by Honey
Bethany’s girls meant the world to her, but she couldn’t afford to take them to Jamaica with her. Jay had promised that she would make arrangements to have the children join them on the island after they got settled. The girls would only slow them down during their travels. It was just too risky. So Bethany had written a letter to Todd’s mother, Louise, asking her to take care of Becky and Carley until she sent for them.
None of Bethany’s family members or friends would ever suspect she’d run away with some inmate she’d fallen madly in love with. Where she came from, gays and niggers were worse than Satan himself. But none of them knew how Jay made her feel inside and out. The way she called her beautiful and smart all the time made Bethany believe she was more than just a fat piece of white trash with only a GED. For the first time in years, Bethany felt special and needed by someone other than Todd or her girls. She was in love, and she didn’t give a damn what anybody thought about it.
Chapter Fifty-four
“Damn! You hit him hard! I hope you didn’t kill him.” Jay held out her arms for Bethany to free her of the handcuffs. Then she squatted down to check the sergeant’s pulse. Jay placed her hand on the left side of his chest to feel his heartbeat too. “Nah, he ain’t dead, but I bet he’s gonna have one of those hangover headaches whenever he wakes up.”
She and Bethany struggled to lift Sergeant Abernathy from the floor of the hospital’s parking deck and place him in the driver’s seat of his patrol cruiser. With adrenaline pumping, increasing their strength, they managed to do it quickly and unnoticed. The middle-aged man had never seen it coming. Bethany had crashed the butt of her department-issued firearm into the back of his head and had knocked him out cold. She disarmed him now and destroyed his radio. And then with his handcuffs, she and Jay locked his wrists to the steering wheel before placing his hat on his head. His pale face and grayish blond hair were saturated with perspiration. The stiff heat underneath the layers of concrete in the parking deck was almost unbearable.
“I’m sorry, Sarge,” Bethany said to her victim. “You never should’ve trusted me.” She popped the trunk and grabbed the two duffel bags she had stashed inside it, unbeknownst to Abernathy.
She and Jay laughed as they ducked in and out of the rows of cars, dodging the security cameras. Ray Hood, one of Nina’s homeboys, had done a good job casing the entire multilevel deck. He used to be a security guard at the hospital. He’d pointed out every camera and explained the timing schedule. Because of him, they were completely hidden so far. The area where Sergeant Abernathy had parked the patrol car was designated for specialty vehicles, such as those belonging to the military, firefighters and, obviously, law enforcement.
After Bethany and the sergeant had gone to the psyche ward to sign Jay’s medical release papers, they had escorted her in handcuffs to the parking deck. They were supposed to have secured her in the back of the patrol car and transported her back to jail. But a secret escape plan was now under way. It had been carefully planned without Abernathy’s knowledge. It was unfortunate for the twenty-two-year veteran. He’d been lured into the trap of a coworker sprung by new lesbian love. Bethany had made herself available to Sergeant Abernathy to assist with Jay’s transportation. And he, a sucker for the full-figured redhead, had gladly taken her up on her offer.
Bethany used a flashlight now to read her watch. “Where the hell is your cousin? She’s late. All hell is gonna break loose when Sarge wakes up. We should be on the road right now.”
“Pump your brakes. Nina will be here. She’s just a few minutes behind schedule, as usual.”
A medical transportation van and a few cars whipped around the corner just then. Jay and Bethany dropped to the ground and covered their heads. They stayed on their knees while other vehicles drove past them. After several moments of silence, Bethany raised her head to check out their surroundings.
“I see a dark green car coming this way. Could that be your cousin?” she said.
“Yeah, that’s Nina. But let’s wait first for the signal to be sure.”
Nina flashed the headlights once, twice, and then a third time. She’d told Jay that would be the signal that she was definitely behind the wheel of the car and the coast was clear.
“Let’s roll,” Jay told Bethany and then trotted toward the car. She kept her head low as she weaved through a row of cars.
“I’m right behind you, baby.”
