Authors: Lauren Dawes
She gasped and spun around as Tom laid a heavy hand on her knee. She began pushing at him, trying to move his hand away from her. Her heart was pounding in her head now; a dull roar that she had to ignore. Indi looked around the room finding all the other boys staring hungrily at her. They were predators and she had just laid herself out to be the prey.
‘
I’m first,’ Tom growled next to her. Indi spun around to see him leaning in closer and closer to her. He kissed her roughly; his tongue pushing into her mouth. But the violation of her mouth was nothing compared to what happened next. Tom slid his hand all the way up her skirt until his fingers brushed up against her panties. Her body instantly reacted to his caress, heating up, becoming wet. Another hand found her breast. She looked down, finding Evan’s hand on her chest, pushing and prodding too hard. She made a desperate noise at the back of her throat which was swallowed by Tom’s mouth still on hers …
*
Jerry’s mind wasn’t on the job. It was on Indi. If the dreams were back, he had no idea how she would cope this time without him being there for her twenty-four-seven. She used to wake up screaming from her nightmares about being chased, cut up … raped. He shuddered at the thought of any of those men from her past laying a hand on her. What really got his back up was the unknown. He didn’t
really
know what had happened yesterday with Wright. He only knew what Rhett had told him about him grabbing Indi’s wrist. The gaps in the story were driving him insane, making him come up with only the worst case scenario. He looked at her again wondering whether she was ever going to get away from her past.
He finished up the order he’d been making, giving the woman a perfunctory smile as he put her latte on the counter. He started moving away from the counter to try and talk to Indi again, but when another customer came to place an order he smiled and asked what they’d like.
‘Mr Beckitt?’ the man asked. Jerry glanced up for a moment before actually looking properly at the man. The man was slightly taller than him, but built in the same way with thick, bulky muscle. His hair was a fade cut; platinum blond and severe. His eyes were a mixed colour of crystal-blue with soft grey flecks around the pupil. He wasn’t in uniform, but there was no doubt in Jerry’s mind that he was a cop. He just had that air about him.
‘Yes?’
‘Detective Wolfe with Buxton PD.’ He flipped open his billfold and flashed a shield. ‘Can I speak to you for a moment?’ His voice rumbled, so low that Jerry could feel it in his chest like a resonating hum.
He dropped his eyes, focusing on wiping down the machine. ‘What is this concerning?’
‘I’ve received some information that concerns you and one of your employees.’ He took a small notepad from his breast pocket and flipped it open, leafing through some pages before stopping and tapping one in particular. ‘A girl called Nancy. Last name unknown.’
‘Nancy?’ Jerry asked, confused. ‘I don’t have a Nancy working here Detective.’
‘Around five feet six inches high, slim build, dark hair,’ the detective read.
Jerry shook his head. ‘There is a girl who works here that matches that description, but her name isn’t Nancy.’ The detective cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘Her name is Indigo … Indi O’Regan. She’s over there,’ he nodded with his head to where she was working. Detective Wolfe glanced over at her then looked back at Jerry.
‘Fine. Can I talk to you both somewhere private?’
‘Sure,’ he replied. The detective hadn’t said why he was here yet, but the first thing he thought was that Mr Wright had to have reported what had happened yesterday. And if that was the case, what in the hell were they supposed to do about it?
‘Indi? Can you come with me please?’ Jerry called as he showed the detective into the storeroom.
She eyed Wolfe warily, but nodded and trailed after Jerry. She was the last through the door.
‘Jer, what’s this about?’ she asked him, but still kept her eyes on the detective. Wolfe’s eyes were roaming idly around the contents of the shelves.
‘This is Detective Wolfe. He’s got some questions for us.’
‘What about?’
Wolfe said, ‘I had a complaint made against a young woman called Nancy yesterday afternoon.’
Jerry looked at Indi to see if she reacted. She didn’t. ‘Nancy?’ he prompted.
Indi shrugged. ‘I don’t want to give them my real name.’ And he knew exactly who
them
was: customers.
