Betrayed (Cry of the Guilty – Silence of the Innocent Book 2)

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Betrayed (Cry of the Guilty – Silence of the Innocent Book 2) Page 5

by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey


  Judge Jym blushed deeper. “This is getting a little personal,” he said.

  “That’s good. We have to get personal in order to come to our arrangement.”

  “And what arrangement is this?”

  “Well, you now have a chance to become a powerful person in the community that is going to be established. And your reputation will be recorded for history.”

  She took another sip of her drink.

  “That is something I’ve already thought about,” Judge Jym said.

  “But having a good reputation or even maintaining your position didn’t stop you from visiting Harlot Row on our home planet. So, I doubt that this new chance at making a name for yourself will stop you from seeing prostitutes on this planet.”

  Judge Jym stood. “You’ve made your point,” he said. “I don’t think I care to hear any more.”

  “Yes, you do, because I have come up with a way you can have both.”

  “You have?” There couldn’t have been something he missed. “What is it?”

  “Sit down and I’ll tell you.”

  Judge Jym sat on the edge of his chair.

  “I’m only one of a hundred police officers here on the colony. We haven’t been told our full duties here yet, but I’ll probably be given some mediocre job like keeping them from spitting on the sidewalk or watching them sit under a tree or maybe arresting a couple for fighting. My name, along with the other ninety-nine, may be written on some scroll and hidden away in a drawer somewhere in an archive. Few will even know I was here.”

  She paused, took a deep breath then continued. “But as the wife of the first judge, I’ll be able to do more for the colony. I’ll have more prestige, not only in the community, but in its history.”

  Judge Jym was driven back in his chair as if pushed by an invisible hand. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

  Tame stood and put her empty bottle on the dresser. “You don’t have to answer now. But you should think about it because it would also solve your problem.” She let herself out the door.

  Judge Jym stared at the door. Had he heard right? Had she just proposed to him? He grunted. What made her think he wanted to get married? Didn’t she realize that if he wasn’t married by now it just might be because he didn’t want to be?

  But if he was married….

  He got himself another beer and began to think the idea over seriously. Looked at from his point of view, her proposal did make sense. She would be able to satisfy most of his urges, the ones that one-night stands had taken care of before. But, and this was a big but, could she fulfill all of them even the ones that had forced him to pay extra on Harlot Row?

  * * *

  Mat arrived at the door with five men. Mari, Dore, Iren and Rebe took their regular customers, which left Gwin with the new client. Shela and Conni grinned as they hung her blanket across her bunk.

  Gwin climbed behind the blanket and the man followed. He immediately began kissing and caressing her. Her first reaction was to fight back but then she remembered why she was doing it. She still hadn’t heard from Royd and her time and patience were running out. Eventually Governor Lind would send the spaceships home. She had to be on one of those ships.

  Gwin lay still as the man began to remove her clothes. In spite of the coaching she’d received from Shela, she didn’t respond. There was no way she was going to return his kisses and undress him.

  “What’s the matter with you?” he demanded.

  She didn’t answer, just turned her head to the wall.

  “Hey,” he called. “I paid for some fun, not for a rigid body.”

  “Remember Flight Director Royd,” Shela’s voice floated down to her.

  Gwin looked up at the guy and tried to smile. She raised her hands and undid his shirt.

  “That’s better,” he said, taking it off.

  She rubbed his back as he nuzzled her neck. All the while she tried to convince herself that it was Mikk on top of her.

  Later when Shela and Conni were satisfied with their smokes they passed the pipes to Dore and Rebe and gave each girl enough tobacco to barely fill the bowl half full.

  “Do you want some tobacco, Gwin?” Shela asked.

  “No.” Gwin lay on her bunk trying to deal with her mixed feelings.

  “So how did you enjoy yourself?” Conni smirked.

  Gwin ignored her.

  “Hey, I’m talking to you!”

  “Oh, shut up!” Gwin had just about had enough from Conni. She was angry and dispirited. Angry that she’d been forced into letting some other man make love to her. Dispirited that she would have to do it again. Her only consolation was that she did it for a good reason. With Royd helping her she would definitely get back home. Once there she and Mikk would celebrate and she would tell him the long story of her time in prison, her trip to the colony planet and her escape. One thing she wouldn’t tell him, though, was about this agreement.

  Conni jumped down from her bunk. “Don’t you talk to me like that!”

  “I can talk to you any way I want,” Gwin said sitting up.

  “Come here and say that.”

  Gwin slowly stood. She needed some way to vent the anger that had held her since her arrest. Until now she’d only thought about getting back and proving her innocence and she’d tried to ignore her immediate surroundings. But tonight she had been pushed too far. She glanced at the other women. Shela had a smile on her face and the others leaned forward expectantly. Even women from the rest of the tent were watching.

  Gwin turned in time to see Conni slide the knife out of her sleeve. Every time there was a dispute Conni showed her weapon. It was her way of controlling her girls.

  Gwin glared at her. “You wouldn’t be so brave if you didn’t have that knife.”

  “I suppose you’re going to take it away from me.” Conni waved it in the air.