Jay slid in the front seat of the car and lowered her head to rest in Nina’s lap. Bethany hopped in through the back right-side passenger’s door and sprawled out facedown on the seat. She tossed the duffel bags on the floor and opened one.
“Cover up,” Bethany whispered and threw a brown blanket over the back of the seat. She removed another one just like it from the bag and covered her entire body before she dropped to the floor.
“I hope y’all are ready, because we ain’t stopping until we get to Valdosta,” Nina told them.
“Just drive, Nina. Get me the hell outta Atlanta, baby.”
* * *
“What the hell am I supposed to do to protect my wife and son? Jay tried to have me killed once. This time she may come at Jill and me herself. This is so fucked up!” Zach snatched the baseball cap from his head and threw it as far as he could across his den. “It’s been three days, and not even the FBI can find her! How hard can it be, Ortega?”
“You know as well as I do that your sister is a very intelligent woman. She’s attractive, charming, and confident. Women are drawn to her like bees to honey. I’ll bet she could hook and reel in any given man if she wanted to. Ms. King’s escape was meticulously planned, down to the tiniest detail. It wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment idea. Everything was well organized and executed. Unfortunately, certain elements worked against us in the first twenty-four hours of her disappearance.”
“What elements are you talking about?”
“Sergeant Abernathy’s inability to remember anything initially was very unfortunate,” Detective Franklin explained. “The female deputy who had been assigned to accompany him to the hospital to transport Ms. King back to the jail said they’d agreed to meet at one thirty that afternoon in the garage, at his cruiser. When Deputy Phaedra McMillan went to her locker to prepare for the transport, she found a note from the sergeant, informing her that he’d been instructed by his supervisor to go to the hospital earlier. Another female deputy went with him.”
“The funny thing is Sergeant Abernathy’s superior knew nothing about the time change on your sister’s transportation. Someone had sent the sergeant a message from Major Lonnie Jefferson’s employee email address, making everything look official.” Detective Ortega sighed. “We’re working with the FBI and the Fulton County Sherriff’s Office to find out who that person is.”
Zach started laughing. “Jay had some inside help. My sister put her mojo on one of those female deputies, and she helped her escape.” He stood, stroking his goatee. “Well, I don’t expect any of y’all to give a damn about me or my family. For all we know, Jay could be laying low somewhere, planning our massacre. I ain’t about to let that happen.”
“Wait a minute, Mr. King.” Detective Franklin walked over to Zach and stood toe-to-toe with him. “We don’t need any assistance from you. Let us do our job. There’s a national manhunt for Ms. King. She’ll be found. You need not worry.”
“You must think I’m a damn fool!” Zach left the detectives alone in the den while he went into the foyer to search through the closet. When he returned, he was brandishing a good-looking nine millimeter handgun. “If my sister comes anywhere near this house, I’m gonna bust a cap in her ass. Then I’ll call y’all.” Zach shook his head. “I ain’t gonna kill her. I can promise you that, but I’m gonna make her wish she was dead.”
* * *
Jay couldn’t sleep on the plane. She had too much shit on her mind. She felt pretty secure now that she and Nina were on their way to Jamaica. Getting out of the country hadn’t been as hard as she’d thought it
would be. Nina had promised her she had everything under control. From their passports to money and disguises, everything had gone according to plan. Jay couldn’t deny it. She was one sexy bitch in the getup Nina had put together for her. She almost didn’t recognize her own reflection in the mirror. The Fashion Fair makeup, long hair extensions, and big ghetto earrings had transformed her into a hottie. The body-hugging red dress put the icing on the cake. And the matching four-inch stilettos added the cherry on top.
Jay reached over and squeezed one of Nina’s meaty thighs. Nina swatted her hand and mumbled something before she started snoring again. Thoughts of Bethany filled Jay’s head. There was still some guilt lingering because of what she’d done to her, but not much. Life was a risky game, and only the strong survived. Bethany had fallen in too deep, and it had cost her. Maybe she’d get lucky and make some friends in the South Florida trailer park. It was her hillbilly ass who had found their double-wide hideout and reserved it online. She’d basically planned and financed Jay’s entire escape. Too bad she had been blindsided like the old sergeant. Karma had paid Bethany a visit. This time she’d been the one left out of the loop. Jay had had no intention of ever taking her to Jamaica. She’d only used her to escape her sentencing. And after the unassuming deputy had served her purpose, they’d drugged her with some white powder Nina had brought along. According to the dealer, it wouldn’t kill her, but she’d be out close to twenty-four hours.
