3 A Brewski for the Old Man by Phyllis Smallman Read Free Book Online Page A

held a shotgun on Ray John and threatened to kill him. It was a story the sheriff had never forgotten, so when Styles investigated Jimmy’s death Sheriff Disson was quick to bring him up to scratch on the back story and, given my history of violence, Styles had thought I just might be capable of blowing up Jimmy’s boat with Jimmy on it.
    Now he followed me into the room, listening to my disjointed account of Ray John’s return, pulling Mary’s chair around as I sank into the chair behind my desk while I told him that Lacey and Rena were now living with the man who had tried to rape me.
    “Do you want to charge him?” Styles asked. “If you charge him with sex abuse, I can arrest him.”
    And it would all be out in the open, the ugly facts of my life and my mother’s, exposed for everyone to see. I looked away. “Not yet.” “Is he abusing Lacey?”
    Lacey had sworn me to secrecy but I needed to help her. I did up my remaining buttons and muttered. “Probably.”
    “You should have come right into the office and filed a report when you found out he was abusing his stepdaughter.”
    “I don’t think they’re married.”
    He raised his voice. “It doesn’t matter.” He was angry with me, which made two of us. “You have to stop it.” “How did this get to be my responsibility?”
    “If you don’t do something he’ll go on molesting that girl.”
    “You think I don’t know that? Lacey refuses to file a complaint. If you approach her about being sexually abused by Ray John she’ll deny it, her word against mine. And I don’t think Rena will help; something tells me Rena will deny it too. To be fair she might not even know.”
    “How old are you?” Styles asked “None of your business,” I shot back.
    He grinned. “No, it’s just that if you are seven years over the age of consent, if you are twenty-five and haven’t charged him, Florida law says the statute of limitations has run out.” “So it’s no longer a crime? Isn’t that a kick in the head?”
    “You can still charge him in civil court for what he did to you, but we can’t bring him up on criminal charges.”
    “That would be great, wouldn’t it? People are just starting to accept I’m not a complete wacko involved in every crime on the island, finally comfortable coming to the restaurant, and not afraid someone’s going to burst in with a machine gun and blast away.”
    “You’re exaggerating.”
    “And you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground about dealing with the public. The point is, I can’t afford the scandal. I’m drowning in debt, mired in a quicksand of bills — the restaurant is barely making it. I need people to come through the door, any drop-off in customers will finish me. I’ve got to hold on ’til tourist season. Two more months, that’s all I need.” Bring on the tourists was my new mantra. “That will save me. No, I can’t do this right now. I need people to forget my past, not rake it all up again. More scandal will keep them away.” I was talking, talking, talking to convince both of us. “You can’t expect me to destroy myself by charging Ray John.”
    “And maybe there’s something else stopping you. Maybe you need Clay to forget your past as well.” I jerked up straight. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He lifted a shoulder. “You tell me. Seems to me you’re always worrying about what he thinks. Like you’re not good enough for him just the way you are.”
    “Clay has a lot of money in the Sunset. I don’t want to lose his money.” I rapped my knuckles on the desk to emphasize my words. “If I don’t make it, if the Sunset can’t turn a profit the way it is, Clay will have the building knocked down and then he will put up more condos. That was the condition he came into it with me. He’s already told me this isn’t a charity.” I rubbed a tiny ache beginning to nibble away at my brain. “It’s a sore point between Clay and me, me wanting to keep everything