J. Black - The Shop

“What are you talking about?” But Jolie knew that on some level what Kay said was true. She did use people. That was part of her job, and she was good at it. But always it was for a righteous cause. She’d been right to browbeat Zoe. That was what this was about. She’d hurt Zoe’s feelings. Zoe had run to her mother. But what hung in the balance? The death of a young man. A cover-up. The potential abuse of power going to the highest levels of the United States government. Her family’s complicity—

“My own daughter won’t speak to me.”

“Why? Because I asked her a few questions?”

“Riley kicked her out last night. She cut her dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry ! Like that means anything. Zoe’s heartbroken. This was her best friend ! She was escorted off the property like a common criminal, all because of you!”

Wait a minute . There were a lot of things wrong here. Jolie wanted to defend herself. Why had Zoe told Riley anything at all, if she knew it would upset her? Why was Riley so angry? Surely Kay could see the relationship was abusive, if Riley could go off the deep end like that. All sorts of thoughts crowded through her mind. But what she said was, “Why are we here?”

“Because it’s time you knew the truth.”

“The truth?”

Kay pulled the keys out of the ignition. “Yes, the truth.”

Jolie followed Kay up the walk to the house. There had been a garden, but no one had kept it up and the plants were yellowed and sickly. A squat garden gnome stood by the door, jolly and sinister at the same time. Jolie remembered the long crack in the front window, like a graph line. “Kay, I came here already.”

Kay punched a code into the Realtor’s lock on the front door, and they went inside. “You go ahead,” Kay said.

At that moment, Jolie felt she could be in danger. As a cop, she had a sense for that moment when things changed, and this was one of those moments. “No, you go ahead.”

Kay did.

When Skeet summoned her to his office this morning, Jolie had left her replacement firearm behind. She didn’t want to get into a fight with him over it, in light of the fact that her service weapon had been confiscated. But she still had her Walther PPK .380 in an ankle holster. It would be a little harder to access, but she was glad for the backup.

They went through the house. Jolie doubted Kay was capable of violence, but it was second nature for Jolie to question assumptions. Wary, she kept her eye on Kay’s purse. She knew Kay carried. She had a small snub-nosed revolver, a “girl’s gun.” Kay moved with jittery purpose. They landed in the kitchen, the old round-shouldered refrigerator humming. A card from the realty office sat on the round table. Kay picked up the card, which had been folded in half so it stood up in a triangle. She took out a McPeek Realty pen and scribbled something on the card.

Kay finished writing and looked at Jolie, her breath coming quickly. Her arm draped over the shoulder bag, which rested high on her body.

Jolie looking for a quick move.

“Zoe told me she’s not going to Brown.”

“Why not?”

“She told me she doesn’t want to go, and I can’t make her.”

“What does she plan to do?”

“The big thing? The most important thing? Get back in Riley’s good graces. Be best friends again. She cried for an hour straight last night. All because of you. She…she threatened suicide.”

The thunder in Jolie’s chest grew. She saw Kay’s hand inch toward the clasp of her bag. “Do you believe her?”

“I don’t know. She was destroyed. What did you say to her?”

Jolie told her the truth. Eye on the shoulder bag, she told her that she asked if Luke knew about the passageway. If they had been spying on people at the cabanas. Thinking, it wasn’t that important. Thinking, Riley was overreacting. Thinking, you were a kid once, too.

“Are you investigating my family? Is that it? You befriend me, worm your way into my family, and then try to gin up something against us? Is this all revenge?”

“Revenge?”

She swept her arm out. “For this ! For the squalid, stupid lives your mother and father led, all because she wouldn’t listen to reason? And now you’ve spoiled everything for my daughter. Just what do you want to know about my family?”

Jolie stuck with what she knew to be true. “I did not try to worm my way into your family. If you recall, I never even wanted to set foot on Indigo. I was not interested. And my parents loved each other—”

“Loved each other! You don’t know the first damn thing about their relationship.”

Kay held out the card, and Jolie took it. Kay had written “Belle Oaks,” on it, and underneath, “Tallahassee.”

“Belle Oaks?”

“Yes, Belle Oaks.”

“What is it?”

But Kay didn’t appear to be listening. She stared into middle space, in her own world—unaware of Jolie. She was working something out behind her eyes. Then her expression cleared, as if she’d decided on something. “Did you see the bathroom?”

“The bathroom?”

“Miss Baby Soap—did you see the bathroom?”

“Yes I saw it, the last time I was here.”

Kay said nothing. Went back into that middle space. Jolie could almost feel the electricity in the air between them. Kay was like an exposed wire. Jolie had the feeling that if they touched, she would get a shock.

Then Kay came out of it again. When she spoke, her voice sounded neutral, almost dead.

“Right now, the way I’m feeling, I could do you real harm. You know why I brought you here? No, you don’t.” She stopped. The air seemed to go out of her. “This is fucked.”

Jolie had never heard Kay use that word. “Kay? What’s this about?”

“I can’t. You deserve it for what you did, but I’m not like you. I’m not going to be the one to tell you. I can’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re the detective. You figure it out.” She hitched her bag higher on her shoulder. “This is the end, though. We’re not friends anymore.” She turned and walked to the front door, opened it, and was gone.

Jolie’s ears burned. What was Kay talking about?

I’m not going to be the one to tell you .

Kay brought her here to show her something. Something that would hurt her.

Jolie couldn’t fathom what she could have asked Zoe that would upset Riley so much. It was clear Zoe wanted to be Riley’s friend in the worst way. Kids, these days especially, could be devastated by bullying. They could think the whole world was falling apart, that their lives were worthless. Yes, Zoe could quit college over this. Yes, Zoe could contemplate suicide. Maybe Jolie had been so intent on the prize, she had forgotten that.

She looked at the Realtor’s card. It was made of good stock. Pleasant to the touch, excellent production values. Jolie looked at the inside again. Belle Oaks . Tallahassee . It meant nothing to her.

The bathroom. Jolie walked down the short hall to the open doorway. Kay had used the word squalid, but that description didn’t quite fit. The place was gloomy, sad, and small. Jolie had a hard time picturing young love flourishing here.

Loved each other! Kay had said it with such contempt. Jolie looked in at the bathroom, glimpsed the cheap aqua tile she remembered from last time, when she took a cursory look through the house. The place had been cleaned, but she sensed an underlying grunge beneath the surface.

This was the real home of the Petal Soft Soap Baby. Her mother had bathed her in this bathtub. This room was nothing like the photo spread in the magazine—everything fresh and clean and white. This was the reality. Just two young people who loved each other and their baby—