Jade added, “I’m afraid Donna Dee might have been hurt, too.”
“The deputy told me you had asked about her. I called her house. She’s at home. Unharmed.”
She took a deep breath of relief. “Thank heaven.”
His voice was low and confidence-inspiring when he spoke again. “That’s a real serious charge to be making against those boys, Jade.”
“Rape is a serious crime.”
“It’s hard for me to believe they would do something like that.”
“It was hard for me to believe, too. This time yesterday, I would never have thought it possible.”
“Well then,” he said, “why don’t you tell me what really happened?”
Chapter Four
Neal’s room was still dark when his father flung open the door and stormed in. Ivan moved straight to the bed, whipped back the covers, and brought his hand down hard on Neal’s bare buttocks.
???You little shit!”
Neal rolled to the other side of the bed and leaped up. Father and son confronted each other across the rumpled bed. Neal was naked. Ivan was wearing boxer shorts and an old-fashioned white tank T-shirt. His iron-gray hair was standing on end at various points around his head. Even so, he didn’t cut a comic figure. His scowl was fearsome.
“What the fuck got into you?” Neal demanded, settling his hands on his narrow hips. He looked tousled, drowsy, and sullen. His fine, hard body was a product of genetics rather than conditioning. It performed well in sports arenas, but Neal didn’t exert it unless it was absolutely necessary. He took his lean, strong physique as his due.
“I just got a telephone call from Fritz,” Ivan told him.
“So? It’s the middle of the night. I’m going back to bed.”
“Like hell you are.”
Neal’s head was halfway back to his pillow when Ivan caught him by the hair and pulled him up. He gave him a swift kick in the rear. Neal careened into the nearest wall. He spun around, fists raised, ready to do combat.
“Did you rape a girl last night?”
Neal immediately lowered his fists. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about Jade Sperry, who’s down at the courthouse accusing you of rape, that’s what I’m talking about.” Ivan pointed a stern index finger at the center of Neal’s chest. “You’d better tell me the truth, boy.” Ivan’s roar would have awakened the dead.
Neal’s eyes darted around the dim bedroom, lighting briefly on several items before finally coming to rest on Ivan’s thunderous countenance. “If she claims it was rape, she’s telling a goddamn lie.”
“So you do know what I’m talking about, you lying little son of a bitch.”
“I’m not lying!” Neal shouted. “Hutch, Lamar, and me picked her up and took her fishing with us. We drank some beer. Had some laughs. She got friendly—I mean real friendly, Daddy. She asked for it, and she got it.”
Ivan glared at him, his shrewd eyes reflecting the breaking dawn light like shards of glass. “Bullshit. That Sperry girl ain’t white trash. She’s stuck like glue to that Parker boy. What would she want with you three stooges?”
Neal cursed beneath his breath and plowed a hand through his mussed hair. “I tell you, Daddy, she’s been asking for it. She makes out like she’s hot for Parker and nobody else, but every chance she gets, she wags her tail in my face. Then, when her boyfriend comes around, she goes back to being snooty and treating me like a pile of dogshit she’s stepped in.
“You think I’m going to take that kind of crap from a girl? Hell no! Last night I decided to give her a taste of what a real man is like. If she wants to call it rape, that’s her problem.”
“The hell it is!” Ivan had listened to Neal’s explanation with surprising patience. Now he ground his teeth. “It’s not just her problem. She’s made it the sheriff’s problem. And now it’s my problem.”
Neal idly scratched his crotch. “What are you going to do?”
“Not a goddamn thing.”
“Huh?” Neal’s stance lost some of its swagger.