Mississippi Blues (39 page)

Summer locked her gaze on the gun. “Surely you're mistaken. Mama couldn't have done anything to you. The only times you've seen her I've been right here with you, and I can't think of a thing she could've done to make you so angry.”

“She took him away from me,” Glory screamed. “They all did.”

“Took who?” Certain her friend had lost her mind, Summer wondered if she could get through to her. If only someone would come and help.

Glory's lips turned into a sneer. “You're so stupid.”

“Yes.” Summer would say anything to get Glory to free Mama. “I am dumb. I don't know who you mean. Please tell me.”

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” Glory sang in a babyish voice. Her eyes half closed and she began to rock from side to side. Her hand holding the gun slipped to her waist.

Seeing her chance, Summer took two quick steps. Glory's eyes flew open and she jerked the gun up at Summer's chest again. Her features looked normal. “Try that again and it'll be the last move you make.”

“I'm sorry.” Summer stepped back. “Forgive me.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jody, as helpless as she.

A car pulled into the driveway.

Glory pushed the pistol into the side of Mama's head. “Keep them back.”

“Summer? Are you okay?” Trey's voice echoed through the kitchen. In a minute, he appeared in the doorway, the Chief behind him. “Oh, shit.”

Mama's terror-glazed eyes went wider, but she didn't move. She resembled a wax figure, pale and frozen. Except for her hands, which shook like a tambourine player's.

Summer wanted to rush to Trey, to let him take over, to fix this. Instead, she motioned for him to stop. He nodded and both he and the Chief stood silent. In a normal tone she said, “Glory was just explaining to me why she's so angry with me.”

Glory tipped her head back and howled. With her free hand, she slapped her thigh. “Oh, that's rich. You're so simple, you never knew I was the one who was making all of the bad ones pay for their sins. You couldn't even see it when it was right under your nose. Like when I was washing my bloody shirt at the beauty shop.”

A shiver climbed up and back down Summer's spine. “You mean when you were at the shop the other night? When I stopped to talk to you?”

“Uh-huh.” Glory's green eyes glittered. “Right under your nose and you didn't even know. Dumb.”

“Whose blood was on your shirt?” Summer dreaded the answer.

For a long moment, Glory stared at the gun in her hand and Summer feared she would pull the trigger. As if in a trance she said, “He told me. All of it. I had to sleep with him to make him say, but he came clean. Don't you see? I had to make it right.”

“Who?” Summer whispered. “Who told you something?”

Glory heaved a tremendous sigh. “Do I have to explain everything to you?”

With a vigorous nod Summer said, “Yes, please make me understand.”

“I snuck in the back door and I held this gun to his head and I made him squirm like the worm he was.” Glory looked at all of them by turns. “None of you even suspected I killed him. He had to die because he knew the whole story and he never said a thing. My Daddy was killed and he just sat there and never said a word. He laughed.”

“Who laughed?” Summer whispered. Glory had lost her mind. Nothing she said made sense.

“Jimmy Ray.” Trey's voice echoed in the kitchen like a cannon going off and they all jumped.

“Don't say that name,” Glory screamed and swung the gun his direction. “Don't say it ever again.”

“I'm sorry,” Trey said. “He shouldn't have laughed at you.”

Fat tears rolled down her face. “No, he shouldn't.”

In a soft voice Trey asked, “Can you tell us what happened? What did he do to your daddy?”

Summer held her breath as he took a few steps toward Glory. She seemed unaware of his movement. “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.”

“Who's your daddy?” he asked. “Tell me.”

“Her daddy was Deke Soloman,” the Chief said. “Can't you see it?”

Everyone looked at her. For the first time, Summer recognized the red hair, the evil green eyes with the identical hate in them as the man in the picture. “My God.”

“That's right, I'm Glory Soloman. I came to this godforsaken place to avenge him. I waited and waited until the time was right. Then I struck. One at a time, they went down like a house of cards. No one even looked at me.” She glared at them. Then she poked Mama again. “If your devil spawn had just stayed in jail where he belonged, no one would've even thought to put it all together. Could've made them all pay for what they did. But no, he — “ she pointed at Trey “ — had to start nosing around.”

