The Last Jeskey - Chapter 40

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 40

 

(Day 9 – Friday)

 

Pamela

 

If I didn’t get a break from having to do so much for Freaky, I was never going to be able to keep up with my other work.  Once again I was going to be spending most of the day dealing with a Freaky issue, but there was no help for it.  Life just works out that way sometimes.

Detective Benson from Knoxville had gotten back to me yesterday.  “We couldn’t find any more relatives on Clive’s side of the family,” Benson told me, “but his wife, Hailey, has plenty.  I’ll go out tomorrow to let Hailey’s mother and father know that we found Hailey’s killer.”

“Not without me,” I told him.  “When are you going?”

“Tomorrow.  Probably late morning sometime.”

“Won’t they be working?” I asked.

“Maybe.  If so, I’ll go back later.”

“Hold off till at least midafternoon,” I told him.  “Give me a chance to get there.”

“I’m just going to be delivering the news,” he told me.

“But I’ve got some other business with them.  I need to see them.”

“What business?”

“A trust fund for Freaky that has to be managed,” I explained.

“Money?”

“So far, fifty-thousand dollars,” I told him.

“That safe would have held a lot more than that.”

“The sheriff here thinks that money is just a drop in the bucket.  He called it a getaway batch since it was found with some guns.”

“Could be,” Benson agreed.  “Okay, I’ll hold off till you get here.  We’ll go out and see them together.”

“That was my plan,” I told him.

So now I was making that long drive all the way down to Knoxville.  The big city.  Tennessee had a few of them, and this was one.  Give me the hills any day!

Finding the police station wasn’t difficult.  Finding Benson was even easier.  Some nice cop escorted me right up to his desk.  Benson was busy talking to someone else, but he stopped as soon as he saw me.

“Have a good trip?” he asked.

“Good enough,” I told him.  “What’s happening?”

“I called the Harpers and let them know we’re coming,” he told me.

“Harpers?  Clive’s wife’s family?”

“Right.  The wife was Hailey.”

“Got it,” I replied.

A minute later we were walking out of there.  I got into his car with him and let him drive.  Knoxville is a big place.  Very big and very spread out.  It took us a little while to get there, and when we did, utter suburbia!  Nice looking houses.  Not overly rich looking, just…real nice.

Benson knocked on the door.  Since he was the cop, I let him take the lead.  The door opened and an elderly man stood there.  Elderly, but not too old.  I placed him in his early to mid sixties.

“Mister Harper?” Benson asked.

Harper nodded.  He looked nervous.  “That’s me,” he said.  “Are you the one who called?”

“Yes,” Benson replied.  “I’m Detective Benson.”  He turned to me.  “And this is Pamela McGregor, an attorney?”

Mr. Harper appeared surprised.  “An attorney?  What’s this about?”

“May we come in?” Benson asked.

Harper held the door open, and we went inside.  There was a woman hovering right behind the man.  His wife, obviously.  She led us into the living room where we all took seats.”

“An attorney?” Mr. Harper asked.  “What’s the problem?”

“Not actually a problem,” Benson told him.

“But an attorney?  That’s legal trouble.”

“No.  Not really,” I assured him.  “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Then why?” Mr. Harper asked.

I nodded toward Benson.  “I’ll let you get your business out of the way first.”

Benson leaned forward to speak.  “Your daughter, Hailey, was murdered fifteen years ago,” he said.  I heard Mrs. Harper gasp.  “We recently found her murderer.”

“No!” Mrs. Harper exclaimed in surprise as she stood up.

“Who?” Mr. Haper asked.

“Clive’s brother Bo.” Benson told them.  “From what I was told, it was him and some of his sons that did it, and it was them that took the safe they were transporting.”

“And Brian?” Mrs. Harper asked.

“Brian…” Benson started to say, but I stopped him quickly.

“Wait!” I told him.  “Mrs. Harper,” I said.  “I’m afraid that Brain is another issue.  And that’s why I’m here.”

“I don’t understand,” Mrs. Harper said.  “Is he alive?  They told us he was presumed dead.  And after all this time….  We’ve never had one single word.”

I wasn’t sure that letting them know he was alive would be a good thing, but then, that was why I was there in the first place.  They would have to know.  “Yes,” I told them.  “He’s alive, and he’s been found.”

I watched as both the Harpers quickly hugged each other joyously.  “We were told he was dead,” Mr. Harper said, “but we didn’t want to believe it.  Where is he?”

“When can we see him?” Mrs. Harper asked.

I shook my head.  “I’m afraid it’s a bit of a drive from here,” I told them.

“I don’t care!” Mrs. Harper insisted.

“We’ll go there,” Mr. Harper said.

“There are some things about…Brian,” I said, “that you’re going to need to understand.”

The two of them stopped hugging each other, but they still held hands as they sat next to each other, staring at me, waiting desperately.

I tried to find a way to tell them.  I tried to find a place to start.  So I started at the beginning.  “Fifteen years ago, Clive’s brother and two of his sons murdered Clive and your daughter.”

“I think Clive mentioned once that he had a brother, but he never saw him,” Mrs. Harper told me.  “I got the impression from what he said that he and his brother didn’t exactly get along.  In fact, they hated each other.  And Clive’s father felt exactly the same way.  Clive mentioned once that things got so bad between his brother and their father that his father threw his brother out of the house and told him to never come back.  I think Clive said that he moved up to north Tennessee somewhere, but he didn’t know exactly where.”

“And now you say you’ve found Brian?” Mr. Harper said.  “That’s the best news we’ve ever had.”

“Well, it may not be,” I told them.

“But it is!  When can we see him?” Mrs. Harper asked again.

“That’s just it.  I’m not sure you should.  It may be far better if you just know that he’s been found, and leave it at that.  We just really wanted to let you know that your daughter’s killer has been found, and he’s now dead.”

“He’s dead!” Mr. Harper said.  “But you know for a fact that he murdered Hailey.”

“Yes, we do,” Benson told him.  “I can’t go into the whys and hows, but we know for certain.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to see him?” Mrs. Harper asked.  “He’s my grandson.  I can’t wait to see him.”

I looked over at Benson before I answered, and saw him shrug.  He was right, this woman, these people, would never settle for no explanation.  “First of all, Brian is no longer a little boy,” I told them.  “It’s been about fifteen years.  He’s nineteen years old now, practically a grownup.”

“All the more reason for us to see him as soon as possible.”

I continued.  “From what we understand, Bo Jeskey had an ax to grind against both his father and his brother.  Because of that, when he kidnapped Brian, he did it as a way to get back against both his brother and his father.  For the past fifteen years, Brian has been forced to live the most horrible life possible, including often being subjected to horrendous torture, whipping, and worse.  They basically turned him into a slave.  He knows nothing at all about the real world.  And I mean nothing!  Not only can he not read, he can’t even count.”

