Cutting Loose Ch. 02

"Jilly," Becky said softly. "I'm a doctor. A doctor in a small town. Trust me. If anyone knows how to keep a secret, it's me." She stole a glance at her son, lying warm in comfortable in her friend's arms, and decided to take a chance.

"You've never asked me who Alan's father is."

Jillian's eyes shot up to meet Becky's. "It's not my business. I know you're not married. If you decide you're ready to have a baby, and you're not ready to be settle down with someone, who am I to stick my nose in where it's not welcome?"

Becky snorted softly. "Well, you're different than a lot of other people, Jillian." She lowered her voice and leaned over the table. "Alan's father is my nephew, Marty. We've been lovers for over a year. He's away at school, now. I don't know what we'll do when he graduates. We're still talking about it. But taking him as my lover is the best choice I ever made in my life. He loves me. And I know he'll never betray me. And I am proud he is the father of my child."

Throughout this incredible confession, Jillian's eyes had been growing wider and wider, until she thought they would fall plop out of her head and bounce on the table like a pair of ping-pong balls. "Are you crazy?" she whispered, trying not to attract attention. "Do you have any idea what people will do when they find out?" She stared at the baby in her arms. "And the risks, Becky! How could you be sure he wouldn't be...be..."

"A flipper baby?" Becky grinned and made flapping motions with her arms. Despite herself, Jillian smiled. "I'm a doctor, Jilly. Who would know better the dangers of inbreeding than me? Which are, I am happy to say, vastly exaggerated by people who are happy to condemn what Marty and I have found together. The risks they speak of are only marginally greater than what two random strangers would have.

"True," she continued, her voice dry and clinical, "if our children had kids with each other, and that continued, in a few generations there would probably be some risks. But even then, if we were genetically clean, there would be no possibility for latent recessives to fuck up our gene pool."

She shrugged. "I wasn't worried. I know our family history. Both mine and that of Marty's father. There has never been a hint of problems on that front.

"And as for society? To hell with them. We're not going to announce our relationship. But we can't hide it forever. And Promise has bigger problems than who I'm sleeping with. There are other secrets besides mine in this town. If people start pointing fingers, I have enough ammo to blow this town sky-high. And they know it." It was hard not to call the expression on her face a smirk.

Jillian rocked back in her seat, her eyes wide. To have her friend so casually confess to a relationship which she had been taught was sinful made her think that she might have to reconsider her beliefs.

"Tell me," Becky's gentle voice continued. "When you saw the two of them together...you did see them, right?"

Jillian nodded miserably.

"When you saw them, what was the first emotion to cross your mind? Were you sickened? Disgusted?"

"I was angry," she said in a small voice.

"Angry?" Becky raised dark brows. "Now that is interesting. Why were you angry? Is it possible the old green-eyed monster was making an appearance?"

Jillian blinked, totally confused. "Green-eyed monster?"

Becky grinned. "It's a quote. From Shakespeare. In one of his plays he called jealousy and envy the green-eyed monster. Othello, I think. Or The Merchant of Venice. It's been a while since my English Lit class in school.

"The point I'm trying to make, darling, is if you were angry, was it because of what Roy Lee was doing? Or was it because of who he was doing it with? In short, were you mad that he was making love to his aunt rather than you?"

She stood and lifted Alan out of Jillian's arms, ignoring her poleaxed look of amazement. "I need to go. And you need to think. But if you want to talk about it, you know where to find me." She placed the baby back in the stroller. He opened his eyes and gave a faint meep. She smiled fondly at him, and Jillian tried to come to the grips with the fact that the healthy, happy child was a product of an incestuous relationship.

Becky bent and hugged her. "One word of warning. Before you do anything, think about it. Make sure it's what you want. I didn't, but I got lucky. Other people haven't. I'll see you soon, okay?"

Pulling on her coat, she left the diner. Jillian sat back in the booth, her thoughts a tumult.

*****

The next four days were a tense misery for Jillian.

Somehow she was able to put on a cheerful face when she was with her sister and her son, and not descend into screaming rage. But her stomach was tied in knots whenever she was around them, and her appetite was non-existent. She had trouble sleeping, and dark circles formed beneath her eyes. Every look Eileen and Roy Lee exchanged, every word they spoke to each other, was now fraught with meaning in her envious mind. Only when she was alone did she get any respite, and those hours were dangerous as well. In her own room, with the door locked, she masturbated frantically, fantasizing about her son, those few seconds when Roy Lee's naked body was displayed before her in all its glory driving her lust.