Palming his notebook impatiently, Wolfe leafed through to an entry. ‘Mr Philip Wright said that you attacked him yesterday afternoon at three thirty. Is that correct?’
Indi’s gaze swung back to the detective. ‘I don’t know anybody named Philip Wright.’
Detective Wolfe raised an eyebrow at her tone. ‘Philip Wright is the owner of Wright Constructions. I believe your boss knows who he is since he administered some first aid to him after you assaulted him.’
Indi looked at Jerry and cocked an eyebrow. ‘Do you know who he is?’
But before Jerry could answer, the detective interrupted. ‘Mr Wright was admitted to hospital last night, Indigo. Were you aware of that?’
‘It’s Indi and why would I know that?’ she asked snarkily.
‘The doctor reported that he had a broken nose. A broken nose that he claimed he got when he had you as a waitress, Indigo.’
The muscle in her jaw jumped with the effort of not snapping at him. ‘Look, I don’t know who this man is, but he didn’t come into the café yesterday afternoon. I didn’t break anybody’s nose and I didn’t have any problems with customers. I had an uneventful day.’ Her molars ground together, her Tell shining through. Jerry put his arm over her shoulder to calm her which earned him an intense look from Wolfe.
‘She’s my sister,’ he said quickly, feeling the need to explain their relationship.
‘Do you have any witnesses, besides your brother here, who can vouch for you?’
Jerry said, ‘Rhett was working. He can tell you.’
‘Rhett?’
‘Rhett Wilson,’ Jerry added. ‘He was here yesterday afternoon.’
Wolfe cleared his throat, scribbling the name down into his notepad. ‘Fine. Is he working today?’
‘No, but I can give you his number,’ Jerry offered.
Wolfe waved the offer away. ‘It’s fine. I can access that information myself.’ His blue-grey eyes fixed on Indi. ‘There was something else that Mr Wright was in hospital for Indigo.’
‘So?’
He ignored her curtness again. ‘He’d had his hand removed, just below his wrist. The cut was clean, which means the blade was either incredibly sharp, or the perpetrator was incredibly strong.’
‘Why are you telling us this?’ Jerry asked, feeling a little uneasy. He clutched Indi closer to him.
‘We found the hand in the dumpster behind your building Indigo. Do you have any idea how it got there?’
‘Why would I know that? I don’t even know who you’re talking about,’ she snapped.
He smiled and there was some hidden meaning behind it. ‘Well, you had an altercation with him earlier in the day and then his severed hand turns up in the dumpster behind your building. It’s a little too much of a coincidence, don’t you think?’
‘Detective, I weigh one hundred and twenty pounds. How could I have cut someone’s hand off? I’m barely strong enough to carry my own groceries home.’
Jerry half wondered whether the poor, weak woman routine was going to work on the detective.
‘Okay. I can see that you don’t want to tell me anything.’ He turned back to Jerry. ‘That’s all for now. I’ll be in touch with your other employee, Rhett,’ he said looking at the last note he had scribbled, ‘and we’ll be talking again soon.’
Detective Wolfe left without another word, but he gave Indi a long, hard stare as he moved to the door. Jerry’s mind was full of questions. The main one was why did Indi lie? If Wright had reported the assault, there was no way she could not tell the truth. The other question was why had the detective told them about his missing hand?
‘Indi, do you know anything about Wright losing his hand?’ She stared at him, making him take a small step back. He could have sworn that her eyes darkened. He swallowed down hard, asking, ‘Well?’
‘It’s better that you don’t know. At least that way they won’t be able to charge you for being an accessory after the fact.’
‘Indi, what have you done?’
She shook her head at him. ‘Nothing Jer. I haven’t done a thing. Let’s get back to work.’
‘Indi!’ he called, frustrated. He couldn’t let her do this. She would ruin her life. ‘Indi!’ he pushed out of the door after her. He was ready to call her again when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
‘Goddamnit!’ he cursed. Throwing the tea towel that had been slung over his shoulder down onto the counter in frustration, he pulled his phone from his pocket and frowned. He pressed the green button and held it to his ear cautiously.
