The Prey Bites Back: A Jesse Watson Mystery Book #8 (9 page)

“Ah, shut up,”
he yelled back. “What’s a puny little punk like you gonna do to me? You
couldn’t beat up nobody.” He laughed at me.

Deputy Rager hushed
him when she said, “You better watch out, Percy. That puny woman over there is
a serial killer. She’s been on the loose for years, killed over twenty some
people before she ended up here in our jail. Now we got her locked up, and she
ain’t happy. You better stay away from them bars, because she’ll grab you and kill
you with her mind. She’s evil. She knows black magic.”

The old man
shut up. Deputy Rager turned to me and smiled. I winked at her.

“I’ll bring you
a bag of chips and a Pepsi,” she said. “Think you can eat that?”

“That’ll be
good,” I replied. I walked over to the bars separating Percy and me, grabbed
them and shook them as hard as I could. “Hurry up, deputy. I might have to grab
a piece of this old man’s arm. I’m real hungry.”

The look on
Percy’s face was worth a million bucks. He was terrified beyond belief.

Deputy Rager
laughed when she left and was still laughing when she returned with my snack.
“I brought you a Twinkie to go with your chips. It’s the best I can offer.”

“Thanks, deputy,”
I replied, looking over at Percy’s cell. “I’m so hungry I could chew that man’s
leg off.”

“No problem,”
she said and then started to walk away.

“What?” Percy
yelled. “I don’t get nothing?”

“Come on over
here, Percy,” I said to him. “I’ll give you something.”

“Stay away from
her, Percy,” the deputy called back to him. “She’ll take off your arm. She’s a
real psycho. She don’t care who you are. Did I tell you that she eats her
victims? Yeah, she was eating some guy’s arm when we caught her.”

That was it.
Percy cringed in a corner, never said another word, and was glad when they came
for him. He was going to
Orange
.

“Wife beaters
don’t fare well over at
Orange
,” a deputy said to Percy, trying to scare
him as he led him out. “You might just get a taste of what’s it’s like to be on
the receiving end of a good butt-kicking.”

“I don’t care,”
Percy replied, quickly. “I just want to get away from that crazy woman.” He
pointed to me. “She eats people. Did you know that?”

The deputy just
smiled.

I ate most of my
snack, drank all of my Pepsi, and then lay back down on the cot. It was going
to be a long night. I wondered who the next person would be to occupy the cell
next to mine. I didn’t have to wait long. They brought in two teenage girls who
had been picked up for stealing a car and taking it for a joyride. The car
belonged to one of the girl’s parents, but that didn’t matter. They were
arrested and held until a parent could come get them. I heard the deputy giving
them a lecture.

I rolled over
on my side with my back to them and snickered when the deputy warned them to
stay away from the serial killer in the next cell.

I’ll make it.
This isn’t so bad, I thought. That was, until they brought in a tall,
well-built man who had eyes like Charles Manson, and put him in the cell the
two girls had occupied earlier. He was one scary looking dude. The deputy on
duty didn’t have to warn me to stay away from him. I had no intentions of
getting anywhere near that man.

“What you in
for?” the creepy guy asked me.

“Killed a few
people,” I replied. That lie had intimidated others before, so why not this
time? “Got caught eating a man’s arm.”

“You’re a
liar,” Manson eyes shot back. “I bet you got snagged for reckless driving or
something stupid like that. You’re about as dangerous as a flea.”

I didn’t say
anything. I was too scared to go back and forth with this guy. He could’ve been
a decent looking guy if he didn’t have those eerie eyes—the eyes of a killer.

“Got anything
left to eat over there?”

“Just part of a
Twinkie,” I replied, scared out of my wits. I picked up the half-eaten Twinkie
and was about ready to toss it through the bars.

“Don’t throw
it!” he insisted. “It might fall on the floor. Just hand it to me through the
bars.”

I hesitated.

