Broken Pieces

by Carla Cassidy

  He’d had enough. The stress of the night coupled with his exhaustion made him snap. “Don’t start, Sherri Dawn,” he warned her in a low, ominous voice. “Just don’t go there.”

  Her full lower lip puffed out into one of her pouts. “They say you never forget your first love. I just can’t stand the thought of you being with me but wishing you were with her.”

  Clay slammed his hands down on the steering wheel, losing the barely held control he’d maintained. “Let me tell you a little something about love because you don’t seem to get it. Love isn’t two teenagers standing in some dumb gazebo. Love is me holding back your hair while you puke with morning sickness. It’s me cleaning up baby shit and playing with the kids so you can take a bubble bath. Love is wanting to be a better man for you and …” To his abject horror he began to weep. He hid his face in his hands as emotion spilled out of him in the form of deep, choking sobs.

  “Oh, Big Dog,” Sherri said softly, calling him by his old high school name. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been silly and acting like a total bitch.” She placed a loving hand on his forearm.

  He shook his head and sucked in a breath as he dropped his hands from his face. “It’s not just you,” he said. “Last night somebody almost killed Mariah’s friend Janice in the park. It was a brutal attack.”

  “Oh my God,” Sherri exclaimed. “You have any idea who did it?”

  He shook his head and stared at his wife. “I’m scared, Sherri.” The words came from him as if released under enormous pressure, a hiss that steamed from a teapot.

  She frowned. “Scared of what, Big Dog?”

  His heart thundered in his chest, so painful that he wondered if maybe he was on the verge of a heart attack. “I’m scared that finally everyone in town is going to know the truth about me. I’m afraid that you’ll realize I’m not the hero you think I am. I’m not a good sheriff for this town. I’m just a dumb ex-jock in way over my head.”

  Sherri’s arms stretched to enfold him as she leaned across the console. “Come on, honey. Let’s go inside. You need some of my biscuits and gravy, then sleep.”

  They got out of the car and when they reached the front door, Sherri raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him, a soul-stirring kiss meant to soothe, but it did nothing to warm the icy coldness of the fear that gripped Clay’s bowels.

  Chapter 26

  The most difficult thing Mariah had ever done was tell her daughter what had happened to Janice. Jack was gone by the time Kelsey arrived home from Katie’s just before noon.

  By that time, Mariah had already called the hospital to check on Janice. According to the nurse she spoke to, Janice was listed in serious, but stable, condition.

  Kelsey took the news as Mariah had thought she would, hard. She cried like a baby in Mariah’s arms and Mariah cried with her.

  Kelsey was now up in her room and Mariah stood at the front door watching for Jack, who was coming to take her and Kelsey to get Mariah’s car, which was still parked on Main Street where Janice had left it.

  What she wanted to do was get Janice transferred to a hospital in Chicago, place the house with a local Realtor and get the hell out of here.

  She stepped out on the front porch, her gaze focused on the grove of trees. The air even smelled evil today, humid and thick. She wished she could get back the mental fog that had gripped her last night when she’d left the hospital.

  But the morning had brought a clarity that was painful and sharp. The man who had raped her hadn’t been a drifter on his way through town. He hadn’t been caught and put in prison and he hadn’t died.

  Broken pieces.

  How many other women had been broken by him over the past sixteen years? A razor edge of guilt sliced through her heart. If she’d told years ago, if she’d reported what had happened to her, would Janice have been attacked last night? And if she didn’t tell now, how many more women would be brutalized?

  There’s nothing to tell, a small voice whispered inside her head. You don’t know who attacked you. You can’t describe him. You have no information that would help catch him.

  And telling would destroy everything else in her life.

  No, the best thing to do was run. Leave town. Wasn’t that what had been painted across her house? GO HOME. It was time to obey that spray-painted command.

  As Jack’s car came up the drive, a new grief pierced her heart. She could have built a life with him. In the brief time they’d been together, he’d touched her on so many levels. In running from evil, she was also running from love and all the good things that Jack might have brought into her life.

