by Lauren Dawes
‘Morning Indi,’ someone said. Indi looked up into the eyes of the delivery girl from the bakery. Her name was Sarah and she kind of reminded her of another foster kid she’d lived with for a while.
‘Hey,’ she replied. ‘Just put them there, thanks.’
Sarah grinned at her and dumped the load of pastries where Indi had said. ‘I’ll see you later,’ she waved, walking out of the café door with a ding chaser.
She picked up the box and began sliding the contents into the cabinet. But as she worked, her temples started to throb. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger and waited for the pounding sensation to pass. It looked like the lack of sleep had finally caught up with her.
‘Are you alright Ind?’ Jerry asked from above her head. She hated it when he loomed. All tall people loomed, even if they didn’t mean to.
‘I’m fine,’ she replied, rubbing her temples like a death metal band had now set up for band practice behind her eyes.
‘Are you sure?’
Indi’s eyes opened and looked straight into the crashing blue waves of Jerry’s. ‘I just didn’t sleep so well last night, so now I’ve got a headache.’
‘Bad dreams again?’
She groaned inwardly. ‘Kind of.’ More like the past coming back to haunt me.
‘You want to talk about it?’
‘Not really.’
He gave her a little smile and rested a reassuring, warm hand on hers. ‘Well if you change your mind, you know where I am.’
‘Will do,’ she replied.
Indi couldn’t talk to Jerry about what had happened. He carried the guilt he had for her life around like a weight around his neck. She didn’t understand why though. He couldn’t have stopped anything that had happened to her in the past, but he made damn sure that her future was going to be all red roses and fucking cute kittens.
She sighed. Even if Jer didn’t punish himself like he did, there was no way that she could tell him about what happened in the café yesterday, and definitely nothing about what had happened last night. If he knew what Wright had done to her, what she had done to him, there would be no going back from that. His guilt would kill him.
The memories that hunted her—haunted her every minute swirled dangerously in her head. They were so vivid that Indi clutched at her head again, trying to stop the memories crashing into her. When Wright had cornered her, it reminded her too much of being that helpless little girl again. Indi despised her thirteen-year-old self. She was weak. Like a sledge hammer being slammed against her skull, she was suddenly at that backyard party again …
‘Come on Indigo. Just come and meet some of my friends quickly,’ her newest foster brother said. Although she didn’t want to go, she didn’t want to seem ungrateful either. She’d seen how they all stared at her like she was a piece of meat being held up in front of a hungry tiger. But Evan had thrown this party for her, to welcome her to the family. ‘So will you come?’ he asked again.
‘Fine,’ Indi replied still feeling a little twitchy about coming face to face with Evan’s teammates. Evan had been so nice to her at the new school––sitting with her during lunch, walking her to and from school even though he was a senior and she was the new girl nobody wanted to talk to. She let him take her hand, leading her toward the house.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked, nervously shifting her eyes everywhere, checking for danger like it was going to come out from the shadows.
‘I told the boys to wait inside for me.’
‘Why?’
‘They wanted to be close to the beer,’ he smiled over his shoulder. Indi felt as if she wanted to stand up and give him a round of applause for his smile. It was just so perfect. He pulled a little harder on her hand, bringing her body closer to his. She felt the warmth of his body leeching out from under his tight tee. She looked around the living room filled with a mass of sweaty, grinding bodies.
‘Where are they?’ she yelled over the thumping bass of the music that she could feel all the way through her chest.
Ducking his head down close to her ear, he said, ‘In there,’ pointing towards the kitchen. ‘Are you nervous about meeting them?’
‘No, not nervous,’ she replied. Bringing her hand up under his arm, he curled her fingers around his bicep and smiled his million-dollar smile.
‘Come on then. They really want to meet you properly.’
They walked towards the kitchen, pushing the door wide and looking inside. His huge, blue eyes scanned the space until he cursed. ‘They’re not here. They must be in my room. Come on.’
