Wear Something Red

by K.G. Lawrence

  Chapter 41

  This was going to be one long day of confrontations starting with Shana.

  “Why can’t I go to work?”

  “I’ll explain later.”

  “Explain now.”

  “Shana, I will explain later.”

  “You’re afraid of him.”

  “Afraid of whom?”

  “Craig. You’re afraid of how you feel about him.”

  “I don’t feel one way or another about him.”

  “You’re lying to me again. Why bother? Dad’s dead; there’s no one to cheat on anymore.”

  “That’s enough. You’re not going to the Harding farm again until I say you can.”

  Shana dropped onto a chair at the dining room table. “I stole a wallet.”

  “What? When? Where?”

  “At the mall, and I got caught, too. But that wasn’t a problem. Your deputy flexed her muscles and got me out of trouble. It’s who you know, right? And I’m the Sheriff’s daughter. What could be better than that?”

  “We’re not doing this right now. We’ll talk when I return.”

  “That will just be another waste of time.” Shana sneered up at her. “I may be a klepto, but you’re a natural born liar.”

  “Stay here. I mean it.”

  She left Shana sitting at the table with her arms crossed and a look of righteous hatred on her face that only a teenager could display. At least some of that was deserved.

  She drove to Mattie’s place in Fleetwood Grove. The Mercedes was in the drive. The front door wasn’t locked. She entered after Mattie didn’t respond to the either the bell or her knocks on the door. She walked through the whole main floor.

  “Mattie?”

  Something thumped upstairs.

  She reached for her Beretta, but didn’t take it out. A trail of clothing and two blood-stained towels led her up the stairs to Mattie’s bedroom. Mattie was in bed but not asleep.

  “Mattie, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “Just a long day showing homes yesterday. I’m exhausted.”

  She sat on the bed. “Mattie, that’s why I came to see you; I know you’re not selling houses. I checked with your office. My house is the only one you’ve sold in over a year.”

  “Being sheriff doesn’t give you the right to be a busybody.”

  “It does if I’m worried about the kind of trouble my friend might be getting herself into.”

  “I’m not in any trouble.”

  She edged closer to Mattie. “I called you here and on your cell phone. You never got back to me. What were you doing last night? Where did the blood on those towels come from?”

  “I don’t need a chaperone.” Mattie winced when she tried to sit up and had to put her right arm out from under the covers for support. It was covered in bruises.

  She took out her phone. “You’re going to the hospital.”

  “I just slipped coming up the stairs last night.”

  “Mattie, I know what kind of bruises those are and they’re not from a fall. They’re from someone holding you too tight.”

  “Aren’t you the Sherlock Holmes?”

  “I know what you’re doing, Mattie.”

  “And what would that be, Sheriff?”

  “You’re selling yourself for sex. That’s your new internet-based business.”

  “No, I’m selling sex for myself. And why shouldn’t I? I’ve been doing it since I was thirteen. I’m just making more money at it now.”

  “Thirteen? What are you talking about?”

  “My four-b stepfather gave me a special present when I turned thirteen, when I became a woman. He delivered it personally to my bedroom after the party was over.”

  “Mattie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “There’s so bloody much you don’t know it’s a bad joke. But it doesn’t matter now. I got everything I wanted out of him, and I learned what I needed to make more than I ever could just selling fucking houses to clueless idiots. There are hundreds of big, burly, bald bastards out there who will pay lots of money for what I can do. I earn more in a year than you will in ten.”

  “It’s not about the money.” She tried to inspect the bruises, but Mattie put her arm back under the blankets.

  “Don’t be stupid, sweetie. Of course it is. This is fucking America. The land of the free doesn’t exist. Everything is for sale here: guns, bombs and especially people. What I do doesn’t hurt anyone unless it’s called for, and it’s nobody’s business but my own.”

  “If it’s against the law, it’s my business.”

  “Don’t give me that sanctimonious bullshit. I at least get paid for fucking around, and I’m not leaving behind some poor schmuck in a coma to do it.”

  Mattie let the blankets fall away from her naked upper body. Both arms were bruised the same way. Her breasts were bruised from being mauled. Both nipples had scabs over them. She’d been choked. Her upper lip was cut.

  “My god, Mattie what happened to you?”

  Mattie looked down at herself. “Just having a little fun with the boys, sweetie.”

  “How could you . . . ?”

  “And another thing you should know, Joanie, dear, is your father was okay with what I did. He was so okay with what I could do for him that he couldn’t get enough of me; a girl the same age as his daughter but with all those skills and tricks I’d learned. After step-dad left with the big-C, I had to find a new source. Your daddy was all too willing to step up and provide everything I wanted. What do you think of that?”

  Her face flushed. She raised her hand to slap Mattie.

