been attacked on the parking lot of Burnet’s Bar and Billiards, she’d known who had thrashed him.
Only a few hours earlier she had told Ledge about Morg’s abuse. Ledge hadn’t ranted, hadn’t taken an oath of vengeance for her, hadn’t pledged he would put a stop to it.
Rather, he’d remained motionless and silent, simply staring into the near distance, his eyes radiating an intense, white heat. Then he had come to his feet and offered to walk her as far as the corner near the school where Morg was due to pick her up.
In the hospital waiting room, she and her mother were questioned by a sheriff’s deputy. When asked if she knew anyone who held a grudge against her stepbrother, she was trembling on the inside but had lied with remarkable composure. “No, sir. No one.”
Now, as then, her concern was more for Ledge than for his victim. “Is he as banged up as you are?”
“You’re worried about him?” He looked at her with contempt. “I told you, he doesn’t fight fair. He walked away with barely a scratch, if any.” He reached for the glass on the nightstand and spat bloody saliva into it. “He left me there like this and sped off with what was left of our stash and the money we’d made. But I got the last laugh.”
When he chuckled, it was an ugly, evil sound. Pinkish bubbles formed between his swollen lips. “Not long after he left me bleeding, he got busted. Caught with what we hadn’t sold. As we speak, he’s in lockup.”
She made to leave the bed in a rush, but Rusty’s good arm shot out and caught her wrist. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To the jail.”
“Like hell you are.” He pulled her back down onto the bed. “You and I are staying right here. Where I’ve been all night.”
“All night? What are you talking about?”
“Why, Crystal, honey, I’ve been with you since around nine-thirty, when your mama turned in for the night. No more than five minutes after her bedroom light went out, I tapped on your window, and you let me in. The prints of my boots will be outside your window under those scraggly bushes, and right there under the window on your rug.”
She pulled on her arm, but he held fast. “If your jailbird sweetheart tries to implicate me in his little sideline business, I have a rock-solid alibi. You. We were screwing each other’s brains out.”
“You filthy piece of crap. We were doing no such thing.”
“Okay, then. We weren’t screwing. You were sucking me.”
She looked at him with disgust. “I will never lie to protect you.”
“Yeah, you will.”
“Like hell, and you can’t make me.”
“Crystal, dear, you will go along with whatever I say. Want to know why? Because, so far, in order to save face, I’m willing to lie to anybody who asks how I wound up in this sorry state.
“But if Ledge squeals on me, and you side with him, I’ll be forced to tell the truth. In which case, Ledge will be charged not only with dealing weed, but also with assault and battery. Maybe even attempted murder.” He snickered with regret. “In case you didn’t know, that’s serious shit.”
“It would be your word against his,” she said. “Besides, your injuries aren’t life-threatening. A split lip, a broken arm? You’re hurt, but hardly knocking on death’s door.”
“Oh, wait. You thought I was referring to this little fender-bender he inflicted on me?” He touched the center of his chest with his fingertips. “No, honeybun. I was talking about the near-fatal assault he wreaked on your sorry stepbrother.”
Crystal felt the earth giving way beneath her. “How did you know it was Ledge?”
A slow grin spread across Rusty’s features. “I didn’t. But I do now.”
Chapter 21
When Crystal told Ledge that he could drop the pretense, that she knew what Rusty and he had done that night, she hadn’t been referring to the burglary.
Not at all.
As she related her account of Rusty’s visit to her house, Ledge was by turns incredulous and enraged. Rusty had spun quite a tale. He’d left Crystal convinced that if she denied he had been with her much of that night, it would be Ledge who suffered the consequences.
But beyond the personal ramifications, this previously unknown information painted an even blacker picture of Rusty and what he might have done that night after he and Ledge had parted.
I have a rock-solid alibi. But where were you? Where did you get off to after