Welcome to Last Chance

by Hope Ramsay

  Stony blinked at him for a moment and then shifted his gaze to Jane, something changing in his face. “Has he been here all night?”

  “It’s none of your business,” Jane said, and Clay could tell she was as pissed at Stone as she was at him. She had good reason, too. Boy, what a couple of losers they were.

  “It is if you’re his alibi.” Stone shifted his gaze back. “Although I have to admit that she’s a pretty unreliable alibi, given her criminal past.”

  “Alibi for what?” Clay asked.

  “So you’re telling me you had nothing to do with Ray escaping from the halfway house last night?”

  “He escaped?” A boatload of guilt hit Clay. If Ray had escaped on his own, then he was out there by himself, probably scared and lost. And what had Clay been doing?

  “Get your clothes on,” Stone said, “because in about five minutes Sheriff Bennett is going to be here to haul you in for questioning. And I’m telling you, if the sheriff decides he wants to charge you for being an accessory to a jailbreak, there isn’t much I can do to help you out. But I can haul you in first and buy a little time.”

  “You’re serious. You’re going to arrest me?”

  “Nah, just bring you in for questioning. If you tell me where Ray is, I’ll go easy on you.”

  “I don’t know where Ray is. Maybe you and the sheriff should be searching for him.”

  “We are. Have been all night. You would have known this if you had been home. But you weren’t home, and that looks mighty suspicious. According to Ricki and Tricia, you haven’t been home since yesterday before church. And then we found your extension ladder leaned up against the halfway house up in Orangeburg.”

  “My ladder?”

  “Uh-huh. The one with your name etched on the third step.”

  “Stone, Daddy borrowed that ladder on Friday morning. He was using it out at the golf course on account of the fact that Jesus sustained some damage during the hurricane. You can ask him.”

  “Yeah, well, I already did. And it isn’t at Golfing for God now. Someone took it up to Orangeburg. My guess is that someone is you. So don’t play stupid with me, okay?”

  “I didn’t help Ray escape,” Clay said, feeling the pit of his stomach drop and his heart rate kick up. Was it possible that Alex was trying to frame both of them? Jesus H. Christ, he was in trouble here because the county sheriff was Alex’s first cousin on his daddy’s side.

  “He’s been here since about noon yesterday,” Jane said from right behind Clay. It made something hitch up in Clay’s chest to know that Jane had come to his defense.

  Stone gave her a skeptical look. “That would be eighteen hours?” His gaze swept over the bed and the little foil wrappers, missing nothing. “Was he with you the whole time?”

  “No, he went out around ten o’clock. He was gone for about half an hour.”

  “Only half an hour?”

  “Look, Stone, I went out and got some burgers and stopped in at the Rexall for a few things. Amy Swallock was at the checkout, and I’d be willing to bet she would remember me and what I bought. In fact, I have this feeling that most of Last Chance is going to know I was at the all-night Rexall last night buying a king-sized box of rubbers.”

  Stone shook his head. “Get dressed, Clay. I don’t know whether to bring you in for being a criminal or just an idiot.”

  “I’m telling you I didn’t—”

  Stony held up his hand. “I believe you. But I doubt Billy Bennett will, since Alex is on a tear about this. Just put your clothes on, okay? I need to figure out how I’m going to stop the sheriff from arresting you.”

  “You mean my alibi doesn’t count?” Jane asked. God bless her sweet little heart.

  Stone looked at her. “I doubt Billy Bennett would take your word once he speaks with the detective up in Lexington. And, honey, you can count on him doing that if you come forward as an alibi witness. Because when you put the name Wanda Jane Coblentz into the system, it lights up like a Christmas tree. My guess is that Billy would slap your butt in jail faster than I can say Jack Robinson. He doesn’t have to worry about staying on Momma’s good side like I do.”

  “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Stone, she’s not a murderer.”

  “Get your clothes on,” Stone ordered.

  His big brother was in full-out police chief mode, and there was no deterring him. “Okay, I will, but can I have a private moment, please?”

