Patricia didn’t say anything right away. Her face was drawn. She stared at nothing. Dee Dee worried her hands in her lap, waiting, wondering if Patricia would hold up in an interrogation by Sheriff Borg even if she could convince her to talk with him.
She cleared her throat, scratchy from the dozen cigarettes she had smoked throughout the day. “What do you think?” she asked. “Do you think you’re up to talking to the sheriff?”
Patricia nodded. Someone knocked at the door.
Dee Dee turned. “Who could that be?”
Patricia’s hand shot out and grabbed Dee Dee’s wrist. “Sara,” she whispered.
She patted Patricia’s hand. “It’s going to be okay.” She went to the screen door and pushed it open to find Jo standing on her front porch.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
“Well, well, well,” Dee Dee said. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“We need to talk,” Jo said.
“You bet we do.” Dee Dee stood aside to let her in. The door bang closed behind them.
Jo was somewhat surprised to find Patricia in Dee Dee’s kitchen. “I’m sorry to barge in,” she said to her. Patricia gave her a weak smile. Jo turned toward Dee Dee. “Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”
Dee Dee leaned against the countertop and crossed her arms, taking her usual defensive position. “Oh no, I think Patricia should be here for this.”
Jo hesitated. “Fine,” she said. “This really can’t wait.”
“No, it can’t.” Dee Dee pulled a chair from the kitchen table. “Sit,” she said.
Jo did what she was told and sat, leaning forward and resting her forearms on the table. Her leg bounced up and down. By the look on Dee Dee’s face, she thought perhaps Johnny had already been here. She had wanted to be the first to break the news to her about Billy being Johnny’s father. On some crazy level, she supposed she had hoped Dee Dee would help her make the situation easier for Johnny. But seeing Dee Dee’s stiff jaw and the anger in her eyes, she knew she had made a mistake. Dee Dee wouldn’t behave rationally about anything.
“So,” Dee Dee said, “Patricia told me some very interesting news today.”
“Patricia?” she asked, confused. How would Patricia know about Johnny? “What news?”
“She has proof you’re a lying bitch.”
Patricia flinched.
Jo rested her head in her hands. “Can’t we have a civil conversation?”
“Patricia saw you on the pier with Billy the night he drowned.” Dee Dee pushed off the counter, taking on a fighter’s stance.
“I don’t understand,” Jo said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came here to talk about Johnny.”
“Forget Johnny. Patricia was here at the cabin that night. I was babysitting her. And you know we have a clear view of the floating pier from here.” She pointed her index finger in Jo’s face. “She saw you with Billy. He wasn’t alone on the beach like Kevin said. Kevin’s been covering up for you this entire time.”
Jo glanced at Patricia cowering in the chair, clutching Sara’s dolly. She looked like a scared child. “What did you tell her?” Jo asked her. Her tone was harsher than she had intended. But what could she have seen? She had been a child when it had happened.
“I…,” Patricia began, but Dee Dee cut her off.
“Leave her alone,” Dee Dee said. “She’s been through enough.”
Jo ignored Dee Dee and reached across the table toward Patricia. In a more soothing tone she asked, “What do you think you saw?”
“Hey.” Dee Dee poked Jo in the shoulder. “You talk to me.”
“Whoa.” Jo raised her hands. “Back off.”
Patricia still didn’t say anything.
“What did you do to my brother? What are you hiding?” Dee Dee asked.
Jo pushed back in the chair and stood. Her legs wobbled and her arms shook. “I don’t have to listen to this.” She took a tentative step, but before she could get any farther, Dee Dee moved in front of her, pushing her, getting up in her face.
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing,” Jo said, and tried to step around her, but Dee Dee’s body was big and strong, like Billy’s. Yes, just like Billy’s, and she was certain this was how Kevin had felt when Billy had thrust his chest at him, intimidating him with his physical strength. “Get away from me,” she said in a voice much too weak to have any impact.
“Did you kill him?” Dee Dee grabbed Jo’s shoulders.
“No,” Jo said, panicking. “No.”
“You’re lying.” Dee Dee wrapped her hands around Jo’s neck. “Tell me the truth or I swear, I’ll kill you myself.”
She clawed at Dee Dee’s fingers, gasping for air. Black spots marred her vision. Her head felt light. Patricia sat there, staring at them as though she was in shock, never having seen this side of Dee Dee before. Jo reached for her. “Pattie,” she croaked. When it was clear Patricia wouldn’t be of any help, Jo returned to scratching at Dee Dee’s hands, trying to pry them open. “Let go,” she managed to say.
Dee Dee loosened her grip ever so slightly. Her cold dead eyes glared at her. “Not until you tell me what happened.”
“Okay,” she said, and coughed.
Dee Dee dropped her hands and stepped back. Jo bent over, gasping, trying to catch her breath.
“I’m waiting,” Dee Dee said.
When the air moved through her lungs and she could talk, she blurted, “It was an accident.”
Dee Dee blinked several times. “You’re going to tell Sheriff Borg my brother didn’t just slip and fall. You’re going to explain exactly what happened to him. And you’re going to pay for what you’ve done.”
“No,” Jo said, shaking her head. Her body trembled. She needed Kevin here to explain how it had happened, how it was nothing but a terrible horrible accident. Where was he? She had looked for him everywhere: the Pavilion, the bar, Eddie’s. It wasn’t like him to disappear. Vanishing was her talent. Not his.
“If you won’t talk, then I will. With everything Patricia told me, you won’t stand a chance, not against the two of us,” Dee Dee said.
Jo shook her head. “I don’t think you want to do that.”
“Oh, you see, that’s where you’re wrong. I’ve been waiting a long time for this day to come.” She pushed Jo’s chest, sending her backward until she had her pressed against the edge of the countertop. Dee Dee placed both hands on either side of her. She smelled of body odor and adrenalin.
Jo was no match for Dee Dee’s strength. “You’re not going to hurt me,” she said, pleading to the kinder, softer side of Dee Dee’s temperament. It was there, buried beneath her tough exterior, but she knew it was there. Dee Dee hadn’t always been a brute. The little kids had adored her in the past, and parents at the lake used to fight over her for babysitting. Once upon a time Dee Dee had laughed and joked. She hadn’t always been the bitter woman she had turned into. Jo needed to use this to her advantage to save herself. And she had one weapon to do it. Maybe it was the real reason for keeping the secret about her son, Billy’s son. “You really don’t want Johnny to lose his mother, too, do you?”
At first Dee Dee’s brow furrowed, and then her eyes widened. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Johnny is Billy’s son.”
Dee Dee pulled back. Her face softened. The corners of her mouth turned up. She nodded. “I always wondered.” In the next instant, she brought her arm back and slapped Jo hard across the face.
Jo grunted. The table and chairs went out of focus. Her ear was ringing. She covered her stinging cheek where the skin burned hot.
“That was for not telling me I had a nephew,” Dee Dee said. “And that Chris had a cousin.”
Jo’s mouth hung open, shocked at the forcefulness of the hit. She tried shaking it off by standing up a little straighter.