Chapter Thirteen #3
Emmy didn’t want to dwell on what the man would expect in return. “Did you know that Mandy was skipping school?”
“Yeah, all the time. Sometimes, she’d go with Talia and get ice cream and stuff. Most of the time she was on her own.”
“Do you think she was skipping to spend time with the older man?”
“It makes sense, but like I said, Mandy wasn’t confiding in me. Everything was on the surface. Except for Talia, I wouldn’t know anything about what was going on. And Talia only talked to me when she was, like, desperate. Like, she was really worried about Mandy.”
“Give me an example.”
“Everyything I just said.” Skylar shrugged. “That Mandy was hooking up with this old guy and Mrs. Vickery wasn’t paying attention and all that stuff with Bill. It’s just a lot, you know? Too much to keep up with.”
Emmy agreed. Mandy’s life had been too complicated for one sixteen-year-old girl, let alone two or even three. “Can you think back to anything recent with Mandy that sticks out? Something she said or did or might have told you in passing?”
“She got really freaked out last week.” Skylar had become more animated.
She twisted in the swing toward Emmy. “Mandy, like, spends her life worrying about her mom, okay? She calls her from school. All. The. Time. When she gets there in the morning. During homeroom. Between classes. At lunch. If her mom doesn’t pick up, Mandy panics.
Like, maybe she’s worried that Bill will put her in the hospital like he did the last time? ”
Emmy nodded.
“So, on Wednesday, I found Mandy in the bathroom in the English pod, like on the floor pulling at her hair and sobbing uncontrollably, and I thought something really bad had happened, but it was just that Mrs. Vickery was in a meeting, so she’d turned off her phone.
And then when she finally called Mandy back, Mandy couldn’t even talk ’cause she was crying so hard.
This had happened, like, an hour ago, but Mandy was still crying.
She went home because she couldn’t stop. ”
“Okay.” Emmy took a breath so her heart wouldn’t break. She had saved the thorniest question for last. She focused all of her attention on Skylar’s face so she could read the girl’s reaction before her mother intervened. “I just have one more question. Do you know a guy named Woody?”
Skylar was visibly shocked. Her mouth opened. “You think he—”
“Stop.” Pam pulled Skylar up by her arm. “This interview is over. Get in the house. Now.”
Skylar didn’t argue. She looked scared. Her head was down as she walked toward the house.
Emmy tried, “Pam—”
“I need you to leave right now. You can go through the gate.” Pam pointed them toward the side of the house. “I want it on the record that you’re not allowed to talk to my daughter ever again. You, too, Doctor.”
Jude nodded. “Understood.”
Emmy started toward the gate. She could see Skylar watching through the kitchen window. A few moments later, the back door slammed shut. Pam closed the shutters.
Jude said, “I gather Pam knows Woody’s reputation?”
“She’s a criminal defense attorney. Half her clients work for Woody. The other half are terrified of him.”
“Now I understand why you saved that question for last.”
“Did you see Skylar’s reaction?”
“She knows his name. She’s worried that Mandy was mixed up with him.”
“That was my read, too.”
Emmy opened the gate. Walked into the front yard.
She saw a blue metallic BMW Alpina XB7 parked behind her cruiser.
The twenty-three-inch wheels had custom black rims with spikes sticking out from the spokes.
Her first thought was that the car cost more than the house she was living in.
Her second thought was that it did not belong on this street.
Jude had done the same calculations. She stuck out her arm in front of Emmy the way Myrna used to throw out her hand when she had to suddenly hit the brakes in the car.
Then the temperature felt like it dropped twenty degrees.
Leroy “Bubba” Rawley got out of the passenger side of the vehicle. Emmy should’ve been worried, but she was struck by the fact that she was finally, after forty-two years of hearing stories, seeing him in person for the first time.
He was older, closer to Tommy’s age, but with a younger man’s athleticism.
His legs were muscled under his jeans. His quarter zip was tight across his broad shoulders.
It was only because she was looking for it that she noticed his right arm hung awkwardly at his side.
Emmy had heard a long-ago altercation had caused nerve damage.
