Vicious Carousel (Suncoast Society #25)(36)

Over the next hour, June verbally walked Betsy through a series of guided meditations, of focusing on her emotions, her breathing, the environment around her. The taste of the salty Gulf waters hanging thick in the air, the warmth of the sun on her flesh, the gentle breeze tugging at her hair, which she’d left loose under the hat.

June walked her through recognizing the pain, harnessing it, processing it.

Crying without feeling weaker for it, strengthening her mental and emotional walls without growing hard and cold.

When they finished, June instructed her to perform one final task, to sit and stare at the water, to imagine putting all the negativity she felt about herself on a paper boat and setting it aflame as she shoved it out into the water, to be taken away and absorbed by the waves.

That was what Betsy had completed when her cell phone rang, Ed Payne calling her.

“Hello?”

“Hey, you sitting down?”

Despite the warm afternoon, a chilling dread filled her. “Yeah?”

“He didn’t make bail, so it’s not that.”

Relief washed the dread away. “So what is it?”

“The media’s picked up the story,” he said. “I’ve fielded ten calls today from TV and radio stations trying to find you.”

The chill returned. “And?”

“Don’t worry, they’re not finding you. Not through me, at least. But I wanted to warn you before you saw it on the news or someone else told you. Is Tilly there?”

“No, June is.”

“Let me speak with her please.”

Her good mood shattered, Betsy handed the phone over to June. She spoke with him for a few minutes before ending the call and returning her phone.

“Okay. Well, so much for that. I thought you’d get more than a few minutes’ of peace out of it.”

“No, this was great. Thank you.” She stared down at the sand when something caught her eye. Reaching for it, she found a small, black shark’s tooth, about the size of the end of her pinky finger.

When she showed June, the woman laughed. “Yeah, we used to bring our girls here all the time looking for them when they were kids. This whole area is known as the shark’s teeth capital of the world. You should keep that. Remind you of today. Sharks are always replacing their teeth, you know. They shed them like cats shed fur. That’s why they’re so efficient.”

Betsy stared at it, fingering the tip. “Why’s it black?”

“Didn’t you ever hunt for them?”

“No.”

“The black ones are old. You’ll find white ones sometimes, but the black ones are like ancient old. Fossils. Somewhere, a shark was swimming, eating, and lost it. Tens, or maybe hundreds of thousands of years ago. He lost it, or died, and it fell out of his jaw. And now you’ve found it. Just imagine the odds.”

“I thought you said they were common around here?”

“They are, but you found that one. Or it found you. Depends on your point of view. You hungry? I know a great burger place.”

They returned home late in the afternoon, but still before the men got home. June helped her rinse off in the shower and change into a pair of PJs. They were just finishing that when Nolan arrived home, laden with grocery bags.

“Can I help?” Betsy asked.

“No,” he and June both said together, shooing her into the living room. “Tilly said your assignment tonight is an hour of job hunting, followed by two hours of reading, before you go to bed,” June told her.

“Wow. She is a sadist,” Nolan joked.





Nolan walked outside to get another load of groceries, June on his tail. He suspected she wanted to talk about something outside of Betsy’s earshot, and she didn’t disappoint.

Once she filled him in on the phone call from Ed, Nolan leaned against the side of the car. “Dammit. We knew it was a matter of time, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be this soon.”

“Since there wasn’t a sexual assault,” June said, “the media usually won’t withhold the name. Ed’s been trying to reason with the people and tell them her safety is at risk, but there’s another issue, and Ed and I didn’t tell her this part.”

“What?”

“Jackass has a PD who’s trying to file for a bond reduction hearing. If he gets it, and if the judge grants the bond reduction, Jack might be able to make bail.”

“Fuck.”

“Oh, it gets better. Ed’s worried about the possibility of one of the tabloid media outlets trying a side run, maybe offering to foot his bail for an exclusive interview. You know, a BDSM love story gone bad, that kind of bullshit.”

He stared at her. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish I was. It was all I could do not to start ranting about it in front of her. I’ll call Tilly and tell her about it, but here’s my worry. Jack doesn’t know where she is. We’ve all been passing the word around that no one is to say where she is, even if they know where she is, which of course no one except a few of us do. Emphasize to her tonight, gently and without scaring her, that it is vital she does not mention where she is or with whom she’s staying. To anyone. Capisce?”

“Yeah. Why didn’t you tell her all this earlier?”

“Because Ed advised me to wait until we got back. He was worried she might get freaked out if she found out while we were out and about. Also, he didn’t know if he’d get more information before now. He said he’d call me by now if he had.”