The Last Jeskey - Chapter 11

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 11

 

(Day 2 – Friday)

 

Freaky

 

That cop had left me stuck in a room where I was surrounded by more cops.  They were everywhere around me.  Oh, they gave me a chair to sit in, but the whole time I sat there, I could see them all turning their heads to stare at me, even when I figured they were supposed to be doing something else.

Don’t talk to cops!  It kept running through my head.  But I had already talked to a cop yesterday.  In fact, I had talked too much.  And now look where it got me.  Dave and Gary were going to kill me when they saw what I was wearing, and I still didn’t know what I was going to tell them about my hair.  Would they believe that the cops had made me do it?  I remembered that nice warm rainwater room that was inside their bathroom.  That had certainly been nice.  The only nice thing I could remember about yesterday.

Where was that cop?  When was he coming back?  And more importantly, when was he going to take me home?  I was stuck in a room, surrounded by cops.  What if they asked me a question?  Should I answer?  Don’t talk to cops!

Will, the cop, finally came back.  “You doin’ okay?” he asked me.  He had to be kidding.  I was surrounded by cops.  “Can I go home now?” I asked.

“Not quite yet,” he told me.  “I gotta talk to a judge about a search warrant first.”

I had no idea what a search warrant was.  I  really didn’t care.  I just wanted to get out of there and go home!  Since my laundry had been out on the line all night, I figured the morning dew would be all over it.  Had the sun been up long enough to dry it again?  I hoped so.  I planned on checking it just as soon as I could.  If…they ever let me out of that place.

Will, the cop, finally came back.  He had some paper in his hand.  “Everyone!” he shouted to get all those cops to pay attention to him.  “As soon as I get back, be prepared to head out to the Jeskey place.  All of us!  And I don’t have to tell you what you’ll be doing out there.”

I stood up.  “I can go home now?” I asked hopefully?

“Just as soon as I get back,” he told me.  “Got to pick up the warrant first.”

I sat back down, fuming.  They were never going to let me go home!

It seemed like forever before he got back.  “Load ‘em up!” he yelled as he walked past the room.  “Amanda, you better ride with me and Freak.”  Everyone around me jumped up and started leaving.  Will, the cop, was back a few minutes later.  “Freak,” he said from the doorway.  “Let’s go.”

Yes, yes, yes!  I hurried out the door after him.  Home!  I got into the back of his car again and he helped me get all my hair in there too.  Amanda got in the front seat with him.

Through the entire long ride in the car, I anxiously watched out the window, hoping to see the farm, but like everything the day before, all I saw was strange places and weird things.  Eventually, I realized that we had been passing nothing but empty fields and woods.  Not long after, the road turned to dirt.  Still, we kept going.  Then suddenly I saw it.  The farm!  The road passed through the opening in the fence, and I wanted to shriek with joy.  I was home, and I never wanted to leave there again.  It was still a few moments before the house came in sight.  Home!

As we pulled to a stop, well back from the house, my eyes checked the trucks in the yard.  Bo’s, Steve’s, Ben’s, and Daves.  Gary wasn’t there.

“Amanda,” the cop said.  “You stick close to her while we’re here.  I don’t care where she goes, just as long as she’s not in the way.  And I’m for sure going to need her as soon as we’re done with the house.”

“Got it,” Amanda replied.

The cop got out of the car with some paper and walked towards the house.  I pushed against the car door and tried to open it, but as always, I couldn’t.  Amanda thankfully opened the door for me.

“Try using the handle next time to open it,” she said.

Handle?  What handle?  For what?

I noticed Dave standing on the front porch now as the cop headed toward him.  “Uncle Dave!” I said as I hurried in that direction.  By the time I got there, Dave and the cop where talking about something.  Men’s business.  I didn’t care about that.  But I did care that Dave was staring daggers at me.

“What happened to you?” he asked, sounding way to angry for the fear in my stomach.

“We cleaned her up some,” the cop told him.  “Had to!  My wife donated the clothes.”

And then I saw Dave’s face screw up into the weirdest look, just before he started laughing out loud.  I felt embarrassed.  Did these clothes make me look funny?

“Her hair touches the ground,” Dave said.  “Her hair actually touches the ground!  Ha!”  He looked up into the air and shouted.  “Hear that Ben?  I won.  Her hair hits the ground!”

“What’s that about?” the cop asked.

Dave was still laughing.  “Me and Ben had this running bet going over whether or not her hair was long enough to hit the ground yet.  I won!”