The situation came to a head on Wednesday afternoon. Eileen stalked into the veterinary clinic, asked Paco to excuse himself, and trapped Jillian in an examination room.

"What's wrong, Jilly?" she asked bluntly.

She opened her mouth to deny there was any problem, but her sister overrode her feeble protest. "Don't bullshit me. I know you. And I know when something is wrong. You're acting the same way you did right after Dale lost his job at the mill. As if you could hold your family together through sheer willpower. You were wrong then, and if you don't let me help you, you'll be wrong this time, too. What's wrong?"

Jillian gave up the pretense. She let her head sag forward, the tension draining from her body. "I saw you and Roy Lee together," she said softly, mindful of the people outside. "Saturday afternoon. I came back from the clinic and saw the two of you making love."

"Oh," Eileen said. She looked at Jillian, her lips pursed in dismay. "Well, that's not how we imagined you finding out," she said carefully. "Although we really haven't discussed it much."

"Eileen, how..."

"How did it all happen?" Her sister finished her question. She smiled fondly. "In desperation, for my part. Roy Lee came into the salon the night we left. His daddy had told him he looked like a hippie, and to get a haircut. Roy Lee figured he could let me know he was leaving, and I could pass along the word once he was out of town. When I found out what he meant to do..." She shrugged, but there was no apology in her face. "I seduced him. I said the other night I would have done anything to get out of Deer Creek. And I meant it. I pulled down his pants right in the middle of the salon and starting sucking his cock." Her face grew dreamy with the memory. "Didn't get to finish him off, though. The fucking mailman came by and interrupted us.

"But that's where it all changed for me, Jilly. Roy Lee is an incredible lover. So patient and kind and gentle. It's like he gets off by watching me cum. I was half in love with him after our first night together. By the next day, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him."

"Oh," Jillian said woodenly. She stood up, but her legs were shaking. "Don't worry, Elly. Your secret is safe. I won't make a fuss. I hope the two of you will be happy together." Even as she spoke the words, her heart broke. She could feel it, a tearing pain in her chest.

"Oh, no you don't," Eileen said. She blocked the door, preventing her escape. Her normally cheerful face was serious as she peered down at her older sister. "Something is still eating at you. And I'm not leaving this room until you tell me. Out with it."

Jillian's face crumpled. She looked down at her feet, feeling tears course down her cheeks. "I'm envious. Can you believe it? My sister is screwing my son. And my biggest problem is the fact that I want to screw my son. I've been fantasizing about him for days. How he looked when I saw the two of you together. God, Eileen, what sort of mother am I?"

"A horny one?" Eileen said. Even through her despair, Jillian giggled. Her sister hugged her, her body warm and pliant against hers. She spoke quietly into her ear. "If you're horny for Roy Lee, I suppose I have to congratulate you for your good taste," she said quietly. "And I would be the biggest hypocrite in the world if I tried to steer you away."

Jillian stepped back, her face blank with disbelief. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying your son finds you just as sexy as he does me," Eileen said. "You've been watching him. A blind woman could see it. I sure as hell have. Well, he's been watching you right back. And it ain't just the look a boy gives his long-lost momma. It's the look a man gives a woman he'd like to see more of. A lot more.

"Your son thinks you're hot, Jilly. If we primed him right, he'd leap at a chance to go to bed with you."

"And you'd be okay with it?" Jillian tried to make her voice sarcastic, but instead it came out as a plaintive cry.

Eileen grinned. "Well, Jilly, right now I'm not getting near as much loving from your son as I would like. Because he's at work in the daytime, and you're home at night. And neither of us thought much of the idea of trying to screw in secret, with you on the other side of the bedroom wall.

"I'm thinking that if we share him, I'll be getting more action anyway. Because even if Roy Lee is splitting his cock between the two of us, we won't have to hide what's going on from each other."

"You could move into a place of your own," Jillian protested weakly.

