The Last Jeskey - Chapter 4

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 4

 

Sheriff Cobb

 

With the girl safely stowed away in the interview room, I went back to my office and called in not just Amanda, but a few of my other deputies as well.  Then I had Amanda take it from the top and tell us all what had gone on in that hospital exam room.

“It’s just too unbelievable for any of it to be real,” Amanda started.  “But I swear, the girl actually seemed to think it was all normal for her.  And that’s not the most unbelievable thing of all.”

“What’s that?” one of the other deputies asked.

“Her…” Amanda started to say, then she stopped and looked around.  “Okay guys, I’m about to use a word that may be out of your kindergarten mentalities.  Get over it!  Vagina!  Woman parts.  Got it?”

Every man in the room, myself included, laughed.  So did she.

“But the truth is,” Amanda continued, it’s no laughing matter at all.  Someone…mutilated her down there.”

“They did what?” one of my deputies exclaimed.

“Mutilated!” Amanda told her.  “It was hard to tell exactly what they did to her, but her entire vagina…clit for those idiots here.  The entire thing looked like it had been somehow, I don’t know, fastened together in some way so that she can’t have sex.  It was just a thin slit that the doctor couldn’t even pull apart, then there was an opening at the bottom so she could pee.  That’s it!  The whole thing was strange looking.  The poor girl.  I didn’t get the impression that it hurts her though.  And then it got even weirder,” she said.

“Weirder?” one of the deputies asked.  “Someone mutilated her.  What could get weirder than that?”

“As soon as she was naked so the doctor could examine her, she asked him if he wanted to have sex with her, or if he just wanted a blowjob.  Get this.  She actually thought that was the reason he wanted her naked.  She had heard of doctors before, but she’s never actually seen one.  He was the first.”

“A prostitute?” one of the deputies threw out.  “From what we’ve heard about her, that could almost be reasonable…except for that mutilation thing.  You said her…vagina couldn’t be opened?”

“No,” Amanda replied.  “It was somehow sealed shut.  Permanently as far as I could tell.”

“But Bo Jeskey still had her servicing anyone he wanted?” the deputy replied.

“I’m guessing so,” Amanda agreed.  “But I really don’t know.  Except that the part that shocked me the most, was one of the few things she actually said.  As it turns out, she said she’s been having sex for as long as she can remember, with her uncles!”

I had heard it all in the car, but it still shocked me to hear it again.

“Her uncles?” one of the deputies in the room exclaimed.

“At least she was talking,” I mentioned, not wanting to get further into the incest thing without facts.  “Did you ask her name?”

“The nurse and the doctor both did,” Amanda told us.  “But like before, she refused to say.  In fact, I’m amazed she told us as much as she did.  Eventually though, she reached a point, and she stopped talking.  Period!”

“Okay,” I said.  “How about the reason I wanted her looked at in the first place.  Any signs that she had been shot?”

Amanda shook her head.  “Not that I noticed.  I’m pretty sure the doctor didn’t notice any either, but it was a bit hard to tell.  She’s just so dirty.  The doctor did mention whip marks all over her back though.  She’s also got more than a few scars and bruises all over her body.”  She looked at me.  “What are you going to do Sheriff?  Please don’t tell me you’re going to let her go home.  Not if they’re raping her all the time.”

I shook my head.  “I still don’t know what I’m going to do with her, but you’re right, sending her home is out, no matter how much she wants to go there.  If any of you lunkheads has a suggestion as to what to do with her, then please let me know.”

“Give her a bath…soon!” Amanda said.

I smiled.  Sounds like a good idea.  Somehow.

“Maybe Roxie!” Russ, my chief deputy threw out.

“Roxie?  What about her?” I asked.

“It sounds like the girl isn’t interested in telling us anything about herself, but does Roxie know anything about her?  The girl was there in the house when Roxie shot them.”