  Stone leaned his body into the door frame. “Nope. The sheriff is going to be here in two minutes, and you don’t want him to see you wearing those boxers, boy. Trust me on this. They’ll be laughing all the way to Orangeburg.”

  Clay shook his head and turned back into the room. Jane was standing there looking kind of pitiful and forlorn and angry and hot all at once. So much for a romantic and soulful morning after.

  He took her by the upper arm and walked her farther into the room. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Honey, I meant what I said earlier. I intend to marry you, and I’m not going to take no for an answer. And it’s not because I’m thirty-four and ready to take a wife. I’ve been looking for a wife since I was twenty. I’m the marrying kind, I guess. And it’s taken me fourteen years to find the right girl, and I’m not about to let her get away. The fact is I—”

  “Clay, would you hurry it up, please. The sheriff has just pulled into the parking lot with his lights flashing.”

  Jane’s eyes got wide. “You better go with Stone.”

  Clay kissed her quick. “Don’t you run away, now. Because I intend to finish this conversation tonight. You understand?”

  Jane nodded.

  Clay turned and collected his pants from the floor. He stepped into them and zipped the fly just as Billy Bennett swaggered up the stairs and started reading him his rights.

  CHAPTER 18

  Well, that settled it. Mary Smith had to be working with Freddie the Fence, or maybe with someone in competition with Freddie. And from the look of things, the cops were closing in on her.

  Woody pulled the brim of his ball cap down around his ears and rustled the Monday morning paper as he watched the police cuff a big dude with a ponytail. They stuffed him into the back of a Crown Vic cruiser and hauled him away.

  Woody was sitting at a table in the front of the Kountry Kitchen that gave him a great view of the main drag and the second-floor apartment where Mary was supposed to be staying.

  He didn’t recognize the guy the cops arrested, but it had to be a big bust because both the local police and the county sheriff had arrived on the scene. The cops must not have figured out Mary’s connection to the heist of the Cambodian Camel, because they hadn’t arrested her. Of course, knowing Mary’s MO, it was possible she had already blown town.

  Although the yokels around here insisted that Mary was living up there above the beauty parlor and using an alias. Woody prayed Mary hadn’t handed off the Camel to the guy who had just been cuffed and stuffed. He needed that necklace and pronto. He might have shaken the FBI, but the Colombian’s goons were still on his tail. He had run out of time to come up with the twenty Gs he owed. He needed that necklace, now. His life depended on it.

  “Hey, Fred, where the heck are my eggs?” an old codger wearing a Country Pride Chicken hat yelled back to the short-order cook. The waitress had failed to show up for work, and the woman who had been pressed into service about an hour ago had obviously never worked a day in her life.

  “Ricki,” the cook yelled to the platinum blonde who was leaning over another table, displaying her cleavage. “Quit talking to Dash and come pick up the orders. I swear, I’m gonna kill Betty. I surely am.”

  “Hey,” the old codger yelled, as the waitress scurried to get the order. “You check Betty’s number? I mean, when was the last time Betty didn’t come to work?”

  “I can’t remember,” the cook said. “And yeah, I called her cell phone, and I called her at home. I didn’t get an answer.”

  “Shoot, we ought to cal
l Stone and get him to investigate. Ain’t like Betty not to show up for work.”

  “I already called the police. Damian said Stone was busy, on account of the fact Ray Betts escaped from that halfway house the state put him in. Damian said he would swing by Betty’s place, though, to make sure she was okay.”

  “Ray escaped. Really?”

  “Yeah, and I heard Clay was the one who sprung him loose. Kinda puts the chief of police between a rock and a hard place, don’t it?”

  “Now, that ain’t true, Fred,” a woman at the counter said.

  “What ain’t true? Stone being in a sticky situation or Clay being guilty of springing his best friend from the hoosegow?”

  “There is no way Clay Rhodes sprung Ray from that halfway house.” This from the guy who was flirting with the waitress named Ricki.

  “How you figure that, Dash?”

