conscious mind asked. Her subconscious seemed to know what to do. When his right leg was close enough, his weight resting on it as he leaned toward her, she hooked her left foot around his calf. He looked down at her foot and then into her eyes and smirked at her. There was drool dangling from his open mouth.
His hesitation was just enough. She pulled hard against his calf with her left foot and kicked his knee-cap with her right heel as hard as she could. It took a fraction of a second for the pain to register; then he screamed and crumpled to the floor, trying to hold his ruined knee, but he couldn’t get the joint to work and the pain wouldn’t stop.
“Oh God, oh God, I’m hurt. Jackie, help me. She’s hurt me. Oh, God. Les, she’s killed me.”
The guy on the bed looked up and started to speak, but grabbed his jaw instead. He looked over at Diane and she cast him a don’t-mess-with-me look. Her adrenaline was still pumping and she was angry. She got up and fetched her heel. The big man on the floor grabbed at her foot. Diane slapped him in the head with her shoe and he howled.
“Leave me alone, you son of a bitch,” she yelled at him.
“Well,” said Liam. “I stand corrected. You could have hurt me.”
“They were drunk,” said Diane. She looked over at him. “This is the second time you’ve helped me out when I badly needed it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Come and stand over here,” he said. “If the guy on the bed tries anything, I can help.”
“I ain’t got no more truck with you,” the skinny guy on the bed mumbled. “I can’t move my arm. What’d you do?” he said.
“You should regain the use of it,” said Diane. “Just lie down on the bed and stay there.”
Diane dragged the unconscious third guy away from Liam’s cell. She pulled a blanket off the bunk, wet it in the sink, and washed the bottom of her feet before putting her shoes back on, all the while watching the three men for signs one of them might be going to try something.
Liam laughed.
Diane smiled at him. “No telling what’s on this floor,” she said.
She stood near Liam and waited, wondering what the sheriff was going to do when he came back.
“Those were beautiful flowers you gave Andie,” she said.
“She seemed to like them. She’s still angry. I suppose I don’t blame her,” he said.
“What did you find out at the church today?” she asked.
“People are scared. Some don’t trust the sheriff-” he began, but stopped when he heard the door open.
“Damn,” whispered Diane. Liam reached through the bars and took her hand.
Chapter 43
Diane squeezed Liam’s hand and listened for the footfalls. More than one person. Several. The sheriff and his deputies, she thought. Would Travis Conrad be with them? Would he defy his father and help her? Her heart thumped in her chest. She felt the adrenaline leaving her. She couldn’t fight again.
“You have strong hands,” whispered Liam.
“Sorry,” said Diane. “Having a little anxiety.”
“Don’t blame you,” he said. “I’m a little anxious myself.”
The first person she saw was the sheriff, then Frank rushing past him. Diane thought she would faint with relief. She raced over to meet him at the cell door, reaching her arms through the bars for him. Agent Gil Mathews of the GBI was with them. So was Colin Prehoda, her lawyer, and David. How did they all get there so fast?
Frank reached for her, then looked, startled, at the moaning men behind her. He looked back at Diane, his expression going from surprise, to worry, to anger. He turned to the sheriff and in a flash had him by the collar of his suit, pushed up against the cell bars.
“What kind of piece of garbage are you that you would do this?” Frank pulled him forward a few inches and slammed him against the bars again. “Get her out now!”
“You can’t. .” the sheriff sputtered.
“I can and I will,” said Frank. “Get her out. Now.” He let go. “Now, you sorry son of a bitch.”
“You’re going to answer for this,” said Agent Mathews to the sheriff. “This is a disgrace to law enforcement- putting a woman in the cell with a bunch of men.” He looked at the empty cell and at Liam and back at the sheriff. “Disgraceful.”
“Unlock the door now,” said Colin Prehoda. “This isn’t going to go well for you, Conrad.”
The sheriff looked at each of their faces, his lip curled. As if just noticing the three men holding their pained body parts and whimpering, he opened his mouth and looked at Diane in amazement.
“You need to call nine-one-one,” she said. “These men need to get to a hospital.”
“Why’d you do it, man?” said the guy on the bed. “Why’d you put her in here with us?”
The sheriff went to the intercom and punched a button. “Bob!” he yelled. “Get your ass down here.”
Bob, the painfully thin deputy she’d met at the Barres’, must have already been on his way, for he came running through the door.
“You were supposed to watch her,” said the sheriff. “Where the hell were you?”
“I’m sorry, Sheriff, but, you know, I ate at that new Mexican place and something just tore me up inside,” he said. “I was coming down as soon as I could.”
“He was supposed to get her out if there was trouble,” said the sheriff. “I was trying to teach her a lesson.”
“Teach her a lesson?” said Liam. “They tried to rape her.”
Bob looked at the men in the cell. “She did that?”
The sheriff unlocked Diane’s cell and opened it.
Diane glared at him as she walked out of the cell. The sleeve of her jacket was almost ripped off and at some point she had torn her skirt up the side, probably when she broke the big guy’s knee.
“The best thing you can do for yourself now, Conrad, is resign,” Diane said. “Let Liam out.” Frank put his arms around Diane and she leaned against him.
“You can’t. .” the sheriff began again.
He was red faced and angry. He still hated her, still wanted to say this was his county. She could see he wanted to put her back in the cell. But there was also something else, some other emotion she couldn’t quite identify.
“I can,” said Agent Mathews. “Open the door and let him out. There’s a lot we have to do here and a lot of questions you have to answer.”
“I’ve got questions for him,” said the sheriff, pointing to Liam.
“He has more credibility than you,” Diane interrupted. “He has more character witnesses than you. Let him out. You think I’m going to be a problem for you? He’s going to be worse.”
“What are you talking about?” said Conrad. “He was in the woods with a knife.”
“Show me a man in these woods who doesn’t carry a knife,” said David. “He’s a Medal of Honor recipient. How close have you ever come to serving your country? Slapping a yellow ribbon on the bumper of your truck?”
Diane watched Conrad. Only now did he have a look of panic on his face, and she thought that was curious.
The sheriff stood immobile for a moment, undecided. Then he unlocked the cell and Liam walked out.
“Call an ambulance,” said Diane. “Your prisoners need medical attention. They may be sorry examples of humanity, but they don’t need to suffer.”
Diane began walking out of the cell block toward the doors. The others followed. She heard Bob apologizing to the sheriff.
“My insides were just real tore up,” he was saying.
“Shut up, Bob,” said the sheriff.
Mike, Neva, and Andie were in the sheriff’s office. Diane grinned at them. They looked back at her in horror.