Chapter Fifty-five
“Uh . . . my head hurts like hell!” Bethany rolled over on her pallet in the middle of the floor. “Jay, where are you? Jay?” She pulled herself up to sit on her knees. “Jay? Nina?” She swiped her long hair away from her face and coughed.
Bethany looked down at her flabby body, covered with sweat. She was completely nude, but she couldn’t remember taking off her clothes. Her head was throbbing. She reached up and massaged her temples for relief. The small room started to spin when she tried to stand. Snippets of the night before drifted back to her. She specifically remembered drinking a few beers and begging Jay to take her to bed, but Jay had acted shy and uninterested in front of her cousin. Bethany wasn’t sure what Nina’s problem was, but she’d behaved in a moody and unfriendly way toward her.
“Jay, where are you, baby?” Her second attempt to stand was successful. Bethany searched all four rooms of the trailer on wobbly legs. There was no sign of Jay or Nina anywhere. When she looked out the front window and discovered the truck she’d rented on her credit card was gone, her knees buckled. “What the hell is going on?”
Bethany rushed back to the room where she’d slept. She grabbed her duffel bag so she could get dressed. But the only thing she found inside it was her loaded .45 handgun. All her money and credit cards, her passport, license, and clothes were missing. There wasn’t even a pair of panties in the bag.
“Nooo!” she screamed and collapsed to the floor. “Oh no! Dear God, help me! What have I done? What the hell have I done?”
Bethany sat on her knees and rocked, rubbing both arms with her hands. Warm tears clouded her vision. The realization that Jay had left her out in the middle of nowhere hurt like hell. Her cell phone had been attached to the jeans she’d worn the night before, so she had no way of contacting anybody. There was no one she could call for help, anyway, without implicating herself. Visions of Becky and Carley smiling and playing outside their trailer began to play like a movie in her mind’s eye.
“My babies . . . I miss my sweet babies . . . uh . . . uh . . . ,” Bethany whimpered. She could hear Todd’s voice cursing and shouting vulgar insults at her about her weight and lack of common sense. It made her shudder. She could actually see him laughing and raising his hand to slap her.
“You used me, Jay! You worthless nigger! You evil monkey bitch!” Bethany crawled over to her duffel bag and grabbed her pistol. She held it up to her head. With tears saturating her face, she pressed the muzzle to her right temple and screamed, “I’ll see you in hell, bitch!”
The single shot rang out in the secluded trailer park. A few stray dogs howled and barked in response. Blood and cerebral matter instantly splattered across the dingy white wall. It dripped down onto the carpet. The tragic end of Bethany’s life would be ruled a suicide by the authorities, but if the walls could talk, they’d call it a homicide in every way.
* * *
“It’s beautiful up here, ain’t it?”
Nina rolled her eyes to the sunny sky and scrunched up her nose. “It’s okay, but I thought you said we would be living in a nice hotel or some beach house.” She turned around to look at the old wooden shanty where she and Jay had been hiding out for the past four days. “This house is a piece of shit, and you know it. I didn’t sign on for this, Jay.”
“Damn it, Nina! I told you we gotta lay low for a while. I’m working on some shit. This is the best I can do for now. Thanks to Charlotte, we’ve got food and running water.”
“It’s cold running water.” Nina threw her cigarette butt to the ground and stomped it out. “I swear, if I had known it would be like this—”
Jay jumped off the porch steps and landed right in front of Nina. “Go ahead and say it. If you had known we would have to slum it for a while, you would’ve stayed home. You’ve been complaining ever since we got here. Stop your bitching, Nina! As soon as the coast is clear, Charlotte will find us a better place. Maybe I should’ve left you in that damn trailer instead of Bethany.”
