by Jayton Young
***
They were on the last leg of their trip – having just left Disney Land as the second Disney Park – and were headed back to their hotel room to rest up for their homebound departure coming the following day. They had two rental SUV’s to help them all get around, and right then, she, Russell, Mary Leigh, and Randy were in one while Mark drove the other with James and Maggie.
Leigh was physically exhausted and needed a couple of weeks to rest up at home before heading to Europe; the next stage of the bucket list. She had been forced to buy a scooter chair to help her get around because walking any sort of distance wore on her too much; her stamina being non-existent. That, however, hadn’t stopped Russell from scheduling ‘dates’ in every city they’d visited. She was able to experience how it could have been if they’d both communicated better and had spent the past years together. For the first time in a long time, Leigh was content with only two things marring her happiness.
First were the emails she continued to receive from Bill. They were getting more frequent, more demanding, and a lot angrier. She was truly scared, but refused to let it ruin their family time and therefore refused to tell anyone about them. They were just moved to a folder to turn over to the authorities later.
The second issue was her mother’s health. Understandably, her mom was weak and tired, but she refused the offer of the same conveniences that Leigh was taking advantage of. She refused to see a doctor to just check her out, and again, Leigh was scared. This time of her mother suffering in silence. It was another reason for them to take a break from the traveling. Mary Leigh had also seemed kind of down and depressed for the prior couple of weeks, though she tried not to show it.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, she heard a rattling sigh of breath come from the back seat where both Randy and Mary Leigh had both fallen asleep. The first thing that she noticed was her pallid color.
“Pull over!” she yelled to Russell. Unbuckling her belt and turning around, Leigh tried to rouse her mother.
***
“MOM! Mom please wake up!”
Russ slowed and pulled to the shoulder of the road as quickly as he could do so safely. Leigh had basically climbed over the seat, calling for Mary Leigh to wake up, and Randy had woke up in a panic hearing his mom’s desperate cries, and so he was screaming and crying himself. Russ got out of the car and ran to the passenger side, flinging the back door open to see how he could help. Mark had pulled in behind him and ran over to help as James and Maggie got out to see what was happening.
“Let’s get her out and on the ground,” Mark said after they had seen that she wasn’t breathing and felt no pulse when checked. “James, can you call 911?” Russ could see the shine of emotion in his eyes, but Mark was doing a great job of remaining calm. That’s when he remembered that Mary Leigh had become like a mother to him.
They worked up until the ambulance arrived a few minutes later – Mark doing chest compressions and Russ the breaths – and the EMTs took over. Leigh got into the back of the ambulance with Mary Leigh to ride to the hospital. James and Maggie had Randy calmed to a certain extent. Since they were from out of town, the police officer who’d responded to the call agreed to escort them behind the ambulance. Leaving the smaller rented Explorer on the shoulder of the road, they all climbed into the Yukon and followed behind at the same fast pace the ambulance had adopted with the officer behind them; both official vehicles running both their lights and sirens.
Russ explained what little had happened before they’d pulled over, and then all was quiet until they arrived. Russ almost lost it as he watched Leigh go hysterical when they wouldn’t allow her to go back with her mother, but he knew that he had to keep it together and be strong for her and Randy, who was in his arms with Leigh by that point.
Twenty minutes later, the ER physician came to give them the news.
Chapter 18
To Leigh, it seemed as though time had moved so quickly while standing completely still at the same time. It had been a little over a month since her mom had been pronounced DOA at the hospital in Anaheim, but she just couldn’t make it seem real. Her day to day had become so routine and repetitive, that it seemed that she’d been walking along in a dream. They’d put off the trip to Europe until she could bounce back a little, but that didn’t seem to be happening.
“Come on baby. It’s time to pick Randy up from school,” Russell said as he came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, his hands resting on her stomach and the baby within. She’d been standing in front of her mother’s grave stone that had finally been laid at the head of her grave.
“Maybelle’s picking him up today so he can play with her grandson,” she answered absently. Her eyes were glued to the headstone. She knew it wasn’t so, but she felt so alone with her mother gone. She had been a pillar of strength that Leigh had drawn upon for so many different things over the years, without her mother, she was lost as to what to do next. It was wrong to think that, because she was blessed to have Randy, and Mark, and now Russell back in her life, that she would never have to be alone.
Leigh’d noticed many changes in Pine Grove since they’d been home. There was so much support from the people, support she had never expected to receive again. It seemed as though Russell’s speech at church had hit the mark with everyone. They were sincerely trying to make up for their treatment of her.
“I told her that I’d come by and help her bake some goods for the school fund raiser this weekend,” Leigh said as she turned in his arms, slipping hers around his waist, and looked up at him. “I’m just going to walk since it’s just a couple of blocks. It’s so nice today, and I have more energy than normal today, I figured I would take a stroll which is why I walked here. I need the exercise and fresh air.”
“Alright. I need to go check up on Ma and Pop and make sure things are running smoothly,” he said. “They had pretty much retired outside of a few light duties Pop did. I feel bad that I haven’t been around there a lot lately. I was hoping we could talk more about you, Randy, and Mark moving out there.”