  “Kelsey, Jack is here,” she called up the stairs.

  “Can’t I just stay here?” Kelsey asked as she came down the stairs. Her eyes were red and swollen and she held Tiny tightly in her arms.

  “I’d rather you not,” Mariah said. The last thing she wanted was for Kelsey to be home alone while a monster was loose. “Besides, I’m planning on stopping by the hospital. Don’t you want to see Janice?”

  Kelsey’s face crumbled and tears streaked down her cheeks. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can stand it.”

  Mariah placed an arm around her daughter’s shoulder, her heart squeezing so tight it hurt her chest. “I’m not going to lie to you. She looks horrible, but I’m sure what she needs more than anything right now is to hear our voices, to know that we’re close to her. She needs us both, Kelsey.”

  Mariah knew the strength her daughter possessed and Kelsey didn’t disappoint her. “You’re right,” she said. She straightened as Mariah dropped her arm from around her. She placed Tiny on the floor, swiped at her tears with the backs of her hands, then marched out the front door like a soldier going to war.

  Jack greeted Kelsey with a hug and as Mariah walked down the porch stairs, her heart ached at the sight of the man and the child she loved in a caring embrace. He would have made a good stepfather. He would have been a terrific male role model in her daughter’s life.

  He released Kelsey only to take Mariah into his arms. “You doing okay?” he asked when he released her. He held her gaze as if trying to see inside her, deep into her soul.

  She nodded and the three of them got into the car. “I guess we’ll need to stop by the sheriff’s office to make sure I can get the car,” she said once they were under way. She had no idea if it might have been impounded because of the crime.

  “Have you talked to Clay to see if he’s come up with anything to catch this guy?” Jack asked.

  “I called earlier, but he wasn’t in. The deputy I spoke to wouldn’t give me any information. I’m hoping Janice saw enough to be able to identify him.” That would certainly ease some of the guilt for me, Mariah thought.

  If Clay caught the person who attacked Janice, then Mariah wouldn’t have to feel so bad about keeping her silence and leaving town. She wouldn’t have to think about how many others might suffer at the hands of this man.

  But when they reached the sheriff’s office, Clay quickly dashed Mariah’s hopes. “She didn’t see who it was,” he said. “She was attacked from behind and whoever it was threw that bag over her head before she got even a glimpse of who it was.”

  “What about the witness?” Jack asked hopefully.

  Clay grimaced. He looked exhausted, with bruise-like bags beneath his eyes. “A big dark shadow. That’s the only description I’ve gotten so far. But my men are still questioning people and hopefully in the next day or two we’ll get a break.”

  Please, let them find a clue. Give them a break, Mariah thought. “What about my car? Is it all right for me to take it?” she asked.

  Clay nodded and pulled Janice’s purse from the bottom drawer of his desk. “I took the liberty of taking this and bringing it here for safekeeping. The car isn’t part of the crime scene, so I see no reason why you can’t have it back.” He handed her the purse. “The keys are inside.”

  Mariah realized there were other questions she wanted—no, needed—to ask him, but
not now, not with Jack and Kelsey present. She’d have to figure out another time, another place, to ask him the questions that suddenly burned inside her.

  Once they left the office, Jack walked them to her car. “You going on over to the hospital?” he asked. Mariah nodded. “You want company later this evening or would you prefer to be alone?”

  She wanted him. Oh God, how she wanted him. She wanted to sit and have coffee with him and let him tell her silly animal stories. She wanted him to watch a sitcom with them and laugh together. She wanted anything but the piercing sadness she now felt as she looked at him.

  “I think Kelsey and I need a night alone,” she replied. She realized then that there had been a part of her that had entertained the idea of living here, of building a life in the house she’d transformed from something ugly into something beautiful.

  Someplace in the magic of a barely realized fantasy, she’d begun to see Jack living with them here, sleeping beside her every night in a master bedroom transformed by love.