  Suddenly, Gwin jumped at Conni and slammed her against the bunk bed. She grabbed her wrist with two hands and banged it on the edge of the top bunk. Conni put her other hand on Gwin’s face and pushed her head back bending her towards the dirt floor. Gwin didn’t let go of the knife hand so Conni jerked her hand up breaking the grasp and Gwin fell. But before Conni could bring her hand down Gwin hooked her arm around Conni’s legs and pulled. Conni toppled over. Her head crashed into the bottom bunk, stunning her momentarily. Breathing hard, Gwin climbed to her feet and tried for the knife but Conni swung it, slicing Gwin’s arm.

  Gwin screamed and stepped back, clasping her hand over the wound. Then she kicked out, hitting Conni in the side. Conni grunted and tried to protect herself from the next kick, which caught her in the ribs. Conni brought the knife down, stabbing at Gwin’s arm again. Gwin jumped aside and renewed her efforts. She finally connected with Conni’s hand knocking the knife out and onto the bunk. Both women scrambled to reach it with Gwin winning. She stood up, holding it high.

  “I knew you could do it,” Shela cheered. “Stab her!”

  Gwin hesitated. She didn’t know what to do now. She couldn’t kill her, nor could she give the knife back. But what was she going to do with it?

  Conni kicked out with her foot and glanced it off Gwin’s leg. Gwin stepped back, holding the knife in front of her. Conni glared at Gwin a few moments then lunged. Caught by surprise, Gwin instinctively jammed the knife into Conni’s belly. Conni moaned and held onto Gwin’s shoulders for a moment. Gwin let go of the knife in horror and Connie slid to the floor. No one moved. They watched as Conni’s eyes shut and she stopped breathing.

  Shela jumped down to grab the knife but Rebe beat her to it. She wiped it on Conni’s clothes and held it up. “I’ll take over this side,” she said as Shela glared at her.

  No one acknowledged her. They all stared at the body on the floor. Shela bent over Conni.

  “Is she dead?” Dore asked.

  Shela checked for a pulse and found none. She nodded and straightened up.

  “What are we going to do with her?” Mari asked in
a hushed voice.

  “Call the police and get her out of here,” Rebe said.

  No one moved to comply.

  “What’s the matter with all of you?” Rebe demanded. “It isn’t as if you’ve never seen a body before. After all, you’re all murderers.” She slipped the knife into her sleeve, walked to the door and began hollering.

  Gwin was in shock. It had happened so fast. One minute they were fighting, and the next Conni was lying on the floor. She dropped down on her bunk. She really was a murderer now. She barely heard what was going on around her.

  Two police officers showed up at the doorway. “What’s all the noise about?” one of them asked.

  “This woman is dead,” Rebe said.

  “What?”

  “Look for yourself.” She stepped aside so he could see.

  “Is this some kind of joke?” He looked at Conni on the ground.

  Rebe went over and kicked Conni in the stomach. The body moved with the force of the blow then settled back in place.

  “No joke,” she said.

  “What happened?”

  Rebe looked at the others in the room then back at the officer. “She fell off her bunk.”

  “We’ll get some help and be back.”

  Rebe climbed up on Conni’s bunk and sat with her legs hanging over the side. Shela also returned to her bunk. Rebe pulled out the knife and ran her thumb along the sharp edge. She looked at Shela and grinned.

  The officers returned with two male prisoners. One knelt beside Conni and saw the blood seeping into the dirt. “If she fell off her bunk, how come there is so much blood?”

  Rebe shrugged. “Maybe she cut herself on something.”

  “Okay, get her out of here,” he said.

  The two prisoners lifted Conni up by her shoulders and legs and carried her out of the tent.

  “Where are you taking her?” Gwin asked.

  “There’s a plot where we’ve been digging holes and burying the dead.”

  “The dead?” Gwin asked. She hadn’t known others had died here.

  “Yeah. There’s thirteen in it already.”

  There was silence in the room after he left.

  Gwin looked at her arm. She was happy to see that, even though it hurt, it was hardly more than a scratch.

  * * *

  Georg heard some yelling and he stepped out of the tent in time to see three of the prisoners who looked after the cows running into the meadow. They were gesturing and pointing behind them. They ran into their tent and Georg, along with many others, followed them.

  “What is it?” someone asked them.

  “A pack of animals,” one of them panted from his bunk, “attacked the cows … killed two.”

  “What type of animals?”

  “Big heads … four paws … long tails … hairy.”

  “How many were there?”

  “Five.”

  By now two police officers had pushed their way through the crowd. “Where are they now?” one asked.

  “Eating the cows. When we first saw them sneaking towards the cows, we tried to scare them off by throwing stones at them but they just ignored us. When they chased the cows and brought down two, we left.”

  Georg followed the officers as they went to the station to report to Curt. He gathered ten more officers with their stun guns and headed out to the pasture. A few of the prisoners who had heard the story went with them, but most preferred to stay and wait for the news. Georg went along out of curiosity.

  He was shocked to see the large hairy animals eating the carcasses of the cows. They had blood all over their mouths and paws. When they saw the officers they snarled, revealing sharp pointed teeth. The officers shot at them. They yelped as they were hit and dropped to the ground, their limbs jerking.

