David Handler - The Blood Red Indian Summer

“You had no trace of alcohol or drugs in your system,” Des reminded her.

“I can’t help what some stupid test says. I’m telling you I got wasted, okay? Then I went for a swim and got swept up in the current.”

“What about those wraparound bruises you’ve got?” Yolie asked.

“Talk to the people who revived me on the beach.”

“I have,” Des said. “They told me you had those when they found you.”

“And you believe them?”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because they’re just covering their booties. That little old man put his hands all over me. That much I remember.”

“That little old man happens to be my fiance’s father.”

“Sounds like you’re the one who has the problem, not me.”

Des gazed at Kinitra Jameson sternly, wondering how many hurtful lies she was prepared to tell. Who was she so afraid of? “Do you wish to lodge a sexual assault complaint against him?”

“No, I’ll let it go if you don’t tell Jamella about Lonnie.” She hesitated, lowering her eyes. “Will you be talking to him?”

Yolie frowned. “Why are you asking?”

“Because if you do, tell him I said ‘hi,’ okay? Not ‘hi’ like I’m missing him. Just ‘hi’ like from a friend.” She sounded like a twelve-year-old passing messages in class. “Know what I mean?”

“We’ll play it just right,” Toni promised her, girl to girl.

Kinitra smiled at her. “I like you much better now.”

“I think we’re all done here,” Yolie said. “Thank you, Kinitra.”

She reached for her iPod earbuds. “Sure thing.”

They went back out into the hall, closing the door behind them.

“What do you think now?” Yolie asked Des.

“I think she was play acting. I didn’t believe a single word that came out of her mouth.”

“Me neither,” Toni agreed. “She was spinning a total schoolgirl fantasy. I know she’s pregnant, Loo. I get that. But, trust me, that is a full-time practicing virgin in there. Plus she’s way immature. My fourteen-year-old sister is more grown up than she is. Your average college horn dog would know that in less than thirty seconds and hit on some other girl. Especially a big-time football star like this Lonnie Berryman is supposed to be. Guys like that do not waste their time on dreamy little teeny-weenies. They don’t have to.”

Yolie nodded. “Agreed. So let’s say she was raped…”

“Oh, she was definitely raped,” Des said.

“Are we looking at two different men or did the same man who got her pregnant two months ago in Glen Cove come after her again last night?”

“Two different men is so much more of a long shot,” argued Toni, who Des was starting to think had some game. She was definitely smarter than her cousin Rico. Then again, so was a rutabaga. “If it’s different men then that would make her a full-time hurt-me machine.”

“I’ve seen it happen,” Yolie countered. “Especially with cutesy girlie-girl types like her. There’s a certain breed of guy who loves to pound the crap out of that. Des, what do you think?”

“I think you’d better smile,” Des answered as Jamella waddled down the hallway toward them, her sandals clacking on the polished floor.

“Did you find out anything?” she asked, her brow creasing with concern.

“Your sister told us she was in a consensual relationship this summer,” Yolie answered.

Jamella flared instantly. “Who with? Did she give you his name?”

Yolie nodded. “In confidence.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means she chooses to keep his identity private. And we’re obligated to respect that.”

“This is crap,” she fumed. “Was it Clarence? Because he’ll hit anything that moves. I swear, if he touched my baby girl, I will cut his-”

“She didn’t name Clarence,” Des told her.

“Then who did she name?”

“We’ll keep you posted,” Yolie said. “Just be patient, okay?”

“Don’t you tell me to be patient! Somebody attacked my baby sister!”

“And we will find out what happened,” Yolie said calmly.

“You’d better,” warned Jamella. “Because if you don’t, then Tyrone will-and heads will get busted. Trust me, you do not want to go there.” She turned her back on them and went in Kinitra’s room, shutting the door behind her.

They rode the elevator down to the cafeteria in silence. Shared the ride for two floors with an orderly who was transporting an old, old man in a wheelchair. The old, old man was hooked up to an IV. Looked as if he had about a week to live. Des had to avert her eyes. She hated hospitals.

Down in the cafeteria the three of them got coffees and found a table.

“So what’s your professional opinion?” Yolie asked her new sergeant. “Is there a case here?”

Toni took a nail file out of a jacket pocket and went to work on her fingernails with controlled fury. “Oh, absolutely, Loo.”

“And who are you liking for it?”

“The man himself. It’s so totally obvious. Tyrone Grantham’s wife is massively pregnant. Her hot little sister’s available. And he has a history of getting rough with women. Naturally, Kinitra’s terrified to say anything. So she made up that story about Lonnie in the hope that we’d back off and let it drop. Tyrone Grantham has been raping her, no question. I say we go right at him.”

“The man’s an NFL superstar,” Yolie pointed out.

Toni’s eyes gleamed eagerly. “And if we nail his balls to the wall, it’ll be huge.”

A Tedone to the bone, Des reflected. They were pub sluts one and all.

“Slow it down,” Yolie cautioned her. “There are a lot of other possibilities. And even if it is Da Beast, we still have Kinitra’s privacy to respect.”

“Sure thing, Loo,” Toni said, working that nail file back and forth, her big breasts jiggling inside her unbuttoned blouse. It was downright dizzying.

Des sipped her coffee and said, “Lonnie Berryman ought to be easy enough to run down. Assuming he exists, that is.”

“True that,” Yolie acknowledged. “Sergeant, go back to the headmaster’s house and see if you can find the man through the University of Georgia Athletic Department. If he’s real then get him on the phone and hear what he has to say. Who knows, maybe we’ll get freaky lucky.”

Toni frowned. “Freaky lucky as in?…”

“As in maybe he’s been visiting his good friend Raymond Harris in Glen Cove these past few days. And maybe he was at that party last night. If so, have the Glen Cove P.D. pick him up and hold him.”

“On it, Loo. Anything else?”

“We need a guest list.”

“Talk to Clarence,” Des advised. “It was by invite only-until the girls’ father, Calvin, let in pretty much anyone who showed up with a hottie. That’s what Trooper Olsen told me. He was on the gate to keep the media at bay. Clarence and Calvin both have priors, by the way. Got their sheets in my ride.”

“Reach out to the media people,” Yolie told Toni. “The tabloid outlets won’t cooperate but the local TV news channels will. You need a look at their footage of who went in and out. Run the license plates of anybody and everybody who was parked nearby. And if you’re able to download a photo of this Lonnie, run it past Trooper Olsen. Maybe he’ll remember seeing him.”

“You got it, Loo. Is he cute?”

“Is who cute?”

“Trooper Olsen.”

Yolie glared at her. “I’m sorry, did I just wander into a slumber party?”

“Come on, it’s just us girls. Can’t we vibe? My sisters are married. My cousins are married. They’re into babies. I’m into violent crimes.”

“That’s the job. If you don’t like it, get out now.”

“I love it, Loo. But I’m a first-of. There’s never, ever been a Tedone woman doing what I’m doing. I have no one to talk to. Sure, my cousin Rico counsels me-”