Retribution

by Jasmine White

  Chapter Eighteen

  Katherine harshly rubbed her eyes as she slowly drank her second cup of coffee, the dark overcast outside forcing her to have a light on. Her eyes seemed fixated on the phone. Why won’t it ring? she asked herself again as she continued to stare at it as she had for the last hour, willing it to come alive. Her restless night showed in the faint circles under eyes, in the faint blue of the skin there that couldn’t quite be hidden by powder. What had happened last night with Wesley? How was Pamela’s father involved in this whole mess? And what kind of secrets was Johnny hiding? The questions had been plaguing her ever since she left the party.

  A loud buzz made her jump. She knocked over her chair as she stood up quickly and pounced on the phone. “Hello?” The dial tone greeted her ears as the buzz sounded again.

  She slammed the phone down as she realized it was the doorbell. Laughing at her own stupidity, she ran for the door while quickly tucking her white blouse into her pale pink slacks.

  “Wesley!” She wrapped her arms around his wiry figure as relief and joy released her tension.

  “Now that’s a greeting you should practice more often.” Wesley put his arms possessively around her.

  She closed her eyes and inhaled the faint smell of cigarettes mixed with expensive aftershave that always surrounded Wesley. “I love that smell,” she muttered before she knew she had, and finally coming to her senses, she gently pulled away. “Better come inside.” And as soon as the door was shut she looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell his story.

  “Can we do that again?” Wesley asked merrily, his eyes meeting hers.

  “No!” Katherine laughed. “Tell me what happened! I’ve been up all night worried about you.”

  Wesley’s face turned solemn. “I think we should sit down.”

  “Really? It’s that bad?” Katherine led the way to the couches and gracefully seated herself facing Wesley. “Now tell me what’s going on.”

  He took in her position for a moment before seeming to decide where to begin. “It’s about Johnny, first of all.” And he cringed as her face fell. “I’m sorry,” he said gently, “but he’s involved in this Drake thing up to his neck.”

  “You don’t think it was he who—” Horror must have shown on her face as the ugly implications of her own words set in.

  “I don’t know.” Wesley cut in, stopping the wreck of that train of thought. “I just know he’s involved somehow with Doug, Pamela’s father, and they know that I’m helping Bailey.”

  “Doug . . . ” Katherine repeated slowly, remembering the strange meeting she’d witnessed between him and Jerry in the drive-through, wondering again how he knew Jerry. “Doug, who is somehow tied up with Jerry.”

  “Yes, Doug is in control. To his credit, Johnny sounded pretty upset about the attack on you.”

  Wesley was thoughtful for a moment. “Jerry and Johnny have worked together before, haven’t they? I mean, when, ahem, Johnny was sent up for a year . . . wasn’t Jerry suspected as well?”

  “Yes. I believe so. Johnny only told me that Bailey was convinced Jerry was the mastermind, but Johnny wouldn’t talk. They had just enough evidence to put Johnny away for a year. After he got out he followed Jerry down to South America, but finish telling me what you heard,” Katherine urged.

  “It’s like I told you. Doug seems to be the one in charge, at least over Johnny. I don’t know about Jerry, and they’re involved with Drake’s death somehow. I don’t know who pulled the trigger, but neither of them are happy that the verdict has been changed from suicide to murder.” Wesley took a deep breath as he remembered how terrified he was when he heard them talking about him. “Someone that Doug knew overheard when I went to meet Bailey, so he knew all along. I think that’s what he had to talk to Johnny about, but I’m not sure because right then we got interrupted.”

  “Interrupted?”

  “Yes, um . . . Molly.”

  “Molly? Pamela’s fat orange cat?”

  “Yes, well, she’s not so fat anymore. Let’s just say that I found her kittens.”

  “Have you talked to Bailey about this? What are we going to do?” And an odd feeling took her in as the word “we” was sounded out.

  “About the kittens? I don’t know if he’s a cat kinda’ guy.”

  “No, silly. About Doug and Johnny. After all, at least that completely clears Johnny from the attack on me.”

  “I haven’t gotten a hold of anyone since last night. I called the station right away last night when I got back to Mike’s place. Of course Bailey had left by then.”

  “Mike’s place?” Katherine smothered a grin. “You stayed at Mike’s last night.”

  “Of course I did,” Wesley responded curtly. “I felt like I needed a bodyguard last night.”

  Realization dawned on Katherine’s face. “Oh no. You don’t think Johnny’s danger—”

  The ringing of the doorbell cut off her sentence and jerked both their attention to the door. They both froze and stared at it as the buzzer sounded again, followed by angry knocks rasping hard against the wood.

  Johnny’s voice came through the door. “Katherine! Kate! Are you in there?”