I nodded.  “I haven’t had a chance to do the formal interview with Roxie yet.  But asking if she knows anything about the girl sounds like a great idea.  Get Roxie out of that cell and set her up.  Somewhere that’s not with the girl.  Amanda, sorry, but you’re the only woman here, so you’re with me.  As soon as she’s ready, let’s go talk to Roxie.”

Fifteen minutes later, Amanda and I walked into our little conference room where they had stashed Roxie.  Her hands were cuffed, but not cuffed to any of the furniture.  Roxie was just sitting there as calm as can be, waiting for us.

“Roxie,” I greeted her as we entered the room.  “This is Deputy Amanda.”

“We’ve…met,” Roxie replied.  “It was a while ago though.”

“You were picked up for shoplifting,” Amanda said.  “I haven’t heard anything about you since.”

“It was just that one time,” Roxie said.  “And like I told you back then, I only did it because Jimmy Baker dared me to do it.  I was…stupid.  Sorry about that.  But I’m not sorry for killing the Jeskeys, except I should have killed them all.  I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t shoot Dave and Gary too.  They would be two more dead men to my name, but what’s the difference?  And the entire world would be a better place.”

I was tempted to tell her the world would probably agree with her, but those ideas were strictly contrary to my position as sheriff in the county.

“Roxie,” I said.  “Back at the Jeskey place, you not only admitted to killing them, but you said something about you having proof that they killed your brother Tom.  You want to elaborate on that?”

She sat up straighter.  “Sure,” she replied.  “Do you know Wendel Cramp?  The guy who owns the junkyard?”

“I know him well.  Trust me,” I told her.

“Well, he said he saw the whole thing.”

“He did?  What did he say?”

“He flat out told me that Bo Jeskey shot Tommy, and that not only was Steve and Ben with him at the time, but after Bo killed him, both Steve and Ben put a bullet into Toms body too, probably just so they could shoot someone.”

“I’ll ask him about it,” I told her.  The truth was, knowing what I did about the Jeskeys, that was most likely the case.  There were rumors about them killing a number of people.  Just no evidence at all.  Not to mention, no bodies either.  That was the problem with the case of Roxie’s brother.  He had just disappeared.  We had no proof that anything had happened to him.

Did Wendel say anything about what they did with your brother’s body?”

“He said they threw him in the back of a pickup and drove off with him.”

“But he didn’t say where?”

“No.  I doubt he knows.”

More than likely, he didn’t.  Only the Jeskeys would know.  “And where did all this take place?” I asked.

“Out back behind his junkyard,” Roxie told me.  “I never asked Wendel what he was doing out there, but he said he saw it all, plain as day, and he was awfully sure about it.  He made me swear though that I wouldn’t tell anyone at all.  He just wanted me to know that Bo Jeskey had shot him.”

The problem with what she was telling me was that it was all perfectly believable.  I wasn’t completely sure about the reason Wendel would have been there, but I would follow up on that for sure.  But that brought up my next question.  “Why didn’t Wendel come to us in the first place?”

“And have Bo Jeskey go after him?  Are you kidding?”

She did have a point.

“So you decided to take matters into your own hands.  How did you do it?”

She grunted a laugh.  “It turned out to be easy.  You know Dave Jeskey has been grunting around me for years.  All I had to do was cozy up to him for a bit like I was interested again.  Dave and I have gotten together on and off for years, so it took nothing to get back together with him, and eventually he invited me out to his house for…a drink.”

“A drink,” I said, not believing that for a second.

“A drink!” she insisted.

I nodded.  “Go ahead.”

“You know the guys all carry guns, pretty much all the time, and it sort of just happened.  The guys were all there for once, including Bo, and we were all sitting around the living room drinking beer.  Steve pulled his gun out from the back of his pants so he could get more comfortable, and he set it on the end table next to the couch where he was sitting.  I got up to go to the beer fridge to get another one for me and Dave and I walked right by it.  Nobody paid me the least bit of attention.  I picked it up, aimed it at Steve and pulled the trigger.  As fast as I could, I aimed it at Bo and shot him too.  Ben was only a second behind.  End of story, just like them.  And like I said, I may spend the rest of my life in prison, but I don’t care.  I killed them, and I’m good with it.”