Still, with his rugged features and streaks of gray in his wavy dark hair, he seemed more like a dad out on a leisurely Sunday drive than someone who’d spent ten years in federal prison for trying to cut off another man’s face with a broken piece of glass.
Then he got closer, and his proximity stirred a primal fear that permeated every molecule of her body. Leroy Rawley wasn’t a dad on a Sunday drive.
He was wanted for questioning in four different homicides.
He sold heroin and fentanyl to schoolkids.
He trafficked women.
He blackmailed cops and politicians.
He was at the house of a possible witness who might identify his grandson as being the new man in Mandy Vickery’s life.
Emmy parted her lips. Took in a deep breath.
She welcomed the return of a familiar, eerie calm that usually accompanied danger.
Her hand rested on the butt of her Glock.
She could see one of the Rawley thugs was stationed behind the wheel of the BMW.
Woody was in the back seat. She squared her shoulders, widened her gait as she walked across the yard.
None of it mattered, because Jude went ahead of her.
She met him on the sidewalk. She’d squared herself, too, like she was better equipped against one of the most dangerous drug dealers on the eastern seaboard than a sheriff with sixteen rounds at her disposal.
Emmy stopped behind Jude, stationing herself to the left in case the thug and Woody decided to come out shooting.
“Mr. Rawley,” Emmy said. “Nice to finally meet you.”
He didn’t look at her. He stared at Jude. Jude stared back.
Then his mouth split into a crooked grin. He gave a booming laugh. Ran his fingers through his wavy hair. He was a good-looking man if you were into risking your life every time you blinked.
He said, “Martha Judean Clifton!”
Emmy tried not to flinch at the loud sound of his voice. Sunlight bounced off the piercing blue of his eyes as he took in every inch of Jude’s body.
“God damn, you’re still a fine-looking woman.”
“Thanks.” Jude kept her boots planted on the sidewalk, but she’d leaned away from him the way you’d tense yourself in the presence of a dangerous animal. “What can I do for you, Lee?”
“No, darling, it’s what I can do for you.” He nodded back toward the BMW. “Heard you been asking around about my boy.”
“Woody is your son?” Jude sounded like she didn’t already know the answer.
“My grandson. Tanya helped raise him. She OD’d a while back. It was either go out with heroin or go out with cancer.” He shrugged, like those were common choices. “Anyway, he’s a good kid. I like having him around.”
“Sure.” Jude turned to Emmy. “Let’s go.”
“Hold on, honey.” Rawley laughed. “I’m here to talk to you.” Emmy realized he was referring to her. She felt momentarily pinned by his sudden attention, but she quickly shook herself out of it. “Sheriff Clifton.”
“Pleasure to finally meet you, Sheriff Clifton.” He extended his left hand.
Emmy let his hand hang for a moment. She could’ve told herself it was a power play, but the thought of touching him was grotesque.
Still, she made herself shake his hand. She expected his skin to feel cold, like a snake’s, but it was warm and surprisingly soft.
Almost normal. He held on a moment longer than necessary before letting go.
He said, “Been following your career, young lady. Very impressive. You’ve got my vote.”
Emmy steeled her spine. “You’re a convicted felon, Mr. Rawley. You’re not allowed to vote in the state of Georgia.”
“Do tell?” He laughed his fake laugh. “Thanks for the legal advice, honey. You sure are prettier than the rest of my lawyers.”
Emmy opened her mouth to correct him, but Jude jumped back in.
“Lee, why are you here?”
His reptilian gaze flickered back to Jude. “Terrible thing that happened in town yesterday. An innocent mother and daughter minding their own business. Neither one of ’em deserved it.”
“Bad things happen all the time.”
“They do indeed, but Woody was not involved.” Lee leaned forward again, putting himself close to Jude. “A cop getting herself murdered, now that’s bad for business. More cops shaking down my customers. Not acceptable.”
Jude lifted her chin in defiance. “Tell me what you came here to tell me.”
“Bill owes a hell of a lot of money to some really bad men.”
“You wouldn’t be one of those bad men, would you?”
