Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance (29 page)

He laughed,
remembering, his eyes cloudy with the memories, or perhaps misting over with
sadness at times gone by.

"She said yes
and seemed so excited.  She even kissed me.  I mean, it was a quick peck, but
it was right on the lips.  I was on cloud nine.  We actually went out that very
weekend and saw a movie.  She held my hand.  You could have punched me in the
face that night and I wouldn't have felt a thing, I was so happy.  She was so
beautiful.  She was so smart and so strong, and that was such a rare thing back
then.  Well, anyway, it seemed rare.  In a few years’ time, every woman would
be protesting and burning her bras.  But this was a year before John F. Kennedy
would get his head blown off in Dallas.  We were all thinking that some perfect
society was just around the corner and everyone would walk hand in hand into a
brighter future."

He finally looked
up.  It was as if he was seeing Tabitha standing there for the first time. 
Yes, Jimmy thought, as he stared at Jesse's face, he was on the verge of
tears.  Crying for Sapphire, maybe even crying for the world that should have
been and would never be.  Jesse shrugged.

"We were
naive," he said.  "Who could imagine that such evil would exist in
the world?"

"What
happened that night, Jesse?" Tabitha said.

Jesse shook his
head.  "You know; I can tell you do.  We got into a confrontation with
Devlin Little and his cronies.  He wanted Sapphire.  Hell, every man in the
school wanted Sapphire.  She exuded beauty, intelligence, and light.  She was
amazing, and it was impossible not to want her.  Devlin could not believe that
she wanted me.  I don't know for sure if he had asked her out previously and
been rejected or maybe even asked her to the dance and been rejected, but I
always suspected."

He sighed.  It was
a deep sigh.  A sigh from the very pit of his gut and the very depths of his
heart.

"I thought I
was a dead man that night," Jesse said.  "When we got back to my car,
I drove off so fast.  And Sapphire was just screaming and yelling about how
unfair it was and that we were going to show them.  She was so mad.  She was
not beautiful at that moment; she was full of anger."

He fell silent. 
He looked down at his hands.

"I really
should get back to work," he said quietly.  There was no conviction in his
voice.  "So much to do."

"Not
yet," Tabitha said.  "Look, we need to know the full story.  There
are reasons why we need to know, Jesse."

"I know, but
it's painful," Jesse said.

"She died
that night, didn't she?" Tabitha said.  The question seemed to thud to the
floor like it was made of lead.

Jesse hitched a
great sigh that seemed to catch in his throat and chest.  A single tear flowed
from his right eye and down his cheek. 

"Yes,"
he said.

"How?"
Tabitha asked.

"I
can't," Jesse replied.

"Was it
Devlin?"

Jesse let out an
actual sob.  He reached up and wiped his eyes, reaching up beneath his glasses.

"Yes,"
Jesse whispered.

"Tell
us."

Jesse wiped his
eyes and then cleaned his glasses.  He put the glasses back on and looked first
at Jimmy and then at Tabitha.  There was so much sadness in his face.

"Devlin
caught up to us on the road," Jesse said.  "I hadn't been driving
very fast, as I was trying to calm Sapphire down.  Suddenly there were these
lights in the back windshield.  I knew who it was before I even saw the car. 
He was a madman.  He nearly drove us off the road.  Sapphire screamed and I
floored that car.  You know what the roads are like around here—now imagine
taking those hills and curves in the dark at about seventy miles per
hour."

He paused to let
that image sink in.  Jimmy shuddered.

"We
eventually drove off the road, not far from the bridge.  Sapphire and I were
fine, but she jumped out of the car to confront Devlin and his friends.  They
had stopped their car about fifty yards farther down the road and were already
out of the car.  I was so scared. I was still in the car, fumbling with my seat
belt.  When I got out, she was already facing off against Devlin."

He shrugged his
shoulders, his palms held up, as if asking what could he have done.