Indi’s feet planted on the linoleum.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, bringing a warm hand to her cheek. ‘It’s okay. We’ll say hello real quick and then we’ll go. Is that okay?’
Indi looked in his eyes seeing only warmth and protection. After she gave him a sharp nod, he put her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her down the long hallway. She held her breath, trying to stop the tingle of butterflies from escaping her stomach.
When Evan pushed his bedroom door open, there were five of his football teammates standing around. Indi looked at each of them carefully; her heart beginning to pound violently against her ribcage. Her foster brother cleared his throat, getting every single male’s attention in the room.
‘Guys, this is Indi, my new foster sister,’ he announced with pride in his voice. Indi couldn’t help but smile a little. Maybe she would belong here she thought. The boys all smiled at her, saying their hellos and how-are-yas. After greeting them, she turned back to Evan.
‘Can I go back outside now?’
‘Yeah. In a minute though. You don’t want to be rude and not talk to the boys do you?’
Indi swallowed down on her hammering pulse. ‘No,’ she replied in a small voice.
‘Good,’ he smiled again and led her towards the bed. ‘Tom, make some fucking room,’ he barked at his mate. Tom shuffled up a little on the bed before Evan offered her the seat. She sat down, nervously playing with her hands in her lap. Her knuckles were twisting into strange angles as the boys talked and joked around, they all but ignored her.
After five minutes she stood up—intending to leave—but Evan stopped her with a hand on her cheek.
‘Where are you going Indi?’ he asked softly. His head was only a few inches from hers. She could smell his cologne; a sweet temptation to her senses.
‘I was just going to go outside again,’ she replied in a shaky voice, still wringing her hands together until her knuckles cracked. That sound was almost a signal to him because his face hardened, his smile lost in the hard lines of his mouth.
‘No. You’re going to stay here and entertain us Indi.’
‘What do you mean?’
His eyes shifted to his left, looking at the boy she had been sitting next to. ‘Well, Tom here likes you, don’t you Tom?’ Tom nodded slowly. ‘So you aren’t going to run away right now. Talk to Tom for a while.’
Indi looked down at Tom. His hazel eyes were soft and welcoming. She gulped down hard on her dry throat, trying to figure out a way out of this situation. The door was shut tight; one of the boys leaning casually against it. When she took too long to sit, Evan pushed down on her shoulders until she sat down again.
Tom shuffled a little closer to her, his thigh touching hers. Indi smoothed the fabric of her skirt down nervously, glancing at Tom from the corner of her eye. He smiled at her then ran the back of his finger down the exposed skin of her arm. Shocked, she shuffled away from him. He followed her and did the same thing. Indi shuffled up again until she hit a solid wall of muscle on the other side of her. Evan had sat down at the end of the bed and he turned to look at her with a sinister smile twisting his lips.
‘Evan. I want to go now,’ she said in a whisper.
‘No Indi,’ he replied in a deep voice. ‘You’re going to stay with us for a while.’
She gasped and spun around as Tom laid a heavy hand on
her knee. She began pushing at him, trying to move his hand away from her. Her heart was pounding in her head now; a dull roar that she had to ignore. Indi looked around the room finding all the other boys staring hungrily at her. They were predators and she had just laid herself out to be the prey.
‘I’m first,’ Tom growled next to her. Indi spun around to see him leaning in closer and closer to her. He kissed her roughly; his tongue pushing into her mouth. But the violation of her mouth was nothing compared to what happened next. Tom slid his hand all the way up her skirt until his fingers brushed up against her panties. Her body instantly reacted to his caress, heating up, becoming wet. Another hand found her breast. She looked down, finding Evan’s hand on her chest, pushing and prodding too hard. She made a desperate noise at the back of her throat which was swallowed by Tom’s mouth still on hers …
*
Jerry’s mind wasn’t on the job. It was on Indi. If the dreams were back, he had no idea how she would cope this time without him being there for her twenty-four-seven. She used to wake up screaming from her nightmares about being chased, cut up … raped. He shuddered at the thought of any of those men from her past laying a hand on her. What really got his back up was the unknown. He didn’t really know what had happened yesterday with Wright. He only knew what Rhett had told him about him grabbing Indi’s wrist. The gaps in the story were driving him insane, making him come up with only the worst case scenario. He looked at her again wondering whether she was ever going to get away from her past.