  She’d even believed that Kelsey might embrace the idea. In the short time they’d been here, she’d made so many new friends and hadn’t seemed eager to leave. She obviously liked Jack, and Mariah thought she would have welcomed him into their life.

  But that was all changed now. Time to run. Time to run. Those were the words that echoed in Mariah’s head as she and Kelsey entered the hospital.

  Janice had been moved to room 112 and just before they entered the room, Mariah took Kelsey’s hand. “Just remember no matter what she looks like on the outside, she’s still the woman we love and she needs to know that now more than ever.”

  Kelsey’s blue eyes misted, but she bit her lower lip and nodded. Together she and Mariah walked into the room. The lights were dim, the shades pulled tight against the late-afternoon sun.

  But when Janice turned her head to look at them, a cry escaped Kelsey. “It’s okay, baby,” Janice said, the words half-garbled by both pain medication and the swollen condition of her face and mouth. “It looks much worse than it is.”

  She raised a hand to Kelsey, who had begun to weep. Mariah watched as her daughter grabbed Janice’s hand and sat in the chair at her side. For the next few minutes it was Janice who offered comfort, whispering in low tones to Kelsey until the teenager’s tears had dried.

  “I’m going to need a new nose,” Janice said. “I’m thinking of something long and elegant like Angelina Jolie’s. Maybe then I’ll give my man Brad a call and see if he wants a date.”

  A small giggle escaped Kelsey. “Aunt Janice, I think it will take more than a new nose to interest Brad.” Kelsey’s smile fell. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right?”

  “Right as rain, doll face,” Janice replied. “Now stop looking so worried. I’m a tough old broad and I’m going to be just fine.”

  She might be a tough old broad, but it was obvious she was already growing tired. “Kelsey, why don’t you run to the gift shop and see if there’s a pretty flower arrangement to cheer up the room.” Mariah pulled some bills out of her wallet.

  Mariah sat in the chair Kelsey vacated and when her daughter left the room, she gazed at her friend. “Were you raped?”

  Janice closed her eyes and shook her head. She looked at Mariah. “I thought that’s what it was about. I thought that’s what he was going to do. He had an erection. When he was laying on top of me, I felt him.” She paused a moment, her face a grimace of pain. “But then he just went crazy and started kicking and punching me.”

  Mariah leaned closer. “And you’re sure of what he said to you.”

  “It was him, Mariah. I’m positive of what he said, of what I heard.” She turned on her side, releasing a gasp of pain.

  “I want you transferred out of here as soon as it’s possible,” Mariah said. “We’ll get you back to a hospital in Chicago, find the best doctors.”

  “I just need time to heal. Although I look and feel like hell, I’ll probably be released from here in the next day or two.”

  “Then I’ll get things ready for all of us to leave town then. We’ll get back to Chicago and you can stay with us until you’re healed up.” A sickness rolled in the pit of Mariah’s stomach as her friend stared at her with surprise.

  “You’re just going to leave? Just walk away from here? Mariah, he’s escalated. He’s not only a rapist anymore—he’s something worse. He’s become a killer.”

  “There’s nothing I can do,” Mariah exclaimed, a flush warming her face as her voice rose an octave. “There’s no information I can give that will help find him.” She drew a deep breath and lowered her voice. “Don’t ask me to tell, Janice. Please, don’t ask me.”

  “It’s not my place to ask,” she replied as Kelsey came back into the room carrying a vase filled with multicolored blooms.

  A half hour later as Mariah drove home, Janice’s words reverberated around and around in her head. He’s escalated. He’s become a killer. There was no question that he meant to kill Janice.

  There was no doubt in Mariah’s mind that if Jess Cooper hadn’t decided to cut through the park at the time that he had, Janice would be dead.

  By the time Mariah reached the house, she knew what she wanted to do was talk to Clay. She needed to ask some questions, to get some answers, before she made a final decision about leaving Plains Point.

  “You think Katie’s mom would let you spend the night again tonight?” Mariah asked her daughter as they came into the kitchen.

  Kelsey looked at her in surprise. “I don’t know, probably. Why? What are you going to do?”

