12. Trina
TWELVE
TRINA
“It’s alright, Trina. You can come out,” Mamie calls.
I cling tighter to Crash, aware that his blood is soaking through my sleeve. He’s completely lost consciousness. “I’m not leaving him here, Mamie.”
“Who is that man?”
“He’s the man who helped me. His name is Crash.”
“He’s a criminal,” snarls the Reverend. “A pervert and a deviant, who led your granddaughter astray from her holy duties to me.”
“I’ll need you to shut the hell up,” Mamie snaps, drawing herself up. “Let my granddaughter talk! Trina, I don’t know that man and I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to get out of that cell immediately, do you hear me? I have people who can protect you from this bastard, don’t worry.”
“I am the Reverend of this town, jezebel! You have no authority here!”
“You must not know who the hell I am,” Mamie retorts, whipping something out of her purse. “My father was Sheriff here for thirty years. He built this town when it was nothing but sticks and dirt. If I have to kill every son of a bitch in this building to get my granddaughter, I will. Don’t fucking play with me!”
“I wouldn’t play with her,” advises Crocodile.
I must be seeing things. Mamie is holding a gun.
“That goes for you too, Trina!” Mamie hollers, stabbing the weapon at the Reverend, who looks ready to pull a Crash and lunge for it. “Get your butt out of that cell right now!”
“I’m sorry, Mamie, but I’m not going anywhere until I know someone will get this man help,” I say very firmly.
“You wouldn’t shoot me,” the Reverend sneers.
Mamie shoots him.
The Reverend collapses with a howl and the jailer leaps back against the wall. I scream and clap a hand over my ringing ears, hunching over Crash’s unconscious body as if we’re next.
“You,” Mamie says to the jailer. “Didn’t you just see that man attack me?”
The jailer’s mouth opens and closes like a trout’s.
“Didn’t you?” Mamie presses.
“I saw it,” says Crocodile.
“Ah, Ma’am…that’s the Reverend… I…”
Mamie’s eyes go stone cold.
“I guess I did,” says the jailer miserably.
“You had a malfunction with the cameras,” says Mamie. “Everything happened so fast, but you saw him reach for his gun.”
“Ma’am, he’s not c-carrying a gun.”
“He grabbed yours,” says Mamie. “He went crazy and threatened to shoot everybody in here. Right?”
The Reverend moans, shivers, and then goes still.
Did Mamie kill him?
“See? You see it. He saw it,” Mamie says, pointing at Crocodile. “Trina saw it. We all saw it. Now get this cell open right this minute .”
“But, Ma’am, she’s got the only key,” pleads the jailer.
“There’s a master key in the file cabinet on the left hand side,” Mamie snaps. “My daddy always kept it there. They haven’t changed a thing about this place in seventy years. Now where is Sheriff Dooley? I need him down here right away.”
“Like I was telling His Holiness, Ma’am, he’s at a birthday party,” the jailer says, staring at the Reverend in horror.
“Well, get him on the phone . Tell him Jerrod’s daughter is here and remind him who got him that position in the first place.”
“Ma’am, my job… I have a wife and kids t-to feed…”
“And I have five thousand dollars if you zip your lip and do as I say,” Mamie barks. “ Now !”
The jailer flees.
“Good to see you, sister,” says Crocodile. “I see you haven’t changed.”
“I’ll talk to you in a minute, Anderson,” Mamie snaps at the pimp, poking her ears with the fingers on her free hand. “I didn’t come to mess around with you. Damn, I forgot how loud a gun was. I hope I didn’t kill that son of a bitch.”
“Alright, alright. Handle your business. You’re still fine as hell, by the way. I regret the way things turned out between us, but you might consider giving a man a second chance.”
Mamie rolls her eyes. “Take it to the government, boy.”
“Alright, alright, do your thing and then we’ll talk,” says Crocodile comfortably. “You know, in exchange for my testimony.”
“There won’t be no trial here,” says Mamie firmly. “I just need to have some words with the Sheriff. I swear this town has been going to the dumps ever since I left. Now, Trina,” says my sweet grandmother, turning back to me. Her eyes take me in: bloodstained, shivering, and holding onto a barely-conscious giant like my life depends on it. “Babygirl, would you mind telling me what in the hell is going on here?”