Breath of Scandal (9 page)

"Jade! What's happened? Nobody would tell me a thing. Where have you been?"

Right then, the last thing Jade needed was more questions. She needed to be held close and comforted. She needed unqualified acceptance. Instead, her mother demanded an-

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swers. In her place, Jade supposed she might have reacted the same way, but that didn't make her feel any better.

Velta's face didn't register a single emotion when Jade told her what had happened. After several seconds of blank staring, she dumbly repeated, "Raped?"

"Yes, Mama."

Awkwardly, she reached out to smooth back the strands of hair that had dried in unruly waves around Jade's face. "Who did it?"

When Jade told her, Velta pulled back her hand as though Jade's hair had given her an electric shock. "That's - . . that's crazy, Jade. You've known those boys all your life. They wouldn't do something Re that."

"They did." Tears welled in her eyes. "Don't you believe me, Mama?"

"Of course, Jade. Of course I believe you."

Jade didn't think so, but lacked the energy and heart to try to make herself believed. At the sheriff's request, she related her story again for her mother. When she concluded, he left, saying he would be back.

Since being left alone, she and her mother had said nothing of substance to each other. Velta asked her if she was all right, and Jade, because of the absurdity of the question, simply replied yes. Not since stroking her hair had Velta touched her again.

At daybreak, a deputy appeared and offered Velta a cup of fresh coffee. Jade asked for a soda to moisten her sore throat. Swallowing was painful, partially because of the unshed tears that were dammed up inside her throat.

Suddenly the door to the interrogation room swung open. Jade raised her head, realizing that she must have drifted to sleep from sheer exhaustion. She uttered a small, fearful cry when the first person through the door was Neal Patchett.

Her breath became shallow and choppy, as though she'd been running. "What's he doing here?"

Ivan Patchett and Sheriff Jolly filed in behind Neal. "You're tossing around some serious words, young lady," Ivan said to her. "When Fritz called and told me what was

going on, I demanded that you accuse my boy to his face. Hi, Velta. "

Jade's mother reacted to Ivan's appearance in much the same manner as Jade had reacted to Neal's. "Hello, Ivan. " "These two young 'uns have created quite a ruckus this morning, haven't they?"

I'Yes. I I

"I didn't create anything!" Jade objected to Ivan's makg her mother his comrade against their misbehaving chilin

dren. "This was done to me. I had nothing to do with it." "Oh, come on, Jade," Neal said, speaking for the first time. "For Chris' sake, do you honestly expect anybody to believe you were rapedT    I

"Nobody has to take my word for it. They can look at the pictures of me they took at the hospital. The laboratory evidence will bear out what I'm saying."

.   He sat down on the corner of the table. "I'm not saying it didn't happen," he said smoothly. "I'm only saying that you're taking liberties with how it happened."

"I'm not!" She would have backed farther away from him if the back of her chair would have given way. As good-looking as he was, he was thoroughly repellant to her.

"Okay, let's all settle down," Sheriff Jolly said, taking command. "Neal, move over here, please." He indicated a place against the wall. "Ivan, you take that chair."

Ivan sat down. He glanced at Velta. "You'll get the day off with pay."

"Thank you."

Jade glared at her mother, furious at her for the deference she showed Ivan Patchett.

"Now, Jade," Fritz said, drawing her attention back to him. "Please tell your story again for Ivan and Neal's benefit. "

That was a daunting request. She didn't know if she could speak aloud the intimate details of the rape with Neal and his father present. However, when the case came to trial, she would have an even larger audience.

Ivan was watching her indulgently, but she saw malev-

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olence lurking behind the benign expression in his eyesNeal was propped against the opposite wall, arms folded across his chest. He was smirking with complacence.

"Yeah, Jade. I'd like to hear all about how I raped you. His scoffing tone spurred her on. He wasn't going to get away with what he'd done to her, not if she had to repeat the ugly truth a thousand times.

After taking a sip of the tepid soda the deputy had brought her earlier, she began with Donna Dee's car running out of gas and ended with her arrival at the hospital. "The rest of it," she finished quietly, "is now a matter of record."

"Have you found this mysterious nigger yet?" Ivan asked Fritz.

