Bad Juju (28 page)

She hoped Pete was dead and not missing.  No more fear, no more pain.  Jake
was not telling her the whole story,
but she doubted that he killed him.  The boy was as gentle as a lamb.  Pete had the advantage, even if he was almost passed-out drunk.

The police report was just a formality, a CYA as her mother would say.  She put on her most somber expression and strode up to the information desk holding
Rhianna’s
hand.

“Hello.  I’m Leah
LaRue
.  I’m here because my husband is gone,” Leah said.

“Mrs.
LaRue
, please come back here with me and have a seat.”  The officer led her in back of the information desk inside the police station and pulled up an extra chair for
Rhianna
.  “Your daughter?  She’s beautiful.  I’m Officer
Carillo
.  Now how long has he been missing?”

“Last time I saw him was last night,
8:00
, before I left for work.  My daughter and foster son went to bed around 10:00 and he stayed up.  I came home after 3:00 a.m., and he was gone.  My kids were sleeping,” Leah recounted.

“I see.  That makes him gone, let’s see…it’s after 3:00 p.m. now, so at least twelve hours.  Mrs.
LaRue
, I’ll start a report, but we won’t begin to investigate until forty-eight hours have passed.  Now where do you live?” questioned Officer
Carillo
with a pen in his hand and a form on his desk.

“I live right here in Hayward, Chippewa Park…”

“My dad lives there.  Ed.  Ed
Carillo
.  He’s Lot 416,” said the officer.

“Oh, I know him.  He came to my brother’s funeral.  Ed, oh yes.  Sweet guy.  I’m Lot 408.  My foster son does chores for him sometimes,” Leah said.

“
Ah, t
hat must be Jake.  And your husband must be Pete,” he said as he discontinued eye contact and looked down at the form.  Leah heard a hint of disdain when he mentioned Pete’s name.

“Yes, that’s right.  Glad to meet you and glad you are handling my case.  Should I come in and officially file the report once the forty-eight hours are up?” Leah said, acting like she was concerned.

“Yes.  I got it started.  Hopefully, he’ll come home.  Thanks for coming in and say hi to Jake for me.  He’s a big help to my dad,” Officer
Carillo
stated.  He got up from his desk and escorted Leah and
Rhianna
out the back entrance.

On the way home,
Rhianna
asked from the back seat, “Is Daddy okay?”  Leah saw her tears from the rearview mirror.  Not even her daughter’s worry could bring her down from this fantastic day.

“
Rhi
, everything is going to be okay.  I promise.  Let’s pick up a bucket of chicken for dinner,” Leah pacified.

Once home, Leah saw Jake walking from Lucien’s towards their trailer.  “Jake, I got dinner.  Just in time.  Can you watch
Rhianna
tonight? 
Gotta
work,” Leah yelled from across the gravel road.

As Jake came closer, he nodded and she could see his smile.  He was adorable.  With Pete gone, he would want more from her, more than she was willing to give.  She loved being with him, but knew the risk. 
But those blue puppy dog eyes of his…And waking up in his arms…Stop it!  Pete might not be gone for long,
she told herself.

Jake helped her carry the chicken inside.  They sat down at the kitchen table and chit-chatted about Jake’s car and car insurance.

“How much you got saved?” Leah asked.

“Well, I had over a thousand not too long ago…” Jake said.

“I know, but what about now?” Leah interrupted.  She really didn’t want to talk about the time when Pete stole his money and beat him up.  They were having too nice of a dinner and
Rhianna
was too little to hear about what an SOB her father was. 

After dinner Leah cleaned up the table and got ready for work.  She was dressed in her new cowgirl outfit she wore the night before.  As she applied her make-up, a knock at her door startled her.  Liquid liner smeared all over her eye. 
Damn it!
  “Come in.”

Jake opened the door and took one step inside her room.  He looked at her sheepishly, unsure of where he stood.  She loved that about him.  It had always been the other way around with Pete until she no longer cared if he loved her.  Now the ball was in her court.  She was calling the shots, and she loved being the one in control.

“Yes Jake?  You can come in, sit on my bed and keep me company while I put my face on,” Leah said with a wink.

He awkwardly stepped further into the room and took a seat.  It suddenly occurred to her that they never hooked up inside of her room, everywhere else, but never in the trailer.

“I know what you said…I’ve got to be eighteen before we can publically be together.  I just want you to know I’m going to try and make you happy.  If you could loan me a couple hundred bucks for car insurance, then I could go all over town and find a part time job for the summer.  I could contribute.  You know, pay some bills.  I’d continue helping our neighbors…”

“Please do.  You have really impressed Officer
Carillo
, Ed’s son,” Leah said.

“So you went to the police?” Jake asked.

“Yes.  I have a feeling everything is going to be fine as long as Pete doesn’t come back.  And don’t worry about the car insurance.  I’ll call tomorrow and have you put onto my plan…” Leah said.

“I’ll pay you back,” Jake interrupted.

“No you won’t.  I won’t let you.  You’ll be earning it by watching
Rhianna
when I go to work.  And if you do get a part time job, please make sure it’s in the day.  I need you four nights a week.  And I’ll pay you for watching her,” Leah proposed.

“No, you don’t have to do that,” Jake interjected.

“I want to.  Do you think he’ll ever come back?” Leah asked, testing him to see if he’d slip.

“Don’t know,” Jake answered.

“Any predictions?” Leah asked again.

Jake smiled.  “No, but you know what I’m hoping, what’s in my heart…”

“I do know.  Listen, as far as ‘us’ goes, I’m not ready for
Rhianna
to know about it.  And I don’t want the police thinking…It looks bad.  Lots of reasons to wait.  But if you’re discreet…” Leah offered.