“My God!” Mrs. Harper breathed.  She sat up straight.  “I still want to see him!  Now!”

I shook my head.  “And then there’s the other thing,” I said.

“What?” Mr. Harper asked.

“Shortly after they kidnapped him, Bo started turning Brian into a girl, including hormones for the past fifteen years, and having him mutilated.  Between all the torturing and everything else, Brian doesn’t even remember ever being a boy.  He identifies completely as a woman now, and of course, not one who’s entirely in touch with reality.  Brian is now known by the name Freaky.  And that’s only because Bo and his sons usually simply called him the freak.”

Both Mr. and Mrs. Harper were staring at me.  Unmoving.  Not even blinking.  They were both in total disbelief.  Total incomprehension.

“We’re trying to deal with the problem now,” I told them softly.

They both continued to just stare in disbelief for a few moments more, then Mrs. Harper broke out of it and stood up.  “Coffee?” she asked.

“Sure,” I told her.

The coffee was made already since they knew we were coming, so we all moved to the kitchen table.

“A girl,” Mrs. Harper said as she clutched her coffee mug desperately.

“Believe it or not, yes.”

“I just don’t know what to make of that,” she replied.

“None of us do.  Trust me, it took us by surprise just as much as you when we found out that she wasn’t a girl…originally.”  I could see they both had questions, but they didn’t ask them.  I was glad.

And then Mr. Harper hesitantly opened his mouth and asked a question I hadn’t expected.  “H…how did you find out?”

I nodded.  “Bo Jeskey and his two oldest sons, the ones who were with him when he murdered your daughter, were all murdered themselves not long ago.  Shortly after that, the sheriff was chasing another of his sons when he had an accident.  While he was dying, he told the sheriff all about what Bo had done to Brian, including having him mutilated.  According to the sheriff, he seemed to think what they did to him was funny.  I can assure you though, that it’s not.”

“How many sons did Bo have?” Mr. Harper asked.

“Four,” I told him.  “There’s still one left.  Gary.  And the sheriff is trying hard right now to find him.  He’ll be spending the rest of his life in jail.”

“I should hope so!” Mrs. Harper exclaimed.

“You mentioned something about trying to help him?” Mr. Harper asked.

“Do you need money?” Mrs. Harper asked quickly.

 I shook my head.  But now that money had been mentioned, I had a decision to make.  The real reason I was there to begin with.  But these seemed to be good people.  Trustworthy.  It made my decision easier.  “Thank you,” I told Mrs. Harper, “but we don’t need money…right now.  Thanks to Freaky finding some of Bo’s money we have a budget for her care.  At least for a while.  We’re hopeful though that there will be more money available later.  Possibly much more.”  I took a breath.  “But that brings me to the real reason why I’m here with Detective Benson.”

I noticed both the Harpers look up at that one.  “After Freaky was found…”

“I wish you wouldn’t call him that!” Mrs. Harper said.

“I wish I had a better name for her.”

“For him!”

“No.  Trust me, not anymore.  Freaky identifies completely as a woman now.  She looks completely like a woman.  She’s been a girl since she was four.  She wouldn’t know the first thing about being male.”

Both the Harpers seemed to stare at me.  “I still don’t like that name,” Mrs. Harper said softly.

“Nobody does,” I told her.  “Although Freaky doesn’t seem to mind it at all.  In truth, I seriously doubt she has any idea what a freak actually is.”

“You could find her a better name,” Mrs. Harper said.

“There hasn’t been time.  All this just happened, and there’s been a lot happening.  More than we can tell you.”

“You said three murders if I counted correctly, plus another one who died,” Mr. Harper said.

“Yes,” I replied.

“That would be a lot happening.”

I was grateful to be able to leave it at that.  I didn’t want to get into the shelter and the behavioral center just then.  “As I was saying,” I said to them, “After Freaky was found, she was so far out of touch with reality that I decided to set myself up as her advocate to manage whatever needs she had.  In doing so, Judge Reinhart decided all of that was great, but since there was an outside chance that Freaky could come into a lot of money eventually, he wanted more than one person to manage that money for her.  He wanted all money put into a trust fund, with three people to manage it.  I’m one.  The sheriff’s wife, Natalie, is the second.  But the judge is insisting on there being three people.  I came here today to see if one of you might be willing to be that third person.”

“How much money?” Mr. Harper asked.

“Yesterday morning, we didn’t have a dime.  But by the end of the day we had fifty-thousand dollars.  But as I said, there’s a possibility that eventually there could be more.  Possibly much more!”

“From where?” Mr. Harper asked.

It was Benson who answered though.  “Clive had a big farm.  His father had another one.  Both of those farms were sold to a developer right after Clive was murdered.”

“I was a bit perturbed at the time that nobody mentioned any money coming to us from that farm after Hailey was murdered,” Mr. Harper said.

“I understand it’s being looked into,” I told him.  “But…you know how these things run.  It could take years…for nothing at all.”

“I see,” Mr. Harper replied.

“If you need a third person though,” Mrs. Harper said.  “Then one of us will be more than glad to do it.”

“You do it, Stell,” her husband said.  “You’ve got more time than me.”

I saw Mrs. Harper nod.  “I’ll be glad to do it.  But I have just one request…demand!”

“What’s that?”

“I want to see him.  Soon!  Tomorrow!”

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 39

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 39

 

(Day 8 – Thursday)

 

Freaky

 

Shantel hugged that guitar thing all the way home.  I still didn’t know what it was for, except making noise of some sort.  Shantel said it needed tuning, but where did you get tuning?  I wasn’t aware of anything like that at the farm.

Once home, we got everything out of the car and Natalie took off, along with that cop car that insisted on following us all day.  I still hadn’t figured that out.  All three of us worked on putting everything away, but mostly it all got put where Shantel and Lisa decided they should put everything, and they started moving the few things that I had in those places instead.  How was I going to find those things when I needed them?  I had no clue what most of that stuff was that we had gotten from that store.

When we were done, the strangest thing to see was that new coffee machine sitting on the counter.  Lisa seemed to take real pride in setting it up, including filling it with water from the sink.  She put some brown stuff in it that she said was the coffee.  I thought the coffee was what the machine made.  I watched as she pushed a button, and then stood there watching it.  It didn’t do anything at all.  Was it broken?  And then it made a sound.  Then another sound.  Then more sounds.

Lisa started searching through the cabinets again.  The same cabinets they had just been through to put stuff away.  If she was looking for something, she shouldn’t have moved any of it.  Before that, I could have told her where anything she wanted was.  Now, I didn’t know myself.

“Where’s your coffee cups?” she asked me.

“Coffee cups?”

“You know, cups.  Mugs.  Something like that to drink hot drinks from.”

“We don’t have any,” I told her.

“What do you mean, you don’t have any?”