"Listen to me, Sis." Eileen's voice was impatient. "I have no problem lying to the town about what's going on between the three of us. Hell," she said, her voice quietly savage, "I lied to Deer Creek for twenty years about what a great marriage I had.

"But I'm not going to lie to you. And I'm not going to pretend I'm not sleeping with your son, since you've found out. I want to help you. Roy Lee's young, hot, and very enthusiastic. He'll be able to keep us satisfied for as long as we like.

"Let me help you, Jilly. Let me help you seduce your son."

*****

It had been the most crime-free week in the memory of Deer Creek.

The word had gone out, whispered in the seedy bars and the trailer parks, in the shabby apartment houses and the storefront churches.

Bobby Ray Harris' wife left him. Stay out of his way if you know what's good for you.

The criminal element, long used to laying low when Bobby Ray was on a mean streak, crawled into the woodwork and disappeared. Normal, law-abiding citizens took special care not to speed through Deer Creek's potholed streets, in fear of flashing lights in their rearview mirrors. Couples on the ragged edge of bitter breakups lowered their voices and made sure their vicious arguments stayed quiet, not wishing for Bobby Ray to come crashing through their front door, investigating a domestic disturbance call.

At the same time Jillian and Eileen were speaking in Promise, Eileen's unloved husband was crouched at his desk in Deer Creek, trying to convincingly falsify a report for an arrest which had resulted in a skull fracture.

A soft, diffident knock sounded at the door frame. Bobby Ray looked up, his fat, florid face settling into a scowl. Dale McCoy stood in the doorway, looking somewhat less seedy than usual. His hair was combed, he was wearing clean clothes. He had actually shaved.

Good Lord, Bobby Ray thought, sour humor cutting through his aggravation, is the drunk old fucker actually sober for a change? Dale's alcoholism had been s source of amusement for years. Bobby Ray hadn't shed a tear when Dale's stuck-up bitch of a wife left him and his pansy-ass son. The fewer influences on Eileen, the better. Jillian always had taken up for her sister. One time, in fact, she had actually goaded Dale into making roundabout inquiries about whether he had ever used his fists on Eileen.

Only when she deserves it, he had told his brother-in-law, watching him back down in quivering fear.

When he got back from work that night, he had blacked the cunt's eye.

That had been a good night. Bobby Ray sat back in his chair, a gleam of happy memory in his eyes. "What can I do for you, Dale? But make it quick, I'm a busy man."

Dale crept slowly into his office, his shaking hands clutched together. "I was...I was wondering if you could tell me how to file a missing person's report."

"See one of the officers up front, Dale. I don't get involved in that," he said dismissively. He blinked as his brain caught up with his ears. There could only be one person in town Dale would report missing. "Wait a second. Is Roy Lee gone?"

Dale nodded, nervous sweat shining on his balding head. "He left over a week ago. Told me he was going to visit some friends up north. In Kentucky. But he never came back. I thought he might have gotten a place of his own, here in town. But he didn't come by to visit." He sniffled, and a self-pitying tear crept down his broken-veined cheek. "So I went by his work, out at Rollie Stebbin's place. Rollie tells me he got an e-mail from Roy Lee last Tuesday night, telling him that he quit. He had moved away, and wasn't going to work for him no more.

"His room is all packed up. He took all his things. And today I found a voice mail on my phone. It was from Roy Lee. It said he was leaving Deer Creek and wasn't coming back."

Throughout this incredible confession Bobby Ray had felt the pieces falling into place. He thought back to that last conversation with Eileen. The contemptuous way she had dismissed him.

"I've found a lover. I haven't screwed him yet, but he's already way better in the sack than you ever were."

He surged to his feet. When he spoke his voice was low and hoarse with fury.

"Roy Lee left on the thirtieth? The Friday before last?"

"That's what I said," Dale said, shuffling backwards.

"And you're just telling me now, you stupid, drunk fuck!" he yelled. "That's the same night Eileen ran off!" His mind blazing in rage, he pinned Dale against the wall. A furious fist buried itself in Dale's midsection, leaving the man sobbing for breath on the floor. He followed it up by kicking him in the face. The sick wet crack of his breaking nose was music in his ears.

Bobby Ray was drawing his foot back for another vicious strike when he was interrupted.