“I’ll be much more discreet than before…Lucien saw…”  Jake squealed, and then halted his speech.

“Lucien what?”  Leah could tell by his expression that he regretted his slip.  “C’mon, Jake.  Lucien knows?”

“He saw us together.  I’m not sure where, but he knows,” Jake confessed.

“Don’t ever discuss our relationship, especially with our neighbors-even Lucien.  Understand?”  Jake nodded.  “
Gotta
go to work.  Be back by 3 or 3:30.”  Leah kissed him on the mouth and went into the living room where
Rhianna
was watching TV.  She scooped the toddler up and hugged her good-bye.  She grabbed a light weight
trenchcoat
to throw over her provocative outfit and left.

***

Leah arrived at The Dollhouse with less than a minute to spare.  Her boss was strict about being on time.  She quickly handed her music to the D.J., keeping with her country theme of a cowgirl outfit and country songs.  She hoped for the same windfall as she received last night.  The place was packed.  Maybe…

She waited around backstage until it was her turn to perform.

“I would like to announce Chewy Cherry who will be dancing to Shania Twain’s
Feel
s
Like a
Woman.
  The beautiful and talented Chewy Cherry,” the DJ announced.

Leah strutted on stage, commanding her audience’s attention.  A feeling of grandeur swept over her.  Instead of her rehearsed, sexy tease, she performed a solo that could have gotten her into Julliard had she not been throwing garments out into the audience.  The crowd cheered for her as if she was a prima ballerina.  And for the
moment, inside of her head, she was.  She pirouetted,
jete
-d,
releve
-d, and flipped all over the stage with grace and confidence she never knew she had.  She felt beautiful.  She felt free.

Chapter 3
3

Only two weeks left before summer vacation.  Candy wasn’t exactly thrilled to see
Rio
return to her classroom.  The boy
proved t
o be nothing but trouble.

The rest of the school year’s lessons were filled with math puzzles,
Sudoku
, and section reviews.  She didn’t assign homework, and her students didn’t expect to work on anything too difficult.

Rio
tacitly sat in the back of the room and minded his own business.  He had a few friends in class who he would occasionally talk to.  Candy still did not trust him.

The love triangle between the three students continued to drag. 
Brittany spent most of the period staring at Henry.  Surprisingly,
Rio
appeared apathetic.  Candy doubted his sincerity, believing he was riddled with jealousy.  Nonetheless, Henry made it brutally clear Brittany repulsed him.

On the last day of the school year, Candy had a pizza delivered up to her classroom during lunch
for her,
Henry,
and
Jake
. 
It was the first lunch she saw Henry eat something different than a PBJ sandwich.

“Next week my boyfriend and I will be touring Europe.  We’ll tour Italy, France, Czech Republic, Germany, and maybe Poland if time.  We plan on seeing several WWII landmarks.  Henry, do you still watch all of that World War II stuff on the History Channel?” Candy asked as she ate.

“I do, but I’m also learning about Haiti and the Haitian culture,” Henry replied.

“You leave…tomorrow, right?” Candy reiterated.

“
Well, very early tomorrow morning. 
Me, my family, and my church will have to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to catch our flight,” Henry answered.

“What about you, Jake?”  Going anywhere this summer?” Candy asked.

“I don’t know yet.  I’m trying to talk my aunt into taking me and my cousin to the Wisconsin Dells,” Jake answered.

“How fun!  Hope you go,” Candy said.  She felt terrible for the boy after
hearing his uncle abandoned him. 
“I’m going to miss you two.  We had such a nice little lunch bunch this year.”

“We’ll miss you, too.  Do you teach Calculus?” asked Jake.  “I’m taking that next year.”

“Don’t know.  I have in the past, but we don’t get our schedules until August.  And if we all happen to have the same lunch period, you both have my personal invitation to eat in my room.  But just you two.  Now the bell is about to ring.  Jake, have a great summer.  Henry, put this up.  It’s a reminder about the computer lab.”
  She handed him a homemade sign.

“Okay.  I’ll see you in the lab.”  Henry taped up the sign on the door and left as the bell rang.

Candy’s afternoon classes were uneventful.  She allowed her students to play math video games in the computer lab in honor of the last day.  She hoped they would keep their math skills sharp and play the online game at home over the summer.  After the final bell rang, she went back up to her classroom to lockup.  Technically staff’s last day was Monday and then their vacation would begin.

Candy grabbed her purse and was about to lock up her room, but saw a black and gray backpack on the floor.  She knew it was Henry’s and picked it up.  It was heavy.  Textbooks were turned in two days ago.  She opened the backpack in case Henry forgot to turn in a book.  She took out a large, leather bound scrapbook.  She wondered if it was a project from another class like English or Family Consumer Science.  She quickly thumbed through the pages.  At first glimpse, it looked like a recipe book.  But several pages were filled with odd drawings.  Slowly turning the pages, she noticed the recipes had no titles, just symbols.  And the ingredients were not edible:  lavender, chicken’s feet, thistle, hair…Haitian culture…Voodoo!

Candy continued to thumb through the book and paused at a recipe with hand drawn hearts all over the page.  The handwriting was
f
ancy and nothing like Henry’s or any of her students.  Could this be a love spell?  Candy took the book, backpack, and Rolodex filled with student information and dashed out of Freemont High.

Chapter 34

Brittany was only half listening
to
her
mother
as she
l
ectured
on
about double standards and promiscuity after
speaking with
Henry’s father.

“I thought you were dating
Rio
.  And now Henry?  His parents don’t want you around…They think you’re a whore.  What the hell is
the
matter with you?  They told me you’re the first girl he ever dated.  Your reputation…” 
Blah, blah, blah.