He laughed like they were a pair of old friends shooting the shit. “Might’ve been my grandson went about pushing Bill to pay in the wrong direction.”
“You mean intimidating a sixteen-year-old girl?”
“Yeah.” The flirty banter had drained away. “That’s exactly what I mean. You know I can’t abide a young girl being punished for something that ain’t her fault.”
Emmy heard forty-plus years of silence stretch out between them. Jude had lied to her face. She hadn’t just gone to school with Lee and Tanya Rawley. She knew them.
“All right.” Lee stuck the grin back on his face. “Woody let Bill get under his skin. You meet that jackass yet?”
Jude shook her head. “No.”
“Whiny little bitch. Always bites off more than he can chew. Pisses off the wrong people.” He lifted his chin in Emmy’s direction. “Not my business telling you what to do, Sheriff, but you should be looking at him.”
Emmy guessed even psychopaths could watch Brett mouth off to the Atlanta news.
Lee grinned at Jude. “She’s got that Clifton Quiet, huh?”
Jude was so tensed that her mouth barely moved when she spoke. “Make your point.”
His gaze slithered toward Emmy again. “You get two questions, sweetheart. I’ll give you the answers, then we can all get out of here.”
Emmy thought it was pretty clever to act as a go-between so she couldn’t pin Woody down on the answers. Still, she had an idea. “Do you control the Clayville Police Department?”
He laughed, then looked at Jude. “She’s a smart one, ain’t she?”
Jude shrugged. “You said you’d answer two questions.”
“Not that one.”
Emmy was ready. “Why did Allison confront Woody at the motel?”
Lee nodded, like she needed his approval. “Allison was understandably upset. Thought he laid hands on her baby. He did not.”
“What’s Woody’s alibi for the shooting?”
“You can take that up with your counterparts in Dekalb County.” Lee held up his left hand, wagged his fingers as if to prove he wasn’t holding a weapon, then he used his index and middle finger to tease a business card out of his front pocket.
“Chief Deputy Pritzker asked him to come in for some questioning on an unrelated matter.”
Jude took the card before Emmy could. “We’re done here.”
“Are we?” Lee flashed the same toothy grin, but even from twelve feet away, Emmy could sense the warning. “My condolences on your daddy and mama. Both of you.”
Emmy felt the heat of his attention.
“Sheriff.” Lee tipped an imaginary hat. “Good luck with the debate next week. Make your daddy proud.”
Neither Emmy nor Jude moved as Lee sauntered back to the BMW. He used his left hand to pull himself into the car and shut the door. Then he waved as the thug pulled away from the curb.
“Jesus Christ.” Emmy could barely summon enough breath to speak. “Jesus Christ.”
“Get in the car.” Jude opened the passenger-side door. “Emmy, let’s go.”
She didn’t move. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m going to walk back to the station.” Jude shut the door. “I’ll meet you there.”
“The hell you will.”
Jude took off in the opposite direction.
“Hold up.” Emmy jogged to catch up with her. “You need to explain yourself right now. Lee Rawley clearly knows you.”
“He doesn’t know a damn thing about me.” She was walking fast enough to labor her breathing. “For godsakes, Emmy. I said I’ll meet you at the station. Just give me some time and I promise I’ll tell you the truth.”
“Bullshit.” Emmy had finally figured out how to sneeze into the windstorm. “You’re rattled, Dr. Archer. You want time to figure out a way to control my response to whatever version of the truth you come up with.”
“Emmy Lou.”
“Don’t Emmy Lou me.” She would’ve laughed if they weren’t talking about a sadistic drug dealer. “You’ve spent the last twenty-four hours lecturing me and therapizing me without my consent, but when it’s your turn to open up, you’re just as fluent in silence as I am.”
“Okay.” Jude swung around on Emmy. “I’m going to say this, then you’re going to get in your car, and I’ll meet you at the station. All right?”
Emmy had never seen her like this before. She wasn’t rattled. She was fractured. “All right.”
“Did you see his arm? That’s my fault. Lee Rawley was the reason I left town forty years ago. I was outrunning a manslaughter charge. I almost killed him.”