Southern Fried (31 page)

202 Rob Rosen

and rape?”

“We were best friends,” he replied, an edge to his voice.

“Were?”

“Well, it would look odd for him to stay friends with a butler.”

I sighed. “A job that he made you take. Blackmailed you to

take,” I countered with. “So, did you rape Jenny then?”

He paused before answering, which made my stomach tie

further up into knots. “We left before the party. I took Robbie to

the bus station and then I drove around for a bit.”

“So you weren’t together the whole time?”

“He was… he frequently took the bus to go see your mother.

He had to do it secretly so that nobody knew. Your granny and

his parents weren’t eager for them to see each other. Your granny

most of all.”

And for good reason. “Did you see him get on the bus,

Walter?”

He shook his head. “No. But he did. As he’d done before.

And I couldn’t go back to the house until after the party because

we weren’t together and he didn’t want anyone to know that he

was gone. In case it got back to his parents.”

That burning skin of mine was now itching. “And then several

years later, just before my parents died, were you together that

whole time up at the lake?”

“No, he… he had to get back. For work.”

“So, both times, the rape and my parents’ deaths, it appeared

like it could’ve been you who was guilty, and then both times he

provides the alibi and forces you to stay on at the mansion to spy,

right? Or else he recants the alibis, right?” Jeeves simply nodded.

“Looks like you weren’t too good at picking out best friends, I’d

say.”

“But we were best friends,” he said, plaintively. “Best friends

who stuck by each other.”

“And Granny knew you had nothing to do with the deaths

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because you were in fact at the lake house. Did she know about

the rape? Did she know about the years of spying?”

He looked away. “No, Trip,” he whispered. “Not about the

rape. Not about the spying. We were… we were family.”

I snickered, despite myself. “Some family,” I said. “But I have

a feeling only you were telling the truth.”

He looked back my way. “Robbie would never have hurt your

mother, Trip. He loved her. Which is why he made those frequent

trips to see her.”

I ignored the comment, which made me even more sick to

my stomach. “So you were his alibi, too. For the rape and the

murders. But, in fact, you weren’t with him when they occurred?”

He shook his head. “He didn’t do it, Trip. He didn’t rape

anyone or kill anyone.”

“And the blackmailing?”

His head stopped shaking. “That was more his father’s doing.

He was looking out for his career. I was referred for the job at the

mansion by him. It was supposed to be temporary, some spying

before his campaign. Your granny, she threw large parties. People

drank; people talked. He needed a fly on the wall.”

“And Beau?” I asked.

“And he needed to keep tabs on Beau, too. For a time,

until the adoption went through. Just before the car accident

happened, I was going to be allowed back at the firm. Then

after the accident, they didn’t think it prudent, especially since

I was being investigated. Then Beau resurfaced and my job at

the mansion became permanent. By then, it didn’t much matter.

I could never have gone back to law after so long an absence.”

“And Senator Pellingham was reelected, again and again, and

now Robbie is up for election after a long and lucrative legal

career. Which he owes to you.” And it was then I played what I

hoped was my trump card. Because, like I said, treachery is not

the same as stupidity. And the Pellinghams were a lot of things,

but stupid wasn’t one of them. “And he owes his career to
all
the

204 Rob Rosen

others, too,” I added, waiting for a telltale sign that my hunch

proved correct.

Thank goodness, or thank my guardian granny angel, but

I got one, a sign. In spades. “You, you mean the others at the

mansion? Roy and Betty?”

I grinned. “Tip of the iceberg, Walter.”

He rose and leaned in, eyes wide. “What… what others then?”

My smile widened. My spades, it turned out, were lining up

into a flush. “The Pellinghams have spies everywhere, Walter. Ex-

cons they blackmail to do their dirty work. Dozens and dozens

of them in all the finer homes throughout the South.”

He sat back down. “Oh,” he squeaked out. “I see.” He looked

back my way, reiterating what I’d already said. “And those alibis

of his, the ones that saved me…”

“… they also saved him, Walter,” I said, finishing his sentence.

“And if Beau had returned as a baby, and the press found out that

Robert E. was the father, out of wedlock, then his father’s career

would have been in jeopardy, as would Robert E.’s, and down

would come the Pellingham name.” I paused to let him take it in,

before adding. “Didn’t you think it was an odd coincidence that

the rape occurred in your room?”

“It could’ve happened in any of the rooms,” he replied. “They

didn’t have locks on the doors. Any of the brothers could’ve

taken her back there, knowing we were gone.”

Just out of curiosity, I thought to ask, “And how many of

them had rebel flag tattoos?”

His fingers tapped nervously on the table. “I… I don’t know.”

“None that you know of you mean, right?”

He nodded. “None that I know of.”

“And let me guess, Robbie was with you when you go it,

right?”

He continued nodding. “Yes, he was. I’d only had it for a week

before the party. He... he dared me to get it. Back then, only

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sailors and drunks got tattoos. It wasn’t like today.”

“Meaning, you didn’t share the fact that you had one with too

many people?” I gulped. I knew I was on to something. And now,

at last, I realized I was getting through.

He whimpered, which put a pang in my chest. “Only he knew

about it, Trip.”

I continued with that line of questioning. “And the girl, Jenny,

have you seen her since college?”

His nod returned. “In passing, over the years. She doesn’t live

too far from here. But if she recognized me, she didn’t let it

show. Since she only ever saw me in pictures, the ones the police

showed her, ones of many of all the brothers, she probably had

no idea it was me when I encountered her.”

“Lucky you,” I said, my chuckle returning as I recalled my

own encounter with her.

But he wasn’t laughing. “Why do you ask if I’ve seen her?”

