Authors: Kassanna
The cop’s eyes widened, and he dashed in the direction of a small group of other officers.
Silacious hurried up behind Ms. Sadie. “What are you doing? And what did you do to make so many folks come running to your house.”
“I told the truth.” The old woman shrugged. “I accidentally called the news stations about the kidnapping and threats before I called the police on you. My mistake. LaRues don’t depend on other people to handle their business.”
In a flurry of movement, some cops jumped in their cars while others huddled in a group. She and Ms. Sadie temporarily forgotten, the news groups split up, some reporters jumping into vans to follow the group.
A lone reporter jogged up the steps. “Mrs. Smith. It’s rumored that your husband has been spotted with your son and your boyfriend has gone after them. Is this some sort of love triangle gone bad?” He didn’t stop speaking, instead hastening into the next question. “Did he take the boy in retaliation for your affair or is the child his? You’ve had marital problems in the past.” He thrust a microphone in her face.
She swallowed and froze. How did things come to this? In a burst of frustration, she shoved the mic out of her face. “What the hell is wrong with you people? My baby is missing!”
The barrel of Jethro’s rifle slowly passed over her shoulder. The faint click of the cylinder loading made he glance behind her. Ms. Sadie held the weapon at eye level. The muzzle trembled just a bit.
“Son, you have overextended your welcome. Leave before I bust a cap in your ass.”
“Ms. Sadie!” Silacious watched the reporter quickly backtrack his steps.
“I have always wanted to say that.” Ms. Sadie giggled as she limped back into the house. “Come on, girl, it’s a waiting game now.”
****
Andy parked the car down the street. The stadium loomed ahead of him, the concrete walls darkening under the fading rays of a descending sun. He checked his watch; there was only a few minutes left. By now, his Memaw would have notified someone. Dante mentioned the stadium, but he couldn’t trust what that asshole told him. It was a trap—it had to be. A flash of movement near the high school caught his eye and a sense that he should go there moved through him. His gut instinct was never wrong.
There was no use hiding. This wasn’t some movie. His son’s life was truly at stake.
He slammed the sedan’s door, slid the forty-five into the waistband at the small of his back and stalked toward his old alma mater. This wasn’t about Chase, he wasn’t even sure if it was about Silacious. Over the years he’d thought about the way things happened.
Dante never liked him. It was the little things that happened between them that he chose to ignore at the time. The cold stare he sometimes caught from his friend, or the scathing remarks Dante would make, and then laugh as if everything was a big joke. He should have listened to his grandmother when she told him there was something off about Dante.
Andy squared his shoulders and trotted up the steps of the high school. He yanked and the heavy metal door swung out easily.
Smoke billowed out, enfolding him in a haze of acrid fog. He glanced down; the door handle wasn’t hot. He peered into the building. The smoke made his eyes water, but he couldn’t make out any light that would give him an idea where exactly the fire was at.
Andy lifted the collar of his shirt up to cover his nose and ran in. He’d bet his son was somewhere in there and he’d already promised his boy he would never leave him again. The haze thickened as he worked his way further down the hall, checking the knobs on doors. Heat that should have made the passageway an inferno was missing. There was something wrong, but it wasn’t the obvious.
He crouched, and moved right, following the wall. The main structure was built in a large T-shape. One more hallway to check and he would move upstairs to check those classrooms.
The gym was at the end of the hall where the smoke was the heaviest. Andy gingerly pressed a palm to the metal barrier. It was cool to the touch. Where the hell was all the smoke coming from? He pressed the steel bar, blocking the door. It gave way easily, and a heavy gray haze drifted through the crack he created. Through the thin cotton of his shirt, the thick acidic scent made his lungs constrict, cutting off his breath. He dropped to his hands and knees, slowly entering the room. A soft red glow illuminated a corner of the enormous room.
“Chase!” His throat burned as he sucked in the smog surrounding him. He coughed and called out again.
No answer.
Andy swung his arm out, side to side in front of him, crawling blindly further into the gym. He hit a sharp metal edge and momentarily snatched his hand back before reaching out again to feel his way around. He patted the textured metal—bleachers. Carefully, he scooted along the seats edge. His palms brushed over a cloth material. He squeezed and felt a small foot in his grasp.
Lord.
He slid his hand up and wrapped his fingers around a slim ankle. Heaviness filled his chest. He glanced toward the red glow; it wasn’t moving.
