shelley’s face holds the same look as Daddy’s, only hers has undertones of anger.

  Flash from their faces to Daddy’s photo on the screen…I only wish I had this on video…it is priceless!

  “Nick? What’s the meaning of all this…” Shelley begins, turning on him. He stammers, trying to find a plausible excuse for all of this. Suddenly he turns to face me.

  “You! You did this!” he screeches…never have I ever heard Daddy’s voice sound like this. It would be rather comical, if it wasn’t such a sad situation…and by sad, I mean for Natalia, and for the others involved.

  “A gift,” I say smugly. “From Mama and me.”

  Just as he’s about to grab me and presumably do bodily harm to his only daughter, the doorbell rings.

  “I’d get that if I were you,” I say with a gleam in my eye. “I expect that’d be important,” I tell him. Shelley runs to open the door, and right on time, the Irvine Police Department comes rushing in.

  “Nicholas Kane, you have the right to remain silent…” is all I hear, as I walk out the door and down the street to a coffee shop where I can sit and watch the rest of the events unfold on their big screen TV, as news crews have already arrived on scene. Live, from scumbag Nick Kane’s home…

  I immediately call Natalia, Katie and Michelle, who are all gathered at Natalia’s apartment, awaiting news. They are jubilant, with Natalia thanking me profusely. I tell her that it’s me that should be thanking her, for helping me put Mama’s bully where he belongs.

  I then call Melanie, who whoops and hollers as she watches with me, both of us feeling pretty dang satisfied at seeing the fruits of all our hard labor being played out.

  I remember that day as I lay in the hospital, when Vernon was scolding Lukas about wanting to get his hands a’hold of Buck.

  “Now Lukas, we don’t take to no vigilante justice…”

  Well, in this case, vigilante justice is exactly what was necessary. I cannot believe how pleased I am that Daddy figured out that I was the catalyst in all of this…saves me from visiting him in prison just to tell him how it all went down. I love how sometimes things just fall neatly into place…

  Now I just need to get home and see if I can get the broken pieces of my life to somehow fall into place – and to find out what in the world has gotten into Lukas Crawford, once and for all.

  While I’m thinking about Lukas, I hit his number on speed dial.

  “Hey, it’s me. Are you and Sam near the TV? Yeah, turn on the news…”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Lukas

  When Kassidy calls, I jump up and turn on the TV, and there’s Nick Kane’s face, plastered all over the six o’clock news. The fact that Kassidy did what she set out to do, doesn’t shock me that much, although I still don’t know the reasons for her trip to Cali, nor her motives in all of this. I reckon when she gets back, she’ll fill the missing pieces for me and Sam.

  But just hearing her voice makes me smile. Even though it’s only been a couple of weeks, it feels like an eternity since she last hugged me and said goodbye. Whatever made her get riled up at her daddy, I know he had it comin’, but I’ll just be glad to get her back safe and sound.

  “That girl,” Sam says, grinnin’ like a possum, “she is a firecracker. Remind me not to piss her off,” he laughs heartily. “Better remind yourself, too.”

  “Oh, I’ve seen her mad, but nothin’ like this. Wonder what ol’ Nick did to feel the wrath of Kassidy Kane anyhow?” I say, scratching my chin. “Must’ve been pretty bad, that’s for sure.”

  “You said a mouthful,” Sam nods. “But knowin’ that piece of crap, there ain’t no tellin’. One thing is for sure, Kassidy didn’t take after him, nary one bit.”

  I nod in agreement, and thank the Lord above. She’s one of a kind, my Kassidy…now I’ve just gotta man up and truly make her mine.

  Upon opening the door and see Kassidy standing there, I know in my heart that today will be the day when I confess my feelings for her. Corny as it might sound, but I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at a beautiful future, and I’m not about to risk losing her again.

  Overcome with joy, I pick her up and spin her around. “Kassidy Kane, girl I have missed you!” I tell her, as she laughs and squeals with delight at my unexpected gesture.

  “Wow, what a welcome,” she giggles happily. “I’ve missed you too. I’ve got so much to tell you – but you’ve already seen the end results. Where’s Sam?”

  Obviously, a romantic confession will have to wait, but that’s okay. I’ve waited this long, and the happiness that I’m hoping will follow will be well worth it. I’m still working on the assumption that Kassidy feels the same way, and God help me, I hope that I’m not wrong.

  We go inside and find Sam, sit down at the kitchen table, while Kassidy begins to tell us of her plan that she carried out while in California, and the reasoning behind it. She talks about her mama’s journal, and the heartbreaking revelations she discovered inside.

  “I swore I’d take Mama’s heartbreak to the grave, but now I see how important it is to share what she went through, to help others.”

  “If that sonofabitch Marty wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself,” Sam says, his jaw clenched. “But he died back in two-thousand one, of rectal cancer…prolly his guilt eating him alive, rather than the cancer,” he says grimly.

  “Well, I don’t think that Mama’s gonna be seeing him where she is,” Kassidy says with a shrug. “The important thing is tha
t Mama’s story is what made Natalia decide to turn Daddy in and finally make him accountable for what he did to her – even if Marty never was for what he did to Mama,” she says sadly.

  “I can’t say that I think very highly of your daddy, not after what you and Sam told me about him treatin your sweet, humble mama the way that he did,” shaking my head.

  After a long pause, I tell her, “Not that he’s any better than the one I had.”

  “You’ve never talked about your daddy,” Kassidy says, eyeing me curiously.

  “Not much to tell,” I say with a shrug. “Just some low-life drifter who fed my mama stories about how beautiful life could be - and then dropped her off at her mama’s house six months later, pregnant with me.”

  I get kinda quiet before telling the rest, cause it hurts me to the bone to do it.

  “We stayed with Memaw, and Mama got on at Henderson’s. She worked her fingers to the bone in that mill,” I say. “Worked until the brown lung took her out. She told me when I was twelve that she imagined that she was still choking on my daddy’s exhaust fumes as he drove away as fast as he could...then she laughed and said she ought not say such bitter things to a youngun - and for me to just ignore the rantings of a woman who’s not well. But you wanna know somethin? Seein what a hard life my mama had, I made a vow to myself even at that age, that I would never treat a woman wrong.”

  “Well, you’ve certainly kept that promise,” Kassidy says. “I’ve never known a kinder, more gentle man than you. All the ladies, young and old, just gush over what a sweetheart you are!” she says with a laugh.

  “Thank you kindly, ma’am,” Lukas says with his boyish grin. “I guess I was just raised right.”

  “You’re makin’ your mama proud,” she says, covering my hand in hers. Tears spring to my eyes, and I have to will them not to fall.

  “Well, I am extremely proud of you, Kassidy, standing up for others the way that you did. This calls for celebration!” Sam says heartily. “Lemme fix you my famous homemade spaghetti for supper,” he says proudly.