Southern Discomfort

I didn't know I could feel, I held her until her stomach was empty and only dry heaves wracked her body.

That bastard. That—

'Did he do it?' Annie Sue sobbed. 'Oh sweet Jesus, please don't let me get pregnant! Please, Jesus! Oh Deborah, Mommy and Daddy are going to be so mad at me. I tried to kick him in the—you know—but he just laughed, and I fought and I tried to get away and please, Jesus, don't let me get AIDS!'

Making soothing noises, I helped her pull up her shorts, then coaxed her through the house and out to my car.

'It's okay, honey,' I said, smoothing her hair as she cried in my arms. 'It's going to be all right, but you have to tell me now what happened. Did Carver Bannerman do this to you?'

She gulped back another sob and nodded.

'You were here all by yourself? Where was Paige?'

'She and Cindy—Dad— They don't like him much. And when he started on me, they left.'

'When who started?'

'Dad.' Old resentments mingled with misery in her voice. 'He was mad at Reese because he'd fouled up a job and then he got over here and I'd wired the kitchen stove outlet to the same circuit as the air conditioner instead of putting them separate and I knew it was wrong as soon as I showed it to him, but he could've just said. He didn't have to yell in front of my friends. So they left and then he left and I was so mad I stayed to fix it right and then he came in.'

'Bannerman?'

'I think I want to go home now,' she whimpered.

'We will,' I soothed. 'Just as soon as you finish telling me.'

'I didn't know he was anywhere around. It was raining hard and I didn't hear him come in. I was almost finished and when I turned around, there he was. I told him if he was looking for Cindy, she'd already gone and how come he was out tomcatting around to dances anyhow when he had a pregnant wife at home?'

She shivered and pulled away from me to roll down the window and take long deep breaths of the wet night air. 'Oh, God, Deb'rah! What if I do get pregnant?'

'What happened next?' I prodded.

'He said, 'What's the matter, dollface? You jealous?' I told him not to be a jerk, but he started bragging about how he'd made a woman of Cindy and I probably wanted him to do me, too. I thought maybe he'd been drinking or was on dope or something and I tried to change the subject. Told him if he was there to inspect the rough-in, I was all finished. I was picking up my tools and he said something nasty about inspecting my wiring first and he grabbed me. I tried to get away and that's when the ladder tipped over and smashed the light bulb. He started cursing me and pulled me toward the back of the house. I fought and kicked and he yanked at my shirt and threw me down on the floor and next I must have hit my head because I don't remember anything else till you came and oh, please, Deborah. Let's go home! Please?'

'We'll go home,' I promised. 'But first, I want to take you to the hospital.'

Streetlights along Redbud Lane were few and far between, but they threw enough light for me to see her head shaking back and forth wildly. 'No! I can't—I don't—'

I put my arms around her again and tried to make her understand the necessity. 'They'll have a rape kit there, honey. They're trained to collect the evidence we're going to need to put that bastard in prison.'

She tried to pull away but I held her tighter. 'I know you don't think you can stand it, but you have to, Annie Sue. You can't let him get away with it.'

'But Mom and Dad—'

I knew I was on shaky legal ground. Annie Sue was a minor and I was not her mother. I couldn't force them to prosecute; it wasn't my decision to make. But damned if I wasn't going to try to preserve the evidence if they did want that slimeball put under state prison.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Annie Sue calmed down enough to see my reasoning. She agreed to let me take her to the hospital if I'd stop and call Nadine first. This time, despite the pouring rain, I used the pay phone in the parking lot beside the convenience store. It rang several times, then clicked into their answering machine.

Where the hell were they? I was so sure Nadine and Herman would be there, that for a moment I blanked. This wasn't a decision an aunt should make. What if I committed Annie Sue to something they might not want? Frustrated, I slammed up the phone without leaving a message and dashed back to the car. Even with an umbrella, my sandals and skirt were sopping wet as I climbed back in.

Tears streamed down Annie Sue's battered face when I told her Herman and Nadine weren't there, but she didn't argue as I turned my car toward the hospital. *      *      *

I parked at the emergency entrance and the nurse who came forward as we hurried in out of the rain was Bambi Cobb. Her sister Sherry manages the law office I'd shared with Reid and John Claude and from what I'd seen of Bambi, she was every bit as sharp as Sherry. No dramatics, no superfluous lamentations, just a real efficient professional.

'We want a full rape kit workup,' I said.

She nodded, then put her arm around Annie Sue and led her down the hall to an examination room.

I ducked into a nearby rest room, and one look at the mirror made me wonder that Bambi hadn't asked if I needed help, too. I washed my face and hands and did what I could with my sandy blonde hair—in wet weather, it thickens up even more and tries to curl instead of falling smoothly around my face. My soggy coral sandals had walked through so many puddles tonight that they were ruined. Paper towels helped with my muddy feet, but nothing could be done about the smudges on my coral silk blouse. As for my no-longer-white skirt, how did I get so much mud and—were those blood stains? No cuts on my hands. Annie Sue?