Sinister Winds (Storm Series Book 2), page 9
“You seem certain of that.”
Abby blew out a long breath to steady herself. “I knew how close I’d come to saying yes, and I got mad and yelled at them. Jacob didn’t like that I’d acted out in front of his friend and followed me into the bedroom. He used my outburst to teach me another of his lessons, and having an audience listening in from the other side of the door spurred him on.” A wave of nausea washed over her as she recalled what he had done to her. That beating, coupled with listening to the two men talk and laugh into the night, was too much. She pushed from the chair, hurried to the bathroom, and emptied the contents of her stomach.
Chapter Ten
Abby stayed in the bathroom so long that she half expected Jefferies to tire of waiting and leave. Unfortunately, the man was tenacious in his quest for knowledge and was waiting for her when she returned to the room. To his credit, the guy’s face was creased with concern when he stood and waited for her to return to her chair.
“Are you okay?” he asked, hovering over her.
Abby waved him off. “Better. Thank you.”
“Mrs. Buckley, I don’t pretend to know what went on in that house, but I promise you that I will do everything in my power to keep you and the little one safe.”
While Abby wanted to believe him, Pearl’s words kept her from fully trusting the man. If Jacob had enough power to control a judge, surely he would be able to influence someone in the FBI. “Ask your questions, Mr. Jefferies.”
“What happened next?”
“I was worried about the baby, so I pretended Jacob had beaten me into submission.”
“When did you next see Pearl?” Jefferies asked.
“At the post office. Jacob had to mail an envelope and insisted I go with him.”
“Was it normal for him to invite you along?”
“Only when Merrick wasn’t available.”
“Maybe we could verify Merrick’s whereabouts. Do you recall the date?”
“No.”
“What about the envelope? Did you happen to see the address?”
“No. Whatever it was, it was important because he insisted on taking it inside himself.”
“He wasn’t worried about you driving off?”
“He must have been, as he took the keys with him.” She smirked. “At least he had the decency to roll the windows down.”
“That was nice of him. You must have known Merrick wasn’t around. How come you didn’t leave?”
“I thought about it. I figured I could tell someone what was going on, and they’d give me a ride.”
Jefferies raised a brow. “What stopped you?”
“Pearl. A pregnant woman came out, and I’d made up my mind to ask her for help when Pearl appeared beside my car and told me she’d had a vision of what Jacob would do to her when he found her.”
“And, of course, you believed her.” Though he was smiling, his tone was condescending.
Abby stared into his eyes as she answered. “Mr. Jefferies. At this point in my life, there are two people who have not let me down. One is Kevin Bishop, and the other is Pearl Duval.” She wanted to count Brian in the mix, but she was still angry with the man for dying.
“Noted. Please continue.”
“Pearl told me I couldn’t leave until I knew the truth. Kevin and I had already discussed that. I told Kevin that Jacob kept his key on his keyring, and he suggested there was another key. I’d been looking everywhere but had yet to find it. Pearl pointed to the console and told me the key was in there.”
Jefferies looked up from his notes. “She actually told you that?”
“I believe her exact words were ‘what you seek is in there.’ She was right: the key was in there.”
“You weren’t afraid of getting caught with it?”
“Terrified. I was able to get the key to Kevin, who made a copy so I could return it before Jacob noticed it was missing.”
“Your neighbor…”
“Is a wonderful human being who was trying to help me out of a terrible situation,” Abby said, cutting him off. “He risked his life more than once, and I’ll not have you accuse him of any ill proprieties.”
“Sounds like a good friend,” Jefferies replied. “So Pearl told you to stay, and you had the key. Now what?”
She thought about telling him about the spell Pearl put on Jacob so he would chill out, but the man was already skeptical, so she pressed on. “Having the key and being able to find the opportunity to use it were two separate things. Jacob went for weeks without leaving the house, and when he did, he made me go with him. He was better for a while, only hitting me when I overstepped, which I tried not to do.” She showed him the knot on her arm. “Sometimes, I couldn’t help myself.”
“Have you had it looked at?”
“No, Jacob wasn’t much for doctors. I figure it’s too late to do anything about it now.”
“He didn’t believe in medical treatment?”
“It wasn’t that. I think he was afraid I’d spill my guts if I was in the room alone with someone who might be able to help me. That’s why he insisted on going to my OB appointments with me.”
“Was he happy about the baby?”
“He couldn’t have been happier,” Abby said without explaining the reason why.
“And you?”
“I was in shock at first, then afraid. It’s a mother’s job to protect her children, is it not?” she said and placed her hands on her abdomen.
“And yet you chose to stay with the man.”
Abby lifted her gaze to the man. “Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said? Pearl told me not to leave. She told me it wasn’t safe. I had to find out what my husband was hiding from me.” She continued without waiting for his response. “Jacob wasn’t worried about the hurricane, but he knew there was a chance the power would go out, so he sent me out for supplies. While I was there, Pearl found me.”
“Don’t you think it odd that every time Jacob sent you to the store, Pearl just happened to show up?”
