Dangerous Authority (10 page)

As dinner time approached, her parents arrived.  They blustered in the back door, shaking the snow off their coats.  Polar opposites of Mrs. Flame, both her parents had warm embraces for her and each child individually.  Even Derek and Alex launched themselves into her parents' arms and clung to them.  The odd contradiction of the situation did not escape her and she began feeling increasingly apprehensive.

In no time, everyone gathered around the dining room table as Mary Jane carried in over a dozen dishes she had prepared including a succulent turkey.  Only her mom rose to help her while Dominique and his mother continued to chat like old buddies and ignore everybody else.  Her mother's angry glares in his direction also did not escape Mary Jane.

Once all the food steamed fragrantly in the center of the table, her father smiled all around and suggested everyone join hands and give thanks.  When he did, Dominique chuckled, and his mother smirked.  Mary Jane's heart began to thump.

"Is there a problem with giving thanks to God for this meal?" Hank Anderson asked, anger flashing on his face.

Dominique did not respond except to give his mother a sideways glance and a small smile.

"It's all as you please, Mr. Anderson," said Mrs. Flame primly.  "But experts say that archaic rituals demanded by organized religions demonstrate a lack of intelligence.  A low I.Q."

Mary Jane stifled a gasp at the woman's incredibly rude comment.  She noted each of the children with their eyes darting around wide and shocked, even though they likely didn't even know what a low I.Q. was.  Her cheeks blazed both from standing over a hot stove and complete embarrassment over the way her father had just been insulted.

Hank glared at the woman through slits for eyes.  "Well,
ma'am
," he said, adopting the same condescending tone that she had used.  "If it doesn't please you to give thanks to God, on
Thanksgiving,
perhaps you'd just like to take that time to thank my daughter who slaved over this meal since before your head ever left your pillow this morning."

Mrs. Blaze smiled obnoxiously again.  "Or, perhaps I'd give thanks to my son for financing it for her and her fatherless children."

Mary Jane buried her face in her hands.  Her father was a wonderful man, but she wouldn't put it past him to overturn a table in a fit of justifiable anger.  How could this day be failing so miserably? 
And what the hell is wrong with this old bitch?  She makes Doris seem like an angel!

"Dad, please," Mary Jane said, turning pleading eyes to her father.  Both her parents stared at her with wide open mouths, blinking and speechless.  Finally her mom dropped her eyes to her plate as if defeated, and her father's shoulders slumped.  He mumbled out a short, halfhearted prayer, and then took a seat.

***

Late that evening, Dominique left with his mother to return her to the airport.  Mary Jane couldn't believe Mrs. Flame didn't care to spend even one night with her son and grandchildren, but she couldn't be happier to be rid of the old woman.  As soon as they were out the door, Mary Jane hurried the children to bed so that she could be long asleep before Dominique returned.  Not only was she exhausted and in desperate need of a reprieve from his sexual demands, she was furious.

She fell quickly and easily into a deep dreamless sleep.  But it seemed that only moments had passed when Dominique woke her by running his hands up her body.  Mary Jane groaned and rolled over, pulling away from him.

He reached for her again, but she shoved his hands away.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.  "What's your problem?"  Light illuminated the room as he switched on the bedside lamp.

She groaned.  "I'm not in the mood," Mary Jane said sleepily.

"Well get in the mood," he said quietly.

She dragged her eyes open and hauled herself into a seated position, propped against her pillows.  She glared angrily at him.

"Dominique," she said in a carefully controlled tone.  "She insulted my parents, my kids,
your
kids, and me-"

"Watch your mouth," he snarled.

She grimaced but would not be deterred.  "How could you let her speak to us the way that she did?"

Dominique lurched out of the bed and stood staring down at her with angry eyes, his nostrils flaring.  "Mary Jane, I said watch your fucking mouth."

She climbed out of the bed as well, standing with it between them.  "What is your problem?  Don't talk to me like that!  Have you lost your mind?  Who
are
you?"

He stared at her for a long moment without saying anything.  Then he reached down and snatched his pillows off the bed.  He turned and stormed out of the room.

Mary Jane stood there with her heart pounding for a long time, expecting him to return, hoping he wouldn't.  Sickness roiled in her stomach.  Finally she got back into bed and buried herself beneath the covers.