  “I just have some things I need to take care of and I know you’d be bored to tears and I don’t think you should be here alone.”

  Kelsey’s eyes widened. “Do you think he’ll try to hurt you or me? Do you think that whoever attacked Aunt Janice might come here?”

  “No, not at all,” Mariah replied quickly. “There’s no reason to think there was anything personal about Janice’s attack. If I was to guess, maybe somebody tried to rob her, and you know Janice—she’s spunky and maybe she fought back.”

  “Is that what Janice said happened?”

  “She’s still a little foggy on the details,” Mariah replied.

  “I’ll go call Katie,” Kelsey said. “But Mom, if you’re out and around tonight, you will be careful, won’t you?”

  Mariah pulled her daughter into her arms and buried her face in the clean scent of Kelsey’s hair. “Don’t you worry about me. You just have fun with your friend.” She held Kelsey for a moment longer, her intense love for her daughter nearly bringing her to tears.

  She finally released her. “Now, go call Katie.”

  As Kelsey ran up the stairs, Mariah picked up Tiny, who’d been trying to get somebody’s, anybody’s, attention. She stood by the front window and stared outside. How many times would she look at those trees and feel as if there was something important in her head, something buried just beneath the surface of her memory?

  Each time she had her nightmare and awakened, in those brief moments before full consciousness struck, she had the feeling that an important piece of information, a clue, was just within her reach, but before she could grasp it, it was gone.

  “Katie’s mom said yes.” Kelsey came down the stairs. “She said you can drop me off anytime.”

  Mariah looked at her watch, then gave Tiny to Kelsey. “It’s almost five. Why don’t we eat some dinner, and then I’ll drop you at Katie’s.”

  Dinner consisted of sandwiches and chips, although neither Mariah nor Kelsey had much of an appetite. After eating, they cleaned up the kitchen, then got into the car to take Kelsey to her friend’s house.

  “Katie said that if we decided to stay here and not go back to Chicago, I could try out for cheerleader and I’d probably make the squad.”

  “Would you like that? I mean staying here, not making the cheerleader squad,” Mariah asked.

  “Yeah, kind of. I didn’t think I’d like it here, but I’ve m
ade some cool friends and I like our house. It’s so much nicer than our apartment.”

  The nervous energy that had been with Mariah since the moment she’d talked to Janice after the attack twisted tightly in her stomach.

  No, honey, we can’t stay here because there’s a madman walking the streets, and oh, by the way, I’m pretty sure he’s your father.

  “So, is there a possibility we might stay here?”

  “Oh, honey, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you. It’s complicated. Besides, that was really never in the plans.” Mariah pulled up in front of Katie’s house. “Call me when you’re ready to come home in the morning and I’ll come pick you up.”

  “Okay.” Kelsey leaned over and gave Mariah a kiss on the cheek. “Love you, Mom.” She grabbed her overnight bag from the backseat and then got out of the car.

  Mariah watched as her daughter ran toward Katie’s house, and an unexpected sense of impending danger crashed through Mariah. She wanted to jump out of the car and grab her daughter and keep her by her side until they left town. But she knew Kelsey would be safe at Katie’s house. The Arrowoods were big on supervision and this was probably one of the safest places for Kelsey to be at the moment.

  She pulled out of the driveway and headed into town, a cold chunk inside her stomach. She thought of those times when she’d sensed somebody watching her, the night she’d seen the figure hiding among the trees.

  Arctic air whipped through her as she thought about the night she’d believed that somebody had been in the house, coming up the stairs. Now that she knew that her rapist still walked these streets, those isolated incidents were all the more chilling.

  He was after her. She felt it in her soul. She’d thought she was going crazy, but she wasn’t. He was after her and she knew that if he managed to get her again, this time she wouldn’t survive.

  He was out of control. Crazy, heart-pounding, head-crashing out of control. As he sat in the café and sipped his coffee and listened to the latest gossip making the rounds, he realized just how lucky he’d been not to get caught.