Chapter 11

Tight-lipped, Ed stared at the man. Talking with him was a constant assault on his truth sense. The longer he talked, the worse the lies got. It was as if one lie emboldened the next.

Ed said, “She was drugged.”

“The test results were lost,” the man said with a smirk.

Ed’s truth sense stabbed him in the brain upon hearing the lie.

He said, “Quit lying.”

“I’m not lying. They were lost.”

“She was drugged, and you know it!” Ed shouted.

The man replied, “She chewed his arm off and beat him to death with it!”

“She was drugged!” Ed shouted.

“There’s no proof of that.”

Ed said, “You’ve buried the evidence that proves my daughter was drugged, and while drugged she fought off a rapist.”

“He’s not a rapist. His father is a very important man in this community. Your daughter killed his son and he wants justice,” the man said. “As District Attorney, my job is to see justice done.”

Ed took a deep breath and reached under his shirt. He pulled out the medallion of his service to the Two-Sided One. He wrapped a hand around it. In a weird voice that sounded like three people speaking as one, he said, “I am the Druid Ed Biggers, servant of the Two-Sided One. I am a seeker of truth. Mr. Dickerson, will you serve the truth or promote the lie? Choose wisely.”

“Oh, this is going to make great press. Ed Biggers, one of the husbands of John Carter, uses his position as Druid to intimidate the District Attorney in an attempt to prevent him from pursing the lawful prosecution of his daughter on the charge of murder.”

“You have chosen poorly,” Ed said in the weird voice, and then released the medallion.

“How dare you threaten me?”

Ed smiled at that. He shook his head and answered, “I didn’t threaten you. That was the Two-Sided One.”

“Fuck that. It was your mouth moving,” the man said.

Ed laughed and left the office. He had exited the building where other members of the family were waiting for him. A young man approached them looking nervous.

“Sir.”

“Yes?”

“I’m Steve Shelton. I need to talk to you about what happened that night.”

“Come with me,” Ed said.

“I’m taking a great chance in talking to you. They’ve been threatening me, but I can’t let them do this to your daughter.”

Ed said, “I believe you. Come with me and we’ll protect you.”

“You don’t understand. They are powerful people.”

Ed said, “They aren’t powerful enough. There are far greater powers than they, who have taken an interest in this.”

“Who?”

“The Gods and Goddesses.”

“Oh.”

Vicki Lynn Hayward had an arrest record that was truly impressive. Assault, battery, attempted murder, murder, and armed robbery were just a few of the charges that had been brought against her over the past dozen years. By all accounts she should have been a lifer in a maximum security prison, by now. However, a lot of the charges had been dropped because witnesses refused to testify. She was, without argument, one of the meanest women in the state.

She was Betsy’s cell mate.

At the moment, Vicki was cowering in the corner of the cell, trying to keep as much distance as she could from the young woman. With a wink wink and a nudge nudge, she had been promised special treatment if she made her cell mate miserable. She discovered, the hard way, that Betsy was not an easy victim.

She had no idea what Betsy had done to her, but there were little round bruises the size of a fingertip all over her body. Every muscle was screaming in pain. She couldn’t stand or even crawl. Occasionally, a muscle would cramp up producing an excruciation pain.

It had only taken Betsy thirty seconds to do that.

Humming a little song, Betsy was dangling from the cell bars engaged in exercising. She was grasping the bars with her hands in a manner that held her body, at least her feet, about a foot off the floor. She would slowly raise her legs to a position that was perpendicular to her body and then lower them. She had been doing that for almost six hours straight.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Vicki?” Betsy asked.

“No.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Leave me alone,” Vicki said.

“I’m just trying to be friendly.”

“Leave me alone.”

“I guess you don’t want to be my friend,” Betsy said giving the woman a grin that sent shivers of fear through her.

“I’m sorry,” Vicki whimpered.

“What are you sorry about? Trying to hurt me or not wanting to be my friend?”

“I’m sorry for everything.”

Betsy released her hold on the bars and landed on the floor. She stood on her hands and then rested her feet against the cell bars. She started doing pushups.

Vicki tried to move back, but her body wouldn’t obey her commands. She cried out in pain when another muscle started to spasm. It was worse than being electrocuted.

Betsy waited for the spasm to pass.

She said, “You have a very ugly mind. What were some of the thing you wanted to do to me? You wanted to fuck me using a broomstick as a dildo. You were going to shove your fist up my ass all of the way to your elbow. What kind of person thinks up those kinds of things?”