"I tried to
run, but I slipped," he said.  "I could hear them yelling at each
other, but I couldn't make out the words.  When I looked up, Devlin had
Sapphire by her arms and was leaning in.  I thought he was trying to kiss her. 
She kneed him in the groin."

He laughed at the
thought.  If it was possible to laugh sadly, Jesse's laugh was exactly that.

"I saw Devlin
bend over and heard him cry out.  Then two of his pals reached out and pushed
Sapphire.  She staggered back, but didn't go down.  I was still trying to get
over to them. I couldn't seem to find any support for my feet and my legs just
didn't want to work.  I wanted to yell for help, but you know how deserted it
is over there now, and it was even more so back then.  There was no one to
help.  I just stood there in terror, frozen in place, as they all tried to
knock her down.  Then someone punched her, and I saw Sapphire's head snap
back."

He heaved a great
sigh that was a combination of a sigh and a sob.

"I saw Devlin
recover," he continued.  "I don't know how he did it so fast.  If you
kneed me in the groin, I would be down for about twenty minutes, but he was
back up and raging in less than two.  He came right for her.  When I saw him
coming at her with his fist balled, I regained my ability to speak.  Of course,
by then it was too late.  He punched her so hard, connecting squarely with her
chin.  I could hear the blow all the way over where I was.  I bet he broke her
jaw."

Jimmy shuddered. 
At the same time, he felt anger well up from the bottom of his feet and all
across his face.  He had never wanted to strangle someone as much as he wanted
to wring Devlin Little's neck right now. Had the man been here, even with a
shotgun, Jimmy would have torn him apart with his bare hands.

"She went
down.  It was as if she had had her strings cut.  I finally reached the group. 
All of them were crowded around Sapphire and she was on her knees in the
middle. Somehow she was still conscious—I have no idea how.  She was always so
strong, though.  She was dazed and making moaning sounds.  As I said, I think
her jaw might have been broken at that point.  Devlin was standing over her
with both hands in fists and breathing hard.  He had his legs spread apart as
if he was ready for her to get off of her knees and come at him."

He wiped a tear
from his eye.  Tabitha's eyes were wide and staring as Jesse spoke.  Dust
whirled about them as the first rays of the sun made their way through the
high, dusty windows set in the walls of the library.

"I yelled. 
One of Devlin's cronies grabbed me and I had both hands pinned behind my back
before I even realized what was happening.  I struggled, but it was no use. 
Devlin told me to shut up and watch what he did to headstrong, stubborn,
prudish girls who should have known their place in this world.  The he reached
down and grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet."

Jesse's breath was
ragged now.  He was struggling to contain the sobs that were threatening to
break through at any moment.

"He grabbed
her and her head lolled back, and I could see that her eyes were open. Already
one side of her face was swollen.  Blood was leaking from a corner of her
mouth, but her eyes were so alert . She was pleading with me, with the other
football players standing around, with anyone.  She needed a hero, but instead
she had me, and I was pinned and helpless and kicking at the air uselessly.

"She didn't
let out a sound as Devlin dragged her to the bridge.  With both hands, and
incredible ease, he lifted her off her feet and threw her over the bridge.  It
all happened so fast.  One moment she was there, and the next she was
gone."

Again, Jimmy felt
himself shudder.  He wanted to weep.  Deep in the recesses of his brain, he
could feel the static that indicated Sapphire was near and that she was
listening.  There was an odd tone about the static this time, though, but Jimmy
put it out of his mind.  He was concentrating on what was going on.

"Devlin
whirled on me at that moment.  He said that I could join her or I could shut
up.  The water was much deeper back then.  I knew that Sapphire was likely
drowning right at that moment, being unable to swim, plus wearing that dress
that was now waterlogged and heavy.  I begged Devlin to let me go down there
and pull her out.  He punched me in the stomach.  I fell to the pavement.  Then
someone kicked me in the head.  I have no idea who.  It might have been one of
the others.  Everything went black.

