The Secrets of Silk (36 page)

“It's like they say, baby…an eye for an eye,” she snarled as she viciously jammed the knife into his right eyeball.

Tate's right hand flew up to his injured eye while his left hand continued to shield the wound in his gut. Silk smiled in satisfaction as she listened to Tate's cries of pain and watched blood trickling down his hand.

“That was for you cheating on me and this is for stealing my money,” she said before spearing his other eye.

With a tortured groan, Tate yanked his hand away from his belly and slapped it over his left eye. “I'm gonna fuck you up for this. I swear to God I'm gonna fuck you up,” he wailed.

“Are you threatening me, you blind motherfucker?” Silk tightly gripped the handle of the switchblade and raised it high above her head before driving it into his crotch and savagely mutilating his genitals.

She gazed sneeringly at the circle of red that rapidly spread in the front of his white pants. “You look like you're on the rag,” she said scornfully. She rose to her feet and went to the bathroom and carefully washed blood splatter from her face, neck, and arms. Throughout the cleanup process, she could hear Tate moaning and whimpering. She came out of the bathroom and stepped over his twitching body. It didn't matter to her if he was dead or alive. Even if he survived the brutal attack, he wouldn't be worth a damn anymore. Tate would be worse off than Sonny Boy, Silk thought with a snicker. And without a dick, he'd be completely useless to Arvetta and the whores.

•  •  •

Covered by darkness, Silk made it back to her car. She had only the clothes on her back, a quarter of a tank of gas, a few dollars, and some small change in her purse. But despite her desperate circumstances,
she felt on top of the world. She turned on the radio and hummed along with “Playboy” by the Marvelettes. She laughed out loud, thinking about Tate and how his playing days were officially over.

Heading south, she drove down Engle Street and made a right on Ninth Street. She kept going straight until she ended up in Claymont, Delaware. In Claymont, she pulled off on the side of the road and slept in the car. In the morning, she followed the signs that took her to Wilmington where she found a pawn shop and hawked her diamond engagement ring and her gold wedding band. Next she located a car dealership and sold her beloved Cadillac. Although the car hardly had any miles on it, the salesman sensed that Silk was in a bind and paid her only a fraction of what the car was worth.

Such is life, she told herself with a shrug of her shoulders as she made her way on foot to the Greyhound bus terminal. Getting gypped by a car salesman was better than going to jail and standing trial for a triple murder, she told herself.

Silk thought about catching a bus to New York or Chicago, but hit with a sudden flash of memory, she believed she knew exactly where Big Mama had hidden the ten thousand dollars that technically belonged to Silk now that Big Mama was dead.

Going home to collect her inheritance was a risk she was willing to take. She was a cunning girl and had no doubt that she could slip in and out of Devil's Swamp, undetected.

I can pull it off. I know I can. All I have to do is cover my hair with a scarf that's tied Aunt Jemima-style and put on a pair of dark sun
glasses, and no one will recognize me when I get off the bus in Baton Rouge
. From Baton Rouge, I'll hitch a ride to Devil's Swamp and slip off into the woods until I get to Big Mama's hiding place.

Ten thousand dollars is peanuts compared to all that money Tate and Arvetta stole from me, but it's better than nothing. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing I got revenge on Tate, and one of these days, I'll get revenge on Arvetta.

After I get my hands on those greenbacks that Big Mama hid, I'm leaving for Hollywood, California. I probably could become a movie star if I put my mind to it. But being a wanted criminal in two states, it would be wise if I kept a low profile. My best bet would be to marry a rich man and live a quiet, pampered life. I'll use my rich husband's money to hire someone to knock off Arvetta and bring me my daughter. With Dallas around, I'll have someone to comfort me whenever I get upset or agitated. It'll be mighty nice to have things back the way they used to be between my sweet child and me. She was really looking forward to dancing in that ballet recital, and somehow I've gotta make it up to her. I know what I'll do! I'll put her in another dancing class in California. I bet that'll make her smile.

S
ilk had to make two separate bus connections to get to Baton Rouge, but despite the long, exhausting journey, the moment she stepped foot on Louisiana soil, she felt all warm and fuzzy inside. It was good to be home. If it weren't for the fact that Sheriff Thompson would most likely have a lynch mob after her, Silk would have gladly used a portion of her ten-thousand-dollar inheritance to put down roots in Baton Rouge or maybe New Orleans.

Outside the bus terminal, Silk began walking in the direction of Devil's Swamp. Within two minutes of sticking out her thumb, a white woman driving a Ford Cutlass stopped and gave Silk a lift. The woman was very chatty and nosey as hell, asking Silk a million different questions. Miss Motor Mouth was lucky Silk was more interested in getting her hands on Big Mama's savings than in killing, otherwise the white woman would be slumped over the steering wheel with blood pouring from a slash in her neck.

“You be careful now, young lady,” the woman warned when Silk arrived at her destination on the highway. “I've heard Devil's Swamp is populated with a lot of unsavory characters.”

“I'll be careful,” Silk said with a wave of her hand. She waited until the Cutlass was out of sight before darting into the familiar woods that she'd used as her personal playground during her youth and as a killing ground when at the age of fourteen she murdered Mr. Perry, the ice man. As she matured and became much more
sexually active, these woods had served as a love nest for her and her many paramours.

Silk treaded lightly, in case someone was lurking about. With the stealth of a big-game hunter, she was careful not to disturb the forest creatures and cautious about stepping on twigs and crunching dried leaves. She yearned to see the old shack one last time. It would be nice to pay her respects by putting some flowers on Big Mama's grave.

Big Mama had always said she wanted to be buried right there in her garden, and the folks of Devil's Swamp would have been too afraid of an after-death hex to put her anywhere else. After all the dreadful misfortune that Silk had experienced up North, she was living proof that Big Mama's after-death hex was indeed powerful.