It did Leigh’s heart good to know that Russell would include her best friend. Actually, Mark and Russell had developed a friendship of their own. She would wait until dinner that night, with Mark present, to let Russell know that she was deeding Mary Leigh’s house to Mark, because she had decided to move as he’d asked her to.
“Okay. Randy and I should be home around sevenish.”
*****
Pulling up to Leigh’s house, Russ was tired and a little out of sorts after working with his father for the afternoon. He had never seen his dad as week and absent minded as he did that day, and didn’t know if it were something new, or whether he’d just been blind to it. When he’d made subtle comments on it, they had been ignored. He hadn’t had time or opportunity to ask his ma with his pop being there. Russ didn’t want to be the cause, even indirectly, of his dad having another heart attack.
With that on his mind, he didn’t notice a car parked on the street, or when a man got out of the driver’s side and rushed to catch up with him at the front door. Before he got one foot in the door, a hand landed on his shoulder and pulled so he’d have to turn around. Immediately the familiar man backed up out of reach, and Russ figured out why when he took a closer look.
“You son of a bitch!” Russ growled as he drew his fist back, stepped forward, and punched Bill Huff in the nose; feeling it crack under his fist.
The force behind the punch knocked Bill to the ground. He was holding his nose, but blood was still gushing out. When Russ stepped up to have another go, Bill crab walked backwards, holding his hand up to try and stop the attack.
“I called Zander, man! He’s on his way. I have to explain. I have to tell y’all what’s going on, and then I’ll let Zander take me, and I’ll answer and pay for what I did, but Leigh’s still in danger.”
That didn’t stop Russ, though. He went over, grabbed Bill by the collar of his shirt, and punched his re
peatedly. Bill never fought back, but he didn’t get as many more punches as what he wanted. Mark came out of the house and grabbed him, actually picking him up off the ground and carrying him back onto the porch, and at the same time the sheriff’s car pulled up with Zander getting out, hand on the butt of his gun until he could figure out what was going on.
Russ was pissed off even more when he saw that Bill was still conscience. Zander was helping Bill up as he read him his rights and cuffed him once he was up. When Zander started leading Bill out to the sheriff’s patrol car, Bill dug his heels in and strained to turn his neck to see Russ.
“Russ! You gotta listen! Leigh is in a lot of danger!”
That made Zander pause and look back at Russ to see what he wanted to do, but he was too angry to speak, so Mark asked him to bring him in, but not to take the cuffs off. At the same time, Zander called in for a back-up deputy; just in case. They informed him that his dad was on his way.
“Dad never got over the fact that we didn’t get this asshole before he skipped town.” Zander was standing behind the dinette chair that he’d cuffed Bill’s already cuffed hands to. “He hated the way everyone turned on her, but they had made us swear not to tell. Leigh said that if those who knew her best, didn’t know that she’d never do anything like that, then she wouldn’t defend herself. She said that she’d thought she didn’t have to.”
Russ knew that those barbs were aimed at him, but he deserved them so there was nothing to say back.
“God! I was so messed up back then!” Bill kicked his legs in frustration, since he couldn’t move his arms. “I hated you, Russ. I had hated you since you took Leigh away from me in high school. You knew I was in love with her.”
Russ jumped up from the seat he’d taken on the couch and almost made it over to Bill, but Mark and Zander stopped him.
“She was never yours you ass!” Russ yelled, struggling to get away from the arms holding him. “She’d never even had a boyfriend before me!”
“I know!” Bill took a deep breath and let it out, seemingly to calm himself. “You have to understand. I was messed up. The Hamptons were pretty much all I had, and that was thanks to Leigh. Y’all remember how my parents were; Dad’s drugs and eventual overdose, and Mom drinking so she wouldn’t care. It was like I didn’t exist, but then Leigh became my friend and her parents treated me as one of their own.”
The doorbell rang and Mark went to answer it. Russ was still pissed off, and he knew everything Bill was saying already, Leigh had told him later on, so he didn’t know why he was sitting there listening to it all over again. But Bill had said that Leigh was still in danger, so he figured he’d see what that was about.
Mark came back into the great room, where they were, followed by the ex-sheriff William Boyd – Zander’s dad. He took in everyone there, more than likely trying to assess the situation.
“Where’s Leigh?” he asked Russ while glaring at Bill.
“She and Randy are at Maybelle’s. Randy had a play date with her grandson, so Leigh decided to help her prepare for the bake sale this weekend.”
“Good, so she won’t have to face him. Now my question is why you haven’t hauled this bastard in, Son?” William directed at Zander.
“He said that Leigh was in danger and was explaining everything that happened.”
“Fine, but you better hurry and speak up, boy.” William told Bill. He never had been able to stay out of the thick of things when he retired. You could still see him almost any time you entered the Sheriff’s Office.
