The Sound of Broken Ribs(36)

Jesus, she looks like someone killed her puppy.

“Hello, Belinda,” Jenna said. She plastered on a smile that wasn’t warranted. She knew she was going to be arresting this woman; or at the very least bringing her in for questioning.

“Hello, Sheriff.”

Jenna thought, Sheriff. Not Jenna but ‘Sheriff’.

“Mind if I ask you a few questions?”

Belinda shrugged. In that moment, Jenna knew the woman was guilty. Belinda wore her shame on her face like heavy makeup. Her pores were clogged with guilt.

“What happened yesterday morning?”

“What do you mean?” Belinda crossed her arms and picked at one elbow. All Jenna could think about was Lei Duncan laying in that hospital bed back at Mercy Medical.

You took her arm, Belinda. You did exactly what you told her you wanted to do. You ruined her.

“Wanna tell me what happened out on Highway 607 yesterday morning?”

“Not sure I know what—”

“Cut the crap, Belinda. I know you were there. I imagine I know why you did it, too.”

“I didn’t—”

Jenna pulled her Sig Sauer from her shoulder holster and her cuffs from where she’d tucked them into the waistband of her pants at the small of her back. She kept her gun aimed to the ground, but pointed the cuffs at Belinda. “Hands behind your back, Belinda. Don’t make me ask you twice.”

“But I didn’t do anything. Dan stole my car.”

“Didn’t say I was looking for your car, Belinda. Turn around.”

Belinda, trembling badly enough to mix paint, turned and clasped her hands together behind her back. Jenna cuffed her. She resisted the urge to snap them tight enough to cut off the circulation to Belinda’s hands.

“She described your yellow car and the scar above your eye, Belinda. And when she sees your face, I have no doubt she’ll positively ID you.”

“I did—didn’t do anything—I didn’t do anything wrong,” Belinda stammered. Sobs overcame her, and she bawled like a child.

“You tried to kill a woman with your car because your husband left you. I would say you did plenty. Come on.”

Jenna led Belinda down the porch steps and to the rear of the car. She opened the back door and guided Belinda inside.

Belinda dropped her head between her knees. Jenna thought she heard the woman mutter “I’m sorry” but couldn’t be sure.

*

“Where are you, Tony?” Belinda whispered between sobs.

She was all alone. For the second time in two days, a man had failed her.

The driver’s side door opened. Belinda looked up. A sound came through the door that reminded Belinda of two boards being slapped together. A loud clap.

“Fuck!” Sheriff Wales hollered and dove into the car.

The clap came again, and the sheriff screamed. She lay across the driver’s seat out of Belinda’s sight, but her leg came up and Belinda could see what she was cussing about.

The shoe was gone and most of what was left of the foot was indistinguishable as such.

What the fuck is going on?

Even as she asked herself this question, Belinda found realization slamming into her like a Mac truck.

Tony!

In her mind’s eye, Belinda saw Tony driving away this afternoon, on his way to go get paint to cover up Paul’s blood where it had splattered all over the guest bedroom, and the gun in the rack on the back window of his truck. Then she saw him backtracking. Saw him sneaking through the woods with his rifle. Saw him aiming. Shooting. Mangling the sheriff’s foot with one of the high-powered rounds he used to take down ten-point bucks.

But now what were they going to do?

Her sudden joviality was squashed under the weight of the crime her brother had committed. He’d shot an officer of the law. Didn’t they put people on death row for such things? Wasn’t she complicit in the attempted murder of Sheriff Jenna Wales simply by being here?

They’re going to kill me. They’re going to strap me into a chair and run lightning through my veins.

FUCK!

In the front seat, Sheriff Wales writhed and whined.

“Are… are you okay?” Belinda asked. The plan was simple—distance herself from her brother by showing she cared about the sheriff’s wellbeing.

“What the fuck do you think?” Sheriff Wales screamed. “Shit!”

“Come out, Sheriff!” called the immediately familiar voice of her brother. “Come on out and show me you ain’t armed and that foot will be the only thing you lose today!”

“I’m going to kill your brother, Belinda. I’m going to blow his goddamn face out his asshole,” Sheriff Wales said. Her words were more spat than spoken.

“Come on, Jenna, or I’mma finish the job Mack started all those years ago. You done lost a kidney and a foot. No need to lose your life! No need to be the hero everyone claims you are. Live to fight another day, and all that shit!” Tony laughed and Belinda realized just how close he was. He couldn’t be any farther away than the back of the sheriff’s cruiser. She could feel his voice as much as hear it. The car rumbled with his statements.

“I’m not with him. I didn’t want this,” Belinda said. “If you make it through this, you should know that I was rooting for you.”