“Just a hunch, Walter,” I said. “But if I’m correct, and I think

I am, then I think we can clear all this up. All of it. And then you

can sell the cars and leave the mansion and start all over again.”

He gulped and looked away. “Thank you,” he said, over his

shoulder.

“Don’t thank me yet,” I said, with an angry edge to my voice.

Because, trust me, I wasn’t forgiving or forgetting what he had

done. “This will cost you,” I quickly added.

He turned back around. “But you’re rich now; you don’t need

whatever I could afford to give you.”

“Not money,” I said. “Information.”

He turned back around, his eyes still watering. “I told you

everything I know.”

“Really?” I asked. “Do you know where Beau is?”

He stood up now, pacing around the room. Because he knew

that I knew about everything he’d thus far told me. But this,

this he was certain was the one piece of information I had yet

206 Rob Rosen

to discover. And so we both had trump cards. Still, mine was

a face card and his some middling number. And this he knew,

too, because eventually I’d find Beau or he’d find me. And

Jeeves would still be a lowly butler and one that was still being

blackmailed.

He stopped pacing and turned to look at me. “She would’ve

kept Beau, you know.” I simply nodded. “It was Robbie who

convinced her. Told her it would ruin her life, not to mention his.

And your Granny’s good name. They’d all be whispered about.”

“I know,” I told him. “I’m not blaming her. It was the times.”

And Robert E., of course.

He walked toward me again. “I already know that you found

his trailer,” he told me. “But he had that when he came here, came

here knowing about your mother from his adoptive parents. So

your granny wasn’t hard to find. And, of course, she knew about

him, too. Knew he’d some day return. So she had a place waiting

for him. Just in case. Hidden. Or so she thought.”

I glared at him. “You knew about it, too. And you told

Robbie.”

“If I didn’t, the others would have anyway,” he justified. But

he wasn’t fooling anyone. Least of all me. “In any case, she put

him up and paid him in cash, a little here, a little there.”

And now I knew the whole story. “Because she knew they’d

be watching him. Knew he was in danger as soon as he acted like

he knew that he was Pellingham. Or a Jackson. Because if he

admitted to being a Jackson, or if anyone suspected that he was,

then the Pellingham connection would be found out, too. People

knew that my mother dated Robert E. And putting two and two

together wouldn’t be all that difficult.”

“Exactly,” he agreed. “So he had an apartment and some

money and that was it. And it was enough.”

I jumped up and slammed my fists on the table. “He fucking

picked peaches for a living, you idiot,” I yelled. “How on God’s

green earth would that be enough? Enough for whom?”

He looked away. “It was the best for everyone.” He glanced

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my way.

“Ah,” I said. “And so I was never allowed to return home,

in case I found out. And I would’ve spilled the beans for sure.

Would’ve tried to get close to him. Would’ve ruined all you and

she put in place.”

“And then everyone would have been at risk. Especially Beau.”

I sat back down, fighting back the tears now. “So she turned

him against me, just in case I ever tried to get close.”

“She was saving you both, Trip,” he said. “In the best way she

knew how.”

A tear streaked down my face. “Give me the address, Walter.

Give me the address and I’ll fix this. I promise, I’ll fix this. And

no one will get hurt.” No one, except the Pellinghams. God and

Granny willing.

He walked out of the room and returned with a slip of paper.

He held it in his hand and stared down at me. “If you’re wrong,

Trip, if you can’t fix it, and you bring them down without some

sort of exit strategy, then we’re all dead. Me and you, everyone at

the mansion, Beau. Dead or missing or destroyed.”

I snatched the paper from his hand. “As Granny always said,

Walter, better to live dangerously in the light than hide like a

coward in the shadows.”

He shuddered, his shoulders slumping. “Let’s fix it,” he

whispered. “She also always said, better late then never.”

I smiled. “I think she was referring to drinking her nightcaps,

though.”

He hazarded a smile as well. “Still, it holds true for this

situation. So let’s get a move on. I’m tired of
never
.”

And for the first time since I’d been back, he looked young

again. Well, younger, at any rate. Like the Jeeves I’d left when I

was a teenager. Only happier. Sort if. I mean, it was hard to tell

with Jeeves, what with that stick forever buried up his ass.

But I had one more thing to do before we left for Jenny’s,

because that’s where we were headed again. I took out my cell

208 Rob Rosen

and dialed Zeb’s. They were all now at Pearl’s, Pearl included.

Seeing as Beau knew the staff, and probably had an inkling of

trust in them, and not an ounce in me, I figured it was best for

them to get him and bring him over to our side of things, before

the shit hit the fan. Because once it hit, even he wasn’t safe, birth

certificate or no birth certificate; they’d have to get him, to keep

him silent. Because he’d been kidnapped by them, his very life

threatened, and was related to them, to boot, his story could

never get out. Not if the Pellinghams wanted to get elected.

“What will you be doing?” Zeb asked, after he agreed to my

plan.

“We’re going back to Jenny’s,” I told him, with a moan.

He laughed. “If I’d known you were such a glutton for

punishment, I would have brought out my whip a lot sooner.”

“Please tell me it’s part of one of your showgirl outfits,” I

said.

“Okay,” he replied. “We’ll go with that.” Then he added, “But

I’d bring something with you, to sweeten her up. Otherwise, I

have a feeling you’re gonna have a thick slab of wood slammed in

your face. And I love your face way too much to see that happen.”

Again I moaned. “Something tells me she’s not a sweets kind

of person.”

He giggled, knowingly. “You’ll think of something, Thunder

Dick.”

“Please tell me the staff isn’t standing behind you right now.”

Then I heard Stella. “We’re in the other room.” Only she