“When else was she going to find me? It wasn’t like she could knock on the front door.” Abby continued when Jefferies failed to comment. “Pearl was agitated this time. She was upset that Jacob knew about the baby and told me it wasn’t safe for me to leave just yet.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” Abby asked.
“Why wasn’t it safe for Jacob to know about the baby?”
“Pearl didn’t say.” Okay, it wasn’t a total lie. “She told me there was a storm coming, and I couldn’t leave. I thought she meant the hurricane, but she told me there was another storm.”
“Did you know what she meant?”
“Not at the time,” Abby said, shaking her head. She had to be careful now so she didn’t implicate herself or Kevin. “Pearl warned me not to evacuate. I thought it funny because, in the next breath, she told me she was leaving.”
“Do as I say, not as I do,” Jefferies said.
“That’s pretty much what I said too, but Pearl was adamant that I stay. She told me it was the only way I would be safe. She said ‘the way up is the way out.’”
“Pretty vague.”
“I agree. I told her I didn’t understand, but she told me it was the only way and that I’d know what it meant when the time came. She made me repeat it.” Abby purposely left off the part where Pearl said only one must go up and that the baby would be born with protection, knowing it would lead to questions about why she feared for her child’s safety.
“The news was telling everyone to leave. Did you ever consider not listening to her?”
“Once. Jacob saw I was concerned and asked if I wanted to go. I teetered for a moment, then recalled Pearl’s words and told him no. He seemed relieved. A day and a half before the hurricane was due to hit, Jacob got a phone call that set him on his heels. I don’t know what it was, but it had him worked up. He told me he needed to go take care of it and wanted to know if I wanted to go with him. He must have been worried about the storm because this was work, and Jacob never wanted to talk about that.”
“You’ve said that before. Were you not the least bit curious about what the man did for a living? I mean, isn’t it normal to want to know a little about the man you pledge to marry before tying the knot? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound judgmental. I am just trying to understand what was going through your mind.”
“You mean, how could I be so stupid?”
“Your words, not mine,” Jefferies said.
“What can I say? I was screwed up. I’d lost everything. Looking back, there were plenty of red flags, but Jacob always managed to explain them away.”
“What about after you were married? Did you ever ask where the money came from? Weren’t you the least bit curious about what put food on the table?”
“Of course. Who wouldn’t be? I asked once, and Jacob told me that curiosity killed the cat. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about me or Gulliver. Either way, I knew it to be a veiled threat, so I never asked again.”
“Did it ever occur to you that your husband could be a drug lord?”
“Jacob had an office in town, and he always wore nice clothes. He and Nathan talked about the dangers of acquiring the product so close to home. They realized I was listening and changed the subject.”
Jefferies jotted in his book then looked in her direction. “But you’ve never seen anything in the house? Or saw Jacob using drugs?”
“You mean besides when he gave them to me or used them to murder my first husband?” She sighed and tempered her anger. “No, I’ve never seen any drugs in our home.”
Jefferies jotted on the notepad once more. “Okay, so the storm’s heading your way and your husband has to go attend to some mystery business. You’re on your own. What happens next?”
“I went next door to get Kevin. To help me search Jacob’s office,” Abby said when Jefferies raised an eyebrow. She debated telling him that Merrick was parked outside and decided against it. “Jacob said he would be gone most of the day, but I was still worried he’d come home and find me snooping. I was going to call Kevin, but I wanted to see Gulliver. Anyway, Kevin is a computer whiz, and he’d been able to hack into Jacob’s computer.”
Jefferies thumbed through the book he’d been writing in. “When?”
“Back when I first found the key. Didn’t I tell you?”
“You did not.”
“Jacob left, and I called Kevin so we could look in the office. Kevin was afraid of Jacob coming home and finding the computer warm, so he downloaded everything to this little thingy he had and said he’d check it once he got home. Kevin picked the lock to the closet door and discovered a set of stairs that led to the attic. He said Jacob had to have had them custom installed because his house was identical and all he had was a pull-down staircase to the attic. The door at the top of the stairs was padlocked. He was just getting ready to pick that one too, when Jacob returned. Kevin barely made it out of the house before Jacob came in.”
“How is it that your neighbor just happens to know how to pick locks?”
Abby debated telling Jefferies the truth, then decided there was no reason not to. “Kevin’s dad didn’t like the fact that his son was gay and used to lock him in the closet. Sometimes, his father forgot to let him out, so Kevin learned to pick the lock.”
“Did Kevin find anything on the files?”
“My birth certificate and pictures of my real parents. The date was wrong and so were the names, but when he showed them to me, I knew. Jacob always told me I looked just like my mother, but I never could see it. That was because Marsha had mousy brown hair. But when Kevin showed me a picture of Clarice, it was like looking in the mirror. There wasn’t anything else useful on the computer, so we started searching the room. That’s when we found the hidden compartment in the bookcase. There were shoeboxes full of cash and albums with the newspaper clippings I told you about before. My purse was in there…the one that was stolen the day Eva was killed. All over a stupid purse. She’d still be alive if not for me.”
“You did not kill her,” Jefferies said firmly.