She had a difficult time finding sleep again, obsessive thoughts plaguing her.  An alarm bell sounded deep in her mind as she recalled a certain conversation that kept playing over and over again.

Lying in that very bed, she'd asked him if his wife had been having an affair; if that was the reason he'd pulled a gun on a fellow officer.  Looking back on it, she realized he hadn't confirmed what she'd said; she'd simply chosen to believe it was true.  And then again, she'd asked if that was why his wife wasn't around; if she'd left him and the boys for another man.

She remembered his response perfectly.  He'd said, "She made her choice."

At the time, she'd taken what he said, and what he didn't say at face value.  But as she lay there thinking about it, she was suddenly overwhelmed with anxiety.  Maybe there was much more to the story than that.  He'd cleverly confirmed by not denying in such a way that he couldn't be accused of lying later.  She shook her head against the pillow, fighting tears. 

It was practically sunrise before she finally fell to sleep troubled by nightmares.

***

Mary Jane was off the following day as well.  Thankfully, by the time she rose with the children, Dominique had already left for work.  She hurried down to the kitchen to fix them breakfast.  Once they were all situated at the table, Mary Jane slipped to the den and accessed her email.

She opened her "trash" folder and gave a deep shuddering sigh of relief when she saw the email she'd deleted from Elisa Monroe still there.  She clicked on it, and then grabbed her cell phone, dialing the number in the email.

A woman's voice answered after three rings.  "Hello?"

"Hi.  Um…  Elisa?  This is Mary Jane Barnaby."

A piece of her heart broke as she listened to the woman on the other end of the call dissolve into sobs.  The hardness she'd felt toward a woman who apparently left her children began to crack.

"Elisa," Mary Jane said softly.  "Please don't cry.  I'm ready to listen."

***

She got her mom to come over and watch the kids, then stole away into the snow.  She maneuvered the van quickly out of town, eyes darting everywhere terrified of seeing any police cruisers.  If she saw any cruiser, even if it wasn't Dominique, she planned to abort her plan and go to Walmart instead.  But, she did make it out of town and a half hour later she found herself seated across from Elisa Monroe in a diner in a neighboring town.

Elisa looked almost the same as she had in the newspaper wedding announcement that Mary Jane remembered from the time of her greatest heart break.  But, she had aged.  Maybe a little more than a beautiful woman should have in only seven years.  The woman trembled visibly as she white knuckled a cup of coffee.

"How are my children?" Elisa asked, without prelude.

Mary Jane felt awkward.  After all the unexpected events since moving in with Dominique, she was about half way to believing Elisa may not be as bad as the rumors would have her believe.  However, she didn't know for sure and so she felt protective of Derek and Alex.

"Why did you ask me to talk to you, Elisa?"

Elisa stared at her with dull, faded blue eyes.  "Why did you
agree
to talk to me?"

For a long tense moment, the two women sat locked in a stale mate, until Elisa finally broke the silence.  "I think you're here because you're beginning to figure out who he really is."  Mary Jane didn't answer.  After a pause, Elisa continued.  "I don't know what you've heard about me.  I'm sure, in that hell hole town, you've heard something.  So let me just tell you the truth.  I wasn't in that cruiser having an affair.  I was asking that cop for help.  He was the only one I thought I might be able to trust.  Turns out, I was wrong.  Even when Dominique pulled a gun on him, he didn't believe me."

Tears began to form in Mary Jane's eyes.  But she still did not reply.

Elisa pushed on.  "He was going to kill me, Mary Jane.  I wanted out, and he was going to kill me.  But, once he realized that the good old boy network would protect him, no matter what I said, he let me have a choice.  I could leave quietly and he wouldn’t hurt me.  All I had to do was leave the boys."

The tears began to spill.  Mary Jane shook her head, thinking of Derek and Alex.  "Elisa, if any of this is true…  How could you leave those boys with him?  How
could
you?"

Elisa leaned forward across the table and gave Mary Jane a haunted look that chilled her to the bone.  She lowered her voice to a whisper.  "Because, he said that if I tried to take them, then he would kill us all."

Mary Jane clapped a hand over her mouth, an explosion of thoughts and questions careening through her mind.  It couldn't be true.  Yet, somehow, in her heart, she knew that it was.

