A Thousand Lies

by Sala, Sharon

  “I want my Mama,” she whispered.

  Brendan frowned. More bad news she wasn’t going to like. “Mama is at the hospital, but we’ll go see her.”

  Linny’s demeanor shifted. “What happened to her? Did she get shot?”

  “No. She got hurt before you even got here.”

  Disbelief was on her face. “Did Daddy hurt her again?”

  “Yes,” he said and kept walking to the house.

  Sheriff Henry had Anson by the arm and was walking him toward a police car.

  Anson gave his daughter an angry glare as they passed. “I should’ve dropped you in the Mississippi the day you were born,” he growled.

  Linny looked up from her brother’s shoulder, her eyes and cheek red and swollen, her face streaked with tears.

  “You are going to die,” she whispered.

  Anson started to laugh, then choked instead as a thin spiral of smoke suddenly appeared on the ground in front of him. He lurched backward, crying out.

  “Look! Look at that smoke! Do you see that?”

  Henry yanked him back into place. “Stand still. You’re not going anywhere.”

  Anson was in a panic as he struggled against his restraints. The smoke had turned into a flame. It kept getting bigger and moving toward him at a steady pace.

  He began scream. “Can’t you see it? It’s burning! We have to get away! Get me out of here now!”

  Brendan just kept walking.

  “Daddy’s going to die,” Linny said as the deputies began shoving him into the backseat of a cruiser.

  “Whatever happens to him has nothing to do with you,” Brendan said as he entered the house. “Let’s get your hands and face washed, and then we need to get you to a doctor.”

  Linny face crumpled. “I don’t want to see a doctor. I want to see Mama.”

  “But they’re in the same place, sugar,” Sam said.

  “Why do I have to see a doctor? I’m not sick,” Linny wailed.

  The brothers looked at each other at a loss as to how to explain the need to make sure she hadn’t been raped. Then she surprised them by saying it for them.

  “They didn’t touch me. Not anywhere, Brendan. I’d tell you if they did.”

  Brendan set her on the kitchen counter and then wrapped his arms around her, his voice shaking. “You were so brave. You did everything right, and I was so afraid I had failed you.”

  Linny hugged him. “You came just like you said you would.” She looked up at Sam and then Chance, giving them both a shaky smile. “I have the best brothers ever.”

  Chance ran into the library and came back with Rabbit. “Here, sugar. You won’t want to go without Rabbit.”

  Linny turned her head and wouldn’t look at it. “Rabbit is all bloody,” she whispered. “I think he died.”

  It was all Chance could do not to cry. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. We’ll leave him here for now.”

  Linny kept her face hidden on Brendan’s shoulder. “You need to bury him. That’s what happens to things that die,” she whispered.

  “I’ll bury him for you, baby. I promise,” Sam said.

  She wouldn’t look back as they carried her away.

  ****

  LaDelle woke up in ER as a nurse was shaving the hair from her head. All she could feel was a pounding pain at the back of her head before she passed out again. After that, she kept drifting in and out of consciousness, once as an X-ray machine was being moved over her head, and again as they were putting staples in her head. She kept trying to remember what had happened.

  The next time she woke up, Claudette was at her bedside praying, and Delle wondered if she was going to die. It wasn’t until Brendan and Linny arrived that her pain went from bad to worse, only it wasn’t her head that hurt then. It was her heart.

  ****

  Delle began coming around after they’d moved her to a regular hospital room. She’d talked briefly to Claudette, but it was awkward. The accusation was in her sister’s eyes. She’d knowingly gone back into a place that had not been safe, and she had to accept that she was mostly responsible for the situation she found herself in now.

  She knew Linny had been rescued, but it wasn’t until she saw her for herself that she began to feel easier.

  Brendan came in holding Linny’s hand as firmly as if she’d been a toddler trying to walk. And when Delle saw the bruise on her daughter’s cheek and the cut on her lip, even though she knew they would heal, she felt guilty all over again.