When Vicki didn’t answer, Betsy continued, “You said that you wanted to use my mouth as a toilet. I really can’t imagine anyone who would enjoy that kind of treatment. I certainly wouldn’t. Would you?”

“No.”

Betsy said, “I’d like to ask you some questions and I want truthful answers from you. If I learn that you’re lying to me, I will crack a vertebra for each lie you tell me. The damage won’t be bad enough to paralyze you, but you will be in horrible pain for the rest of your life.

“I’m pretty sure that you don’t believe that I know how to do that. So, how about I demonstrate it on the vertebra just above your tail bone?”

Vicki stared at Betsy, horrified at the idea of what she was threatening. Betsy was thinking that Ling wasn’t the only master of intimidation.

Wishing this nightmare would end, Vicki said, “I believe that you can do that. You don’t need to show me.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Please don’t hurt me anymore. I’ll do anything. I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Vicki pleaded with tears running down her cheeks.

“I’m really curious about one thing. Have you ever fucked someone using a broomstick as a dildo?”

Vicki stared at Betsy without answering. Betsy paused her pushups and held out a fist with her middle finger knuckle extended.

“Fifteen and a half pounds of pressure delivered at the right angle to a vertebra will crack it and shift it out of alignment by a millimeter. It takes a fraction of a second to accomplish and the pain will last a lifetime.”

Betsy resumed doing her pushups.

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“Yes,” Vicki answered.

“You really did that?” Betsy asked incredulously.

“Yes!”

“You are one evil bitch,” Betsy said.

Vicki didn’t reply. There just wasn’t much to say.

Betsy said, “You do know that I’m going to want the full story as to why you are my cell mate. I’m going to want names. I want to know what they promised to do for you, if you hurt me. I’ll want all of the details. Everything. So why don’t you just sit there for a few minutes and get your thoughts together.”

Vicki stared at her.

“Guards are coming,” Betsy said.

Two guards brought in a woman to put in the cell across from Betsy’s. She took one look at Betsy and stopped.

“Is that the pyscho bitch who chewed the arm off that guy and beat him to death with it?”

“Yep,” one of the guards answered.

“Shit!” Vicki said.

Betsy said, “I guess they didn’t tell you that before they put you in here with me, did they?”

In the backyard of Betsy’s home, Sally was sitting on a flimsy lawn chair that was clearly a stopgap measure for the overflow of people. Her chair was sandwiched between lawn chairs of equally poor quality on which Gary and Steve were seated. She and Steve had been staying there for the past three days under the protection of two bodyguards, and Ed Biggers. It had been quiet until an hour ago when a horde of people had descended on the house.

Sally’s head was moving from side to side watching the dangerous looking men and women lounging around the yard. They all moved around with this air of quiet confidence that they could handle any situation that came their way. It seemed to her that everyone there was carrying a gun, except for Betsy’s father.

Steve asked, “Who are all of these people?”

Gary exhaled loudly trying to figure out where to begin with an answer. “Those three guys over there are Federal Marshals. One of them is a Druid. Those two over there are FBI. Those four slaving away on their computers over at that picnic table, are IRS. Those two guys over there working on their computers, are from an unnamed government agency. I’m not sure if that is the CIA or NSA or both. That guy over there is from immigration. He’s a Druid. The woman who is examining the bent table is a maker from the Druid College. Those two guys who are looking pretty miserable are from the Hawaiian police department. That group of people over there are local private investigators.”

Steve looked over at Sally and, winking at her, said, “I hope you aren’t holding any dope.”

Sally laughed.

Jimmy Lee walked over and said, “Hey, Gary, Do you feel like sparring?”

“Only if you promise me one thing.”

“What?” Jimmy Lee asked.

“That you’ll kill me quickly and painlessly, before Ling gets her hands on me,” Gary answered.

Jimmy Lee laughed and said, “I can’t promise you that. She’d make me suffer for your sins.”

“Damn!”

“Come on. A little sparring will get your mind off your problems.”

Gary sighed and rose from his chair. The two men walked out to the middle of the yard. Others, seeing them start to warm up, gathered around to watch them.

Steve leaned over to Sally and said, “Let’s go over there and watch this. I’ve got a feeling this is going to be impressive.”

“Will Gary get hurt?”

“No. They are practicing. They’ll pull their punches.”

Steve held out a hand for Sally to take. She took it, and let him lead her over to where the others were gathering. When they got there, she moved to stand a little closer to him. She was intimidated by all of the men standing around there.