Chapter 1

The telephone pulled me out of a beautiful post-sex dream. Jody was stirring restlessly by the time I got it on the second grab.

"Hello?" I mumbled. The bedside clock told me it was nearly three a.m.

The voice on the other end of the line was female, but all business. "Sir, this is sergeant Rodriguez of the Phoenix Police Department. I'm looking for Jolene Jordan."

"She's asleep." I, on the other hand, was waking up fast.

"May I speak to her please?"

"Uh, what is this about?"

"Sir, I need to speak to your wife."

"Okay," I reached over and shook Jody. "Honey, it's the police. They want to talk to you."

She reached out and took the phone without coming fully awake.

"mmello?"

"Yes," she said more alertly. "Yes," she was sitting up in bed.

I toyed with the idea of copping a feel of my wife's beautiful breasts, but she slapped my groping hand away without even changing expression.

"Oh my God! Is she all right?"

"Yes, yes. We'll be right there. Oh! You do know about my sister's condition? All right fine. Yes, as soon as we can."

By now I was seriously worried.

"What was that about?"

Jody threw the covers off and jumped out of bed. "Carly. Come on I'll fill you in on the way."

"To Kentucky?'

Jody was busy wiggling into the nearest clothing, which happened to be a pair of skin tight jeans and crop top that had ended up on the floor next to the bed when things got exciting earlier. "No, to Mercy General. She's been beaten."

We were both dressed and out the door in less than five minutes.

I wouldn't let Jody drive because she was too upset. As we sped down the deserted freeway I wondered what kind of trouble my wife's little sister had gotten herself into now.

It isn't that Carly is a bad person. On the contrary she is one of the sweetest, kindest people alive. Nearly everyone who meets her is charmed by her childlike personality.

Childlike, and that's half the problem. Carly isn't just slow, she's retarded. Mentally she's about ten years old and the doctors say that'll be as far as she will ever go. Like a lot of the 'mentally challenged', she has a wonderfully sunny personality and she's a joy to be around.

The other half of the problem is that Carly is also stone, drop-dead gorgeous. She shares Jody's pale skin lightly dusted with a wonderful collection of freckles. She has the same pale-blue baby-doll eyes and if anything her body is even more spectacular. Jody used to complain about Carly borrowing her tops and stretching them all out of shape. Considering the way Jody is built that's a quite a feat. Her hair is a natural strawberry blonde where Jody's is more ash blonde. And stereotypes to the contrary, Jody — Dr. Jolene Wilson-Jordan, PhD., is anything but a dumb blonde.

So Carly is open, friendly, trusting, naïve, achingly beautiful and retarded. Shark bait, in other words. Through absolutely no fault of her own, her family spent a lot of time keeping her out of trouble.

Fine, but what is she doing here? Her family has always protected her — Jody especially when she was still living at home, but also her parents, other brothers and sisters and the whole Wilson clan. Why had she left Monroe, Kentucky and come clear across the country? And who had beaten her up?

I was still puzzling when we pulled into the parking lot at the Mercy General Emergency Room. Jody was out of the car before I even stopped and was inside before I could find a parking place in the nearly deserted lot.

By the time I got inside Jody had disappeared. The nurse directed me down the hall to a cubicle with the curtains drawn.

Carly was sitting on the bed with her back to me and Jody was standing with her arms wrapped around her. My sister-in-law was bundled in a cloth coat that was too big for her, and too warm for the room.

"Hello Carly," I said softly."

When she turned around my stomach lurched. One eye was nearly swollen shut and her face was bruised purple, blue, green and yellow.

Without thinking I came over to her and reached out. She flinched away and I dropped my arms. "Oh honey are you all right?"

Stupid question, but Carly just sniffled and nodded without letting go of her sister.

"Frank, can you give us a few minutes?"

"Sure. You guys want some coffee or something?

"No sir," Carly said in a tiny voice. Jody gave me a look that said the only thing she wanted was me gone — now.

"Um, I'll be down in the cafeteria," I muttered and made my escape.

Fortunately the cafeteria was open, at least for coffee. I collected a cup, claimed a table near the door and started sipping. The décor was ruthlessly cheerful, all pale yellow and lime green, in contrast to the darkness outside the windows — and inside me. I was sick at my stomach at what someone had done to that beautiful, innocent woman and I was mad clear through.

But, I thought, as I looked around the nearly empty cafeteria, that still didn't explain why Carly had come all this way. She had dozens of relatives back in Monroe who would have done anything for her. Why come all the way to Phoenix? I didn't know, but deep down I felt our life was about to be seriously disrupted.

I was well into my third cup of pretty good coffee when Jody slammed into the cafeteria looking for me.

"I think," she announced as she plopped herself down, "I'm gonna kill that sonofabitch."

"Who did it?"

"Not him," Jody said dismissively, "I mean Pa."

"He did this?"

"Worse," she said grimly. "He threw her out. Or as good as."

"What! Why?"

"Because she's pregnant and she won't have an abortion and have her tubes tied!" Jody said viciously. She made an effort to control herself.