  “Oh, Linny! Sweetheart! My prayers have been answered. I’m so glad you’re safe,” Delle said and held out her arms, but Linny leaned backward against Brendan instead.

  “Your hair is all gone.”

  Delle was shocked by her daughter’s reticence, and sensed it had to do with much more than her lack of hair.

  “I have a lot of staples in my head. They had to take it off to fix what got hurt. Will you come let me hold your hand? I need to touch my baby girl to know she’s really okay.”

  Linny laid her hand in her mother’s palm, but looked out the window rather than in her mother’s eyes.

  Delle squeezed the slender fingers gently. “Look at me, honey.”

  Linny’s gaze shifted.

  Delle sighed. “I’m so sorry about what happened to you. I would never have believed your daddy could have been that bad.”

  “I told you he was the Evil Overlord and you didn’t believe me... even when he was mean to you, too.”

  “I know. I made a mistake and you paid for it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Delle said and started to weep.

  Brendan frowned. This wasn’t what Linny needed. Not now.

  “We have to go, Mama. Sheriff Henry wants Linny to be examined so they’ll know exactly what charges to file.”

  Shock swept over Delle again as she realized what this meant. Dear God, they were going to do a rape kit. The invasive exam would most likely scare her all over again, and she wasn’t able to be there with her. She covered her face and started to sob.

  Claudette sighed. LaDelle was a strong woman, but with a single weakness that had nearly destroyed them all.

  “Brendan, do you want me to go with you?” she asked.

  He glanced at Linny and then shook his head. “We’ll be fine, Auntie, won’t we little sister?”

  Linny nodded, but tightened her grip just in case. “When we’re done, I want to go home with you, Bren. Can I go home with you?”

  “Yes, honey. Once we’re done here at the hospital, you are going home with me.”

  ****

  Brendan was still reeling from what Linny had to go through. The person who’d done the rape kit had been very gentle, speaking to her in a very slow, quiet voice explaining everything she did ahead of time.

  Brendan stood beside the exam table, holding his sister’s hand with his gaze firmly fixed on the red imprint on her cheek and the bloody split on her lip where Riordan had slapped her. He wanted to throw up. In the middle of all that, Julie sent him a text.

  Is everyone okay?

  He sent one back.

  We’re alive. For now, it is enough.

  Sending you my love. If you need me, all you have to do is call.

  Love you, but stay away. I don’t want you dragged into the chaos that surrounds me.

  She sent him back one last message. No words. Just a heart. It was enough.

  ****

  The arrest of Wesley Riordan for child trafficking and kidnapping was shocking, but nothing to the uproar that hit when people began learning that Anson Poe had actually sold his nine-year-old daughter into prostitution.

  But it wasn’t the sale of a child that was garnering the most attention. It was how her three brothers had pulled off her rescue. One of the cops had captured the whole thing on a cell phone and even though it had been filmed from a distance, the graphic nature of it had been shocking. Once the video showed up at police headquarters, it wasn’t long before it was leaked. It showed up on YouTube, and before night,
it went viral. They became instant heroes as the media swarmed the city of New Orleans vying for interviews, and no one was prouder than Juliette March. Once again, the man she loved had proven himself worthy of so much more than the name he bore.

  She’d caught part of a news report earlier the following morning, showing Brendan coming out of the hospital holding Linny’s hand, then another of the news conference Sumter Henry held praising Brendan Poe’s quick actions, the brothers’ bravery, and his department’s swift response, and she went to find her grandmother.

  ****

  Portia March was in the back garden, sitting in a white wicker glider with an open magazine in her lap. Every so often she would toe the ground to give the glider a slight push, just enough to keep it in motion as she gazed off into the distance. When she heard footsteps approaching, she saw her granddaughter and smiled.

  “Good morning, darling. I was just out here enjoying the sun. Come sit with me.”