He finished up the order he’d been making, giving the woman a perfunctory smile as he put her latte on the counter. He started moving away from the counter to try and talk to Indi again, but when another customer came to place an order he smiled and asked what they’d like.
‘Mr Beckitt?’ the man asked. Jerry glanced up for a moment before actually looking properly at the man. The man was slightly taller than him, but built in the same way with thick, bulky muscle. His hair was a fade cut; platinum blond and severe. His eyes were a mixed colour of crystal-blue with soft grey flecks around the pupil. He wasn’t in uniform, but there was no doubt in Jerry’s mind that he was a cop. He just had that air about him.
‘Yes?’
‘Detective Wolfe with Buxton PD.’ He flipped open his billfold and flashed a shield. ‘Can I speak to you for a moment?’ His voice rumbled, so low that Jerry could feel it in his chest like a resonating hum.
He dropped his eyes, focusing on wiping down the machine. ‘What is this concerning?’
‘I’ve received some information that concerns you and one of your employees.’ He took a small notepad from his breast pocket and flipped it open, leafing through some pages before stopping and tapping one in particular. ‘A girl called Nancy. Last name unknown.’
‘Nancy?’ Jerry asked, confused. ‘I don’t have a Nancy working here Detective.’
‘Around five feet six inches high, slim build, dark hair,’ the detective read.
Jerry shook his head. ‘There is a girl who works here that matches that description, but her name isn’t Nancy.’ The detective cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘Her name is Indigo … Indi O’Regan. She’s over there,’ he nodded with his head to where she was working. Detective Wolfe glanced over at her then looked back at Jerry.
‘Fine. Can I talk to you both somewhere private?’
‘Sure,’ he replied. The detective hadn’t said why he was here yet, but the first thing he thought was that Mr Wright had to have reported what had happened yesterday. And if that was the case, what in the hell were they supposed to do about it?
‘Indi? Can you come with me please?’ Jerry called as he showed the detective into the storeroom.
She eyed Wolfe warily, but nodded and trailed after Jerry. She was the last through the door.
‘Jer, what’s this about?’ she asked him, but still kept her eyes on the detective. Wolfe’s eyes were roaming idly around the contents of the shelves.
‘This is Detective Wolfe. He’s got some questions for us.’
‘What about?’
Wolfe said, ‘I had a complaint made against a young woman called Nancy yesterday afternoon.’
Jerry looked at Indi to see if she reacted. She didn’t. ‘Nancy?’ he prompted.
Indi shrugged. ‘I don’t want to give them my real name.’ And he knew exactly who them was: customers.
Palming his notebook impatiently, Wolfe leafed through to an entry. ‘Mr Philip Wright said that you attacked him yesterday afternoon at three thirty. Is that correct?’
Indi’s gaze swung back to the detective. ‘I don’t know anybody named Philip Wright.’
Detective Wolfe raised an eyebrow at her tone. ‘Philip Wright is the owner of Wright Constructions. I believe your boss knows who he is since he administered some first aid to him after you assaulted him.’
Indi looked at Jerry and cocked an eyebrow. ‘Do you know who he is?’
But before Jerry could answer, the detective interrupted. ‘Mr Wright was admitted to hospital last night, Indigo. Were you aware of that?’
‘It’s Indi and why would I know that?’ she asked snarkily.
‘The doctor reported that he had a broken nose. A broken nose that he claimed he got when he had you as a waitress, Indigo.’