  “What do we do with them now?” an officer asked.

  “Run back and get some knives to kill them,” Curt said.

  Before anyone went in to stab the animals, another round of shots were fired at them to make sure they didn’t recover and attack.

  The story spread quickly through the tents and everyone slept fitfully that night. The next day the prisoners looking after the cows refused to go back to the pasture. The governor ordered corrals to be built for the cows to be herded into every night and guards were posted around the village.

  She also increased the pace of the construction. If things went right, everyone would be in a solid building in a few days.

  Chapter Six

  Gwin sat on her bed. Five days had passed but she couldn’t stop remembering how she’d killed Conni. It had happened so easily and quickly and without her even thinking about it. One minute she’d been holding the knife wondering what to do with it and the next Conni was lying on the floor, dead. She was a killer now just like the rest of the women in the cell. She could only justify it by saying that she wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t been wrongly convicted in the first place.

  When she wasn’t thinking about Conni, her mind returned to the second customer she’d taken last night as her part of the bargain with Mat. At first, she’d been just as disgusted and ashamed as she had with the first one, but she’d finally been able to convince herself that it had been her only choice, her only way to reach Royd and subsequently free herself. She was afraid, though, that Mat wasn’t going to live up to his side of the bargain. She’d asked him last night if he’d gotten her message to Royd.

  “I’m still trying to find out which ship he’s on,” Mat had said.

  The thought that Royd wouldn’t get her message terrified her. Without him and the possible help from Governor Lind, she would have to fall back on her original plan of sneaking on board one of the returning ships. But that depended on so many factors beyond her control. She needed Royd and she was afraid Mat was stalling.

  “You’ve got company,” a voice said from the doorway.

  Royd! Gwin immediately thought. Mat did get the message through and he’d finally come.

  But when she looked up there was a woman standing in the doorway with a police officer by her side.

  “Hi. My name is Sari and I’m the historian.”

  No one answered her.

  “I’m sorry to hear about the woman who died in here a few days ago.”

  “What do you want?” Shela asked.

  “I’m doing interviews of some of the people on the colony planet so we can begin a history of the settlement.”

  “None of us want to talk to you,” Rebe said.

  “Okay, I’ll try some others.”

  “Wait a minute,” Gwin said sitting up. “You said you are interviewing people. Which people?”

  “I’m trying to get a cross-section of prisoners, police officers, farmers, artificers, everyone who has been working to found the colony.”

  “So you go to each of the spaceships?” Gwin climbed off her bunk.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you talking to the people who are returning home?”

  “Since they won’t be staying on the planet, I’ve only spoken with the captain of the ship I was on. I prefer the stories of those who are staying on this planet.”

  “If I answer your questions will you do me a favour?”

  “I usually don’t work that way.”

  “Yes, but you will get the story of the only prisoner who is innocent of the murder she was accused of and you will be able to follow her as she proves her innocence.”

  There were snorts and laughter behind her.

  “Right,” Rebe sneered.

  Gwin ignored them. “Will you?” she asked.

  “What’s the favour?”

  “Could you get word to a Flight Director Royd? I don’t know on what ship he is on.”

  “I’ll try but I don’t promise anything.”

  After what she’d already been through, Gwin was willing to accept that answer. It was a second opportunity to try and contact Royd. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

  Sari switched on the recorder. “
First, what is your name?”

  “Space Officer Gwin.”

  “Space Officer? You mean you’re part of the Space Organization?”

  “Yes. I was even on the mission that checked out this planet for suitability.”

  “You’ve been here before?”

  “Yes.”

  Mari, Iren and Dore suddenly crowded beside Gwin asking her questions.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “Did you land in this spot?”

  “Did you see the wild animals that killed the cows?”

  “I’ll explain later,” Gwin said. “Right now I have to answer Sari’s questions.”

  “I can get your background later,” Sari said. “But right now I want to know about this innocence you claim.”

  Gwin explained the visit to the Hub, the fight, the needle, and waking up in her apartment with blood on her clothes. She told of being arrested, charged with murder and being sent to prison.

  “Who were you supposed to have killed?

  “I was framed for killing a client of the prostitutes on Harlot Row and it was made to look as if I’d killed five others.”

  “The police think you killed those guys?” Shela asked.

  Gwin turned to her. “That’s what they tried to make it look like. Why? Were some of them your clients?”

  “All of them were and I know who killed them.”

  “You do?” Gwin couldn’t believe her luck. “Who?”

  “My hustler.”

  “Your hustler? Why would he do that?”

  “Because he wanted more money from me.”

  “And when you didn’t give it to him he tried to cut into your income?”

  “Right.”

  “Who is he?” Gwin asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. This was better than she’d hoped for. She’d get a message to Royd and she knew who had killed the clients. She’d be going home. “Will he admit that he murdered them?”

  “I doubt it,” Shela grinned. “That’s why I’m here. I killed him.”

  Gwin’s heart dropped. The murderer was dead. Then she brightened. His killer was still alive and she knew he’d done it.

 

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