Chapter 14 #2
Crystal sighed. “No, you didn’t mean it, but you did it. You put a lot of people through an awful lot of heartache. Now, where the hell is Sean?” Crystal asked.
Jenny groaned. “He’s somewhere close.”
Ashton waved a hand about. “You better take us to him. That’s the only way that I can see anything positive for you coming out of this,” Ashton shared.
“Full cooperation is the only card you’ve got left to play.
I don’t know if that will save your ass, but telling us everything is the only chance you’ve got.
If we get everybody back where they belong, we can start dealing with the consequences of their actions.
For example, my grandmother does not get off scot-free in this. ”
“She will though. You know that. Alexander will see to it.”
“Yeah, well, my grandfather is no longer in control,” Ashton announced. “And that must be considered.”
Jenny shrugged, her tone fatalistic. “It won’t matter. Nothing ever matters. Everybody makes their own decisions, leaving people like me behind in the dirt. Oliver, Max, Glenn, John.”
“Do you think Max left you behind?” Crystal asked. “Do you think he chose to die of cancer? I bet he didn’t want that either.” She stared at Jenny. “Do you think he really wanted to see you like this?”
“I know he didn’t, but neither did he leave anything to help me get out of this.”
“Is that why you’re angry?” Crystal asked, frowning at her. “Because he didn’t leave you anything in his will? Did you expect him to?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t necessarily expect him to, but I hadn’t expected our relationship to end so soon, to come crashing down,” she muttered. “When it did, I didn’t know how to handle it. I lost him, and that alone was just horrific. I don’t know if anybody can even understand that.”
Ashton added, “Just as his death was fast for you, maybe it was fast for Max. Some people think they have more time before they deal with the harsh realities of getting wills in place, powers of attorney, medical directives, and such.”
Jenny shook her head. “Max knew he had cancer. He should have acted already to set aside something for me in the future.”
“We can all understand that, yet we don’t know when we are gonna die,” Crystal interjected, walking over to Jenny. “However, the choices you made afterward are not what anybody will understand.”
Jenny nodded, then looked over at Ashton. “Why don’t you just shoot me? It’ll save so much in so many ways.”
“I cannot do that. Not for no reason, not when I have the situation under control,” he replied. “You lost that opportunity when I took the weapon away from you.”
“Well, give it back then,” she snapped, glaring at him. “Let me die in peace. Let me go to Max. That would be a kindness.”
“And yet what kindness did you give to anybody else?” he asked Jenny. “What kindness did you give my grandfather, who spent five days tied up and drugged? Did he wake up at all?”
She nodded. “He did, but he was pretty out of it for a long time,” she whispered. “And then he woke up again.”
“And?” Ashton prodded her.
“I just … I just kept feeding him drugs because I didn’t know what else to do.”
Ashton muttered, “If he dies …”
She looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, I know. If he dies, it’s murder.”
“Absolutely.” Ashton looked over at Crystal.
Crystal nodded. “Call the authorities. We must find Sean and figure out where Grandma is.”
Ashton turned to Jenny. “Take us to Sean.”
She frowned, and they could see that stubbornness rising again in Jenny.
He shook his head and yelled, “Enough! Show us where you left Sean so we don’t have to start tearing apart Max’s place.
Then we can at least tell the sheriff that you cooperated.
And, if everybody lives through this,” he added, “maybe you get an easier ending.”
“My ending won’t be easy,” Jenny argued, staring at him. “Everybody will hate me. It’s not as if I have any life left.”
“You made the decision to do all this,” he pointed out, focusing on her.
“Sometimes those decisions are beyond what people can live with. I don’t know what kind of reception you expected, but this isn’t something most people will understand.
” When her bottom lip trembled, he nodded. “And you and I both know it.”
She glared at him, then her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, … you’re right. Fine.”
“What did you do to Sean?”
“Nothing he didn’t deserve. He was being a mouthy jerk the whole time he was preaching to me.” When he looked at her, she shrugged. “Okay, I don’t have what it takes to look after him, and I sure as hell hope you take him away because all I can say is he’s been caterwauling constantly.”
And, with that, she turned and headed back outside to the smaller barn, the equipment barn. When she got to the far side of it, she led the way to the back corner, where a ladder was.
They followed her there, moving cautiously, now hearing somebody yelling for help.
Jenny glared in that direction. “See? I told you. He’s up at the top of the loft.”