  Julie slid onto the seat beside her and then took her by the hand. “Nonny, it’s time for me to go home.”

  Portia eyed the fading marks on Julie’s face and arms.

  “You know I’ve loved having you here, but it’s your call.”

  “I couldn’t have gotten through these past weeks without you,” she said and kissed her grandmother’s cheek.

  Portia snorted lightly. “Of course you could and would have if the need had arisen. You are a March, and you are a survivor. So are you going back to your apartment?”

  “Thank you for the vote of confidence, Nonny, and yes, I’m going back. Brendan needs help, and I need to feel useful again. In the grand scheme of things, who would ever have imagined that my abduction would actually become a useful experience? I can relate to what his little sister is going through better than anyone.”

  Portia eyed her granddaughter thoughtfully. “You are a very special young woman. I would never have thought to look at it from that point of view.”

  Julie’s smile slipped. She struggled not to fall back into that dark place where she’d put Chub Walton and his whip.

  “I’m ready to live my life again, whatever that means... whatever it brings.”

  “You are a brave girl, and I’m very proud of you.”

  “Thank you, Nonny. I’m going to go pack and I’ll leave after lunch.”

  “Call your father. Make him take you home.”

  Julie frowned. “I’ll call a cab. I’m not in the mood to put up with him today.”

  Portia shook her head. “Call him. Do it for me.”

  Julie relented. “All right, I will, but only because you asked.”

  Portia patted her hand. “That’s my girl. Now go tell Janie we’ll have an early lunch today in honor of your departure.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Julie said and hurried back into the house.

  ****

  Grayson March was as chastened as a man could be and not be groveling. Like the rest of the world, he’d watched the rescue take place while acknowledging to himself that he wouldn’t have had the guts.

  Twice in the space of just weeks, Brendan Poe had shown not only remarkable courage, but sharp foresight in coping with two equally dire situations. The media was all over the event and how it had played out, right down to the harrowing showdown.

  Grayson was still finding it hard to believe what Anson had done. Grayson loved his daughter so deeply he couldn’t imagine ever doing something as cold and callus as what Poe had done.

  He was coming out of an early morning meeting when his cell phone rang. When he saw it was from Julie, he stepped aside into a foyer to take the call.

  “Good morning, darling.”

  “Hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”

  “No, it is the perfect time. Are you okay? Do you need something?”

  “I’m fine. In fact, that’s the reason I’m calling. I told Nonny this morning that I’m ready to go home, and she insisted I call you for a ride.”

  He frowned. “I’m sorry you wouldn’t have thought that for yourself.”

  “Look, Daddy, every time we’re together, I get the third degree from you and Mother about my personal business, and frankly, it hurts my feelings. Surely you can understand why I wouldn’t immediately want to thrust myself right back into that environment.”

  “Yes, I’m sorry about that, and we need to talk.”

  Julie groaned. “No. We do not need to talk. In fact, never mind. I’ll call a cab to take me back to my apartment.”

  Grayson flinched. “No, no, you misunderstood me. I want to apologize.”

  “You’ve apologized before and it didn’t take. Why would this be any different?”

  He winced. Truth was hard to take.

  “Look, I can be hard-headed and resistant to change as much as the next man, but when faced with an impeachable truth, I like to think I’m man enough to back down. Once again, your Brendan has proven himself to be a most remarkable, even heroic man. I get it. I get him. And honestly, I think it was his looks that made it so hard for me to separate him from his father. Maybe because they looked so much alike, I kept thinking they would be alike in personality as well.”

  “Well, they’re not,” Julie said.

  “And I finally see that. I’m sorry. I’ll tell him the same thing. And, yes, I will happily take you home. Just tell me when to come pick you up.”

  “Has Mother reached the same understanding?”

  Grayson paused. “You know your Mother.”

  Julie frowned. “Then don’t bring her with you.”

  “I won’t. I promise. I’ll be there about half-past one. Is that okay?”