So was I, but like I said, those thoughts went contrary to my position.  “How about Gary and Dave?” I asked.  “You didn’t shoot them.”

“No, but I should have.  They didn’t shoot Tommy.  I just held the gun on them in case they got any bad ideas.”

“And how about the other person in the room?” I asked.

She seemed confused.  “What other person?”

“The girl.”

“Oh, her.  Yeah, she was there.  She tried to run out when she heard the police sirens coming.  Said something about having to hide, but I don’t know why.  Dave, or Gary…one of them, said something about her not being allowed to be seen, but I have no idea what that was about or why.  I pointed the gun at her and told her to get back in the kitchen where she was.”

“I’m pretty sure you hinted that you had been at their house before,” I said.

“Yeah.  I’ve been there,” she admitted.  “A number of times actually.”

“Have you ever seen that girl before?”

“Sometimes, but not always.”

“Do you know who she is?  We can’t even get a name out of her, and both Dave and Gary think it’s funny that she won’t tell us, and neither will they.”

Roxie shook her head.  “The only thing I’ve ever heard her called is Freak.  Tell the freak to do this, or tell the freak to do that.  They all seemed to call her Freak.”  She smiled.  “I called her Freaky though, just because…I don’t know.  I liked it better.”

“Freak, or Freaky,” I said, not believing it.  No other name?”

“Nope.  Sorry,” she said.  Just that.”

“What’s she doing there?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but she cooks and cleans for them.  That’s about all I know.”

“Cooks and cleans,” I said.  That much I could believe.  “Like I said, we can’t get a word out of her about anything.”  I nodded toward Amanda.  “Except that there’s a possibility of a whole lot of incest going on.”

That seemed to surprise Roxie.  “Incest?” she asked.

“We had her looked over by a doctor.  When he asked her to get undressed she thought it was for sex, or at least to give him a blowjob.”

Roxie winced.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  “But somehow I believe it.”

I nodded sadly.

Amanda leaned forward and looked at me.  I nodded at her, knowing she had a question for Roxie.  “Roxie,” she said.  “We can’t get anything useful out of her.”

“Freaky,” Roxie said.

“Yes.  Freaky,” Amanda replied.

“You’re cops,” Roxie said.  “She’s been around Bo’s place for as long as I can remember.  Do you really think that Bo wouldn’t have practically brainwashed her into knowing she doesn’t dare talk to you?”

Something told me that brainwashed might be closer to the truth for a number of things about her.

“Probably,” Amanda agreed.  “But if we get her together with you and have you talk to her, do you think there’s any chance that you can convince her to trust us and at least tell us what we need to know?”

I had to hand it to Amanda, that was a good idea.  I leaned forward a bit, anxious to know the answer.

Roxie sat and considered it, then finally said, “Maybe.  I don’t really know.  I’ve never been allowed to really speak with her.  She’s always just…around, you know?  I always had the impression she was shy around people.  But there’s a few things I’m dying to know about her myself.”

“There is?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah.  Like…have you seen how long her hair is?”

“Yeah,” I said.  “You can’t exactly miss it.  I guess she likes it like that, but the least she could do is brush it once in a while.  Not to mention, what’s she got against taking a bath?”

“I don’t know, Roxie said.  “But I seem to remember asking Dave about it once and he said that Bo wants her hair real long.  Don’t ask me why.  It’s so long now that I keep wondering, if anyone ever untangled it, if it would actually reach the ground.  It would be so pretty though.  And it would be amazing to see.”

“Reach the ground,” I said, trying to picture that.

“Can I at least ask her about it?” Roxie asked.

“Sure,” I told her.  “But you’ll have to let us come up with a list of questions we want to know about first, just in case she’ll talk to you and still not talk to us.  She’s seen you at home before.  And as you said, we’re…cops.”