  “Go ahead. That’s what I’m here for. If the price is right, you can do anything you want to me.” She coughed, took a drink of water. “At first, he wanted to share me with your mom, but she’d have none of that, too prissy and moral for that kind of adventure. Then he just wanted everyone else out of the way so he could have me all to himself. You and mom just had to go.”

  The room wavered. She gasped for air. Her chest ached, her heart slowed as if it was going to stop.

  “He was my sugar daddy until he lost it that night after your mother gave him her ultimatum. Did you know he called me just before he set the house on fire? And there must be a bit of him in you because we know all about your affair.” Mattie leaned forward and gave her a look more fiercely hateful than Shana had flashed at her. “You can really pick ‘em, can’t you, sweetie? Your husband gets himself killed while you’re fucking your new partner. Then your partner gets himself killed under your command. And now your new boyfriend is harboring terrorists on his farm.”

  She was still having trouble breathing. It took a moment before she realized Mattie had reversed the sequence about Travis and Michael. And what had she just said about Craig? “What are you telling me?”

  Mattie slid back down and covered everything but her head. “Nothing. Forget it.”

  “You can’t tell me my father killed my mother and tried to kill me because he loved you and then say nothing else.”

  “I didn’t say he loved me, sweetie, he just had to have me and all I could do for him more than he had to have you.”

  “You were my best friend.”

  “No, Stephanie was, but you thought it was better to hang out with the one who had all the expensive toys, all the best stuff you could show off in this dingy town, only you didn’t know your daddy was getting most of it for me.”

  Tears stung her eyes. She wiped them away and took out her handcuffs. “I’m taking you in for prostitution.”

  “Don’t waste your time. I’d be out before you finished the paperwork. Besides, you might need those things for Zemar. He commands terrorist cells spread out all over America. He gave the order to ambush you at the Crowley farm. And Harding and Vance smuggled them into the US. Now Harding has your daughter working for him. Like I said, sweetie, you really can pick ‘em.”

  “Who told you this?”

  “All kinds of people tell me all kinds of things. Go c
heck him out, see what you find.” Mattie pulled the covers aside. “You know, sweetie, I’ve always had a soft spot for you.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  She shrugged. “Going either way is more lucrative.”

  If Mattie was telling the truth, she now knew why her father had killed her mother and tried to kill her. She had also selfishly neglected the friend who eventually saved her life to be with the rich one who was a sugar doll for her father. And Harding might have smuggled the terrorists who were responsible for the ambush at the Crowley farm into the country. She had developed suspicions, but not along those lines.

  Mattie pulled the covers back up. “If you’re not going to give me what I need, get out of my house. Go see if your new boyfriend will let you join his commune of terrorists. Maybe he’ll give you a crack at Zemar, let you be the hero again and get back in with the FBI. You’re useless in Dominion.”

  She got up and called Kelly. “Get over to Mattie Griffin’s house. Make sure she gets to the hospital and stay with her.”

  “On my way, ma’am. What’s the problem?”

  “She’s under arrest for prostitution.” She took a deep breath that only made her dizzier. “I know what you did for Shana.”

  “Oh.”

  She took hold of Mattie’s left wrist and attached one bracelet from her handcuffs to it. She attached the other bracelet to the thick maple bedpost.

  “Ooh, I like that. Change your mind, sweetie? I don’t usually give out free samples, but you do have a great ass and we do have a special history between us.” Mattie offered her other wrist.

  She wiped her stinging eyes. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Mattie, but you’re under arrest for prostitution.”

  “Bitch.” She turned away and pulled the covers up to her chin.

  Outside the house, Joan waited for her breathing to return closer to normal before calling the Nite-Lite pub. Someone other than Kate or Susan answered. “Where’s Kate?”

  “She’s not here at the moment,” the man said.

  “Susan, then.”

  “She’s not here either. Can I take a message?”

  “This is Sheriff McGowan. Who is this?”

  “It’s Derek, Sheriff.”

  “Where are they? I’m supposed to see her at ten.”

  “I’m not sure where they went, but they left about five minutes ago with Mayor Jones.”

  “They went with Leo?” She didn’t think her voice could get that high anymore.

  “They did, yes.”

  First Shana’s confession, then Mattie’s revelations, now Kate and Susan going somewhere together with Leo Jones, and she still had to get through Harry and Craig. She called Shana, but Shana didn’t answer. She tried two more times before leaving a message to call her back immediately.

  She called Harry. “Get to the office as quick as you can.”

  “I’m already there. I just talked to Kelly on her way out. You obviously figured out what Mattie’s been doing.”

  “I found out how long she’s been doing it and what got her started.” She started trembling. “Do you know what she told me?”

  “I always suspected, but I could never prove anything. What can I do to help?”

  “What would make Kate and Susan go anywhere with Leo?”

  “The only thing I can think of is a gun.”