Big Daddy Sinatra 3: The Best of My Love (The Sinatras of Jericho County) (25 page)

“Why
do you have so many?” Ashley asked her as she looked at the collection of
handguns and rifles.

“You
have to protect yourself,” Sprig said.
 
“When those fools in Washington tries to turn this great land into a
dictatorship and take over this country by force, I’ll be ready for their
asses.
 
Some people collect cars.
 
Some people collect people.
 
I collect guns.”

Ashley
reached for a small one, but Sprig slapped her hand.
 
She gave her a different one instead.
 
One with what she called a silencer on
it.
 
“That way,” she said, “when you fire,
nobody will hear the shot.
 
And that’ll
give you time to go undetected and get away.”
  

“Really?”
Ashley asked.
 
“You mean nobody will hear
it?”

“Nobody,”
Sprig said.
 
And then she turned tougher
than Ashley had ever seen her.
 
“So the
next time you see that motherfucker,” Sprig said, “you pull out this little
pistol and put a cap in his ass.
 
Then
you walk away as if nothing happened.
 
He’ll drop dead, but nobody would know why.
 
But make sure there are no cameras around
when you do it.”

“No
cameras,” Ashley said, still staring at the gun.
 
“Okay.”

“You
have to be slick with your shit.”
 
Then
she stared at Ashley.
 
“Do you even know
how to fire a gun?”

Ashley
knew.
 
Donald had taken her and Carly on
the gun range many times, and taught them how to shoot.
 
But Dad wouldn’t allow them to purchase a
gun.

“I
know how to shoot,” Ashley said.

Inside
Jenay’s office at the Jericho Inn, she and her husband sat on one side of the
conference table, and Matt Dellum sat on the other side.
 
He admitted nothing, but he needed it to
stop.

“You
need what to stop?” Charles asked him.

“You
know what you’re doing,” Matt said.
 
“I’m
losing bids, my Bed and Breakfast is being scandalized.
 
It’s got to stop.
 
You know what you’re doing.”

“You
know what you’re doing too,” Charles replied.

“I
told you I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“And
we have no idea what you’re talking about.
 
You want to play that game?”

Matt
exhaled.
 
“It won’t work,” he said.

“Apparently
it already is,” Charles replied.
 
“Whatever
is
is.”

“That
bid in Idaho?
 
I really needed that to go
through.
 
I’m not fucking with you on
that.
 
I really needed that to go
through!”

“That
bid in Akron?” Charles asked.
 
“I needed
that to go through too.
 
Did you give a
damn about that when you outbid us?
 
No.
 
Why should we give a damn about outbidding
you?”

“Okay!”
Matt said, defeated.
 
“Call off the
hounds.
 
And I’ll call off mine.
 
But you have to rescind your Idaho acceptance
and force them to reopen bidding.
 
You
have to do that.”

“We
don’t have to do anything.”

“I’m
losing my shirt here.”
 
His desperation
was beginning to show.
 
“You don’t
understand.
 
If I lose that bid, I’m done
for.”

“Give
it back,” Charles said, “and then we’ll see.”

Matt frowned.
 
“Give it back?
 
Give what back?”

“Our
good name,” Charles said.
 
“You defamed
our good name.
 
You started this shit,
but now that we decided to play your game,
your
game, you want to take your marbles and go home?
 
My wife worked her ass off to make Jericho Inn
the envy of New England, and you destroyed that.
 
Now she’s building it back up.
 
And you think we’ll just forget about that
and play nice with your ass?
 
Get the
fuck out of my hotel.
 
You played with
fire and lost your shirt.
 
You started
the shit.
 
We finished it.
 
You’ll get no sympathy here.”

Matt
stared at Charles a moment longer, and Charles could tell he wanted to beg, but
he wasn’t that far gone yet.
 
He left.

Jenay
looked at her husband.
 
“Well said,” she
said.

Brent
was in his office when Eddie came in with the news.

“I
just left the D.A.’s office and you aren’t going to believe this.”

Brent
looked up from the papers on his desk.
 
“What?”

“A
reversal has come down.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“The
Attorney General’s office is no longer recommending a new trial.
 
The Attorney General’s office has notified
the judge that they are recommending immediate release for your grandfather.”

Brent
was stunned.
 
He stood up from his desk
in shock.
 
“What are you talking about?”

“I’m
telling you I saw the recommendation with my own two eyes.”

“Was
Makayla there?”

“No!
 
Her ass skipped town after the hearing
yesterday.
 
According to Ira, she was
summoned back to Augusta.
 
The Attorney
General himself ordered her back.
 
And
then this changed recommendation came down.”

 
Brent stared at Eddie as if he was still in shock,
but even Eddie knew he wasn’t thinking about him.
 
He was thinking about Makayla.

Jenay
and Charles were still going over the fallout from Matt Dellum’s sabotage, when
Donald entered the office.

“Don’t
believe in knocking anymore?” Charles asked him.

“Mom
don’t require it,” Donald said as he walked toward the conference table.
 
“What are you doing here?”

“I
thought I owned the joint.”

“But
I don’t hardly ever see you here.”

“No
need.
 
You and Jenay have it well in
hand.”

“We
do,” Donald said happily.

“So
what’s up?” Jenay asked.

“Good
news.
 
I convinced Talmar Industries.”

Jenay
smiled and high-fived Donald.
  
“That’s
great news, Donnie!” she said in triumph.

“And
what’s this about?” Charles asked.

“Donald
came up with this great idea.
 
He
suggested we contact major businesses around Maine and a few other states, find
out when they plan to have their next convention or retreat or whatever, and
recommend Jericho Inn.”

“I
promised to give them a better deal than the hotel they were thinking about,”
Donald explained, “only we would have far superior accommodations.
 