Quickly, he patted his hand up the small leg. Coarse jean material rubbed his palm. Clutching the waistband in his fist, he yanked a body up to him and caught the person around the shoulders. He knew he held his son Chase, and his boy wasn’t moving.
He spun around, confused about which direction the exit was. Hiking the child up, he located the glow again and ran in the opposite direction. It was foolhardy and went against his training, but it was his only choice.
Suddenly faint light bled into the area and firemen filled the doorway rushing toward him.
Andy offered his son up. “He’s not moving.” They were the only words he could get out before he collapsed.
A fireman grasped his son and twisted away from him to disappear into the hazy light. Caught up under his arm, he was half dragged out of the gym and through the building. Once outside, an oxygen mask was shoved into his face. Men in bright yellow protective gear rushed past them, hauling hoses.
He scanned the area, searching for Chase. Multiple firetrucks parked haphazardly across the patio at the front of the school. Emergency personnel crisscrossed the area in a chaotic dance. Puddles of water were forming across the cement slabs. A paramedic stood over a gurney.
Andy pushed off the man supporting him, tearing the mask from his face and sprinted in the ambulance. His legs couldn’t carry him as he struggled to take air into his lungs. He’d almost reached the emergency vehicle when he fell.
“He’s not breathing.” The emergency worker spoke loudly.
Andy’s heart stopped.
God almighty, not him, please not him… Take me instead.
If anything happened to Chase how could he face Silacious after he promised to bring their son home? He scrambled to get his feet under him.
No way in hell would he believe he was too late to save his son.
Chapter Six
Back at the house, the remaining police that had milled around suddenly ran to their vehicles and left, reporters hurriedly followed behind them.
Ms. LaRue snorted. “Looks like things are about to get interesting
.
Laissez le jeu commenc
e
.
”
“Let what games begin?” Silacious stared intently at Jethro’s old granny. “What are you up to?”
Sadie LaRue took a seat in the plastic chair on her porch and settled the rifle across her lap. “Dante is stupid. He don’t care about your boy or mine. It’s always been about you.” She skimmed her palm over the metal barrel lying across her lap. “Better to git everybody away from here so I can deal with him. I shoulda saw this coming.”
Silacious cocked her head in confusion. Ms. LaRue wasn’t making any sense. She’d only got the call from Dante a couple hours ago. She wrung her hands together. Jethro hadn’t contacted her; had he even found their son? She paced the enclosed space. “You’re not making sense, Ms. Sadie.”
“I told Jethro a long time ago not to let that boy get too close.” She shook her head. “Jethro didn’t listen to me then and now I got the mess y’all created to tidy up. I’m not long for this world and I am getting to old to clean up shit.” A long deep sigh escaped her. “Dante just trying to get you away from Jethro. He’ll be coming for you and I will be waiting. Dumb ass would have to live a lot longer to try and trick me.”
Situations clicked in her head. She stopped mid-step and peered down at the conniving old woman. Had this been her plan all along? Bring Jethro back, use her son as bait, and find a way to get them together. Silacious scrubbed her face with her palms. “How did you know Dante was back?” Her anger at being used made her voice tight.
“I didn’t. I guessed that he wouldn’t stay gone for long. Things just worked out in my favor.”
The old woman had good intentions.
She chanted the words in her head. Sadie LaRue took care of her own; she was known as a no-nonsense kind of person, but using her and Chase to end some feud that she concocted in her mind was hard to believe.
“This wasn’t your fight.”
“Bullshit. It became my problem when you got pregnant with Chase. That boy has LaRue blood in his veins, and I protect mine.” Sadie LaRue lifted her head and held Silacious’ gaze. “Including his mama for falling for the okey-doke. Your husband will be showing up now that everybody is gone.”
“Soon to be ex-husband,” she corrected absently.
“He won’t need no title buried six foot under. I had only planned for Jethro to come back and take you home with him. Dante arriving in town at the same time as my boy…well, that was just fate working everything out for the better.”
A throbbing pain formed at the base of her skull. There was no talking to the old woman. Sadie LaRue’s stubborn streak was wider than Jethro’s. Silacious stared out into the sparse yard. If Dante was coming for her, there were so many places he could hide that she would never see him coming. Overgrown cattails ran the length of the road where the bayou met land. A ragged copse of trees lined the lowland behind the house.
She sighed. This situation was a disaster waiting to happen. And she still hadn’t heard from Jethro.