“We don’t have any.  Just glasses for the guys to drink their liquor from.”

She seemed angry at that, but she went back to the cabinet with the glasses and pulled three of them out.  When the coffee machine was done, she poured some of it out into two of the glasses.  “Want some?” she asked me.

“No!  I had some at Natalie’s.  It was awful!”

She laughed a bit.  “True,” she agreed.

Why did she drink it then?  She carried one of the hot glasses of coffee over to Shantel and gave it to her, then she went to the refrigerator and pulled out an orange bottle.  She poured some of it into the third glass and handed it to me.  “What’s this?” I asked.

“Orange juice.  Try it.”

I took a sip.  Oh my!  I took a bigger sip.  “This is good!” I told her.

“Yeah,” she replied.  “I thought you’d like that.  Drink up, it’s good for you.”

“Like my vitamins?”

“Uh…kind of.”

The two of us went into the living room where Shantel was making weird noises with that guitar thing.  She’d do something with one of the strings while she turned a knob at the end of the guitar and the weird sound from it seemed to go up and down.  Weird!

“I noticed there’s a fire area outside with some chairs around it,” Lisa said.  “Why don’t we build a fire tonight.”

“That might be nice,” Shantel agreed as she continued making her weird noises.

“What for?” I asked.

“To sit around it and enjoy it,” Lisa told me.  “Don’t you ever do that?  It looks like it’s been used quite a bit.”

“No.  That’s for the guys.  They talk men’s business out there.”

“So you never sit out by the fire with them?”

“I’m a girl.  Of course not.  All I do is chop the wood for them.”

“You…chop the wood.  Why not them?”

“Because I’m a girl.  It’s part of my job.”

Lisa shook her head.  “Freaky, I can’t begin to tell you all the things that are wrong with that.”

As usual, I had no idea what she was talking about.

Shantel made us dinner that night, and I stood by trying to help her.  I had never seen anyone do the things she was doing in my kitchen.  But when we ate, it was really, really good.  Why didn’t Bo ever teach me some of that stuff?  I know the guys would have loved it.

I washed the dishes that night and Lisa dried them.  But after that, Lisa pulled me into the living room and sat on the couch next to me.  She had that book she had bought earlier.

“I’m going to read to you tonight,” she told me.  “But I’m hoping that before long, you’re going to be able to read it to me.”

I was about to protest, when I remembered being in that restaurant place and looking at that weird book with all the food pictures and not knowing what they were.  “Will that help me with knowing what the pictures are in those food books like we had in that restaurant place today?”

It seemed to take her a moment to understand what I was asking.  “Yes!  Absolutely,” she told me.  “It will help with that and a thousand things more.”

I had no idea what a thousand was, but I didn’t tell her.

She said it was a story.  A children’s story.  I had never heard anyone reading a story before.  Ever!  It wasn’t very long, but I wanted it to go on, and on, and on.  Kind of like when Shantel sang for us.  It was a story about a little girl.  A child.  A kid.  Like one of the kids I had seen at that shelter place.  It was a story about the girl, and stars in the sky, and wishing for things.  And then suddenly Lisa said, “The end,” and I waited for her to continue.  I waited, but she closed the book.  There had been no more pages left in it.

“No!  There has to be more!”

Lisa did that little laugh thing she sometimes does.  “If you want more, then you’re just going to have to learn to read, so you can get all you want.”

“When?  How?” I asked desperately.

“We’ll do some more tomorrow,” she promised.

I couldn’t wait!

And then we all went out to the fire area, and we all grabbed some of the wood I had chopped and piled it where the fire was supposed to go.  Lisa lit it and before long we had a nice fire.  Lisa and I sat in the chairs while Shantel went back into the house.  I was a girl.  I wasn’t supposed to be sitting out there, but…it was nice.  Especially with Lisa there.

And then Shantel came back with that guitar thing they had gotten from that pawn shop place.  She sat down in another chair and her fingers did something against the strings of that guitar, and suddenly it didn’t sound bad anymore.  I was very surprised.  And then I saw Shantel do something with her other hand on the strings at the other end of the guitar, and then both hands were doing things at the same time, and I heard music coming from it.  How did it do that?  How did Shantel do that?  And it sounded really nice.  But not as nice as when Shantel kept doing those things with the guitar, and she started singing at the same time.

I always loved hearing Shantel sing, but now it was even better.

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 38

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 38

 

(Day 8 – Thursday)

 

Shantel

 

Just pullin’ up out front, I could see that this church was everything I could want it to be.  Not too big, not too small.  There was a sign out by the road that gave the name of the church and the name of the reverend, Reverend Manning.  That same sign also said gospel choir.  Hallelujah!

We all got out of the car, and they followed me to the door.  I approached it slowly.  I was anxious, but also afraid.  It had been a long time now since I had stepped foot inside a church.  I had left church and gone to hell instead.  Would they even let a sinner like me inside that holy place?  I stopped in front of the door.  My hand reached out and grabbed the handle, but I couldn’t open it.  I had done drugs.  I had an alcohol problem.  And I had been living with literal demons.  Demons who had nearly killed me in the end.  Forget worrying about what the drugs and the drink can do to you, demons came straight from hell, and they could be the worst.  Men were too strong, too wild, too angry all the time.  And they made sure I knew that I was living in hell…until the cops took me from the hospital and straight to the shelter, and I met Lisa.

I plucked up my courage and pulled on the door…and it opened for me.  Maybe, hopefully, God was going to let me back in.  Oh happy day if he did.

The sight that greeted my eyes was pure bliss.  The altar was simple with just a nice cross on top.  There was a simple stand in front of the alter for the preacher to stand and give his sermons.  My eyes were caught by a small piano off to one side, but my eyes lingered longer on what I saw on the other side.  Risers.  Risers for a choir.  They had music!  And I just knew it was my kind of music.  Gospel music.

“It’s very nice,” I heard Natalie whisper, but I ignored her and headed toward the altar, intent on kneeling before God and begging him to accept me back into his loving hands.  But before I could get there, a man came out from a door at the back corner.  A black man.  A rather handsome black man.  And he had a preacher’s collar around his neck.

“I thought I heard someone out here,” he said as he approached me.  “I’m Reverend Manning.  Is there something I can do for you?”

“I’m Shantel,” I told him, unable to take my eyes off his face.  “And I’m…I just wanted….”

His hand reached out and took one of my hands.  “Shantel,” he said.  “What do you need?”

I wanted to cry.  I was close to crying.  “I want back!” I cried.  “I want back in God’s good grace, but I’ve been a creature of hell for too long now.”

The Reverend pulled me over to one of the chairs and we sat.  He was holding both of my hands now.  “What do you mean you’re a creature of hell?”

“That’s where I’ve been livin’ for a long time now,” I told him.  “In hell!”  I looked back at the others near the back of the church.  “If it wasn’t for Lisa there, I think I’d be dead right now.”

