Chapter 40

Erica, Becky, and Jessie were in the Health Department office when we went in. There were two women ahead of us, and I got Erica’s attention when Becky asked one of the other women to follow her. Becky was smiling when she saw me - and my other women. Damn, I love that girl’s smile - and her sexy ass sure looks good in that white uniform.

I could tell Erica wanted to hug me, and I almost reached for her before she took my hand and spoke, “Josey, I see you have gathered more friends over the holidays. Are they here for medical exams, or here for birth control?”

“Yes, I’ve made a lot of friends in the past few weeks, and I want you to meet all of them. I brought two friends here today, who were assaulted late yesterday down in Jackson. When I learned about it, I told them to come up here and stay with me until we could get to the bottom of this. They are sisters and the one wearing the white sweatshirt, married Jason Skelley - New Years Eve. I’ll give you all the details later - but she was taken to the emergency room in Jackson, before coming here. The intern there told her she may have miscarried, since she was bleeding so much.”

“Oh Josey! Come introduce me to her so we can take her back first. Is that her sister next to her?”

“Yes, I’ll call them over and you can take their names and hopefully help them.”

“Are these other women, and the three younger girls, here for birth control?”

“Yes, and if you have some extra diaphragms, I’d like to have a few to take with me.”

“Let me get your friends taken care of and I’ll tell you about a new form of birth control that we’ve been chosen by the manufacturer to help distribute and monitor.”

“If it works and it’s easier to use than the diaphragm, give all these women one of them.”

“It’s a new pill – Enovid. The G. D. Searle Company has done clinical studies, and now they’ve been approved by the Medical Association and the US Department of Health, to conduct tests on these pills in certain counties across the US.”

“A pill? I don’t see how a pill will keep a woman from getting pregnant, but that shows how much I know about stuff like that anyway. If you think its worth a try, sign all my women up and give me a few extra pills to pass out to my other women, who aren’t already pregnant.”

“We’ll have plenty - but the others will have to come in and sign up for the program too, then be examined and approved.”

“Erica, do you think this new pill is going to be trusted enough, to take the place of condoms and diaphragms?”

“The pill won’t prevent venereal diseases, but it’s proven to be nearly one hundred percent in preventing pregnancy, in all the clinical tests so far.”

“Make sure they know when to take that pill. We don’t need any more slip-ups.”

“A woman takes a pill a day, for three weeks, starting the day after she ends her period.”

“That’s more information than I needed. You just sign all of them up and tell me how many more I can bring in so you can put them on this new pill.”

“Josie, I want you to be sure and bring the Kendall sisters in so we can get them on the pill. I know those girls are going to need all the help they can get.”

“I’ll see them tomorrow, if not later today.”

I introduced Jillian and Josalyn to Erica and they followed her back to an examination room. Jesse came out and asked Lougenia, Naomi, Shirelle, Calleen, Lisette, and Emmylou to come over and get signed in so they could be examined.

I pulled Emmylou over next to Rondo and me, “Emmylou, you may need to tell them you’ve been recently exposed - and that you and Rondo are actually trying to get pregnant.”

“I will, Josey.”

“Rondo, stay with them - and make sure all of them stay here together - until the last one has been examined and released.”

“I’ll take care of this part. You just do your business with the judge. I’d like to see his face when you show him the photos they took of Jillian at the emergency room there in Jackson.”

“I’ll tell you all about it. Of course, I’ll have to tell him about Jason being the Kingpin in the drug dealings here, and act like I don’t know anything else of his whereabouts, except that he assaulted Jillian and Josalyn.”

I carried my satchel with me into Judge Skelley’s office. He was bent over, talking to his secretary when I walked in. He jumped back when he saw me, like he was caught with his hand up her dress.

He’s a politician though and he recovered quick.

I’m going to nail his ass to the floor with what I know about his son, and what I have in my satchel.

“Josey - it’s good to see you again. I’m sure you enjoyed your stay in Jackson, and the New Year’s Celebration.”

“I sure did, Your Honor. But I’m here on some serious business and I need to see you in private, if you have a few minutes to spare.”

“Of course. Just step this way.

“Lois, please hold my calls unless there’s an emergency,” he told the cute little secretary.

She looked up at me and I winked at her. She was smiling when she turned back to her desk. I’ll find out who this cute little honey is, just as soon as I can.

...”Judge Skelley, I’m afraid I have some bad news about your son.” I decided to let him have one barrel loaded with buckshot, before I let him have the next load.

“JOSEY - what do you mean? Has there been an accident? Why wasn’t I notified?”

“There was no accident - that I know of. But I have some really bad news about Jason. To begin with, here are some Polaroid photos of Jillian, that were taken at the emergency room in Jackson late yesterday afternoon. It seems Jason lost his temper and beat her up pretty bad. She and Josalyn are staying at my home until he has been taken into custody for assault and battery.”

I really laid into him with all I dared tell him, until I let this soak into his hard head.

“Josey, let me see those. I have talked to that boy endlessly about controlling his temper. I just knew when he married that beautiful young woman, he would leave all his hatred and anger behind...

...”OH MY GOD – I can’t look at another of these. I have no idea how I will ever tell Wendy about this. She’s told me repeatedly that Jason was going to explode one day, and all hell would bust loose.”