Silacious patted her pockets, searching for her cell phone. “I think I left my phone in the house.” She twisted on her heel and opened the screen door. Getting away from Jethro’s grandmother also gave her a chance to think more clearly. The wood-framed door slammed closed in her wake.
She squatted to see beneath the old sofa, skating her palms under the edge of the furniture frame. She duck-walked to the chair to continue her search. It was futile. She’d set it down, but where? The call about Chase came when she was with Jethro…in the car.
She glanced around and her gaze settled on the landline Jethro’s grandmother maintained. Silacious snapped her head up and moved across the room toward the front door. Her cell was still in the sedan, but she’d bet Ms. LaRue knew Jethro’s phone number by heart.
“I was wondering how long you’d lurk before showing up.” Sadie LaRue’s strong voice drifted into the room.
“You always were a pain in my ass. You know I’m going to kill you, so answer me one question.” Dante’s cold tone followed Ms. LaRue’s into the house.
Silacious stopped cold.
“Kill me? Boy, I have survived two major wars and been hungry more years than you been alive. There ain’t nothing you can do to me that I probably ain’t already suffered.” A short boisterous laugh filled the air. “Your shit’s so sour catfish won’t touch it.”
“Why would an old white woman get mixed up in my business?” Confusion marred Dante’s voice. “Even after Jethro left, you kept in contact with Silacious. Why couldn’t you leave us alone?”
“Idiot, I’m not just white. I’m French-Canadian, African-American, American Indian and every other race under the sun. I am everything because I am Cajun. But you wouldn’t understand that. Had I known what Silacious was going through, I would have taken her in long before you got ahold of her and sent her to Jethro. You interfered in their relationship; I was just repaying the favor.” A faint click filled the silence after Ms. La Rue’s words.
“What you going to do with that? You can’t even keep it steady.” Dante snorted.
“You got a big body. I’m bound to hit something vital. Let’s see who can do more damage. That pea shooter you’re holding or my rifle.”
“You’re a hateful old woman—”
Sadie LaRue interrupted him. “You’re an asshole. I guess we all got our crosses to bear.”
The
pop, pop, pop
of guns going off followed by a heavy thump rent the air. She jerked at the sound before rushing through the doorway. This was two thousand sixteen, not seventeen sixty-six. Shit wasn’t handled with guns in an old-fashioned shoot-out.
Sadie LaRue lay sprawled face down, her weapon clutched firmly in her fist.
“Ms. Sadie!” She dropped to the floor and crawled to Jethro’s grandmother. She gripped the older woman’s shoulders to turn her over. Blood coated her fingers where she brushed her digits in the growing pool of crimson fluid.
Dante grabbed her hair, jerking her back. “You only have yourself to thank!”
She gazed up into furious brown eyes. His face a monstrous mask, he stared at her, his lips turned down in a grimace exposing clenched teeth. Sweat beaded on his forehead. She ripped her nails across his hands and kicked her feet trying to wrench herself free.
He dragged her across the floor, her jean-covered ass sliding across the smooth wood.
“Dante?” she screamed, to get his attention. She’d never been able to talk him down from his agitation before, but she needed to buy time.
No, what she needed was to get to a phone in the house or car; it didn’t matter which. The only time her husband ever backed down was when he faced a larger threat. She had to get help. He threw her down the porch stairs, and she landed in the grass with a thud, the air knocked out of her lungs.
An object in her pocket stabbed the side of her belly.
The taser.
“You been getting the wrong ideas from Jethro’s relations.” Dante marched down the steps, dropping tufts of her hair from his fingers as he moved. “How many times do I have to tell you? You belong to me.”
Silacious rose up on her knees. Words she’d never been brave enough to utter before slipped from her mouth. “Go to hell, Dante.”
He stomped forward and backhanded her. “If I’m going, you’ll be right beside me.”
Her head snapped back as pain radiated from the corner of her mouth. She wobbled to the side and planted a palm in the soft dirt to stop from toppling over. Blood flowed over her tongue, filling her mouth with a heavy iron taste. “That is the last fucking time you will ever lay a hand on me.”
He bent at the waist. “Yeah, who’s going to stop me?”
She clutched a fist full of soil and tossed it in his face. Dante shuffled back, wiping at his eyes. Silacious dug into her pocket, yanking the taser free. She pushed off the ground, rising to her feet.