“Come on,” eerie
eyes pleaded. “I won’t hurt you. What can I do to you through these bars?
Please. I’m starving.”

I got up from
the cot and walked up to the cell bars. I wasn’t about to get too close, so I
stretched out my arm and handed the Twinkie to the guy through the bars. In a
flash, he grabbed my arm and jerked me to him. I could smell his sour breath. Then
he poked his other arm through, grabbed the back of my head, and slammed my
face into the cell bars. I pulled back, but he had too much of a hold on me. He
slammed my face into the bars again and again.

The pain was
excruciating. I was sure I was going to die this time. The last thing I
remembered before passing out was the unbearable smell of the man’s breath. It
smelled like meat gone bad.

I woke up in
the hospital with a headache and blurry vision. I couldn’t see what my face
looked like, but when the memories of what had happened to me flashed back, I
figured it was pretty bad. How many times had that man slammed my face into
those bars? Two? Three?

“She’s coming
around,” I heard my mother say. “Billy!”

“Just lay still,”
Billy said, taking hold of my hand. “That guy beat you up pretty bad. The
sheriff said he smashed your face into the cell bars. You have eight stitches
in your forehead and a black eye.”

“Thank goodness
they have cameras in that place,” Mom added. “A few minutes later, and you’d be
dead. Thank God those deputies acted so fast.”

“I know, Mom,”
I replied. My throat was dry. “Can I have some water?”

“I’ll get you
some,” she replied. Mom stepped out of the room and then returned with a
plastic pitcher and glass. “Here, Jesse.”

I took the
glass of water and guzzled it down. “What time is it?”

“It’s five in
the morning,” Billy answered. “You’ve been here for a couple of hours. Do you
remember what happened to you?”

“Yeah.
Everything’s coming back to me. Who was that guy? Why did he do this to me?”

“Some people
are just bad, Jesse,” Sheriff Hudson said as he walked into the room. “Guys
like him don’t need a reason.”

“I’m not
talking to you ever again,” I said, angrily. “Go away.”

“I’m so sorry
this happened, Jesse. I never intended…”

“You wanted to
teach me a lesson and you did. I don’t want to ever go to jail again. You got
your wish, Sheriff. Now go away and leave me alone.”

“I wanted to
teach you a lesson, but not like this.”

“Oh, yeah? Is
that so? See, I figured you put him in there so he could rough me up. You
wanted me to know how bad it was to be locked up. You win. Now I know.”

“You have it
all wrong,” Sheriff Hudson said. “I don’t know him. We picked him up over at
Sal’s for being disorderly in public. Jesse, I would never do this to you or
anyone else.”

“You’re lying!
You planted him there to harass me, but he went too far. He smashed my face in…
and… oh, Lord… he had the worst breath. Smelled like rotten meat. Next time you
do this to someone, get the guy to brush his teeth and gargle first.”

“Sorry about
the bad breath, but I don’t control people’s hygiene, and as far as the assault
on you, I’m going to reprimand my deputies.”

“No! You can’t
do that. It wasn’t their fault. I never should’ve gone near that guy.” I took
another sip of water. “Your deputies saved my life.”

“I’m glad
you’re going to be all right.”

“So who was the
creep that beat my face in? One day I’d like to return the favor.”

Sheriff Hudson
didn’t answer my question, but instead said, “I’m not making excuses, but my
deputies at the station house were overloaded with work. They caught the attack
on screen just when you hit the floor, but missed what led up to it. As I said,
they had their hands full. So, after viewing the playback, it’s hard to tell
who started the altercation. You’re the one who stuck your arm through the bars
first, and he’s claiming it was an unprovoked attack.”

“Are you nuts?”
I shrieked. “He attacked me! Look at this mug!” I demanded, pointing to my
face. “Does this look like an unprovoked attack? I gave the guy my leftover
Twinkie, and this is what I got in return.”