He looked.  “Lisa?”

“She’s my friend,” I told him.  “We met at a women’s shelter the cops took me to.”

“Shelter?  What are you doing here?  I’m not aware of any shelters anywhere near here.”

“Huh!” I grunted.  “You wouldn’t believe it in a million years.”

“Try me,” he said softly.

“See that girl,” I said, looking back at Freaky.  “Believe it or not, Leese and me has got a job, teachin’ her.”

“Teaching her?”

“Yeah.  She’s the most messed up kid you ever did meet.  She’s been tortured and taught the most ridiculous things you can imagine.  If I thought I lived in hell, it ain’t nothin’ like how she’s been livin’…all her life.  And she’s been livin’ that way so long she thinks it normal.  So since we all became friends at that shelter, they offered Leese and me a job trying to teach her how things is supposed to be.  We’re just starting, but I can tell you, it ain’t going to be easy.”

“What’s her name?”

“Freaky,” if you can believe it.

“What’s freaky about it?” he asked, not understanding.

“No.  Freaky is her name.  The only name she has, except her last name which I think is Jeskey.”

“Jeskey!”

“Yeah.  She’s been living with this guy and his sons, but they were all killed recently, well, most of them.  Evidently there’s still one left, and he wants to kill my girl there.”

“I heard that someone had murdered Bo Jeskey and his sons,” the reverend said.  “But I didn’t know Bo had a daughter.”

“As I understand it, she ain’t exactly his daughter.  I think she’s a relative of his that he kidnapped when she was just little, and that’s why she’s so messed up.  She’s real nice though.  Just…very confused about everything.”

“Shantel, would you mind if I leave you here for just a moment so I can talk with her?  I promise, I’ll be right back.”

I nodded.  “Sure.  Like I said, she’s nice.  Lisa is even nicer.  And Miss Natalie is real nice too.  She found this church for me.”

He nodded.  “I’ll be right back,” he told me.  He got up and walked toward the back of the church.  My eyes went over to those risers for the choir.  I couldn’t seem to help myself.  I stood up and went over to them, and climbed up onto the middle riser and stood there.  I saw the Reverend talking softly with the others, but I didn’t care.  This was my spot in the choir, in the middle of all those glorious voices, singing and praising God!  I let my mouth open, and I let the song come out.  “Hallelujah, hallelujah,” my song started.  The sound of my voice in that chapel seemed to echo and make it sound better than ever, so I closed my eyes and kept singing, pouring my soul out and praising the lord, hoping against hope that he might take pity on a poor sinner like me and let me back into his fold.

And then I heard something that shook me, but it didn’t stop me from singing.  I opened my eyes and saw the reverend playing that piano and watching me while I sang.  So I kept singing, as loud and as joyously as I could.  And it was…joyous!  When I finished, I just stood there and the reverend looked up at me.  “Well!” he exclaimed.  “I hadn’t expected that.  Shantel, you can sing!”

“Right now,” I told him as I climbed down off that riser and headed toward his piano, “I just want to get back into a church somewhere.  I just want to get back where I belong, with God.”

He came out from behind the piano and hugged me.  “If you let me, I’d love to be the one to help you get there.”

We left the church a few minutes later.  Back in the car, I felt the tears coming to my eyes.  “Thanks,” I said softly to Natalie.  What Natalie replied wasn’t anything like I was expecting.

“Shantel, if we got you a guitar, would you mind if it was used?”

“Mind?  Why ever would I mind?  I’d just like to have one.”

“There’s a pawn shop on the edge of town.  It’s possible they might have one there.  Other than that, we would have to travel a while.”

“The guitar I used to have came from a pawn shop.”

“What happened to it?”

“It got broke right after I left home.  Along with me.  I got broke too.  It was the start of me living hell.”

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 37

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 37

 

(Day 8 – Thursday)

 

Freaky

 

What’s the big deal about money?  Why is it that that’s all everybody seems to think about?  It’s useless!  It’s just little pieces of paper with drawings on it.  It doesn’t do anything!  You can’t use it for anything.  Money doesn’t make sense!  At least that’s the way I felt about it.

While we waited for someone to come back to take us shopping, Shantel and Lisa went through every cupboard I had and discussed what they should get.  But that led directly to trouble…for me.

Lisa opened one of the bottom kitchen cabinets and found the dog food and my bowl.  “Freaky,” she said.  “Did you used to have a dog?”

“No.  Never.  We have some chickens sometimes and some pigs once in a while, but we’ve never had a dog.”

“Then why do you have dog food in here?”

“For me of course.”

“You!”

“Leese!” Shantel said.  “She told us they made her eat dog food sometimes.”

“I didn’t want to believe it,” Lisa said as she pulled the bag and my bowl out and set them on the table.”

“When was the last time you had to eat this?” she asked me.

“This morning.  That’s what I had for breakfast.”

“You what?” both Lisa and Shantel yelled.

“Why the hell did you do that?” Shantel asked.

“Because Gary said I’m supposed to be eating nothing but dog food until he says I can stop.  But he’s got to kill me first.”

“Kill you is right!  As in murder.  Freaky, he’s not coming back to tell you to stop eating.  He’s coming back to murder you like someone did to those other uncles of yours.  You’re going to be dead!”

“But I owe them my life.  Without them, I would have been dead a long time ago.  They’ve told me that all my life.”

“Freaky,” Lisa said.  “No more dog food!  Ever!  You’re better than that.”  She grabbed the bag and the bowl and carried them over to the trash barrel next to the beer refrigerator, and dumped them in.

All I could see was Gary yelling at me for not doing what I was told and burying me alive for it again.  If I didn’t eat nothing but the dog food, I wouldn’t be a good girl!  What was I going to do?  And I knew both Lisa and Shantel weren’t going to understand.  Yeah, Gary was definitely going to kill me.

It was getting toward lunchtime when Natalie came back.  She was only in the house a minute before we all walked out, Shantel and Lisa both carried bags with them.  Nice looking bags with handles that went over their shoulders.  I had seen them carrying them yesterday when they came home from the shelter with me.  They even took them into that place where we had gotten the burgers.  But why did they take them?  I never once saw either of them opening them.  And now they were carrying them again.  I was never going to figure out this world.  There was one other thing I was trying to figure out.  Why was there a cop car following us?  Nobody had talked to him or even said hi.

“Why am I going?” I asked as Natalie drove away from the house.  “They never take me to get food or anything else.  I’m supposed to stay home.”

I expected Natalie to answer, but Lisa answered instead.  “You’re going because it’s good for you.  We’re supposed to be teaching you about the world away from your house, and we can’t do that if you stay home.”