The muscle in her jaw jumped with the effort of not snapping at him. ‘Look, I don’t know who this man is, but he didn’t come into the café yesterday afternoon. I didn’t break anybody’s nose and I didn’t have any problems with customers. I had an uneventful day.’ Her molars ground together, her Tell shining through. Jerry put his arm over her shoulder to calm her which earned him an intense look from Wolfe.
‘She’s my sister,’ he said quickly, feeling the need to explain their relationship.
‘Do you have any witnesses, besides your brother here, who can vouch for you?’
Jerry said, ‘Rhett was working. He can tell you.’
‘Rhett?’
‘Rhett Wilson,’ Jerry added. ‘He was here yesterday afternoon.’
Wolfe cleared his throat, scribbling the name down into his notepad. ‘Fine. Is he working today?’
‘No, but I can give you his number,’ Jerry offered.
Wolfe waved the offer away. ‘It’s fine. I can access that information myself.’ His blue-grey eyes fixed on Indi. ‘There was something else that Mr Wright was in hospital for Indigo.’
‘So?’
He ignored her curtness again. ‘He’d had his hand removed, just below his wrist. The cut was clean, which means the blade was either incredibly sharp, or the perpetrator was incredibly strong.’
‘Why are you telling us this?’ Jerry asked, feeling a little uneasy. He clutched Indi closer to him.
‘We found the hand in the dumpster behind your building Indigo. Do you have any idea how it got there?’
‘Why would I know that? I don’t even know who you’re talking about,’ she snapped.
He smiled and there was some hidden meaning behind it. ‘Well, you had an altercation with him earlier in the day and then his severed hand turns up in the dumpster behind your building. It’s a little too much of a coincidence, don’t you think?’
‘Detective, I weigh one hundred and twenty pounds. How could I have cut someone’s hand off? I’m barely strong enough to carry my own groceries home.’
Jerry half wondered whether the poor, weak woman routine was going to work on the detective.
‘Okay. I can see that you don’t want to tell me anything.’ He turned back to Jerry. ‘That’s all for now. I’ll be in touch with your other employee, Rhett,’ he said looking at the last note he had scribbled, ‘and we’ll be talking again soon.’
Detective Wolfe left without another word, but he gave Indi a long, hard stare as he moved to the door. Jerry’s mind was full of questions. The main one was why did Indi lie? If Wright had reported the assault, there was no way she could not tell the truth. The other question was why had the detective told them about his missing hand?<
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‘Indi, do you know anything about Wright losing his hand?’ She stared at him, making him take a small step back. He could have sworn that her eyes darkened. He swallowed down hard, asking, ‘Well?’
‘It’s better that you don’t know. At least that way they won’t be able to charge you for being an accessory after the fact.’
‘Indi, what have you done?’
She shook her head at him. ‘Nothing Jer. I haven’t done a thing. Let’s get back to work.’
‘Indi!’ he called, frustrated. He couldn’t let her do this. She would ruin her life. ‘Indi!’ he pushed out of the door after her. He was ready to call her again when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
‘Goddamnit!’ he cursed. Throwing the tea towel that had been slung over his shoulder down onto the counter in frustration, he pulled his phone from his pocket and frowned. He pressed the green button and held it to his ear cautiously.
‘Mark?’
‘Jerry?’ Mark replied frantically. ‘You’ve got to come to the hospital.’
‘What? Why?’
‘You just have to come,’ Mark insisted.
‘What’s wrong?’ Jerry’s voice dropped to a hard whisper, his stomach forming into tight knots of anxiety.
Mark began talking a mile a minute, so much so that Jerry would have been surprised that his jaw didn’t become unhinged in the process. The garble spewed out words like shopping and internal bleeding––two words that made absolutely no sense put together as they had been, but then came the one word that caught Jerry’s undivided attention. Mother.
‘Mark,’ he said in his most commanding voice. ‘Slow down. Take a breath and tell me once more.’