The sheriff shook his head. "She couldn't give us anything that would identify him."

"Hmm." A satisfied smile sat upon Ivan's lips.

"He was real," Jade insisted. "In the condition I was in, I couldn't have walked all the way back into town. I I "That's Daddy's point," Neal said. "Your 'condition'

wasn't nearly as bad as you're making it out to be. You had plenty of time to walk back to town, and that's what you did. On the way here, you got cold feet. You got to thinking about Parker and what he would think when he heard about our little party."

Jade jumped from her chair. "Don't you dare speak his name! You're not worthy to. I'd rather you rape me again than drag Gary into this."

"Jade, for heaven's sake, sit down." Velta grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her chair.

Ivan lit a cigar and negligently fanned out the match before tossing it to the floor.

Sheriff Jolly said, "Neal, you don't have to answer to any charges."

"I don't mind. She's lying.-

"Ivan, are you sure you don't want to call your lawyer?" "We waived that right, Fritz. Why bother him this early in the morning? We've got nothing to hide. Ask the boy any damn thing you please."

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Fritz addressed Neal. "What happened when you came up on Donna Dee and Jade?"

"It's just like Jade said," he replied. "We offered her a ride. She got in my car of her own free will. She even had to climb over the seat to get in the back with Lamar."

"You didn't force her into the car?" "Hell no. "

"That's because I thought Donna Dee was coming too," Jade amended quickly. "When I saw that they intended to leave her, I tried to get out. They held me. They wouldn't let her in or me out."

Neal laughed. "It was all in fun. A fake kidnapping, you know? W were just messing around.-

He picked up the story from there and told them about arriving at the spot near the channel. "Jade got out and sat there while we drank a beer."

"There wasn't anywhere else to go," she explained. "When you said what you did, and I realized what you intended to do, I ran. Tell them, Neal. You know it's the truth. I tried to run away from you. I I

"Neal, what did you say to her?" Fritz asked. "I told her we were going to fuck her."

Velta laid her hand against her chest and crossed her legs. Ivan puffed on his cigar. Fritz rubbed his temple. "That corroborates Jade's story. "

"That's when I turned and ran toward the road," she said. "I didn't get far. Neal grabbed me by the hair and pulled me down."

He gave a helpless little shrug. "She said something to the effect of, 'Like hell you are,' but she was laughing." "I said nothing of the sort, and I certainly wasn't laughing. I was terrified."

"Of three friends?" Ivan snorted incredulously.

"She did start running," Neal said, "but not full out, not like she didn't want to be caught. I did grab her by the hair, We had a tussle. She put up token resistance-all for show. I I

"That's a lie," Jade whispered hoarsely, shaking her

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head in adamant denial. "That's a lie. He hurt me. He ripped off my-" A thought struck her. She looked at Neal's mud-stained jeans-they were the ones he'd been wearing the night before. "He ripped off my pantyhose, then my panties. He put them in the pocket of his jeans. Check his pocket."

"Neal?" Fritz signaled with his head for the boy to comply.

Ivan turned his head and looked over his shoulder at Neal as he fished into his right pocket. He produced a pair of yellow bikini panties. Velta, recognizing them, covered her mouth to stifle a startled gasp.

Neal gazed at Jade, his eyes full of regret. Softly he said, "You told me to keep them as a souvenir, honey. Remember?"

"He's lying!" She shot from her chair and rounded the table, her fingers curled into claws aimed at his sardonic face. Fritz caught her around the waist and held her back.

The door opened and a deputy peered in. "Sheriff, everything all right in here?"

"Everything's fine," he assured his deputy. "Uh, sheriff, about those records at the lab."

"Yeah, I'd like to read the official report as soon as it's available. "

"That's just it, Sheriff Jolly." He shifted his weight nervously. "That's what I come to tell you. The smears and all got throwed out by mistake. The whole kit on Miss Sperry got burned up in the hospital incinerator this morning. "

When she heard that, the fight went out of Jade. She wilted over Fritz's arm and allowed him to direct her back to her chair. With a tortured cry, she slumped forward. All the physical evidence of the rape had been destroyed. Even if the emergency-room doctor testified on her behalf, all he could actually attest to was that she had had sexual intercourse and that-seemingly-it had been rough. Under cross-examination, his testimony could be rendered useless. Besides, he couldn't identify her attackers.