Nina stretched her eyes, and her jaw dropped. She burst into tears. “After all I’ve done for you, how could you say some foul shit like that to me? How could you, Jay?” Nina pushed Jay and stomped up the three steps onto the porch. She pulled the handle on the screen door to go inside, but Jay reached over her and pressed both hands on it to keep it closed.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean it. You know I love you, Nina.” Jay kissed the back of her neck and started massaging her full set of breasts. “I shouldn’t have said that to you. I love you.”
Like butter, Nina went soft at the sound of Jay’s voice and the warmth of her touch. Her breath got caught in her throat when the hem of her skirt went up and a single finger began teasing her clit. Like the breaking of a dam, Nina’s love juices gushed forward. Jay removed her finger and slid it inside her mouth. She sucked and moaned.
“It’s sweet, just like I like it. Let’s go inside and finish this,” she whispered seductively in Nina’s ear.
“Okay. Do you really love me, baby?”
Jay eased her hand back under Nina’s skirt and traced the lips of her pussy with two fingers and blew in her ear. With her other hand, she applied pressure on Nina’s right nipple with her fingertips.
“Let’s go inside and I’ll show you.”
* * *
“Zachary, it is the third time the police have called this house. Don’t you think we should answer the phone?”
Zach ignored the constant ringing. He checked his tie one more time in the mirror and looked down at his son, who was relaxing in Jill’s lap. He smiled at his little plump face. Zachary Junior was the spitting image of him. Zach reached down and lifted his mini twin from his mother’s arms. Nahima smiled when the baby cooed and kicked.
“Zachary?”
“What, Jill?” he snapped. “We’re already running late for church! I’m not gonna talk to Franklin or Ortega on the Lord’s Day.” Zach looked around the bedroom for the baby’s diaper bag.
“It’s downstairs.” Jill stood from the bed and pointed a finger at Zach. “You are my husband, and you are the head of this family. I have always been submissive to you. I respect you as the father of our son. I have been by your side, even when I did not agree with you, and I have seldom complained. But hear me, Mr. Zachary Sean King. Do not ever speak to me in that tone of voice again. Do you understand me?”
“I’m sorry. I—”
“Of course you are, Zachary.” Jill took the baby from his father’s arms and walked toward the bedroom door, with Nahima following beh
ind her.
Zach had seen tears in his wife’s eyes when she spoke to him. She was sniffling even as she walked out of their bedroom. He had hurt Jill’s feelings, but he hadn’t meant to. “I’ve gotta get my shit together,” he said aloud to himself. “I’m about to lose my damn mind.”
Jay had been missing for two weeks now. It was as if she had vanished into the atmosphere, undetected. The mystery of her whereabouts was messing with Zach’s head. The last location Jay was known to have been in was outside of Miami, in a trailer park of all places. Zach dropped down into the recliner and looked out the window. It was a bit cloudy. The weatherman had said there was a 30 percent chance for rain in the late afternoon.
Out of habit, Zach stroked his goatee as he thought about the poor female deputy who had run off with Jay. She’d left behind two little girls to be with a woman who didn’t have a heart or a conscience. Although the authorities in Florida had ruled the deputy’s death a suicide, Jay might as well have pulled the trigger herself. That white chick was another one of her victims. She had been used, abused, and played. After Jay had turned her out, she’d been like a druggie itching for a fix. And she had obviously done whatever she could to get it, which had included helping Jay escape, leaving her own children motherless. Deputy Bethany Hardy was dead because, like so many before her, she had fallen in love with the wrong woman. Jay had caused that poor chick to lose her mind, but Zach wasn’t going out like that.
“Jill!” He got up and hurried out of the room. He trotted down the stairs. “Jill, I’m sorry, baby.”
Zach found her and Nahima in the den. Zachary Junior had fallen asleep while lying on his mother’s lap. The television was on the Disney Channel. Nahima was singing the Handy Manny theme song, but she stopped when she saw her uncle. Jill was relaxing quietly on the sectional sofa, her eyes closed.