After I was checked in, I told Darrell I would go back to the sheriff’s office with him, but he refused to let me do that. He told me he’d bring me a takeout lunch a little later, and until then, I should relax. Sleep. Read. Take a bath. Whatever. I tried to do all of that, but I couldn’t get Ricky and his threats out of my head. I knew I was playing his game, but I didn’t have a choice.
I own you.
Locked inside the motel room, with the chain done, I also felt the black hole of depression opening up again. I slipped into its dark cavern, the way I had that night in January. And this time there was no charming stranger stranded in a pickup truck to rescue me. For a few brief months, Shelby, I’d been happy. You made me happy. I’d allowed myself to think I could escape my past. But I could see the end of everything coming soon. I just didn’t know what the end would look like.
An hour or so later, there was a knock on the motel door. Automatically, I tensed with fear. Was it him? But Ricky wouldn’t bother knocking; he’d put his foot to the door and kick it in. Then I wondered if it was Darrell, but it was too early for him to be back here with a hamburger from the 126.
I got up from the bed and went to the door and asked quietly, “Who is it?”
“Rebecca?” a woman said.
“Yes.”
“It’s Penny Ramsey.”
I frowned, then undid the chain and opened the door. Penny stood outside, her face still heavily bandaged from the cuts she’d received in the fight with Ruby. On the other side of the parking lot, I spotted a car with a trunk open and luggage inside.
Penny glanced over her shoulder, following my stare. “Yes, I’m leaving town. Ms. Svitak fired me. I’m going back to Milwaukee.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She says employees of her firm don’t get into bar fights. I told her it wasn’t my fault, that Ruby started it. She didn’t care. She told me I’d compromised the lawsuit with my behavior, that I’d interfered with one of her key witnesses. I don’t know, I guess she’s right. But that wasn’t what I was trying to do. All I did was fall in love with Ajax, you know?”
“Yes, I know.”
She shook her head sadly. “He was using me, wasn’t he? It was never real. He was stringing me along to find out what was going on with the lawsuit.”
“That was Ajax,” I said. “He manipulated people. You weren’t the only one.”
Penny scowled as she looked at her feet. “I got a call from the county attorney this morning. He told me that Ruby pled guilty to a misdemeanor and they turned her loose. Unbelievable. She pays like a hundred bucks to the court and promises to be a good girl. That’s justice, huh? I’ll never be able to look in a mirror again without crying for the rest of my life, and she goes home to her kids like it was nothing.”
“The scars may not be permanent,” I told her. “My ex-husband attacked me in January. I was cut like you. But the cuts healed, and now you can’t tell. Don’t assume it’ll be forever. Go see a doctor when you’re back home.”
“I appreciate your trying to make me feel better, but I’m not in the mood for that, okay? I’m in a mood where I just want to hate everybody and everything.”
“Believe me, I know how you feel.”
Penny fidgeted in the doorway, as if she were trying to make up her mind about something.
“Do you want to come inside?” I asked her.
“No, I should probably get in my car and go.”
“It seems like you came over here for a reason, not just to say goodbye.”
“Well, I was going to stop by your house before I left town, but I couldn’t make up my mind. And then I saw you checking in here earlier. I figured it must be fate telling me what to do.”
“So let’s talk,” I said.
Penny lingered outside the motel room. “Why are you here, anyway?”
“My ex-husband is back in town. He threatened me.”
“Jesus. While you’re pregnant?”
“Yes, that’s Ricky.”
She shook her head. “This place is poison.”
“Penny, what did you want to tell me?”
“Hang on. I need to get something.”
She walked across the motel parking lot. I saw her bend over at the trunk of the car and remove a paper grocery bag from the local market. Then she shut the trunk and returned to my door. The whole way, she walked furtively, casting her eyes in every direction. She motioned me back inside, and then she followed and quickly closed the motel door behind her. We both sat on the bed.
“There are still a lot of people from the firm staying here,” she said. “I didn’t want them to see me going inside your room.”
“You’ve already been fired. What more can they do to you?”
“Sue me. Bankrupt me. Make sure I never get another job.”
“Over what?”
“Giving you what I’m about to give you.”
Penny reached inside the grocery bag. The first thing she pulled out was a cassette recorder and an electrical cord. She looked around the room for an outlet and plugged in the machine. Then she dug into the bag again and removed a cassette tape in a plastic case.
“Ms. Svitak accused me of compromising the lawsuit. Okay, well, I really am doing that now. If she’s going to fire me, what loyalty do I owe her or the firm? The fact is, the mine deserves to lose this case. They deserve to be slapped down and hit with millions in damages. They made life hell for those women, and the execs sat in our depositions and lied their asses off. But it’s not just that. It’s not just the harassment. They’re criminals.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gordon Brink didn’t just come to town to buy off Sandra Thoreau. When she said no, he was planning to do other things.”
“Like what?”
“Take your pick. Assault. Rape. Maybe even murder. They wanted her out, and they were going to do whatever it took to make sure it happened. If Sandra wound up dead, you don’t think every woman in this county would have gotten the message? Stay away from the mine.”
I felt a wave of nausea and another sharp pain. I closed my eyes briefly and tried to focus. “Penny, what’s on that tape?”
“You remember the conversation I heard with Ms. Svitak? The one that freaked out Ajax? I found the tape, and I listened to the rest of it. I heard what else Brink said. I heard the shit that Ms. Svitak didn’t want me to know about.”
“You took the tape from the law firm?” I asked.
“Yeah. And now I’m giving it to you.”
I hesitated. What she was giving me was stolen evidence, and I didn’t know whether to take it or tell her to go. But then again, I had to hear what it said.
“Play it,” I told her.
Penny took the tape out of the case and popped it into the cassette player. She obviously knew the place she was looking for, because she watched the counter as she rewound and stopped at a specific location. She pushed the play button, and the first voice I heard was one I remembered very well.
Gordon Brink.
“It’s me. I met with Sandra Thoreau today. She’s the primary agitator at the mine.”
“How did it go?”
Penny paused the playback. “That second voice? That’s the managing partner at the law firm.”
“And this was seven years ago?”
“Yes.”
“If it’s incriminating, why would they record it? Why would they keep it?”
“They’re lawyers,” Penny replied. “They keep secret records of everything. You never know when you’re going to need leverage over somebody.”