"I have no
idea how long I was out, but it must have been a long time.  When I woke up, my
head and my stomach hurt.  I had no idea where I was for a moment, and then
remembered everything in a kind of rush.  I got to my feet and ran down the
embankment.  I stumbled and fell at least half a dozen times, but I finally got
to the bank of the river.  Back then it was almost like a beach down there.  It
wasn't the swampy run-off river that it is today.  The water was rushing that
night, though.  We had had weeks of rain before that.  Big, heavy storms had
gone through, even a tornado a couple of towns over.  And the water was
rushing.  I could see her blue dress just below the bridge.  She had fallen
straight down and, despite the current, sank like a stone.  She was wedged
between something down there; her ankle was caught.  Her eyes were wide and
staring, pleading."

Jimmy suddenly
felt weak.  The buzzing in his head was louder.  He could almost hear
Sapphire's voice at the back of his mind, yelling at him, telling him
something.  He felt as if the room were spinning and looked for a chair.  He
found one and sat down.

"I couldn't
get her out," Jesse said.  "The water was rushing too fast, and I’ve
never been a very good swimmer.  I just stood there and screamed into the night
sky.  What could I do?  I was young and scared and the most powerful people in
town had just killed a girl?  Who was I to take them on?  I got back into my
car and drove home.  After a long and hysterical discussion between my parents
and me, my father agreed that it was best to find the body, bury it, and cover
this up.  My father drove me back to the bridge.  By the time I got there, she
was gone.  Maybe her ankle had become unstuck and she floated away with the
current.  That little river meets up with a much bigger one just a few miles
away.  We searched and searched, but we couldn't find her."

Jesse hung his
head.  Tears flowed freely down his face, hung on his chin, and then fell off
into his lap or onto the floor.

"Why didn't
you report it to the police?" Tabitha asked.

"Why do you
think?" Jesse replied.  "The Little family was not quite as rich then
as they are now, but they were certainly powerful and up-and-coming.  Devlin
was the star of the football team.  He had influence even then.  He meant it
when it said he would drown me next, and over the course of the years, he has
reminded me of that fact on an almost weekly basis.  My father knew that trying
to report this incident was asking for trouble.  More than likely, we would end
up run out of town.  So my father made some phone calls.  I guess someone told
Sapphire's parents that something had happened, and then her family was just up
and gone."

He shrugged again,
holding up his hands in a kind of supplication.  He knew how weak he sounded. 
He knew how weak his excuses were.  He had been scared and his father had been
scared, and because of that Sapphire had never had her justice.  Her killer was
now a rich and powerful person with great influence all the way to Washington,
D.C., and Jesse had not done a thing to stop it.  What's more, his own family
had become complicit in the cover-up.  Jimmy hung his head, the buzzing in the
back of his skull was louder than ever, but he didn’t respond to the faint
cries he could hear.

I'm so sorry,
Sapphire
, he thought.
I'm so sorry.

They
sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity.  Jimmy had his head down. 
Jesse was blowing his nose and sobbing softly.  Blackie even came out and
licked Jesse's hand to make sure his master was all right.  Jesse managed to
smile and pat the dog's head, which seemed to satisfy Blackie, because he
promptly spun around and lay back down behind the desk.  Only Tabitha seemed to
still have her wits about her.  Her face showed sadness, but there was a
hardness in her eyes.  She was a pure journalist through and through.

"Jesse,"
she said, "there's no statute of limitations on murder.  We can still
bring all of this to the sheriff. Devlin Little cannot hurt you anymore."

Jesse snorted. 
"Oh no?  You do realize he is the biggest property owner in Knorr, right? 
Who do you think owns the library?  Or my house, for that matter?  The man has
his fingers in so many pies in this town that you can't swing a dead cat
without hitting something that he owns, either outright or partially.  He could
crush me like a bug in seconds if he even suspected I had talked to the
sheriff."