Elisa slipped her hand over Mary Jane's.  "Mary Jane, you have to get your kids out of there.  And when you are all out and safe, I want you to help me get my sons back."

Chapter 15

M
ary Jane made it home just before Dominique.  He was in a quiet, sullen mood all evening and the family called it an early night.  Her mind still reeled from her conversation with Elisa and all the recent events.  Once in bed, he reached for her, and she slowly turned to face him.

"Dominique, we need to talk."

He propped up on an elbow and gave her a serious look without saying a word.  She thought of all the years she'd loved this man and her resolve weakened.  Earlier in the day, seated across from Elisa, she'd had a horrible feeling the woman was telling the truth.  She'd become scared.  She'd even considered simply taking all the children and leaving with her mother.  But, if all that Elisa had said was true, she felt she should be safer about it than that.  Particularly since her claim was that law enforcement sided with Dominique explicitly.  She couldn't take his children.  And if she left, she couldn't protect them.

But as she stared into his shadowy eyes she recalled every conversation.  Every laugh shared.  Every kiss, both sweet and sultry.  She thought of the many things about him that she loved, and the future she'd hoped to share with him.  In that moment, she felt like she was crazy for believing he was dangerous.  Overly stern and a momma's boy, maybe.  But dangerous?  It couldn't be true.

"Baby, I've been thinking that maybe we moved too fast moving in together."

He lurched upright in the bed and stared down at her.  "What?"

Tears began to spill down her cheeks.  "Listen, please.  I just think maybe we need to take a step back, slow down a little bit, that's all.  I think my kids and I should stay at my parents' for a while."

He shook his head, his face falling.  "Come on, Mary Jane, please don't do this."

His broken plea shattered her heart.  She felt more confused than ever.  This didn't seem like the reaction of a deranged lunatic who would threaten to kill his wife and children.  But she also thought of all the times she'd been upset because he was way too hard on the kids.  And on her.  She needed to stay strong.  Even if she decided to write Elisa off as a nut job, she knew she was right about taking a break.  The whole thing…  It was just too much.

Dominique scrambled to get out of the bed. 

"Dom, listen!  Please!  I don't want us to split; please you have to believe me!  I just want to slow down!"

He paced frantically at the foot of the bed, looking like a caged animal searching for escape.  When he turned back to her, it shocked her to see tears glistening on his cheeks.  "Mary Jane," he said.  "Please don't leave me."

"I'm just suggesting a little time in separate residences, Dom.  That's all."

"That's leaving."

"It's not though!  It doesn't have to be!"

He stared at her for an endless moment, tears streaming.  Seeing the heart ache on his face broke her resolve completely.  She was ready to take it all back.  But then he spoke again.

"I couldn't stand watching you be miserable every day.  Not when I loved you and wanted you
so
much.  And I know that I fucked up way back when.  But I wanted to make it right.  To make everything right.  Set the record straight.  And when I saw that bruise on your face," he said in a ghostly voice.  He closed his eyes and shook his head as though trying to rid his mind of unpleasant thoughts.  "I did."

Mary Jane's heart began to race and a headache thundered in from nowhere.  Bile rose in her throat.  "What are you talking about?" she whispered.

"He was out on that back road after two a.m., probably heading to the truck stop.  I'd been tailing him since he left the bar.  He was too damn drunk to notice.  We were out there in the middle of nowhere, no one around.  I saw my chance."

All the color drained from her face.  "What are you saying?"

"You have no idea, the risk I took for you that night, Mary Jane," he said solemnly.  "He was driving erratically anyway, completely dangerous.  He probably would've ended up hurting someone.  So, I pulled in front of him, and then I slammed on my breaks.  It was a tense moment when I had to get control of the cruiser and get out of his way so I didn't get hit.  And it worked, he wrapped his car around a telephone pole."

She sat staring at him, blinking, speechless.

"When I got out and went back to the car…"  He shook his head again, again with the unpleasant thoughts.  "He was a hell of a mess.  Most likely, he wouldn't have lived anyway, but I put him out of his misery.  It's not hard to strangle a man who's almost dead to begin with."

Everything Elisa had said was true.  She knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt.  And she was sharing a bed each night with the man who'd murdered her husband.

Murdered.  Zander had been murdered.

  She began to shake so violently that the bed vibrated.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly, approaching the bed and climbing back onto it.  He reached to caress her cheek and she struggled not to flinch.  Or vomit.