Summer couldn't seem to connect the dots. “What does Jace have to do with anything?”

“I know.” Trey looked at Glory. “May I explain?”

She snorted. “If you can.”

“I think I figured it out.” He looked at the Chief. “It all starts with you. You began to have an affair with Carlene Carter. It was all fun and games until she took Marie Lennox's place with a john at Mugs-n-Jugs one night in May. This john was Deke Soloman. How am I doing so far?”

The Chief gave a quick, sharp nod.

Trey continued. “For whatever reason, Soloman raped Carlene. She didn't tell him she was someone else when she took Marie's place. There wasn't any reason to.”

MiLann made a strangled sound.

“I'm sorry, Mrs. Hill. If the Chief would've only listened to Carlene when she came to tell him about the rape, you wouldn't have been the next victim.” Trey shot his dad a withering look.

“Daddy didn't rape anyone,” Glory shouted. “Sluts teased him and he didn't like that. But he didn't have to force anyone to get what he wanted. All the women loved him. He had a new girl every week. And he had me. I was all he needed.”

“I'm sorry,” Trey said in a low voice. “May I go on?”

Glory gave a quick nod.

“Because the Chief chose not to act on her report, Carlene was furious. She went to my mother and told her about the affair. But she didn't stop there. She stalked Soloman and killed him … ”

“That whore didn't kill my daddy,” Glory screamed. She waved the gun at the Chief. “He knows the truth. Tell it.”

Looking sick, the Chief looked around as if he wanted to escape. Seeing none, he said, “Hill did it.”

“No, he didn't,” Summer denied. “Stop lying.”

“Chief,” Trey said, “this is the time.”

With another desperate look around, he realized he was trapped. He seemed to shrink before their eyes. “All right. I don't know all of what happened. Carlene came to me and when I told her to go home, she told Emily about us. Emily was furious with me, but it was the boys' graduation and she didn't want to upset them, so she agreed to wait until the next day to do anything else.”

“I heard you fighting,” Trey said. Their ugly words flashed in his head. “Then what happened? I think I know, but we'd like to hear it from you.”

“At the party Emily got angrier and she had too much to drink. She was making threats, telling me she was going to leave me. I told her to go to bed. Sleep it off. Instead, she left the party with MiLann, Buford, and Leroy. Those were my friends and she knew it would hurt me if they took up for her. Hell, they were bound to. Both were half in love with her. Leroy was all the way gone. I went to bed, not knowing what to do.”

“They made a fool of my daddy,” Glory said, “tell that part.”

The Chief looked helpless. “I can't.”

Trey's gaze went to Summer. He hoped she could see how much he loved her in his eyes. If Glory snapped and something happened to her mother, he didn't think she would ever pick up the pieces. Somehow, they had to get Glory calmed down. He opened his mouth, praying for the right words.

“I can.” MiLann's soft voice carried like a starling on a breeze.

“Mama?” Summer sounded like a little girl. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Her eyes were clearer than they'd been in years. “I remember. Emily was so angry and she wanted to go to the bar. Somehow Mugs-n-Jugs was suggested. We all thought it would be fun. It was … at first. Jimmy Ray Hunt even got out his camera and snapped a photo. He said he would have something to blackmail the Chief if he tried to stop any illegal activities.”

“The picture in your office?” Summer asked.

He jerked his head. “Yeah.”

“Go on,” Trey said gently. “If you can.”

MiLann took a deep breath. “Soloman was there. He was fun and we invited him to join the party. He liked Emily a lot. He wanted to be with her … ”

“But she was too good for him,” Glory screamed. “The teasing bitch.”

“That's my dead wife,” the Chief shouted back. His face turned red and the vein in his forehead throbbed.

Everyone stared at Glory. She glared at the Chief. “Shut up. I want to know once and for all what happened.”

“It's true,” MiLann confirmed. “Emily teased him. And she led on Buford and Leroy, too. Finally, someone suggested we go to the motel, and we did. Emily told me on the way she had no intention of sleeping with Soloman or anyone else. She said that would make her no better than Samuel, and she was Catholic and she wouldn't betray her vows. When we got to the Blue Cat, she told Soloman she wouldn't lie down with white trash, said she had a reputation to maintain. Leroy and Buford laughed with her. Soloman took off, furious and hurt. I left them and went after him to try and apologize.”