“Didn’t I, though? Jacob said it was to teach me a lesson about following the rules. I disobey, I get punished, or someone gets killed.” Abby laughed, though nothing about the situation was funny. “You want to know what Jacob’s job was? He was a teacher and oh so very good at it.”
“How much cash?”
Abby realized she’d started crying again and wiped at her tears with shaky hands. “A lot. At least four or five shoeboxes full. We had other things to tend to, so I didn’t stop to count it.”
“Like?”
“We found a set of keys and figured they fit the closet door, and we were both eager to see what else Jacob had to hide. A whole other office,” she said before he could ask. “It wasn’t as nice as the one downstairs but served its purpose. There was a desk, a computer with two monitors, a large sea captain’s chest, and lots of file cabinets.”
“Right over your head and yet you never knew it existed,” Jefferies replied.
“I heard him up there once. It was the day I arrived. He claimed he was putting my suitcases away. Anyway, Kevin went to work on the computer, and I went to work trying to see if any of the keys fit the lock on the chest. They didn’t, so I left Kevin to the computer and went back downstairs to search the office again.”
“What did Kevin find on the computer?”
“Nothing. Jacob had it protected and Kevin didn’t have time to hack the password. He got into the trunk but wouldn’t let me see inside. Jacob returned before he could tell me what he’d seen.” Okay, a small lie, plus she’d managed to tell the tale and leave out the part about Merrick showing up and what Kevin had done to protect her. “Kevin left that night. He tried to get me to come with him, but I had to listen to Pearl. I’ve talked to him twice since I’ve been in here, but after everything that happened, neither of us has wanted to talk about it.”
“Did you confront your husband about what you’d learned?”
“Not at first. I could see something was wrong when he came home. It was his eyes,” she said by way of explanation. “They always seemed to have a gold gleam when he was angry. Whenever I saw his eyes turn gold, I knew something bad was going to happen. We had dinner and went to bed. The wind from the hurricane arrived way ahead of the storm, and neither of us slept much. He was already awake when I got out of bed, and I was surprised to find the door to his office standing wide open. Jacob never left it unlocked. I questioned it, and he slapped me. It was then I knew I must have left something out of place. He was calm—too much so, and his eyes were blazing gold. In that instant, I knew what Pearl had meant about a storm coming and that it wasn’t the hurricane I had to worry about.”
“What did you do?”
“We’d found a pistol in the room, and Kevin insisted I keep it. I’d hid it in my drawer and went to retrieve it. Jacob didn’t think I’d use it, so I fired and hit the door jamb. That scared him. While most people waited out the hurricane, taking comfort in each other’s arms, Jacob and I sat across the room from each other, each contemplating our next move. I was mentally and physically exhausted, and Jacob tried to use that to his advantage to coax me into relinquishing the gun.” She yawned, just thinking about how weary she’d been. “All of a sudden, I realized my feet were wet. Jacob said the levee broke and told me we would both drown if we didn’t move to higher ground.” She looked at Jefferies as she said it.
“The way up is the way out,” he said, repeating her earlier words.
“I made him give me his keys and went into the office and locked the door behind me. I knew he’d follow, but I hoped I could make it into the attic before he did. I couldn’t get the closet door unlocked, so I shot the lock. Then, I grabbed my purse and used the keys to unlock the door to the attic. By then, Jacob had kicked in the office door.”
“And you held him at gunpoint until he drowned,” Jefferies answered for her.
Abby shook her head. “I didn’t have the gun. I’d laid it down when I retrieved my purse. Jacob found it and started shooting through the attic floor.”
“So, you did not kill your husband?” Jefferies asked.
Abby remembered Gomez’s warning. “My husband drowned, Mr. Jefferies.”
As Jefferies copied down her words, the hint of a smile tugged at the man’s lips.
“What happens now?” Abby asked when he finally stopped writing.
“Nothing at the moment. When the water retreats, it will be easy enough to verify your story. They say dead men tell no tales, but I think this case will prove that adage is false. With any luck, the water didn’t reach the attic and we’ll be able to see what else your husband was hiding. If not, we’ll bring your neighbor in and have him tell us what he saw.”
“So, we’re done?”
“Not yet.”
“But you said we’re good.”
He nodded. “Providing your story checks out.”
“It will,” she assured him.
“That doesn’t change the fact that the voodoo sisters still seem to think you’re in danger, and for some reason, they’ve recruited me to help. So until you’re ready to tell me what you are hiding or until I figure it out on my own, we will proceed with extreme caution. Understand?”
Abby nodded.
Chapter Eleven
Roberta entered the hospital room without knocking. “Looks like you’re getting sprung,” she said as she handed Abby a plastic bag.
Abby reached into the bag and pulled out a navy blue sundress with white polka dots. The dress had a built-in bra, side pockets, and thin spaghetti straps tied at the shoulder. “Pretty.”
“I can’t let you leave here wearing a hospital gown now, can I?” Roberta said as she removed the IV from Abby’s arm and covered the area with a cotton ball and tape.
“What about the outfit I was wearing when I came in?”