“Judge - Jillian and Josalyn both told me he yelled at them and told Jillian to stay away from that house, that he was coming here to Collinsville to see you.”

“Josey, when was this? Late yesterday, did you say? I haven’t seen nor heard from him.”

“Yes Sir. It was about dark when I got the call from Josalyn and told her to bring Jillian to my home, so I would know both of them were safe.”

“Jason has a small, upstairs apartment he stays at when he’s here in Collinsville. He could be there now, sleeping it off.”

“Sleeping what off, Judge?” Hell, I knew what he meant.

“He takes medication, Josey - and when he gets upset, he takes a heavy dose and sleeps it off.”

“Don’t you think you should call and check on him?”

“Yes, you’re right. Stay here with me, please - until I can find out what has happened.”

“Judge, I’ll gladly go with you to check on him, if he doesn’t answer.” He was still holding the phone to his ear, then he slammed it down.

“Josey, please come with me. I don’t want to call the law into this yet. I want to try and get Jason sobered up. I mean - I know if he is in fact, at his apartment - he’s surely out cold.”

I’m sure he is too, but I wanted to let him discover his son. I have yet to let him have the other barrel loaded with buckshot. The next one will just about knock him to his knees, but he needs to know - or does he? Now, I have to decide how to handle this. Maybe I should tell Mona and let her handle the news about Jason Skelley’s drug business.

“Judge, my car is right over here, if you’d rather me drive you over there.”

“Yes, please do ... Josey, I have an ill feeling about my son. I can’t thank you enough for offering to help me get through this. If I can get Jason some help, I hope you’ll help me cover this up. I’ll pay any damages to Jillian and Josalyn, plus I’ll pay them dearly, to keep this out of the news.”

“You don’t owe me anything for helping, Judge. If you owe anyone, it will be Jillian and Josalyn. I hated to come to you about this, but I felt like I needed to, so you could handle it. No one knows about what happened in Jackson, except my friends at the house last night, and Jillian and Josalyn. Of course ... they were at the emergency room in Jackson, and I’m sure they notify the law down there of any domestic abuse cases.”

“Yes, of course they did - and I’m glad you thought of that. I’ll need to call and have that purged from their records, or it will be all over the news.”

We were at the apartment - after he gave me directions. I walked up the steps behind him and followed him as he entered the front room. Everything was just as we left it last night and I followed Judge Skelley into the bedroom - where Jason lay dead, in the same position we left him.

“JOSEY! Jason is dead!” he yelled as he put his hand on his son’s face.

“Judge, maybe you should come back in the front room and let me call Sheriff Glass.”

“Yes, Josey. Please call her and tell her to have the coroner sent over too. Please, tell her to keep this quiet and don’t have a lot of vehicles parked here with their lights flashing.”

With him seated on the couch, I called the Sheriff’s Office at the Courthouse.

“Yes, this is Josey Ruiz, and I need to speak to Sheriff Glass, if she’s in. Please tell her this is an emergency.”

“Sheriff Glass isn’t in her office. She left a few minutes ago, and she should be in her vehicle, if you need me to give her a message.”

“Yes. Please tell her I’m with Judge Skelley at his son’s apartment here in town, and I need her to come here immediately. Can you give her that message without it going out to all the units?”

“I can do that. Is there anything else I need to tell her?”

“No, just tell her to come here as fast as she can.”

I gave her the phone number printed on the phone and hung up.

“Josey, you handled that like a professional. I have no idea how I would have been able to keep my senses, had you not been here for me. I owe you, Son.”

“Judge, I came here to help and I’m just doing what needs to be done. You don’t owe me anything for helping.”

I was lying out my ass, but I’m glad now that I came with him. I can get Mona aside and tell her the real story. Then, it will be up to her to take whatever steps are necessary with the State Police and more than likely, the FBI ... Damn, that thought scared the hell out of me - and I now I wonder if I’ve covered my ass well enough to keep my name out of the investigation - if there is an investigation.

I heard Mona on the steps outside and opened the door for her. “Mona - Jason Skelley is dead! Looks like a possible drug overdose to me. I came here with Judge Skelley to see about him, and I’ll have to tell you the real story later, after you have done your job here.”

“Josey - are you sure he’s dead?”

“Judge Skelley felt his face, and he’s cold. He’s lying on his bed naked.”

“I need to use the phone. Then, I’ll talk to Judge Skelley.”

She grabbed the receiver off the hook and dialed a number. In no time, she was making another phone call, then I heard her tell the coroner where to bring the hearse.

I went into the bedroom with her and picked up a sheet to cover Jason. She stopped me and told me to leave everything just like it is.

I pointed to the large cardboard box next to the bed and she knelt to have a look at it. Then, I pointed to the small plastic cup with white powder spilled out on the bed next to Jason and she looked at me.

“Josey, do you realize how much cocaine is in this apartment?”

“I have no idea. I saw this box and that little cup with the lid off, when I came in here with Judge Skelley. I know nothing about stuff like that, but I had an idea, this white stuff is some kind of dope...

“Mona, I need to talk to you in private, when you’re through here.”

“About this?”

“Yes - in a way.”

“I have a hand-held transceiver in my vehicle that I want you to carry with you. I’ll show you how to call me only, and also how to call all units.”

“I need to go back to the Courthouse as soon as I can. I brought Jason’s bride and her sister here to have them examined by Erica and her nurses.”