Nobody else seemed to have any opinions about that.  I had one, but I didn’t say it.  As far as I was concerned, I was better off staying home, where I understood everything.  I just looked out the windows and watched the woods and then the fields, and then I started seeing all those weird buildings and places again.  I just knew they were going to take me to another weird place that I didn’t understand.

Natalie stopped the car at what she called a restaurant.  I noticed that cop car that followed us parked next to us.

“Looks kinda nice,” Shantel said as she got out of the car.

“It does,” Lisa agreed.

I just thought the building looked weird.  It had huge windows all across the font so you could see all the people inside eating.  We all went inside, but I had to wonder why that cop in that car went to all that trouble to follow us, and now he wasn’t coming in with us.  Natalie led us to an empty table, and we sat down.  There were these book things sticking up between some stuff on the table and Natalie grabbed them and passed one to each of us.  I looked at it.  It was full of pictures of food…I think.  It took me a moment to figure out that I was looking at it upside down.  Why have a book full of food pictures?  At least I didn’t have to worry about reading it.

“Freaky,” Natalie said as I looked at the pictures.  “Do you know what you want?”

“Something to eat,” I replied.

“Yes, but what would you like?”

“I don’t know.”

But Lisa suddenly moved her chair around next to me and started pointing at each of the pictures.  “This is chicken, this is a different kind if chicken, this is a salad….”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“That’s what the words with each picture mean.  Those words tell us all about the picture.”

“They do?”

“Yes!  That’s why you need to learn to read.”

I considered that.  “But I’m a girl.”

“And so am I!” Lisa said firmly.  “So is every woman in this place, every woman in the world.  And they all can read…except you.”

“They can?”

“Yes!”

“But I can’t.”

“I know.  But that’s what I’m going to start teaching you.  Tonight!”

“Tonight?  You will?”

“Yes!”

I looked at the pictures again and the word things that were with them.  It would be nice to be able to figure things out for myself once in a while.  “Okay,” I told her.  “Maybe that would be good.”

“I got a surprisingly nice hug from her.  She showed me a few more pictures and then asked what I wanted to eat.  I pointed at a picture that she said was chicken, although it didn’t look anything like the fried chicken I cooked.  “Good choice,” Lisa said before she moved her chair back around to her place at the table.

A lady came over to the table and asked something about drinks.  Everybody said something, but after Lisa told her what she wanted, she pointed at me and told the lady that I would have the same thing.  And then Natalie told the lady what she wanted to eat.  After Shantel and Lisa had told her what they wanted, Lisa told her what kind of chicken food I wanted.  The lady finished writing something then went away.  I wondered what was supposed to happen now.  Last night at that burger place, the sheriff had gone to a counter where some other people were to get the food.  This time I didn’t see a food counter like that.

“Miss Natalie,” Shantel suddenly said.  “I really hate to ask this but…well, I want to.”

“What?” Natalie asked.

“Is there any chance in the world we can buy a guitar?  Just a cheap one.”

“A guitar?” Natalie asked, sounding surprised.  “Do you play guitar?”

“Since I was little.  But I ain’t had one now since I left home.  That house we’s in has no TV, no nothin’ and I just thought that maybe a bit of music would be nice.”

“I love hearing you sing,” I told her.

“Thank you Baby Doll,” Shantel said.  “I appreciate that.  I love singin’.”

Natalie shook her head.  “I’m sorry Shantel, but right now we’re not too sure about how the money situation is going to work.  I can buy some groceries and things right now to help get you going, but then Pam and I need to sit down and work on the details of it all…including paying you two.  Maybe another time when the money situation is a bit more clear.  When I got up this morning, we had no money to work with at all.  Besides, I don’t even know where you could buy something like that around here.”

“Okay, thanks,” Shantel replied.  “I just thought I’d ask.”

When the lady brought the food to the table, it was really, really good.  I had to wonder how they made it taste like that.

When we all finished eating, that lady came back again and I watched as Natalie pulled some money out of the bag she was carrying.  I saw her count some, then give it to the lady.  Why?  As we were getting up from our chairs, I whispered to Lisa, “Why did she do that?”

“Do what?” Lisa asked.

“Give the lady some of that money stuff.”

Lisa looked at me.  “You’ve never seen anyone buy anything before, have you.”

“I never left the house before.  But what was the money for?”

“To pay for our meals,” Lisa said.

“Why?”  I asked as we walked away from the table.

I didn’t get an answer until we were back in the car.  “Freaky,” Lisa said softly.  “If you had a dozen eggs and you wanted to sell some…”

“What’s a dozen?” I asked.

“Twelve.”

“What’s twelve?”

“Oh boy!” I heard Shantel say from the front seat.

Lisa was still trying to explain it to me when Natalie stopped the car at what she called a grocery store.  I had heard Bo and the others talk about the grocery store, and groceries, which I knew was food of all kinds, so I had some idea as to what would be in the store.  But why did the building have to be so big?  My head was already confused and spinning from Lisa trying to explain money and numbers to me, when we all walked inside and I saw so much stuff.  Wow!  “This is all groceries?” I asked Shantel.

“Every bit of it,” Honey Pie,” Shantel said.

“Lisa,” Natalie said, “Why don’t you and Freaky grab a cart.  Shantel and I will take another one.”

“Have they got coffee pots in here?” Shantel asked Natalie.

“Yes,” Natalie replied.  “And we’ll get you one.”

“Thank the lord!”

While the others pushed the carts and kept putting things in them, I stared in wonder at all the stuff the place had.  So many things.  So many colors, so much…stuff!  And all of it was different.  I don’t think they picked up anything I recognized, including the coffee making machine.  Oh, there was some things that Lisa put in the cart that I did recognize, but I didn’t know why she picked them up.  I saw her take some paper, some pencils, and later she picked up a book.  Why?  And why did both Shantel and Natalie tell her that was a good idea?

When we were done picking stuff up, Natalie led us to this weird table where the entire top of it moved, and Natalie started putting the things from her cart on that moving tabletop.  There was another lady there who kept grabbing things and I kept hearing this beeping sound from somewhere.  Another lady was taking everything she had grabbed and was stuffing it in bags.  Why didn’t the first lady simply grab the things and stick them in bags?  Or for that matter, why didn’t we do it ourselves?  Why did they even need bags?  We could put it all right into the trunk of Natalie’s car.

When the lady was done grabbing things, instead of leaving, Natalie did that thing with the money stuff again.  Lisa had spent some time trying to explain it to me, so I had a vague idea, but it was too vague.  I still couldn’t figure out what the money did.  But we left that weird huge building and went back to the car, where Shantel and Lisa put all those groceries into the trunk of Natalie’s car.

When we left, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to think about more, what Lisa was trying to tell me about the money, or all the stuff they had in that place.  The store stuff won out, until Natalie said, “Shantel, you said you wanted to see a church.  There’s one just ahead that I think you might like.  We’ve got groceries in the car, but if we don’t take too long, maybe we can stop so you can take a quick look inside.”

