Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail(29)

"Rayna," Deputy Doug started, exhausted. "I'm here because I need to be real honest with you."

It was worse than I thought. Brady was going to stay in jail forever.

"Frank Stephens is livid," Deputy Doug announced. He leaned forward. "I'm all sorts of torn up here. I love Brady like he was my son. I feel like I've been taking care of him darn near his whole life. He's been in so many scrapes and he can't be blamed. Jumping from foster home to foster home; it's a good thing he had you guys to steady him. That's not why I pulled you in here. I know that Brady ought to get into trouble one of these times, but I hate to think it'll be this one. Frank Stephens is likely to get Brady charged to the fullest extent. I don't feel that's fair."

It was worse than I thought. Then I realized that Deputy Doug was staring at me. "What can I do?"

"Well, I was thinking that grandma of yours can sure be a firecracker. You might not know much about it since it all happened before your time, but—did you call her like I told you to?"

"I was going to call her when I knew how much the bail was."

"I'll give her a call myself and tell her the amount." Deputy Dog nodded. "Good, good. I know she can worm her way around Judge Bailor, but if anyone's going to square against Frank Stephens, I figure it oughta be Viola. She went head to head with him before. She could do it again."

Huh? "What happened before?"

Deputy Dog frowned and pushed his glasses over the wrinkles in his forehead. "It was around the time that your mother was running around these parts. You weren't born yet, but something happened between your mother, Frank Stephens, and another lady that worked in the grocery store. No one really knew what went on, but all the sudden Frank Stephens was divorced and your momma was out of town. After she was gone, Frank tried to run your momma's name through the mud, but Viola wouldn't have it. The two of them tangled on a daily basis. Of course, at that time Frank Stephens was still a young pup. He wasn't much older than his late twenties, but he already owned half the town. But your grandmum, she was smart. She is smart and she knew most of the town. They banned together and Frank Stephens was forced to shut his trap. I was hoping she'd be willing to do it again. There's a reason why he'd been placed with the Forresters next door to you. We all know how Brady's been taken in by your family."

This was news to me and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I just heard the words 'your mother', 'Frank Stephens', 'divorced,' and 'out of town.' Leaning back in my chair, I closed my eyes and felt the world swirling around me.

"Rayna?" Deputy Doug looked concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's just…a lot." Not to mention…my mother. She seemed to be involved in so much and yet nothing at the same time. I wished…I didn't know what I wished.

"Have you, uh—have you heard from your mother? How's she doing?"

"She's in Florida. That's all I know." I felt the awkwardness in the room and knew Deputy Dog felt it too. A part of me wanted to say something and cover up the gaping hole that I felt inside, but I couldn't. The necessary energy had been depleted from me.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Rayna. She was…your momma was a good woman."

She wasn't. Everyone knew.

Deputy Doug continued, "I always felt she was misunderstood by a lot of the folks here."

She wasn't misunderstood at all. She'd been exiled.

When someone knocked at the door, I was jolted out of my thoughts. The door opened and someone murmured, "Frank Stephens is here. He's ready for you, Doug."

Deputy Doug cursed and rushed around the desk. As he reached the door, he turned back. "Use my phone. Give Viola a call. We're going to be needing her."

When the door shut, I reached for the phone. Then I remembered that I still didn't know how much the bail was.

CHAPTER TWELVE

When Viola swept through the front doors, I jumped from the ferocity of her rush. Then Josh jerked too and I jumped again.

"Holy, who is that?" Josh asked, frowning.

Viola strode towards the front desk and slapped a hand on the desk. "I want to speak to Bailor. Now."

The same gray haired Asian lady scurried away. She didn't frown. She didn't pause. She just moved. Behold the power. It wasn't long until she scanned the waiting room with narrowed eyes. She looked over me, back tracked, and zeroed in as the frown turned into a scowl.

Josh gulped.

My stomach fell to the bottom of my feet. She was dressed in a grey smock, red khaki pants, and yellow clogs on her feet. Her hair stuck up haphazardly with a few curlers that still hung on in desperation. I caught a smattering of blush on her cheeks and saw she'd applied some red lipstick.

I understood Josh's fear.

"Rayna Cassidy Janke. Do you have any idea what time it is?" She didn't wait for a response. "You call me, wake me up, and tell me that you don't know what Brady's bail is. What am I supposed to think? What am I supposed to think when my own granddaughter calls me and tells me that she's at the police station?"

I gulped this time, just as loudly.

Viola crossed the room, shoulders enraged, arms stiff, and bent forward until her nose was an inch from mine. Then she smiled.