32. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Joker
I pull the door closed behind me and look at Sammy. “What did you find?”
“It’s not good.”
“Figured it wouldn’t be,” I agree.
“First, there were drugs. Lots of them.”
“Little white pills?” Davis asks.
“Pounds of them. And all the equipment one needs to distribute it.”
“What else did you find?” I ask.
“Lists.”
“What kind of lists?”
“Very detailed lists. Your DEA friend took pictures of them and is working with Daniel to figure out who they are and what connections they have to each other.”
“Is that all?” Davis asks.
“No,” he admits. “He also had a diary. We’re still going through it, but it detailed exactly how he started to break Ginny down. When he started alienating her from everyone and how. His celebration the first time he…hit her.”
“Wait, the first time?” Davis blinks, trying to get his brain to wrap around his sister being hurt by a man.
“Not the time,” I tell him.
“You knew?” He turns on me.
“Not until after. We can talk about it later.”
“Fucking right, we’ll talk about it later. How do you keep that from me?”
“Guys,” Sammy interrupts the potential hallway fight. “There’s more.”
“What else?” Davis throws his hands up.
Sammy shakes his head, taking a deep breath. “He wasn’t just selling or distributing. He was recruiting. Had fucking contracts and everything.”
“Did Mary look at those?” I ask.
“She did. Took a photo of a couple of them. Some big names were on these contracts.”
“You’re telling me Keith Brown, the vice principal, was recruiting sellers?” I need to hear this again.
“Not just sellers. Guys, I think he was a Boss.”
“What were the names?”
“Dragon, the guy—”
“We know Dragon. He’s out of the game now,” Davis tells him. “He’s in jail serving time after turning evidence.”
“Seamus O’Conner.”
Davis looks at me, and I nod my head. “Out of Boston. Aiden’s family.”
“Ivan Pavlov and his family.”
“They are all gone now, right?” I ask.
“Should be,” Davis confirms.
“Katya Sokolova.”
I look at Davis, who shrugs. “That’s a new one to me.”
“And there’s something else,” Sammy says, looking up and down the hallway, making sure we’re really alone. “Bethany McGraw came into the station this afternoon.”
“The teacher?” Davis asks.
I already know where this is going. And it’s not good.
“What did he do to her?” I ask.
“She had a black eye, some bruising on her back, and was in the middle of withdrawal.”
“She said it was him?”
“She did. And said he was supposed to give her more product, but he showed up and beat her instead.”
“Are we sure he’s dead? I’d like to join the line of people who would enjoy killing him,” Davis growls.
“He’s dead.”
“Do we, uh, know which bullet did it?” He looks at me, trying to read my face.
“We don’t. And I don’t know that we ever will. Tell yourself and Ginny whatever you need to in order to make sure she’s okay,” Sammy quietly says.
“Thanks.”
“You have someone to talk to her? Doc Goode is really staying for a few days?”
“She is. She wants to check in on the kids, anyway.”
“Good.”
The door opens, and Claire sticks her head out. “I think you all need to come see this.”
The look on her face barters no argument, and we all follow her back into the room. Ginny looks pale on the bed, and as soon as I register her, I hear it. Trish is holding the phone out towards us.
“How are you going to explain all of this?”
“That’s easy. And also the fun part. See, your blood is going to be all over this room. You went crazy and destroyed everything because of the guilt you’ve been feeling, taking your own life in the process.”
"Why am I killing myself?”
“Well, you realized that the greatest mistake of your life was walking away from me and when you tried to get me back, I turned you down.”
“And absolutely no one is going to believe that.”
“You don’t get to walk away from me without my fucking permission!”
“Enough,” I say, hoping someone will turn it off.
Trish pauses it, but Ginny speaks up. “No. You need to hear the next part. Please continue, Trish.”
Trish looks from Ginny to me, and I nod. If Ginny’s strong enough to listen, so am I. I hope. Trish pushes play again, and the conversation continues.
“And people with a broken heart do crazy things, like destroy what’s around them.”
“Again, not a single person is going to believe that bullshit.”
“I can’t help that you no longer have the will to live without me.”
“Well, that’s kind of pathetic. You could at least come up with something better.”
“I don’t need to come up with something better. Because it doesn’t matter.”
“What doesn’t matter?”
“At the end of the day, you don’t matter. You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass since I met you. You were so fucking desperate for a little bit of love that you bent over backwards to make yourself what I wanted. But then you got too high on your horse and started questioning me. I don’t like being questioned.”
“So, you’re pissed off that I ended us and I have to die for that?”
“No, you fucking bitch, you have to die because you and your fucking Scooby Gang were getting too close to a truth I don’t want you to know. And if you’re out of the fucking picture, they’ll be too fucking sad to worry about what I’m doing.”
“But you just said you don’t do the dirty work. You’re going to kill me?”
“I thought I could make an exception this one time.”
Ginny nods to Trish, who stops the video. I feel sick to my stomach, and Davis looks like he wants to go punch something.
“What the fuck?” I say out loud.
“I’d say that lends credence to my earlier theory,” Sammy practically snarls. He doesn’t look like he’s in a much better place than any of us right now.
“You really need to hear all of it,” Ginny says, still whispering. “But I don’t need to. I remember everything.”
“Why don’t you boys go to the cafeteria or take a walk outside?” Claire asks in her way.
The ' I’m giving you the appearance of a choice, but you’re going to end up doing what I say, so save your breath and don’t fight me because I’ll win ' look.
“I’d like to stay with Ginny,” I tell her.
“I know you would, and you can stay with her when you’re done with that and I’m done having a talk with her.”
“I’m not leaving my sister,” Davis states.
“I wasn’t giving you an option,” she replies.
See, told ya.
“You can’t make me leave.”
“If you stay, I’m going to ask you questions about your relationship with your father.”
“She doesn’t fuck around, does she?” Sammy leans in to ask me.
“No, I don’t,” Claire answers, turning her woo-woo ability to probe the brain on Sammy. “So, if you can’t get them out, I’ll move on to why you keep saying you’re going to leave home but never do and why you’re afraid.”
“Welp,” Sammy claps his hands, “you heard the Doc, let’s get out of here for a while and listen to the rest of that video and see what we can figure out.”
“Pussy,” Davis mutters under his breath.
“Do you ever want to see a pussy again?” Trish smiles at him. Her grin is super sweet, and scary as hell.
“Let’s go guys. Love you, Sugar.” He pecks Trish on the lips and beelines it to the door.
“I’ll be back soon, okay? If you need me, send one of them to get me.” I lean in to Ginny.
“Hey, Joker?” she asks. “Will you kiss me before you go?”
“Gently,” I tell her, leaning over and kissing the side of her lip that isn’t split.
“Thank you. Come back soon?”
“Of course.”
I turn and walk out of the room, not ready for any of them to see me have a breakdown. Last time I cried? When we lost a man in the desert. Davis must realize I’m about to break, because he puts his arm around my shoulder and gives me a one arm hug.
“She’s going to be okay,” he assures me.
“Of fucking course she is,” I reply. “That girl is the strongest person I’ve ever fucking met in my life.”
“Do you want to take a break? Go get some food?”
“No. We need to get through this. I need to see and hear all of it.”
“I don’t think there’s much to see after the initial video of the room. She put the phone in her bag without turning the video off,” Sammy tells us, watching the video on mute.
“It’s fine. Hearing it will be more than enough to make me wish I’d have emptied the entire fucking magazine in his fucking ass.”