“Miss Natalie!” Shantel said, suddenly very excited.  It looked like she wanted to hug Natalie, but she was afraid to because Natalie was driving.

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 36

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 36

 

(Day 8 – Thursday)

 

Sheriff Cobb

 

The minute I heard about the money I was up from my desk and all action.  Amanda was already out there, but I told Russ I needed four more deputies to go with me out to the Jeskey place.  We had been searching for the money in the wrong place.  It wasn’t in the woods, it was in the house after all.

My own car had been delivered back to me that morning and Russ and I got in it.  Russ wasn’t going to be left behind, which was fine with me.  The more deputies I had out there the better.  Especially with Gary still on the loose.

While I drove, I pulled my cellphone out and called Pamela.  She said she’d make time and come out to the house to see.  My next call went to Natalie.  Nat was just as excited as I was over it and told me she was already on her way.

As soon as we were out of town I hit the lights and the gas.  We rocketed down the rural highway at speeds that looked like we were chasing someone.  Natalie’s car was already there by the time we arrived.  Going inside, the house seemed full with all those women in there.  “Where?” I asked Amanda.

She led me to a closet by the back door where the entire floor had been pulled up.  Another hidey hole that Bo must have made.  I certainly hadn’t known it was there.  I wondered what other places he had built in that house.  I briefly entertained the idea of having the entire place torn down just so I could see.

Inside that area of the closet floor though, I saw five handguns, one for each of the Jeskey boys, and underneath those guns…money.  Stacks of money.  And it looked like there were a lot of them.

“Russ,” I said.  “We’re going to need those guns out of there and cataloged.  And that money needs to be counted before it leaves this house.”

Russ immediately started issuing orders.  I moved everyone away from the closet and the deputies went to work pulling all that money out.  They stacked it on the table and before long I had four of them working together to count it all while everyone else looked on.

“Does this mean we can get paid?” I heard Lisa ask Nat.

“More than likely,” Natale told her.  “I do think though that a judge would rule that all that money belongs to Gary.  But at the same time, since Gary will be arrested and will most likely spend the rest of his life in jail, and especially after the things that Gary and the others have done to Freaky, I believe that any judge in the world would take pity on Freaky and award all, or at least some of it to her.  So yes, in the end, I think we’ve got a good chance of giving you and Shantel at least a little something from it.  Once in a while.”

Somehow, I didn’t think that was quite the answer that Lisa was looking for.  But it was better than nothing I guess.

“Sheriff,” Russ said a little while later.  “Fifty-thousand.  Exactly.”

Fifty-thousand.  It looked like a lot of money, and it was.  I realized something else.  “One gun for each of them, and ten-thousand for each.”  And then it dawned on me.  “This wasn’t their main stash of cash,” I said.  “This was just their emergency stash.  Maybe for if they needed a quick getaway.”

“Could be,” Russ agreed.  “So where’s the rest?”

We were interrupted at that point by the door opening again.  I saw Pam McGregor walk in.  “We have money?” she asked.

“Some,” I told her.

“How much?”

“Fifty-thousand.  But I’m guessing this was nothing more than their emergency stash.  There were five guns in with it.  One gun and ten thousand for each of them.”

“Fifty-thousand still sounds like a nice workable amount,” Natalie said to Pam.

“It certainly does,” Pam agreed.

“Lisa just asked if she and Shantel can get paid now.”

Pam held up one finger and pulled out her cellphone.  A moment later I heard her say, “Judge Reinhart?  They found some money at the Jeskey place.  Fifty-thousand.  Since Gary is still alive, I know he would probably have first claim on it, but in light of everything those men have done to Freaky, and the fact that Gary will most likely be heading to jail for the rest of his life, what’s the chance of us using this for Freaky’s needs?”  I watched as she listened for a minute, then she said.  “Okay.  Thanks.  I’ll keep you in the loop.”  She turned to Lisa.  “Yes, Lisa, we’ll be able to pay you.  At least for now.  But we’re going to have to work out the details, and I can already tell you it’s going to be nothing more than minimum wage.”

Instead of Lisa answering, it was Shantel.  “Miss Pamela, that’s just music to my ears.”

Pam turned to me.  “The judge said to tell you to double check the amount and register it all as evidence, then release it to us and we’re supposed to open a bank account with it to protect it.”  She turned to Natalie.  “And he said to hurry up and find that third person to manage the trust.”

“But who?” Natalie replied.  “We’ve gone nuts trying to think of someone.”

“I talked to that detective Benson from Knoxville this morning.  He hasn’t had time yet to even look for any relatives of Clive’s wife.  He promised to try and do that today.  If he finds some, I’ll drive down there tomorrow and go with him to let them know that their daughter’s murderer has been found.  I’ll make the decision then if perhaps one of them might be a good choice for our third wheel person.”

“If there isn’t a third person, maybe we can just leave it at the two of us,” Natalie suggested.  “It would make things easier.  Especially if the third person lives a thousand miles away.”

“True,” Pam agreed.  “But at least we’ve got some money now to actually comprise a trust fund.  And it’s a decent amount to work with too.”

“Yeah,” Nat agreed.  “At least there’s that.  And it’s good news.  Even with my salary, Will and I can’t afford to feed so many people for too long.  Did the judge say how long before we can spend some of it?  I know they need food here.”

“Yes!” Lisa said.  “We do.  We need a few things.”

Pam considered that then looked at me.  “Sheriff, how long will it take you to do what you need to with it?”

“We know how much is there,” I told her.  “We don’t have to count it again.  I can have a couple of deputies take it straight to the bank for you.  Just get me a deposit slip for my records and we’ll be good.  I would imagine the bank will have no problem issuing you a credit card or something right away if you want, or I guess you can just use cash.  That’s your problem to figure out.  So it just depends on how long it takes to get the banking done.”

“Perfect!” Pam replied.  “She looked at Natalie.  “You and me will need to both go to the bank to set things up.  After that, I’ll leave today’s shopping to you.  I’m so far behind on my work I don’t know what I’m going to do.  And if I have to go to Knoxville tomorrow that’s just going to make things worse.  It’s got to be done though.”

“I’m way behind with my clients too,” Natalie told her, “but I’ll fit it in where I can.”  She turned to Lisa and Shantel.  “Maybe we can go shopping right after lunch,” she told them.  “Do what you can to make a list so we can get it done as quickly as possible.”

“Fine,” Lisa told her.  “Except there isn’t enough food here to have lunch.”

Natalie seemed a bit flustered at that.  “Then we’ll have lunch out somewhere too, and then go grocery shopping.”

“Miss Natalie,” Shantel said.  “I have a question.”

“What?” Natalie asked.

“Any chance we can visit a church today.  Just so I can take a quick look.  I promise I won’t look long.”