  “Because Aunt Mim heard from Amy Swallock that Clay was down at the all-night Rexall buying condoms at about ten-thirty last night. And according to Thelma Hanks, who called up this morning before the sky was even light, Ray escaped from that halfway house between ten and eleven o’clock. Aunt Mim figures Thelma should know since her husband is Ray’s attorney. The way I figure, there ain’t no way Clay could get up to Orangeburg and do that job and still be buying rubbers at the Rexall at ten-thirty. And besides, why would a man be buying rubbers at a time like that? To my mind, the more interesting question is who, precisely, is Clay Rhodes keeping company with. I’m willing to bet it’s—”

  The waitress named Ricki dropped the tray of orders that she was carrying, and Woody didn’t catch the name of the woman who was shacked up with the man named Clay. But that didn’t matter, because at that moment, Mary Smith walked out onto the landing of the fire escape that led to the second floor of the Cut ’n Curl beauty parlor.

  • • •

  What was it about the Universe anyway? One minute it seemed hell-bent on making every one of Jane’s wishes come true, and the next it was putting all kinds of obstacles in her way. Jane stepped out onto the landing and watched Sheriff Bennett and Stone drive off in opposite directions. She hugged herself, trying to figure out whether she was angry or scared or… well, joyful.

  Joyful seemed to be the right word for that little tickle of a feeling deep in her chest. Clay had asked her to marry him, which had thrown her for a real loop there for a moment. It had made her angry, before she realized that Clay was serious about it.

  And unless she had missed something important, the man had been right on the brink of making some kind of declaration of his feelings. Was it possible that the Universe was about to grant her deepest wish?

  Having Clay love her would be about the best thing in the Universe, because she had fallen hard for him, too. He was the sweetest man she had ever met. She actually wanted to take care of him. She had a long list of things she wanted to do for him and with him and to him: like sew him a shirt, even though she didn’t know how to sew, and cook him dinner, even though her idea of cooking was heating up a Lean Cuisine in the microwave. She also wanted to sing with him and make love with him until her strength was gone.

  Maybe, if her luck held, Clay would even forgive her when he learned that she was April the pinup girl. She sincerely hoped so. Because tonight, after they cleared up this mistake with the sheriff, she would have to tell him the whole, unvarnished truth, not only about those naked photos, but also about Woody and the loan sharks.

  Jane hugged herself and looked up at the morning sky. The weather had turned. Yesterday’s bright blue sky had given way to ominous clouds that presaged more rain—as if Last Chance needed more rain after Hurricane Jane had dumped five inches in a day and a half. The clouds made her feel uneasy. Like maybe her hopes for forgiveness and understanding were unfounded.

  She told herself there was no reason to feel jumpy. She had not killed anyone. And Clay was not responsible for Ray’s escape from the halfway house. Clay would forgive her after she explained how she had used the money from those photos to better her life.

  Jane fixed those affirmations in her mind and turned back into the apartment just in time to pick up the ringing telephone.

  “Honey, I surely hope I didn’t wake you up,” Ruby Rhodes’s voice came over the line. Jane wondered what Ruby might have to say if she learned where her son had been last night. Would she approve?

  Ruby would probably approve—wholeheartedly. And that was, maybe, the biggest affirmation of all. Hadn’t Ruby told her that she should go for it with Clay? And then there was the fact that Jane was Clay’s alibi.

  “No, ma’am, I’m awake,” she said.

  “Thank the Lord. I need a huge favor from you, honey. The elementary school is still closed because of the hole in the roof, and Haley flat-out refuses to go to Betsy Maxwell’s again. Would you mind looking after Haley for a little while? An emergency has just come up.”

  Jane was pretty sure she knew what the emergency was. Ruby was about to storm Stone’s jailhouse to spring her middle son from the jail. “Just Haley?” she asked.

  “The middle school is open, thank the Lord. Are you decent?”

  No, not even close. “Yeah, I’m decent.” She glanced at the mess in her apartment. She needed to move fast to clean up.

  “Be there in fifteen, tops.”