“That's when it happened,” Trey said gently.

“He didn't rape her,” Glory screamed. She jabbed MiLann with the gun again. “Don't you say it.”

Half turning in her chair, MiLann faced her squarely. “I won't lie. Shoot me if you will. You can't make my life any worse. Kill me and put me out of my misery. Soloman went insane and hit me. I fell to the floor in a daze. He stomped on me with his feet, he screamed, he raved. Said I was a poor second. That Emily was a tease, a slut, and many other horrible things. I eventually passed out. I went in and out of consciousness. That's when he … ”

“Mama, stop,” Summer whispered.

“Raped me.” Her voice rang strong.

No one spoke.

“You're lying.” Glory sounded so sure. As if not a word MiLann had just said struck a chord with her.

Trey thought she must've been a wooden puppet if the woman in front of her hadn't touched her in some way. “Do you know who actually killed Soloman, Mrs. Hill?”

She took a deep breath. Her fingers curled around the paper in her hands. “Yes.”

“Her son didn't,” Glory said. “He was framed.”

“Then who?” Summer's heart pounded so hard she feared it might jump out of her chest.

Glory looked at her with cold, dead eyes. “MiLann knows.”

Trey looked at Summer for a long moment. “Tell us what you have there, Mrs. Hill. Is that a letter from Jace?”

“No,” Summer said. “Mama doesn't know.”

“Admit it,” Trey ordered the Chief. “Mother felt guilty for what MiLann suffered because of her. She found Soloman and killed him. No one saw her and she got away with it. When Jace went off the deep end and vowed vengeance, she kept quiet.”

When he didn't answer, MiLann whispered, “Yes. It's the truth. This is a letter Emily sent me. It's all in here. She wanted to clear her conscience before she died. She killed Soloman with a knife from her own house. When I was in the hospital, the Chief misplaced the rape kit.”

The Chief said, “She was my wife. I had to protect her.”

“Oh, God, no.” Summer stumbled and Trey caught her in his arms. “You and Emily let Jace go to prison for a murder he didn't commit. Why? He was only a boy.”

“She couldn't take it, he could.” The Chief didn't look apologetic.

“You dirty son-of-a-bitch.” Summer tried to squirm out of Trey's arms, but he held her fast. “You bastard. You let an innocent kid go to prison when you knew he didn't do it so your lily-white name wouldn't be dirtied.”

“He's not worth it.” Trey glared at his father. “He's got to live with what he's done.”

“I didn't know for sure,” the Chief said. “I had my ideas about what happened that night. But when Trey found Jace with Soloman's body, it was the thing I needed to hear to shut up my suspicions.”

“Emily turned her back to save her own skin,” Summer sobbed. “Mama was raped because of her. Jace has rotted away in prison. May God forgive her soul.”

“But I made the rest of them pay,” Glory crowed. “Every last one. Marie Lennox because Carlene told her he did the bad thing. I haven't gotten around to that slut Carlene yet. Leroy Eaton and Buford Krebs for laughing at him, and most of all, Emily Bouché for killing him. It was so easy. Nobody even put it all together. I've been planning my revenge all for years. There's only MiLann left.”

“When Jace escaped and I came home, you had to put your plan in motion,” Trey said. “Because we might've figured it all out. You wanted your justice. Someone might steal it if we put it all together, right?”

“You're not as dumb as some,” she said. “Those letters from Jace? Half of them were from me. I've been tormenting the old Chief forever. Now that we all know the truth, it's time to finish it.” She pressed the gun to MiLann's head.

Trey shoved Summer out of the way, leaped over the table, narrowly missing MiLann, and grabbed the gun. A shot rang out. Blood spread across his chest and the room went crazy.

• • •

Jace stopped on the steps of the courthouse. He turned and faced Lindy. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

She squeezed his hand. “I'm positive.”

“It won't be easy,” he warned. “I don't have much.”