Ashton balked. “The twins helped you with Sean too?”
She refused to answer his question and added, “You can go get him.”
He hesitated and then shook his head. “I think you need to show me.” She glared at him, and he shook his head. “I still don’t quite understand what’s going on here, and I’m not prepared to let you walk away from here. You need to show us exactly where Sean is.”
“You can hear him,” she said in a mocking tone, pointing up to the loft.
Something about her mannerisms bothered him. “Yeah, I hear him,” he agreed, not moving.
She hesitated, then relented. “Fine.” She climbed the ladder into the loft. Then walked toward the room where the screams and hollers were coming from, but she stopped abruptly, glanced back, and shrugged. “Sorry, Ashton. I can’t do it.”
Then she bolted off to the left and threw herself from the top of the loft, hitting the cement floor below.
Ashton swore as he looked over the edge, and it was easy to see it was too late, from her broken body and from the pool of blood slowly seeping outward.
Crystal closed her eyes, her bottom lip trembling, then determinedly headed to where the yells were coming from.
Ashton quickly caught up with her. When they got to the small room, they saw a padlock on the outside, the lock on the top part of the doorframe.
Yet it wasn’t closed. No combination nor key needed.
Khan started barking, jumping up against the wooden door, pawing at it, whining now.
Ashton reached up, twisted off the lock, and opened the door.
As he stepped inside, Khan bolted forward and jumped all over the man lying on the makeshift bed, which appeared to be a set of reeds on the floor with a couple old mattresses on top. The man on the bed started to sob, as Khan licked his face, clearly overjoyed.
Working around the wiggly Khan, they finally managed to untie Sean, and, when they helped him to sit up, he groaned and fell back in pain.
Crystal bent and started rubbing his hands and legs to get the circulation moving again.
Ashton squatted in front of him, gently pulling back Khan.
Ashton smiled at him and said, “Hey, you must be Sean.”
The other man gave him a heartfelt look. “Yes, dear God, yes.” He looked down at Khan and muttered, “I can’t believe he found me.”
“Well, it wasn’t for lack of trying,” Ashton replied. “A whole set of circumstances haven’t been right for too long.”
The old man looked at him and nodded. “None of it’s been right. I don’t know what the hell happened with that woman, but she’s off her rocker.”
“Well, right now,” he said, “Jenny’s dead.”
He looked at him in shock. “What?”
Ashton motioned to the space outside the small room. “She just threw herself off to the concrete below.”
He stared at him. “I guess I’m supposed to feel sorry for her, but I don’t feel anything, except maybe deprived of the vengeance I sorely want.”
“I can understand that,” Ashton shared. “Believe me that your desire for vengeance probably kept you going all this time.”
He closed his eyes, nodded, adding, “And seeing Khan again. … You sure she’s dead?”
“I haven’t been down to the concrete to double-check it,” Ashton replied, “but that will be next. I wanted to see what condition you were in and what you needed for assistance.”
Sean shuffled upward, trying to sit upright on his own. “I would do better with a wheelchair. My legs have suffered quite a bit these last few days.”
Ashton glanced around to see the evidence of his incarceration and nodded. “She really had a problem, didn’t she?”
“Oh my God, you have no idea. That woman was just bad news all around.” Sean stared at him and shook his head. “I went to war and fought people who were absolutely horrific, but I never ever saw anything like her.”
Ashton didn’t have a whole lot to offer to make him feel any better, but he did try to explain. “What she told us was that you overheard something that could cause her some trouble.”
“She mentioned that, but I don’t even know who she is,” he complained, staring at him. “And honestly, I don’t know who you are either.”
Ashton chuckled, and Crystal made sure he recognized her, then made quick work of the introductions.
“So, I’m at Oliver’s place?”
“Yes,” Ashton confirmed, “you are, and that woman had my grandfather in another building across the way—not that his accommodations were any easier or better than yours.”
He stared at Ashton and asked, “Did he make it?”
“Well, he’s alive, but he’s in the hospital,” Ashton replied. “The jury is still out on that at the moment.”
“I’m voting he makes it,” Crystal interjected. “That’s my grandfather, so the alternative is not acceptable.”
Sean looked at her, nodded slowly, and said, “I have no way to thank you, but I’m damn glad you found me. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep this up.” Sean looked from one to the other, tears in his eyes, and he whispered, “Thank you, thank you so much.”