  “Yes and thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome, Juliette.”

  Grayson dropped his cell phone back in his pocket and then headed back to his office with a new mantra—one thing, one day at a time.

  He went home for lunch, purposefully to speak to Lana about his revelations, and he was in the dining room reading his newspaper while waiting for her to arrive.

  Lana came in minutes later, pleased that Grayson had come home to have lunch with her, and greeted him with a perfunctory kiss, then looked over his shoulder to see what he was reading.

  “So, isn’t that just shameful about that Poe family?”

  Grayson looked up, frowning at Lana as the maid came in with two servings of crab salad and a basket of hot croissants and served them at their seats.

  Grayson nodded his thanks, and the moment they were alone, responded. “On the contrary, Lana, the family isn’t shameful. Anson is the only degenerate in the bunch.”

  She arched an eyebrow then forked a bite of the crab salad into her mouth, talking as she chewed, a trait that irked Grayson to no end.

  “Now, Grayson, you know what I mean. They are a disreputable lot, to say the least.”

  “I don’t agree.”

  She frowned. “But they were growing and selling marijuana, then Anson sold that poor little girl. Why, she’ll never be able to hold her head up as long as she lives. People will—”

  Grayson felt his gorge rise. It was people like Lana who would ostracize that child, if for no other reason than the belief in their own superiority.

  “Damn it! That’s enough!” Grayson said and slapped the table so hard it made Lana jump.

  She frowned, then laid her fork across her plate and dabbed her mouth with a napkin.

  “I won’t be yelled at, at my own table,” she said. “You don’t—”

  “No, you don’t, Lana. Don’t ever let me hear you say a bad word about Belinda Poe again. She’s an innocent, beautiful nine-year-old child, and-“

  Lana sniffed. “How do you know she’s so innocent now? I mean, those men—”

  Grayson’s eyes narrowed angrily. “You heard me. Not a fucking word, and if you do, I will make you sorry.”

  She started to snap back at him and then something in his eyes made her stop.

  “Whatever,” she said and broke off a piece of croissant, popping
it into her mouth as well. “I have Garden Club this afternoon.”

  “And I’m taking Julie home. She called me this morning and asked for a ride back to her apartment.”

  Lana frowned. “I can’t believe you’re doing that. She needs to come home where she belongs.”

  “Actually, Lana, she’s a grown woman capable of making her own decisions. I’ve also come to the conclusion that Brendan Poe is a remarkable and honorable young man, and that she’s lucky to have him.”

  Lana gasped. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Well, no it’s not. Don’t you pay attention to anything but the gossip in your social circles? It’s because of him that we still have our daughter, and now he and his brothers have pulled off what some considered an impossible rescue. He’s an impressive man, and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to see that.”

  Lana was pouting now and he could see through the ruse. He stifled a grin. He might as well ruin the rest of her day while he was at it.

  “I’m going to get a lawyer for LaDelle and her boys. The DEA is already involved, and they don’t deserve to be dragged into anymore of Anson’s hell.”

  She looked up, horror etched on her face. “You’re going to get a lawyer for them? Why on earth would you involve us in such a disgusting situation?”

  “Because your daughter will likely marry Brendan Poe, which will make them our in-laws, that’s why.”

  “No!” Lana cried and clutched her heart as if it was about to leap from her chest. “I won’t have it. Did she tell you this? When did she tell you? We have to do something!”

  “She didn’t tell me, but I know it. I knew it when I saw them together at the hospital and I wouldn’t acknowledge it. He saw her at her worst and loved her anyway. He didn’t turn away in disgust. He didn’t even ask if she’d been raped because it wouldn’t change the way he felt about her. He’s better than both of us, my dear wife, and after what he did to save Julie, and then the brilliance in the way he helped rescue his little sister, he should be lauded, not shamed.”

  Lana’s face was flushed with anger. “Our friends will laugh at us behind our backs.”