I just started this project a couple days
ago, but it’s been a great success.”

Charles
smiled.
 
“Well that’s very impressive
son,” he said.
 
“Congratulations.”

Donald
beamed.
 
“Thank-you, Daddy.”

“I’m
very proud of you.”

Donald
nodded.
 
“Thanks.
 
That means a lot.”

“Sit
down,” Charles said.
 
“Join us.”

Jenay
beamed this time as Donald joined them at the table.
 

“Jenay
told me she’s been thinking about promoting you.”

Donald
couldn’t believe it.
 
He looked at Jenay.
“Really?”

Jenay
smiled.
 
“Really.”

“To
what?
 
Assistant Manager or something
like that?”

“General
Manager,” Jenay said.
 
“My number two.”

Donald’s
heart leaped with joy and he jumped up, ran around the table to Jenay, and
hugged her grandly.
 
He hugged her so
hard that he nearly caused her to fall out of her chair.

“Hey,
take it easy, boy,” Charles said as he reached for his wife.
  
“I know you’re happy, but take it easy.
 
That’s a precious lady there.”

“She sure
is,” Donald said with a smile, and then sat down beside Jenay.

And
they talked, about the position Donald could occupy at the Inn, about his
new
 
program, until knocks were heard on
the door, and Megan peered inside.
 
“Sorry to disturb you,” she said.

“What
is it, Meg?”

“That
man from last week is here to see you, ma’am.”

Jenay
frowned.
 
“What man from last week?”

“He
says his name is William Stiles.”

It
was Charles’s time to frown.
  
He looked
at Jenay.
 
“What does he want?” he asked.

“Who
knows?” Jenay responded.
 
“Send him in,
Meg,” she said.

“Who’s
William Stiles?” Donald asked.

“One
of your mother’s old friends,” Charles said.
 
“An asshole from way back.”

“The
man your father knocked out cold,” Jenay said.

Donald
shook his head.
 
“I’ll bet it was because
he hit on you.
 
I told you he’s so
possessive when it comes to you.”

Charles
looked at Donald.
 
“That’s nonsense,” he
said.

Donald
smiled.
 
“If you say so.”

Willie
Stiles entered the office.
 
Charles
placed his arm across the back of Jenay’s chair without realizing he had done
so.
 
But Donald saw it, and smiled.

“What
do you want, Willie?” Jenay came straight out and asked him.
 
He was smiling, but she wasn’t.

“Is
that any way to talk to an old friend like me?”

“What
do you want?”

Willie
exhaled.
 
He knew Ashley wasn’t stupid
enough to tell, that was why he felt comfortable coming here today, but he also
knew he had to play this just right.
 
“I
came to apologize,” he said to Jenay.
 
“I
spoke about our history, I lied about our history, and I want to apologize to
you.”

Jenay
did not expect that.
 
But it didn’t
matter.
 
“Anything else?” she asked.

“Come
on, Nay.
 
This is Willie here!
 
We go way back!
 
You know I was just playing around.
 
You know I respect you to the upmost.
 
You’re going to let one stupid comment ruin
our entire relationship?”

“Yes,”
Jenay said.
 
“Now is there anything else
you wanted?”

Willie
exhaled.
 
He had to pull out his backup
plan.
 
It would fail the test if they
delved deeper, but it would at least give him more time.
 
Ashley was under his command now.
 
She was so terrified of him that all he had
to do was threaten to harm her family, and she’d do anything he said.
 
Including lying about her mother and ruining
her mother’s reputation.
 
But he needed
time to get her to that point.
 
“Yes, as
a matter of fact,” he said, “I have a business proposition for you.”

Charles
frowned.
 
“What are you talking about?”

“I’m
talking about part ownership of an NFL franchise, if you guys are interested.”

Donald
nearly jumped out of his seat.
 
He looked
at his father.
 
“What?” he asked.
  
“We can own an NFL team?”

Charles
and Jenay looked at each other, and then looked at Willie.
 
“Boy bye,” Jenay said.
 
“You must take us for fools.”

“You
don’t believe me?”

“Ah,
no,” Jenay said.
 
“Now get your raggedy
ass out of my office.”

But
just as Jenay ordered him out, Ashley walked in.

Donald
smiled.
 
“Ashley,” he said and as soon as
he said it, Willie turned around.
 
And
Ashley stopped in her tracks.
 
She even
stumbled back in shock.

Charles
frowned.
 
“Honey, what’s wrong?” he asked
her.

But
Ashley was too stunned to speak.
 

He
gave Ashley a hard look, as if to remind her that she’d better not say a word,
and that look he gave her, and that threat he told her that still hung over her
head, gave her back her voice.
 
She
didn’t speak, but she reached into her handbag and pulled out Sprig’s gun.

Everybody
stood from that conference table: Donald, Charles, and Jenay.
 
Ashley pointed that gun directly at Willie
Stiles.

“Ash,
what are you doing?” Donald asked her.
 
They were all thrown, but he was mortified.

“You
raped me,” she said to Willie.

“I
raped you?
 
Are you serious?”

“You
raped me!”

“That’s
a lie and you know it!”

Charles
remembered the last time she cried rape, and how foolish that little stunt
was.
 
But for some reason, he didn’t
think this was a stunt at all.
 
Ashley
had her issues, but she wouldn’t pull a gun on a man for the hell of it.
 
And where in the hell did she get a gun?

“You
can deny it all you want.
 
But I know the
truth!”

“And
I know what I did and didn’t do!”

“Ashley,”
Charles said.
 
“What are you talking
about?”

“He
took me to his house last night, and he raped me, Daddy.
 
He forced me to do all kinds of things, and
he raped me!
 
He said he’ll kill
everybody if I told.
 
Now I’ve got to
kill him.”