I watched Natalie’s face.  It took a moment, but she gradually seemed to relax.  “Sure, Shantel.  As long as it doesn’t take too long.”

“Thanks Miss Natalie,” Shantel said happily.  She looked over at Lisa.  “Leese, I’m goin’ back to church!”

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 35

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 35

 

(Day 7 – Wednesday  to  Day 8 – Thursday)

 

Freaky

 

I was home again.  Finally.  And it felt like such a relief.  And more than that, Shantel and Lisa were here with me.  I was so happy!  It all felt really strange when Natalie, Pamela, and the cop left.  Lisa, Shantel, and me were alone in the house.  It struck me that I had never been alone in this house with other women before.  It was…nice.

“What can I do for you?” I asked them.  “Do you need anything?”  I was used to taking care of the guys.  What else would I do?

“I’m fine, Honey Pie,” Shantel told me.  “There’s no TV or anything, so I guess we just…relax for a bit.  Then I guess, bed.”  She chuckled.  “Nobody tellin’ us when to go to bed here, and when to get up again.”

“We can sleep in tomorrow,” Lisa noted.

“Right!” Shantel agreed as she plopped herself down in a chair.

Lisa took the couch, and we all sat and looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Shantel began to sing.  I loved it, and so did Lisa.  But Shantel didn’t sing long before she suddenly stopped.

“You ain’t got a guitar here, do you?” Shantel asked me.

“A…what’s a…”

“Guitar Honey Pie, and I can see that you don’t, so don’t worry about it.  If’n you don’t mind, I can sing just fine without it.”

“Mind?” I asked.

“Go for it,” Lisa told her as she stretched out on the couch.  “Sing me to sleep.”

“Oh Honey,” Shantel said.  “Close those pretty eyes of yours.  Have I got a song for you.”

She sang for a long time, and we listened.  Why would anyone rather watch one of those TV things instead of listening to this?  I just didn’t get it.  Like I didn’t get most things outside of this house.  But here, it all made sense.

Until it was bedtime.

“Freaky,” Lisa said.  “Don’t sleep on the floor.  You don’t need to do that anymore.”

“But I’m a good girl!” I insisted.  “Girls sleep on the floor!”

“No they don’t!  Now there’s two beds in some of those rooms.  If you want, you can sleep with me.”

“No!  This is where I usually sleep.  Here, by the backdoor.”

“But it’s on the floor.  And there are bedrooms and beds available that were made to be slept in.  Just…try it.  For me?”

“No!” I insisted.  “I’m a good girl, and I’m going to stay a good girl.  This is where I belong, here in this house.  And I sleep here on the floor.”

Lisa gave up.  “Okay,” she said.  “We’ll be in one of those bedrooms together.  See you in the morning.”

I felt better.  This was where I belonged.  This was what I understood.  It felt…comforting.

I think I slept better than any night since they took me away from here.

As always, I was up bright and early.  The only problem was, I didn’t have any of the guys there to take care of…unless maybe Gary came home.  I silently made my way through the house.  I didn’t see Gary in the living room.  I checked all three bedrooms.  No Gary, but Shantel and Lisa were sleeping in Ben and Steve’s beds in one of the rooms together.

I went back to the kitchen where I belonged.  There wasn’t much food left in the house.  Bo, or one of the guys was going to have to go shopping for some soon.  Except, the only guy left to do any shopping was Gary, and I didn’t know when he was going to come back.  But I had heard Natalie and some of the others talking about shopping last night.  So maybe they would bring some food for us.

In the meantime, I tried to figure out what I was going to give them for breakfast when they woke up.  No eggs or anything like that.  As far as I could see, they were down to cereal and that was all.  And more than likely, there wasn’t going to be enough for me.  But that was the way things were supposed to be.

My eye caught the dog food bowl still on the floor.  What was supposed to be was that I was supposed to still be eating nothing but dog food until they told me I could stop.  With a sigh, I pulled out the bag of dry dog food and poured some of it into my bowl.  I soon found myself on my hands and knees, lowering my face into that bowl.  The dry dog food pellets lasted nearly forever.  So did their taste in my mouth.  I remembered that hamburger that they had bought me at that weird place last night.  I couldn’t believe how good it had tasted.  How did they do that?  The hamburgers I made for the guys never tasted like that.  Inevitably though, I bent my head down again into the bowl and took another mouthful.  Breakfast.  I was home.

It was a long time before Shantel and Lisa got up, which gave me plenty of time to clean the kitchen again and visit my pee hole out behind the shed.  I was a good girl, and I was going to stay a good girl, no matter what anyone else said.

I saw Lisa come out first, but she headed straight into the bathroom.  I didn’t expect her to go anywhere else.  It seemed like none of the women I had met since I had left here even knew what a proper pee hole was.  They probably wouldn’t even know how to use it.

Lisa wasn’t in the bathroom long, and when she came out, she came over to me in the kitchen.  “Good morning Freaky,” she said nicely.  She pulled out a chair at the table and sat down.  As she was sitting, I heard Shantel going into the bathroom.  “Did you sleep okay?” Lisa asked.

I wasn’t sure I understood the question.  Of course I had slept okay.  I dredged up an answer.  “Yes.”

“Good.  I hate seeing you trying to sleep on the floor.”

“I like it.”

“Well, I don’t like seeing you do it,” she told me.  “Got any coffee?”

“Coffee?” I said.  “Natalie had a machine that made coffee.  I tried some when I visited with her, but I couldn't believe how bad it tasted.  Why would you want some of that?”

“So I’m guessing, no coffee,” she said.

“No.  Of course not.”

She suddenly sat up straight and looked surprised.  “You had all those grown men living here, but there’s no coffee?”

“No.  Why would there be?”

“Because men usually drink coffee.  Most women too.  What did they drink then?”

“Beer, of course.”

“What else?  They had to drink something else.”

“No.  Just beer.”

“What about soda?”

“That was that stuff I drank at that weird place last night where I had that hamburger.”

“Yeah.  And you said you’d never had any before.  So I guess no soda then.  Milk?  Tea?  Anything?”

“No.  Just beer.”

She shook her head.  “What do you drink all the time, beer too?”

“No.  Just water.  I’m a girl.  Beer is for the men.”

“Figures,” she said disgustedly.

“Morning everyone,” Shantel called as she walked from the bathroom to the table.  She stopped at the table but didn’t sit down.  “I don’t smell any coffee,” she noted.  “Is there any?”

“Don’t bother asking,” Lisa told her.  “There’s none, and nothing else either.  It seems the only thing Freaky’s uncles drank was beer.  All the time!”

“Oh.  I’ve known a few men who seemed to be that way,” Shantel replied.  “We got anything at all for breakfast, or are we skipping that today.  I know the cupboard is pretty bare.”

“We have cereal,” I told them.