  “What do I do?” she whispered.

  “Let him come in. Otherwise he’ll get suspicious.”

  “I can’t let him come in with you here! He’s already jealous of you.”

  “Hide me then. I’m getting good at it.”

  “Okay, quick, hide in the coat closet. I’ll let him in.”

  “Coming, Johnny! One minute,” she yelled as she opened the coat closet door and gave Wesley an extra shove to squeeze him in.

  “You don’t have any missing cats, do you?” Wesley asked before she shut the door on him and locked it.

  “Hurry up. I need to talk to you.”

  “Wait,” Wesley’s muffled voice insisted. Katherine undid the lock and quickly opened the little door.

  “Be careful, Katherine. He’s dangerous. He attacked me last night.”

  Katherine nodded and quickly shut the door again, clicking the lock into place. She then opened up the front door for Johnny. “Johnny!” she exclaimed in what she hoped was a surprised voice. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

  “It’s a matter of opinion,” he replied as he shut the door behind him and caught both of Katherine’s hands in his. “Kate,” he said with an earnest urgency, “let’s go get married.”

  She stared at him in shock, noting his exhausted eyes and their air of desperation that was like a trapped gazelle with a lion approaching it. “What? Now?” Katherine’s mind raced as she tried to stall him off. “I thought you weren’t ready to set the date.”

  “Well, I’m ready now. We can leave now and catch the twelve fifteen bus down to the border. We’ll be married tonight in Mexico!”

  “In Mexico?” Katherine gently withdrew her hands. “Why Mexico? I thought you wanted to be married on the beach.”

  “Sure.” Johnny took a step closer to Katherine, sliding his arms around her waist. “On a beach in Mexico, the water is warmer there anyways.”

  “Johnny.” Fear was beginning to thaw and run in her veins. She took a step backwards, feeling ridiculous at being scared of Johnny. “I can’t just run away with you to Mexico. I have things here, other commitments.”

  “It doesn’t have to be Mexico.” Katherine was sure now that she heard a note of panic in Johnny’s voice. What was he trying to escape from? “It can be anywhere you want. Wherever. I promise things will be different between us; they’ll be like they used to. You just have to leave with me! Tonight.” He pulled her close to him and kissed her. She didn’t respond and he noticed, slowly releasing her. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to go away with me?”

  She turned away, tears rising in her eyes. Wesley had been right; Johnny was involved in Drake’s murder somehow. “Johnny.” She spoke through tears. “You need to tell me what’s going on. You can’t always just run away from your problems.”<
br />
  Johnny was silent for a moment. “If I don’t leave the country, things could get ugly real quick,” he said frankly, then, after waiting a minute longer and she still wouldn’t face him, he continued. “There’s a man here . . . a really dangerous man. I need to get away from him. If I don’t do what he says he could kill me—or even you.”

  Her bare feet squeaked on the floor as Katherine finally turned to face him. Her voice was more under control as she asked, “Who is it?”

  Johnny studied her. “I can’t tell you that. Wait, look at me Katherine!” he insisted when she turned away again. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her to face him again. “It’s for your own safety. You need to trust me on this. You can’t know anything, at least not until we’re out of the country, then I can tell you.”

  “Johnny, I can’t leave the country with you when I don’t even know what’s going on. I’m sorry. But after all that’s happened, I think if you’re in some sort of trouble you should go to the police.”

  He gritted his teeth at the mention of the police. “Green has it out for me. You know that. He thinks that since I slipped up once, I can never go straight.”

  “If you need help, Johnny, you need to find it. I can’t help you when I don’t know what the problem is.” This she said firmly and tried to resist looking at the closet. She didn’t know how much oxygen was in there. Maybe she shouldn’t have locked the door. What if Wesley fainted in there?

  “Think about it, Kate.” Johnny turned to go, then paused. “I’ll be at work until five o’clock. Then I’m going to hightail it out of here. I can’t leave any earlier or people might get suspicious.” He turned and caught her close to him again in a tight embrace. “Think about us, darling, all that we’ve been through. You don’t want to throw that away.”

  Katherine hugged him close, her throat tied up in knots. That’s what she didn’t want to do—to think of what they’d been through. If she did that she might not be able to let him go. She didn’t want him to leave, but she couldn’t go with him either. Not with what had happened recently. She fervently hoped he wouldn’t get into more trouble. “I’ll think about it.” He squeezed her again and turned to go.

  She couldn’t bear the thought of him being locked up in prison again. “Johnny.” He turned to her again.

  Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought that she might never see him again. “Please don’t wait for me. If you need to leave, leave,” she urged him. He looked at her for a long moment not saying anything. Then he turned and silently shut the door behind him.