“You can file
an assault charge against him if you want to, but until my guy analyzes the
video, I can’t arrest him. He hasn’t filed charges against you yet, so—“

“He’s not going
to,” I said, sarcastically. “He’ll wait for another opportunity to…” A memory
of the last thing the guy said to me flashed back.

“Next time,
I’m going to kill you.”

 “Oh, man! The
last thing he said to me was that the next time he was going to kill me.” I
hesitated and then asked again, “What’s his name, sheriff? I have a right to
know.”

“Gavin Preston.”

Mom and Billy
glanced at each other with a freaky look on their faces, and then stared at the
sheriff. I could tell they knew something, but it wasn’t something they wanted
to share.

A nurse walked
in and said, “Sheriff, you have an urgent call.” She motioned to him. “You can
take it at the nurse’s station right over there.”

“I’ll be right
back,” he said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“As if I can,”
I yelled to him as he was walking out of the room. I looked at Mom and Billy.
“Was he trying to make a joke? Because if he was, it wasn’t funny.”

“Give him a
break,” Mom said. “He’s devastated over this. He didn’t want you to get hurt.
It was a bad call on his part. That’s all.”

“Tell that to
my battered face. I need a mirror. Give me yours, Mom. No need to put it off. It
must be bad. My face hurts something fierce. Giving birth was less painful.”

Mom handed over
her compact. I opened it and held the mirror out far enough to get a glimpse of
my entire face. What stared back at me wasn’t pretty. I looked as if I had
gotten into a fight with a meat grinder, and it had won.

“Geez, Louise!
I can’t go out in public like this. I look like Frankenstein’s bride.”

“It’s not that
bad,” Mom said. “Who cares what your face looks like anyway? You’re going to be
okay. That’s what’s important.”

“I’m not going
back to jail,” I stated, emphatically. “I don’t care what Sheriff Hudson says.
I think I’ve done my time. He got his point across.”

Sheriff Wake
Hudson walked back into the room in time to hear what I had said. I looked at
him and repeated my intent. “I mean it! I’m not going back! I don’t care what
you say. I’ve paid my dues. I could’ve died in there. I almost did.”

The sheriff
held up his hand and said, “You’re free to go out and wreak havoc on the world again.
Just remember what I said. Keep your promise, so you won’t wind up in my jail
again. I don’t think my nerves can handle it.”

“You’re just
full of jokes, aren’t you? I almost die in your jail and you joke about it.”

“What I meant
is…”

“I know what
you meant. You’re not going to make me go back and serve the rest of my time
because you want to cover your butt. What would the public think if this ever
got out?”

The sheriff
turned to Billy and said, “Since she’s not going to give me a chance to explain,
I guess I’ll tell you.” He went on to give us the bad news. “Gavin Preston has
been released.”

“What?” I screamed.
“You let him go after what he did to me? Have you lost your mind? Nurse! I need
a Valium!”

Sheriff Hudson
turned to me and said, “Calm down, Jesse. His lawyer got him out. Due process.
We had to let him go. I’m sorry for what happened to you. If you’d like to
press charges…”

“One thing is
for sure, Sheriff Hudson—I don’t want to ever go to jail again. If I have to go
the straight and narrow, I will. Jail ain’t for me.”

I could see the
relieved look on the sheriff’s face, and it was heartfelt. He actually did
care.

“You’re not
going to have to worry about my lawless behavior anymore, Sheriff Hudson. I’ve
learned my lesson, and I’m not even going to hold this against you. It wasn’t
your fault. I realize that now.”

I didn’t blame
the sheriff anymore, but the rest was a lie. I wasn’t going to let this one go.

Before the
sheriff walked out of the room, he turned and said, “I’ll check on you later.”

“I won’t be
here!” I yelled to thin air, and then turned back to Mom and Billy. “Get me out
of this place. It’s payback time!”

I never
expected my day to turn out like this, but now that it had, I was even more
determined to get to the truth. I was going to find every dirty little secret
The
Body Shop
had… and I was going after Gavin Preston. I was going to draw blood.

Chapter 6