“Perfect!” Shantel said as she went around me to the cabinets.  “Where?”

“I opened a cabinet for her and pulled the box out.  I found bowls and spoons for her and Lisa.”

“You’re not eating?” Lisa asked me.

“I ate already,” I told her.  “I was up early.”

Lisa nodded, then got up and opened the refrigerator.  “No milk either?” she asked.

“Milk?  No.  Bo only gets me milk when there’s something he wants me to cook that needs it.”

“How about for the cereal?” Shantel asked.  “You gotta have milk for that.”

“You do?  They never use it.”

“Then what do they use?” Lisa asked, then quickly shook her head.

“Beer!” Shantel said.  “I guess we’re eating it dry.”

While they spooned dry cereal into their mouths, I sat at the table with them, and we all talked about things we thought we needed to buy.  What surprised me was that Lisa made it very plain to me that they expected me to not only leave the house to go shopping with them, but that I would have to go into the stores to buy whatever we needed too.  I was having a difficult time wrapping my head around that.

When they finished eating, which didn’t take long, Lisa grabbed her bowl and spoon, and Shantel’s bowl and spoon and carried them to the sink.  I was shocked to see her start washing them.

“That’s my job!” I told her.

“I’ve got it,” Lisa said.  “Don’t worry.”

“But…”

“Freaky!” Shantel said.  “Relax.  You don’t have to do all the work anymore.  Theres’s three of us here.”

“But…”

Shantel came over and put her hand on my shoulder.  “Freaky,” she said.  “You’ve got friends now.  Us.  And friends help each other, and they watch out for each other, and they take good care of each other.  You’ve got friends now, that’s us.  Remember that.”

“But I’m not used to…”

“Baby Doll,” she said.  “Get used to it.  Those men you lived with are all gone now, and we’re here instead.  And like it or not, there’s got to be some big changes in your life.  In fact, it’s gonna be some big changes in my life and Lisa’s life too.  But we’ve got each other now, and if we all work together, we’ll get through them.  Got that?”

I didn’t answer.

“Get used to it Honey Pie,” she told me.  “The world seems to change every day.  Now it’s your turn.  Our turn too, I guess.  Get used to it, ‘cause it’s happening.”

“And it’s our job to make sure it happens,” Lisa added.

“Yeah,” Shantel said.  “Our job.  We just ain’t getting’ paid for it.”

A few minutes later we were heading for the living room to sit down when there was a knock at the door.  I panicked!  I’ve got to hide!” I whispered as I hurried toward the back door.

“Freaky!” Shantel yelled.

“Freaky,” Lisa said right after her.  “What are you doing?”

“I need to…”

“Hide?” Lisa asked.

“Baby Doll,” Shantel said.  “No you don’t.  Not anymore.  That part of your life is over.  Forever!  Now get that out of your system and stay right here with us.”

The knock came again, and Shantel headed to the door.  She opened it and stepped back in surprise.

“Hi,” I heard a woman’s voice say.  “I’m just checking to make sure everyone is okay.”

“We’s fine,” Shantel told her.  “Excuse me if I seem…surprised.  I never hung out much with the police.”

I could see who was at the door now.  “Amanda,” I called as I headed for the door.

“Come on in,” Shantel told Amanda as she held the door open for her.

Amanda came in.  “Morning everyone,” she said.  “I’m deputy….”

“Amanda,” I said.  “The woman cop from that place where all the cops are.”

“Uh…that would be me,” Amanda told her.

“Deputy Amanda then,” Shantel said.

“That works, or just Amanda if you like,” Amanda said.  “No problems last night?”

“Not unless you count the fact that Freaky there refuses to sleep in a bed and prefers the floor,” Lisa told her as she headed over toward the woman cop.  “Other than that, none.  I’m Lisa by the way.”

I watched as Lisa shook Amanda’s hand.  Why did people do that?

“Shantel,” Shantel said as she also shook Amanda’s hand.  “I ain’t used to bein’ around cops.  No offense.”

“I guessed that already,” Amanda told her.

“Have you heard anything about them coming to get us to take us shopping?” Lisa asked.  “We need some groceries pretty bad here.  And I know Natalie and Pamela knew that, even though they were worried about where the money was going to come from.  Natalie said she’d work something out though.”

“Nobody told me anything,” Amanda replied.  “The sheriff just told me to stop out here and check to make sure you were all still doing okay.”

“We’re fine,” Shantel told her.

“I know where some money is,” I told Amanda.  “But…I don’t understand what good it is.”

Everybody looked at me.  “What do you mean, you know where some money is?” Amanda asked.

“I know where some is.  The guys talk about money all the time, but I don’t know why.  It’s just little pieces of paper that don’t do anything, but the guys seem to be real concerned about it for some reason, so they hide it all over the place.”

“Like where?” Amanda asked.

I thought for a minute.  “There’s some right here in the house,” I told her.

“Can I see?” Amanda asked.

I wasn’t sure about that though.  “It’s Bo’s money.  He doesn’t show it to anyone.  He’d be real mad if I showed it to you.”

“Bo is dead,” Amanda said.  “Remember?”

“Yeah, but…what if he comes back?”

“Freaky, dead means he’s never coming back.  He’s dead!  Gone!  Forever.  The only one left is Gary now and hopefully we’ll have him in custody very soon, so you won’t ever have to worry about him either.  Now where’s that money?”

I considered what she said.  I knew I was being silly.  Dead was…dead.  And I knew without a doubt that Bo, Ben, and Steve were all dead.  They had said Dave was dead now too, but I didn’t see that happen.  “I know what dead is,” I said.  “I’m just used to the guys always coming home.  They go for a few days sometimes, then they come back.”

“The money?” Amanda reminded me.

I gave in and led the way toward the back door where I usually slept every night.  There was a closet there where I had kept my bag of all the clothes I had.  The closet contained almost nothing now.  I pulled the few clothes I had left out of the closet and got down on the floor.  I had only seen Bo open it once in my life, that was all, but since I kept my things in the closet I knew where the little pull thing was at the very back.  I got my finger in it and pulled up.  It was heavy, but gradually the entire floor of the closet came up.  Ouch, that thing hurt to pull.

When it got high enough, I started to grab the entire section of floor, but Amanda was there quickly to help me move it.  She set it aside and came back to look at what we had uncovered.  The first thing I saw was guns.  One for each finger of my hand.  But under the guns were a lot of stacks of the money stuff that the guys were always so interested in.

“Holy mother of God!” Shantel said as she stared at what had been under the floor.

“That looks like a lot,” Lisa noted.

“Don’t touch!” Amanda said as she pulled her cellphone out.  I watched as she made a call and then asked for the sheriff.  A minute later, she said, “Sheriff, I’m at the Jeskey place…” … “Yeah, they’re all fine.  But Sheriff, we’ve got money!  And it looks like a lot!”