And then it hit me.  “Laundry!” I exclaimed.  I rushed towards the front door.  “I gotta check my laundry.”

I went in and Amanda stayed right behind me.  I was about to rush to the back door of the house, but I detoured into the kitchen instead.  I pulled open a drawer and grabbed a small jar.  I opened it and shook out a pill, and swallowed it.

“What’s that?” Amanda asked.

“Vitamins,” I told her.  “Bo makes sure I take one every day to keep me healthy.  See?” I said as I held the little jar out so she could see the label.  I traced the big black word with my finger.  “Vi-ta-mins.”  I laughed.  “Don’t tell Bo, but I figured that word out all by myself.”

“Freak,” Amanda said.  “That doesn’t say vitamins.”

I was so disappointed.  “It doesn’t?”

“No.  It says Estrogen.  What kind of vitamins are estrogen?”

I shrugged.  “The kind that keeps me healthy.  I stuck the little jar down in the box in the drawer with all the other jars of vitamins like it and closed the drawer.  “The wash!” I said as I continued hurrying through the house.  “This way,” I said.

I grabbed a plastic laundry basket from the floor near the back door and pushed the door open.  I was relieved to see all my wash hanging neatly on the line.  I grabbed parts of it here and there to feel if any of it was wet.  Nope!  All dry.  All good!  I was relieved.  Happy to be back to doing the things I knew and the things I was supposed to be doing, I started removing the clothespins and folding everything up.  A minute later, Amanda was helping me.  That was nice of her.

“Those…vitamins,” she said as we folded clothes.  “How long have you been taking them?”

That was a strange question.  “All my life.”

She seemed to stare at me as she folded one of Steve’s shirts.  “Yeah, but why?” she muttered softly.

We were just folding the last of it when that cop, Will, came out through the back door, and he had two more cops with him.  “Whatever you’re doing,” Will said, “I need you now Freak.”

Whatever I was doing?  Was he blind?  I was taking down the wash.  “I gotta put this in the house first,” I told him.  Amanda stuck the last shirt in the basket, and I picked it up and carried it into the house.  I just set it down on the floor by the door though.  “What do you need?” I asked.  Getting that wash off the line and in the house was a big relief.  I should have gotten to it yesterday.

“You said you knew where all those hiding places are,” the cop said.  “I need you to show them to me.”

“I don’t know about all of them,” I told him.  “I just know the ones I’ve seen.”

“Then point them out for me.”

“You know that’s men’s business, not mine,” I told him.

“And I’m a man,” he countered.

He did have a point with that.  “Why can’t Dave show them to you?  He and the others are the ones who use them?”

“Dave is a bit…occupied at the moment,” he told me.  “Men’s business.  Important men’s business.  He wants you to show us where those places are instead of him.”

“He does?”  That didn’t sound right to me.  Besides, what if Dave saw that I was talking to a cop again?

“He certainly does,” the cop told me.  “He’s just too busy right now to show us himself.”

I stared at him, and he stared at me.  “It doesn’t sound right,” I said.  “I’m not even sure I’m supposed to know where those places are.”

“But you do know,” he countered.

“I think so anyway.  I’ve never opened them or even seen inside.  That’s all men’s business.”

“And like I said, I’m a man.”

I searched for another way to get out of showing him.

“Besides he finally said.  “If you don’t show me, all of them, and right now, I’ll make sure Dave and Gary put you in so much trouble you won’t know what hit you.”

“Sheriff!” Amanda exclaimed softly.

But the cop just kept staring at me.  The last thing I needed was to be in trouble with Gary and Dave.  “Okay,” I said.

I turned and headed toward the barn.  Everyone followed me.  The inside of the place was dim and filled with junk.  I turned to the left and walked into one of the small little room-like things that the guys had called stalls.  At the very back of it, I looked at the wall and said, “This is one.”

“Where?” the cop asked, sounding confused.

I had never even tried to open that door before and when it was closed it was almost invisible.  I had to fuss around with it a bit before a small piece of the wall opened.  The cop pulled me away and took a look.  He turned back to the others.  “There’s a latch in here, but it’s got a real thick chain and padlock going through it.  Shit, if she hadn’t shown us that, I would have never known it was there.  This whole stall must be built against a false wall.  “Good work Freak.  Thanks.  “How about some others?”

I shrugged.  “There’s one on the other side like this,” I told him.  “There may be some in the woods somewhere, but I don’t go there unless I’m being punished.  I hate the woods!”