‘Mark?’
‘Jerry?’ Mark replied frantically. ‘You’ve got to come to the hospital.’
‘What? Why?’
‘You just have to come,’ Mark insisted.
‘What’s wrong?’ Jerry’s voice dropped to a hard whisper, his stomach forming into tight knots of anxiety.
Mark began talking a mile a minute, so much so that Jerry would have been surprised that his jaw didn’t become unhinged in the process. The garble spewed out words like
shopping
and
internal bleeding
––two words that made absolutely no sense put together as they had been, but then came the one word that caught Jerry’s undivided attention.
Mother
.
‘Mark,’ he said in his most commanding voice. ‘Slow down. Take a breath and tell me once more.’
‘Your mother was hit by a car. She’s at Buxton General. They think she’s bleeding internally and they need you here to sign the paperwork so they can go ahead with the surgery.’
‘Why haven’t they just taken her in already if it’s life threatening?’
Mark cursed; something he rarely did and said, ‘Just come down here. She’s been asking for you.’
Jerry had been stunned into silence. She was asking for him? He hadn’t seen her in six months. Was he ready to come face to face with her again after what she did to him?
‘I’m leaving now,’ he replied in a hollow voice. He hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket. Just as he was untying his apron strings, Indi walked towards him with wide eyes.
She asked, ‘What’s wrong?’
All Jerry could do was stare at her as he tried to actually process what had happened.
‘Tell me Jer. What’s wrong?’ Indi pressed. He looked into her penetratingly beautiful eyes and pulled her into a bear hug.
‘My mother is in hospital,’ he whispered down into her ear. It was Indi who pulled out of the embrace.
‘What?’
He brushed a few stray hairs from her face. ‘She was in an accident. Hit and run. She’s going in for surgery. She’s asking for me.’ Jerry sighed and rested his large hands on Indi’s shoulders. ‘I know you opened this morning, and that I’m asking a lot of you, but could you stay back and close tonight? I can call Rhett in to help you if you want?’
‘No. It’s fine. I can handle this on my own. He needs today off anyway. I can close up.’
He kissed her on the top of her head. ‘I’ll call you when I know something.’
When the last person had left the café, Indi shut the door and let out a deep breath. After doing a quick survey of the place, she began the final clean up––picking up the few scattered dirty plates before wiping down the tables. She hadn’t heard from Jerry yet, but wasn’t surprised. She couldn’t give a shit if his mother bit it, but she hated the idea of Jerry suffering. A loud knock on the glass front door startled her, making her drop one of the plates that she had balanced on her arms.
‘Fuck it,’ she hissed, putting the rest of the stack onto the closest flat surface. She jumped again when the door rattled violently with another knock.
‘Closed!’ she barked, still bent over the shards of porcelain on the ground at her feet.
‘Indi?’ A small voice came out through the darkness. She looked up, confused. That sounded like …
‘Beth? Is that you?’
‘Let me in,’ she begged, rattling the handle. ‘
Please
.’
Jumping up from her crouch, Indi ran to the door and flipped the lock. Beth pushed past her and into the café, shoving her back against the door to close it again. Beth’s breathing was coming out in ragged gasps like she’d been running and her hair was plastered to her forehead.
Taking her by the shoulders and turning her body away from the door, Indi asked, ‘Beth? What’s wrong?’ Her best friend’s eyes were wild and unfocused, scanning the swallowing darkness at her back. ‘Beth!’
‘I was being followed,’ she replied in a small voice.
Indi frowned. Where the hell was her car? ‘Did you walk here?’ she asked. But Indi couldn’t get an answer. Beth just kept on fidgeting, trying desperately to look into the pitch black behind her. Holding her steady with her palms on either side of her face, she repeated her question.
Beth’s blue eyes finally fixed on Indi’s before she took in a shuddering breath. ‘I left the car at your place,’ she gasped. Indi could feel her trembling under her hands as some form of shock set in. When she began swaying, Indi backed her towards one of the tables and forced her to sit down before she collapsed.