As badly as she wanted to, Silk couldn't risk going near the shack. The place was most likely occupied by new residents who'd surely recognize her, and run off to tattle to Sheriff Thompson.

When she passed the old hickory tree, she realized she was about ten minutes away from Big Mama's stash. A shovel would have come in handy, but she'd have to make do and dig up the money with a tree branch or a stick.

Silk's head was hot beneath the scarf, and perspiration poured down the sides of her face, but she was too excited to care about an inundation of sweat. Within eyesight, she could see the big gray rock that Big Mama used to sit on when she went fishing in the lake.

Without any doubt in her mind, she knew that Big Mama's savings were buried under that rock!

Silk recalled being a little girl, no more than three or four years old, playing in the water while Big Mama unearthed a box that was filled with paper money and silver dollars. After adding more
greenbacks to her stash, Big Mama put the box back in the ground and buried it. Huffing and puffing, she pushed the rock back into place, ensuring that it covered the secret spot.

Grunting, Silk pushed against the rock with both hands, but it didn't budge. She tried pushing it with the sole of her tennis shoe, but still couldn't move it. “Shit,” she muttered, taking a seat on the rock as she caught her breath and wiped sweat from her face.
I knew Big Mama was strong, but damn! How in the hell am I gonna move this big ol' stubborn thing?

While contemplating her dilemma, she heard the rustle of leaves. Danger alarms immediately went off inside her head. But before her body could respond to what her brain already knew, Silk felt a powerful blow to the back of her head, and the lights suddenly went out.

She awoke to a throbbing pain in the back of her head, and when she attempted to touch it, she realized that her hands were bound. Something was covering her eyes, preventing her from seeing her captor. She tried to cry out but discovered the sounds were muffled by duct tape that sealed her mouth. Silk shuddered as she became aware of the unmistakable sounds of a shovel digging into the earth and the thud of the excavated dirt as it hit the ground. The sunshine beaming on her face informed her that she was outdoors, lying on a bed of grass that tickled her back. Feeling the sun on her breasts, Silk realized she'd been stripped of her clothes and was lying outside, butt naked.

She wondered if there was a reward on her head, which had prompted one of the locals to knock her unconscious and hold her as a naked hostage until Sheriff Thompson came to collect her. Though terrified of learning the truth, she wanted answers, and began moaning and wiggling around.

“Well, looky who decided to wake up from her nap.”

Silk's body stiffened in fear and utter shock. Beneath the blindfold, her eyes widened and practically bulged out of her head. She gasped so sharply, she began to choke and gag. That voice! She'd recognize it anywhere.
Oh, my God, Big Mama has returned from the dead!

Chills of terror ran up Silk's spine as she heard Big Mama's footsteps coming toward her. “Welcome home, Silk. I always knew you'd come running back when times got too rough for you out there. Plus, I put a come-back-home hex on you that would force you to return to me no matter how far you ran.”

A come-back-home hex! So, that's the spell Big Mama put on me. Instead of chasing behind Tate, I should have been searching for a voodoo woman to take her goddamn curse off of me.

“Last night I had a vision that today was the day you'd come on home, and damn if I wasn't right,” Big Mama said delightedly. “Good thing I started digging this here hole as soon as the sun started to shine, otherwise I'd be digging 'til midnight, and I have other things to do with my time besides putting you in the ground.”

“Oaahhh. Mmmmf!” Silk made a variety of unintelligible sounds as she attempted to ask Big Mama why she wanted to put her in the ground. Did she plan on killing her and then burying her in the plot of land that Big Mama had picked out as her own final resting place?

Big Mama untied the blindfold and Silk blinked back the brightness of the sun, wishing desperately that she could shield her eyes with a hand. Big Mama hovered over Silk's face, tapping on the thick scar on her neck that Silk had inflicted with her switchblade.

“I sewed it up myself with cat gut, and covered the wound with maggots and mud. I used the same remedy on that stab wound
you put on my belly, and the healing took hold swiftly. Although these scars you left on me tend to itch like the devil, I'm still here, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.” Big Mama's face was so close to Silk's, Silk could smell the tobacco on her breath.

Silk struggled to form the words,
I'm sorry,
but the sounds that emerged from her taped-up mouth sounded like gibberish.

“Did you hear about your old beau, Duke Durnell? He was accused of the crime you committed. That poor boy never made it inside a courtroom. The lynch mob got to him. Beat him something terrible and then strung him up. Left him hanging from that ol' hickory tree in the woods 'til his stinking body separated from his rotting neck.” Big Mama's mouth turned down in dismay. “I made a strong potion for Duke's mama, to help her sleep at night. But she took it upon herself to mix my potion with moonshine, and now she's crazy as a bedbug.”

Silk tried to muster some sympathy for Duke Durnell and his mama, but it was hard to feel sorry for others while she was in such a precarious position.

Big Mama gazed in Silk's direction, staring at her as if she could actually see out of her opaque-colored eyes. “I heard about that exterminator-fella that was found with his throat slashed in his car. White folks called it a random, unsolved murder, but I knew right away that you was the one responsible for that devilment.”

Big Mama gazed up at the sky. “Welp, it's time to get you in the ground.”

No, no. Please, Big Mama. I'm sorry for what I did to everyone I hurt. And I'm real sorry for what I did to you. I'm begging you, Big Mama, please don't bury me alive,
Silk shouted in her head.

Big Mama ignored Silk's grunting sounds and her pleading eyes. She grabbed Silk by the ankles and pulled her several feet and then
dumped her in a deep hole. Silk was curled lopsided, so Big Mama eased down in the hole and straightened her out, positioning her body and legs to sit in the hole, Indian-style.