Shouting of someone yelling, “Sheriff!  Sheriff!” came from outside the barn.  The cop turned and hurried back to the big barn door.  “What’s the problem?”

“Dave attacked Lowrey and took off.  He’s gone!”

The cop started running.  “How’s Lowrey?”

I didn’t hear anymore, but all the other cops started running too.  All except Amanda, and I could see she wanted to go.

“Go!” I told her.  “Why not?”

“Cause the sheriff told me to stick with you, and something tells me I better do just that.”

I shrugged.  “If they’re done with me, I gotta start thinking about getting lunch ready for the guys.  I couldn’t feed them dinner last night or breakfast this morning.  I don’t want them madder at me than they’re already gonna be.”

She walked with me back towards the house and said, “It doesn’t sound like you’ve got anyone left to cook for.”

I considered that.  “Maybe.  Maybe not.  What if Dave and Gary come back?  I need to be prepared if they do.”  She must have gotten my point because she kept walking with me.

The cop came back out of the house before we even got there.  “How’s Lowrey?” Amanda asked.

“Hurting a bit, but he’ll be fine,” the cop told her.  He didn’t sound happy.  He turned to me.  “Freak, where’s all your clothes?  Taking a look at them is next on my list.  I can’t do anything about those hiding places they had until we get a real good pair of bolt cutters.”

I had no idea what bolt cutters were, and I didn’t care.  Men’s business.  “My clothes?”

“Please.”

He had said please, but I got the impression he wasn’t giving me a choice.  I continued on toward the house with him and Amanda following me.  The little room just inside the back door had a small closet in it.  I opened the closet and pulled out my plastic bag that held all my things.  I knelt down on the floor and opened it.

“Wait!” the cop said.  He reached down and pulled me to my feet.  “We’ll do it.  Amanda, just dump it out, then go through it.  And watch your hands.  No telling what’s in there.”

The cop held me by my arm as Amanda dumped out my clothes bag.  She knelt down and started going through it all, piece by piece.  It took her no time to find my one and only other dress, along with the slit in the front of it.  She looked up at Will.  “There’s blood here,” she said.

“I was afraid of that,” the cop told her.  “Keep going.”

Amanda set my dress aside and picked up one of my skirts.  She seemed to look over every inch of the thing.  “Nothing,” she said and set it aside.  She grabbed one of my shirts and immediately found the little hole in the middle of it.  She held the shirt up so the cop could see it.  “Another hole, more blood.”

The cop said nothing as she set it on top of my dress.  She grabbed my nightgown and spent a long time looking it over carefully.  “Nothing,” she said as she set it with my skirt.  She picked up my other shirt and searched it, then stuck her finger through the slit in the side of it.  She looked closely at that little slit, then turned my shirt inside out.  “Blood,” she said before she set that shirt with my other shirt and the dress.  She pulled out the two pairs of panties I owned, but never wore.  She looked at them, then tossed them aside.  She grabbed my one remaining skirt and looked it over as thoroughly as she had my first one.  “Nothing,” she said as she tossed it on top of my nightgown.  She picked up my bra that I never wore.  She searched through it, then held it up so the cop could see the bit of red on it.  “More blood,” she said.

She grabbed one of my two sweaters and immediately found the little hole in the back along with more blood.  My other sweater had a hole and blood in a different place.

Amanda tossed the sweaters onto the pile with my dress.  “This is all the clothes you have?”

“I’ve got a coat, but I don’t keep it in the bag,” I told her.

“Where?” the cop asked me.  I went back into the floor of the closet and pulled it out.  Amanda searched it, but not for long, she showed the cop the hole in the back, but didn’t say anything about it.  She looked to me.  “Anything else?”

“No.  Of course not” I replied.  “Why would I need any more?”

She shook her head and stood up.  The sheriff kicked my two skirts into the closet, then stuffed everything else into my clothes bag, including my coat.  He handed the bag to Amanda.  “Stick this in the car.  The D.A. is going to have a fit when we tell him how much DNA testing he’s going to need to approve.”

“Do you care?” Amanda asked as she took the bag from him.

“Not a bit.”

I followed the cop out to the main room of the house where the kitchen was.  I saw other cops doing things all over the house, but I didn’t have a clue what they were doing.  Men’s business, but it looked like I was going to have a big mess to pick up.  Why couldn’t men be a bit neater?

When we got to the kitchen there were a lot of guns laid out on the table.  A saw a bunch of what the guys had called rifles that I knew they used when they went hunting, and a bunch of what they called handguns that they used for…well, they just always had them.  Men’s business.  Not mine.