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Nothing that was said in this room would ever be permissible evidence in a court of law-not even Neal's confession that he'd had carnal knowledge of her. He could change his story entirely and deny that he had been involved in the incident at all. From now on, it would be Jade's word against theirs.

But out of the blanket of black despair that was about to suffocate her, there glimmered a ray of new hope. Suddenly she raised her head. "Donna Dee."

"What?" Sheriff Jolly turned to her.

"Call Donna Dee. She'll tell you that I resisted. She saw me struggling to get out of Neal,s car. She'll verify that I didn't go with them voluntarily."

Fritz consulted his wristwatch, then said to the deputy, "Call Joe Monroe's house. Try and catch his girl before she leaves for school. Tell her I want her to stop by here, but don't tell her why."

The deputy doffed his hat and ducked out the door. They settled in to wait. Velta retrieved Jade's panties from the table and stuffed them into her purse. Ivan requested coffee, which was served to him by an obsequious female clerk. Neal left only long enough to get a Coke from the vending machine in the squad room. To keep from looking at him, Jade laid her head on her arms again and kept her eyes closed.

She longed for sleep. She wanted to take off the green operating-room scrubs and the ridiculous booties. She wanted to comb her hair and brush her teeth. She wanted privacy to weep for what was irretrievably lost-her virginity.

GarY, Gary, she silently groaned. He wouldn't blame her for the rape, but she wasn't so na1ve as to believe that this wouldn't adversely affect their relationship. Thinking about to what extent was so heart-wrenching that she tried to concentrate on something else.

"How long have you been working for me, Velta?" she heard Ivan ask her mother- He was still puffing on his vile cigar. The smoke made Jade nauseated.

Sandra Brown

"A long time."           it, if we had to disassociate on "Be a shame, wouldn't

account of this misunderstanding."      d intimidate her, Jade looked up at him. "Don't     try an    s another day Mr. Patchett. I hope my mother never work

in your stinking factory - I don't want money she eams there paying for the food I eat and the clothes I wear." ordinarily Jade would never have spoken like that to an

adult. But she had been the victim of a cruel and painful d animal, she was striking back. attack, and, like any injure           - He frowned with Ivan flicked cigar ashes onto the floor

stem disapproval. "You'd better put a muzzle on your girt there, Velta. She's got a real smart mouth."

Velta turned to Jade and whispered, -Hush! Why are you trying to make things wom?"

At that moment, Sheriff Jolly ushered in Donna Dee. Timidly, she hesitated before moving into the room. Her dark eyes bounced from one face to another. They finally landed on Jade. "What's going on? What happened? How come you're dressed like that?"

nna Dee. " The sheriff nudged "Please step inside, Do                   ing chair for her. her forward and pulled up the only remain

"Sit down. We want to ask YOU some questions." "About what?" Her voice was quavering with fear of the unknown. "What's the matter? Did somebody get killed or something9"                            0 put the nervous

"Nothing like that," Fritz said, trying t

girl at ease - "There was some trouble last night - You might be able to straighten out a few facts for us."

-Me? What kind of trouble?"               t of gas late yes"Something happened after you ran Ou

terday evening," he said. -I made it home okay." "But Jade didn't."

Donna Dee turned toward Jade. "What happened? You look terrible."

,11 was raped."

Donna Dee sucked in a sharp gasp. Her small eyes popped wide. "Raped? Oh my God, Jade, for real? RapeP-

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"So she says," Neal drawled.

Donna Dee's head snapped around toward him. "She was with you. How could she get raped?"

"He did it! He, Hutch, and Lamar raped me."

For the second time in the space of seconds, Donna Dee registered utter shock. "Hutch raped you?" she wheezed. "She's a liar," Neal said.

"Shut up!" Sheriff Jolly's voice cracked like a whip. "All of you. This is my department. I'm in charge here. I'm asking the questions." He paused to make certain that Jade and Neal were properly quelled before addressing Donna Dee, who was looking at Jade, rapidly blinking her eyes.       I