“Yes sir. Cutting a long story down a bit, I hated you Russ, and I was so jealous that I became bitter and twisted and convinced myself that Leigh loved me and that you had somehow coerced her into being with you.” Bill’s eyes became pleading as he went on. “I knew I was obsessed. I knew that I was wrong, and I did try to get help; counseling from someone else that I trusted, but he twisted me up even more under that guise of counseling, I just didn’t realize it at that time. I bided my time and waited for her to get out of college so I could steal her away from you. I even started dating Kerri just to learn more about you; hopefully finding some dirt on you to give to Leigh and turn her against you.”
“But then they get home and start planning their wedding,” Zander guessed what had sent Bill over the edge.
“Kerri started noticing the change in me, and when she confronted me, we fought. I started drinking. A lot. And then he told me to do something that would sabotage the wedding. I had planned on just taking her away, but when she came over to talk to me about Kerri, I was drunk. I drugged her drink and then I raped her. When I sobered up and realized what I’d done, I took off, but I kept tabs on Leigh through Kerri, though Kerri didn’t know that. By the time I’d caught up to Leigh, I was not only drinking, but I’d started shooting up. Kerri came across me one day, and I knew she’d turn me in, so I killed her; strangled her.”
Bill paused at that moment, tears in his eyes that anyone would be able to see were genuine, but he finally looked up at Zander and continued. “I’m turning myself in for that also, but it was in Sioux Falls, so they’ll want to extradite me. Killing her…it woke me up. I sopped the heroine and drinking, but I was wanted for grand theft auto, so one day that I was pulled over for a broken tail light, they ran my name and arrested me on that warrant.”
“You’re sexual assault charges didn’t show up?” William asked.
“I guess not. I don’t know if they only ran my name for the state or national, but it was never mentioned. I was only supposed to do eighteen months, but I kept either starting fights, or participating in one someone else started, so they kept tacking on time to my sentence. I finally calmed down and just served my time. I got some privileges which included being able to use the computer for one of the jobs I did in there. I wasn’t supposed to do anything personal, but I did anyway. I checked to see if my email was still active, and saw the activity that had been going on. It wasn’t me sending the emails, but I know who did. I started bible study in prison, and I was Saved. I want to do penance for all my crimes, but I just had to make sure Leigh was alright and that y’all knew there was another man obsessed with her; even more than I used to be.”
“And that would be?” Russ asked. He still hated the man, but he believed everything he’d said. Now he just needed to know what man helped push Bill to that point. He was shocked when he heard the answer.
Chapter 19
Pastor Daniel.
He and Leigh had talked about him playing them against each other in certain ways, but Russ would have never guessed that he would be capable of something like this. He could hardly wrap his head around it, but…it fit. Made sense in a certain way, with all of the sermons he did at time, things he’d said to both of them, and the mixed messages he gave. But why would he do it?
“Do you know where he moved?” he asked Zander.
“He didn’t let anyone know he was leaving that I know of, so no, but I do know that he owns property up in Asheville.”
“What can we do to keep Leigh safe?”
“I don’t know,” Zander said and then looked over to his dad. “Do you have any connections up that way that we can use to check? See if he’s there?”
“I can make a couple of calls, but do we really believe what Bill just said?”
Russ stood up and walked over to where Mark was just observing everything going on. “Did Leigh ever tell you about someone telling her not to come back? Telling her that I didn’t want her back.”
“She never said who, just that it was from a reliable source, and if you didn’t want her to come back, she wouldn’t force herself on you.”
“Did she mention the pastor at all?”
“No. By the time Charlie and I became part of the family, she had already found another church and was getting counseling from the pastor there.”
Russ’ phone started ringing, so he answered it as he tried to keep an ear on the conversation that Zander, his dad, and Mark were still having
. Bill had pretty much withdrew into himself and was no longer saying anything.
“Russ dear,” Russ tensed up as soon as he heard Maybelle’s voice. He knew, with the recent revelations, that something bad was about to happen. Stuff like that was only supposed to happen in movies. “I was going to bring Randy home, but Barbra stopped by and needs my help with something. Is there any way that either you or Leigh could swing by?”
“Leigh’s not there?”
He could have hit himself in the head for that stupid question. Obviously, if she were there, he wouldn’t be talking to Maybelle on the phone.
“She never made it,” her voice seemed more hesitant now. “Leigh had told me that she was stopping at the cemetery on the way to put fresh flowers on her parents’ grave. I just figured that she had decided to just go home. I do know how hard that can be; whether it’s been a month, a year, or ten years…It never gets easier.”
Maybelle had lost her children and husband in different ways – accidents and health issues – and her grandson was all she had left, so he knew what she meant by that. “I’m at her house, and she’s not here. She would have called you if she wasn’t coming.”
By that point, he had the attention of the sheriffs, Mark, and Bill. They had heard that Leigh wasn’t where she was supposed to be, and both Zander and William immediately got on their phones, calling in orders. Mark was on his phone, Russ figured he was trying Leigh’s cell.
“Can you do me two favors, Maybelle? Can Randy stay with Lucas tonight, and can you call around and ask if anyone has seen Leigh?”
Sensing the urgency, she readily agreed. “I’ll call if I find out anything, and you please do the same.”
“I will, and thank you Maybelle. I don’t have to tell you to please try and keep this from Randy for now?”
“Of course, dear. You do what you gotta do.”