He faced her, blinking several times, “I’m going to make you pay for that.”
Silacious squared her shoulders. “Come and get me, motherfucker.”
The echo of a single shot made Silacious look up. Sadie LaRue stood at the porch entrance, the rifle aimed at Dante’s back.
Everything happened within seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Silacious focused on Dante. A deep red spot bloomed across his middle. He lumbered in her direction.
She jammed her thumb on the device’s button. It buzzed in her hand as she quickly closed the gap between them. Swinging her arm up, she slammed the taser into his crotch. His body went rigid before violently shaking.
She followed him down as he collapsed, shoving the taser harder into his body. “Die, you son of a bitch!”
“Let go, baby.” Ms. Sadie’s soft voice broke through to her. “Call the police. He ain’t getting up no time soon.”
She took her thumb off the machine’s button and released it. She gazed down at her hand, then at Dante. He lay unmoving, occasionally twitching. Silacious scuttled back and lifted her head to meet Jethro’s grandmother’s gaze.
“Call for help.” The old woman offered her a gentle smile.
Darkness was falling and the cicadas and frogs began their nightly lullaby.
She sprinted to the car. Wrenching the passenger door open, she grasped her cell lying on the front seat. A quick swipe of her finger and the cell’s screen illuminated the auto’s interior. She tapped the phone icon and the numbers flashed.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“My ex-husband attacked me. I fought back. He ain’t dead yet, but he will be.”
She twisted in her seat. Ms. LaRue sat on the top porch step, her rifle aimed at a motionless Dante.
“Send two ambulances. He also shot an elderly woman.”
****
Andy yanked the glass door open. The small police station reminded him of the Little Rock hub he worked out of. A wall of bulletproof glass divided the room and a uniformed officer sat behind a narrow slot. He knew the miniscule quiet area with the sparse seating was deceptive. The real action happened behind the wall where everyone from criminals to detectives went in and out of the back doors.
“Silacious Boudreaux…no, Smith…is being interviewed.” Andy wasn’t sure what happened. He stepped out of the ambulance with Chase when a uniformed officer met him in the ER. The only information he had was that his Memaw, Sadie, was in the hospital along with Dante Smith, and Silacious was at the Parish PD giving a statement. Once he confirmed his son was stable, he caught a ride with the officer to the police department.
The policemen behind the window shuffled some papers. “She’s still with Detective Johnston.”
Andy flashed the badge he kept in his wallet. “Can you share a little more info?”
The cop lifted a brow.
“One Cajun to another.” He flashed a quick smile.
“Initial report says she was attacked. A Sadie LaRue was shot and Silacious Smith defended herself and the wounded elderly woman.”
The statement didn’t answer all his questions, but it was enough. He tapped the counter and nodded his head in thanks. Andy twisted around and glanced at the trio of chairs in the corner. He didn’t want to sit; instead, he paced from one side of the room to the other, occasionally glancing at the door. The uniformed cop could have at least extended the courtesy of offering him a cup of coffee.
Voices caught his attention and he glanced over to see Silacious and another man behind the glass barrier. The guy’s hand rested on the handle and his solemn expression morphed into a large grin. Annoyance burned along his nerves for a moment. He strode in their direction to wrap his fingers around the handle. Silacious peered over at him, and her eyes widened for a second.
The side of her jaw was swollen and an ugly purple tinge outlined the area. Her lip was split and a dark scab covered the wound. She smiled and only half her mouth lifted. Irritation transformed into rage. He would beat the shit out of Dante.
The cop slammed a fist into the bar and the barrier quietly opened. “That’s all we’ll need for now.” He glanced over at Andy. “I can give you a ride to the hospital if you need.”
Andy clutched the edge of the door. “Silacious’ man is here to pick her up so
they
can visit their child.” The officer cocked his head.
Tittering laughter burst from Silacious. Andy turned his head to meet Silacious’ amused gaze. “What?”
“Oh nothing, big daddy. Nothing at all.” She offered her hand out to the detective. “Thanks again.”
The policeman took her hand and gave it a brief pump.
A little growl rumbled from up from Andy’s throat.
Silacious’ shoulders shook and she cleared her throat. “Sorry about that. I swallowed the wrong way.
“Swallowed what? Your spit.” He couldn’t help the frustration that bled through his voice.
“The prosecutor’s office will contact you about court dates.” With those few words, the cop twisted around and ambled down the hall.