  Jane had just stepped out of a speed shower when she heard the knocking at her door. “Coming,” she hollered as she pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that used to belong to Sharon Rhodes. The shirt was faded pink and said something on the back of it, but she didn’t have time to read the words.

  Jane had cleaned up the obvious evidence of last night’s activities, but she’d have to keep her eye on Haley to make sure that child didn’t do any more trash-can snooping. She had a feeling Haley had a future in law enforcement or journalism—especially the kind that involved discovering the real juicy dirt and exposing it.

  She raced to the door and pulled it open…

  Her worst nightmare stood on the other side.

  Woody the weasel, aka Woody the peckerwood, didn’t wait to charm his way through the door. He used the brute-force method. Inside of five seconds, the man had her pinned to the wall. He didn’t look like he’d shaved in a solid week, and his jaw was covered in ugly bristles that detracted from his movie-star looks. He didn’t smell too good, either. His Reyn Spooner Hawaiian shirt—the one with the bright orange birds of paradise on it—had a ketchup stain right on the front.

  “Where is it?” Woody demanded, tightening his fists on her arms.

  Jane didn’t answer. Her throat seemed paralyzed by fear. The Universe had, once again, crapped all over her rainbow.

  He slammed her hard against the wall. “I asked you a question, damn it.”

  “Where’s what?” she asked, her voice wobbling.

  “Don’t play dumb with me,” he bellowed and gave her another violent shake.

  No one was going to rescue her from this. Even worse, in a few minutes, Ruby and Haley would come walking through the door and into this disaster.

  Jane couldn’t allow that.

  That thought brought an odd clarity to her mind. She inhaled deeply and reached for her calming mantra. Then she told her racing heart to slow down, and she forced her mind to work against the fear. She needed to get Woody out of that apartment, and the only way to do that would be to play along with him.

  “Okay, Woody,” she said in a surprisingly calm voice. “It’s not here.”

  “You gave it to your contact, didn’t you? Who are you working for? Did you and Freddie double-cross me? Or did you double-cross Freddie? Because if you did, honey, your life is toast. I mean Freddie doesn’t mess around with people who double-cross him. You know?”

  No, she didn’t know, but she needed to play along. “Look, I handed it off, okay?” It would be nice if she understood what she was supposed to have handed off and who Freddie was, although she had an idea that Freddie was not a legitimate businessman.
/>   “Where is he now?”

  Where is who, and what are we talking about? Every ticking second felt like a blow to her middle. Think, think, think, Jane, don’t panic. “In Bamberg,” she said, because it was the only place she could think of. She had no idea where Bamberg was, exactly, only that it was another little town in the next county over.

  Woody looked down at her, and she could almost see the cogs turning in his weasely brain. He shook her again, and she bit her tongue. The salty iron taste of blood filled her mouth.

  “You’re lying,” he said, then he backhanded her across the face.

  The sting of the slap stunned her for a moment. But not as much as what happened next, because Woody pulled a small handgun out of his pocket and put the barrel right up against her temple. He pinned her to the wall by encircling her neck with his left hand.

  “Where is it?”

  “Woody, I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said in a whiny voice that telegraphed her fear. She could feel her body going cold. It was hard to breathe.

  Suddenly, her brain didn’t want to think about anything except that she was going to die before she ever heard Clay say the words “I love you.” And before she could say them back to him.

  Woody squeezed her throat. “I’m talking about the goddamned Cambodian Camel. For chrissake, Mary, what did you do with it?”

  The Cambodian Camel? “Are you talking about that piece-of-crap necklace you gave me?”

  “Don’t play dumb, Mary.”

  “Uh, Woody, I threw that piece of junk away. It’s probably in the landfill by now.” Unless, of course, Haley was wearing it around her sweet little neck.

  Hoo boy.

  “What?” He lowered the gun and stared down at her with an incredulous look. But he still had her by the neck. “You threw it away? You couldn’t possibly be that dumb. You gave it to that guy they arrested this morning, didn’t you?”

  She almost laughed aloud. “No, honest, Woody, I didn’t give it to that guy.”