"Excuse me," a clear voice said, cutting through the sweet fog of rage. Snarling, he turned his head around to be met by a small African-American woman in a dark uniform. She held a thick envelope in her hand and a clipboard was tucked under her arm.

"As much as I hate to get involved, I have a certified letter for Mr. Bobby Ray Harris," she said. Her expression didn't change, but she gave the subtle impression of finding Bobby as appetizing as a cockroach on a wedding cake.

He snatched the envelope out of her hands, pretending not to notice as the woman helped Dale to his feet. His brother-in-law staggered down the hallway, thin whines of pain escaping his mouth as he fled.

"What's in here?" Bobby Ray grunted, taking the envelope.

"It's a surprise," the woman said maliciously. She shoved the clipboard at him. "Sign here, please. I need confirmation of receipt."

Bobby Ray briefly considered smacking the uppity bitch around a little. But her uniform dissuaded him. She would surely report him to her bosses, and a lawsuit would be inconvenient. Bobby Ray had always found it better to victimize those who couldn't fight back. He scrawled his name where the woman's pointing finger directed him.

"Congratulations," she said. The smirk on her face was positively gleeful. "You've just been served. Enjoy your divorce."

"What?" he roared. He charged at the woman, his hands outstretched. She ducked around the doorframe and into the hall, and he chased her, screaming threats.

Until he was brought up short with a gun to his head. At that point he became very, very still.

"We were warned about you," the woman said. There was no laughter in her voice now, and her face was grim. She glanced at her companion, a large man with a buzz cut and ice-cold eyes that held no humor at all. "I'm sure you enjoy terrorizing people around this shithole town. But I'm a bonded courier. And Reggie here comes out with me when we are delivering a package to those who...might be less than pleased to receive it.

"So back off, you disgusting thug. Or he'll turn your head into a canoe."

Bobby Ray swallowed and raised his hands. The woman nodded, and Reggie lowered the pistol. She turned away and walked down the hall towards the reception area. Reggie backed away slowly, keeping his eyes locked on Bobby Ray until he, too, disappeared around the corner.

*****

Bobby Ray closed the door and sank into his chair, trembling with impotent anger. Absently, he opened the envelope, glancing over the paperwork.

And sat up, his eyes wide and staring.

Beaverhead County, Montana.

"That's where she is. Oh, you stupid fucking whore. I've got you now." A quick search on his computer got him the numbers for the post offices serving the few towns in Beaverhead County. He struck gold on his third call, as the post-office worker gave him the home address for Jillian Coulter.

His next call was to the Beaverhead County Sheriff's Department.

"This is Deputy Sheriff Bobby Ray Harris," he said to the bored-sounding clerk. "I'd like to speak with Sheriff Del...Deliz...."

"Delzecki, sir?"

"Yes. Right."

"One moment, sir."

A short pause, than a laconic voice picked up the line. "Delzecki speaking."

"Yes, Sheriff," Bobby Ray said, trying to keep his voice under control. "This is Deputy Sheriff Bobby Ray Harris, calling from Lawrence County, Alabama. We've just found out that a woman we have an interest in is living in Promise. It's a sensitive case, so I'll be coming out to pick her up personally. But I wanted to give you a heads-up. Don't want any crossed signals."

"Really? Who is this woman? And what is she wanted for?"

"Her name is Jillian Coulter, Sheriff. She was involved in a methamphetamine ring down in these parts. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how badly meth is affecting our communities," he said piously. "We busted the lab a few years ago, but she slipped away and relocated to Promise, we believe. We've got warrants out on her for money laundering, drug manufacturing, sales and distribution, the whole nine yards."

"Huh. Is she dangerous?"

Bobby Ray held back a snort of sarcastic laughter. "No. Not at all. We figure her to be the brains of the outfit. But we think she can lead us to some of the bigger fish. You know how it works."

"I surely do." The man's voice was dryly amused. "Do want us to take her in?"

"No!" Bobby Ray said quickly. If this idiot Delzecki arrested Jillian, she might tell him the truth about her unwelcome visitor from Alabama. The last thing he needed was for some cowboy lawman to gum up the works. "Just keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't leave town. I don't want someone local here tipping her off." He smirked. Nothing like a little cloak-and-dagger to keep the rubes occupied.

"All right then. When do you think you'll be out here?"