"I…  I…  This is just a really big shock, Dominique," she said quietly.

He smiled.  "I know, baby.  I know.  But I had to tell you.  So you'd truly understand how much I love you.  You understand now," he said happily.

She nodded, and forced a smile.  "I do," she whispered.

He got back under the covers and pulled her against his chest. "Everything's going to be fine," he said, stroking her hair.

He was soon asleep while she lay awake most of the night with her skin crawling in all the places where their bodies touched.

***

As soon as she heard his car pulling away in the morning, she leapt from her bed. 

She hurried to put on clothes and then rushed the children to dress and get in the van.  Normally she took all five kids to daycare.  That morning at the center, she told her own children to wait in the van and she took the Flame boys inside.  In their room, she clung to both of them, trying to keep it together.  She wanted nothing more than to rescue them too, and, intended to.  But for the time being, she had to leave them.

"I love you guys," she whispered.  "I'll see you soon."

She hoped she wasn't lying.

She hopped in the van and rushed down alleyways to reach her parents' house while staying out of sight.  She roused her mom and dad from sleep and they woke instantly, alarmed.

"Listen," she said, gently pulling her mom into another room so the children wouldn't hear.  "Give me forty minutes, then come and pick me up at work.  Leave the children with dad.  Tell him to lock all the doors and not to let anyone in or answer the phone unless it's you or me, understand?"

Her mother's face was pale and drawn with worry.  "Mary Jane, what's going on?"

"Mom, I have to go.  Please, just trust me.  Come and get me in forty minutes," she demanded.  Then she flew out the door.

***

As always, Dominique was outside the diner waiting for her to arrive and get in the door.  She turned to see his shadowy silhouette behind the headlights.  She smiled and waved as she let herself into the diner.  Once inside, she watched him back out of his parking spot by the curb and drive away.  It was just before five a.m.  He would return at noon, as he did every day like clockwork.

She'd already put a call into Mitch on the way to the diner, and he arrived moments later.  She was buzzing around setting up for the diner's open to burn her nervous energy when he let himself in the back door.  "Mary Jane?" he called as he came through the kitchen. 

She dissolved into tears as soon as she saw him and he rushed forward to embrace her.  "What the hell's going on?" he asked his voice full of worry.

"My mom's coming to pick me up, Mitch.  But I need my van out front to look like I'm here.  I'll get it later.  If Dominique would happen to call, please tell him I'm too busy to come to the phone.  Please.  Don't tell him I'm not here."

Mitch frowned deeply.  "Mary Jane, he comes in here every day!  What am I supposed to say then?"

"By then, I'll have packed me and the kids some bags, and I will have called the police.  Please, I just need your help this one time.  And I'm going to need a little time off."

Headlights flooded the dark dining room as her mother pulled up outside.

"Of course, Mary Jane," Mitch said, comfortingly stroking her arm.  "Whatever you need, you got it."

"Thanks," she said tearfully.  She turned and darted out the door.

***

"You were right," Mary Jane barked into the phone.

Her mother could barely focus on the road as she drove toward Dominique's house while throwing confused glances at Mary Jane.

"What are you talking about?" Elisa said sleepily.

"I'm leaving him.  He doesn't know yet, I've got til noon until he finds out.  I took my kids and I can still grab your boys too if you want me to."

"Mary Jane!" Elisa exclaimed, instantly alert.  "You can't do that!  You'll be arrested!  Don't you understand, nobody will believe you!"

"Oh, they'll believe me," Mary Jane replied darkly.  "As soon as I get in and pack a couple bags and get back out, I'm calling the police.  Last night, he confessed to me that he caused my husband's accident, and then strangled him to death.  Once Zander is exhumed, everyone will know he's a monster.  They'll know you weren't a liar."

"Give me an address," Elisa said excitedly.  "I'll be there in a half hour."

***

Marsha cried uncontrollably as she raced around helping Mary Jane pack.  They left the lights out and worked in the dark. 

"Mom, I'm sorry to throw all this at you.  There wasn't time to break it to you gently.  We'll talk about it all later."

Her mother nodded and continued to work without speaking.

In a matter of moments they were in and out of the Flame home, and heading back to the children.  She glanced at it in the rear view mirror with no intention of ever returning again.