CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Manda? You hear me? The cops are here," Streak repeated. "You okay talkin' to them, or you want me to tell 'em you're not up to it?" Something in his voice said he'd be happy to do so.
"I'll talk to them now," Manda said, even as she clutched her blankets and fought the urge to pull them over head, the way she had with T-Bear.
Because, as much as she wanted to maybe ask for another shot of that magic pain medication and sleep, if she could help take Rezan Faro and Jere down, she should take that opportunity. She might be battered emotionally and physically, but she still knew right from wrong.
When Detective LaRond pushed the curtains back, he had a woman at his side. She smiled at Manda, but she had the same watchful gaze as he.
"Hi, Ms Kowitsky. I'm Officer Harvey. Det. LaRond thought you might be more comfortable with me here. Can you answer some questions for us?"
"Yes," Manda answered. "Of course I can. Rezan Faro used me, and he hurt me. And I want him and his minion behind bars as fast as you can put them there."
Officer Harvey smiled at her, and Det LaRond's grim face eased a little. "He's got a minion, huh? Well, then let's get started."
They both pulled up chairs and asked her how she'd come to be at the Pine Cabins.
Manda told them everything—almost. She told them about Tim bringing her to Rathdrum, then abandoning her. About Rezan 'befriending' her, and offering to cheer her up by sending her on a date in a new outfit. About T taking her out to dinner.
But, when Det. LaRond asked her, "Ms Kowitsky, did you have sexual relations with John 'T-Bear' Turner?" she stared at him, sheer embarrassment flooding her.
"Um, yes?" she mumbled. Geez, was this humiliating or what? She felt like she was back in junior high, being interrogated by the school counselor about what had gone on at a certain party at Joey Burnosky's house. That time, Manda had let Chad Stills put his tongue in her mouth, and his hand under her top. This time she and T-Bear had done a whole lot more.
"You tell me," the detective said, stone-faced.
"Well... yes," she admitted. Her face burned. "I—we did."
"And did Mr. Turner give you money in exchange for that sex?"
When she stared at him again, her heart pounding as if she'd been running, he looked weary. "Let me rephrase. At any time during the course of the evening, did Mr. Turner give you money?"
Sweat broke out under her arms, and behind her knees, and her tummy knotted. Manda was pretty sure that prostitution was illegal in both Washington and Idaho, and she did not want to get T-Bear in trouble, nor did she want to go to jail herself. Because wouldn't that just be the poo frosting on the garbage cake her life had become?
So for the first time in her life, she looked a police officer in the eye and lied. "No. He—he bought me dinner. And two drinks. But we—I... I had sex with him because I liked him. Not because he gave me money." This part at least was true, because she hadn't known he was going to give her money, or that he'd already given some to Rezan.
The detective sighed, and Officer Harvey leaned forward. "Manda, we know that you weren't in that situation of your own free will. You were scared, you had no way out, you had to do what Faro told you. Now, no matter what you tell us, you're not in trouble. Do you understand that?"
Maybe, maybe not. Officer Harvey probably didn't get to decide what happened to Manda.
"T-Bear, I mean John, didn't give me money," she insisted. "I didn't even know then that Rezan wanted me to—to do that for him."
"Then why did Faro hit you?" LaRond asked. "Or did both he and Turner hit you?"
"No!" she cried. "T-Bear never touched me. Not in a bad way, anyway. He was nice to me."
"Then why did Faro hit you?"
She thought fast, bunching the blanket in her hand and rubbing her thumb over the wrinkle.
"Because the next morning, when I saw Rezan, I asked him for a ride to town, so I could start looking for a job. And he told me I couldn't leave, that he'd decided I was going to have to, uh, work for him. I said I was leaving, and he hit me. Then the other guy—Rezan called him Jere, like short for Jerry? He grabbed me and held me while Rezan hit me again.’
‘And Rezan told me that he... he hoped I had fun last night with T-Bear, because I was going to be doing a lot of that from now on, with whoever he said. And I said I wouldn't, and he said he guessed I needed to learn my lesson. Then he told Jere to tie me up and throw me in that nasty little store room, and he did. And Jere said he'd be back later and—and either break my legs, or r-rape me."
Her voice broke, and she lifted her hands to cover her face as hot tears flooded her eyes.
The room was very quiet except for her loud, shuddering breaths as she fought for control. Finally she lowered her hands to find Officer Harvey holding out the small, hospital-supplied box of tissues. Manda took them, and swiped her wet face, carefully because of the bruises.
"And did anyone rape you?" Harvey asked her.
"No," Manda mumbled. "The nurses already asked me that. No one raped me, or did anything, uh, like that. I guess... I guess they didn't have time, because T-Bear came back. I heard him out in the office, talking to Jere. And T-Bear said my name. He has a big voice, you know? So I knew he'd come back looking for me. But how would he know I was really there? Because of course Jere would lie. I had to make noise, somehow. So I kicked the wall. And I kept kicking it and kicking it... hoping T-Bear would be the one to come back there, and not... not Jere or Rezan." Because she'd known what would happen to her then—very bad things.
"Then what happened?"
"Well," she frowned, thinking. "Muscle Jere yelled something like 'Get away, or I'll shoot.' And I did hear gunshots. But then, T-Bear opened the store room and found me."
"And was he carrying a gun?" LaRond asked.
Manda shook her head, then winced, hand to her head. She had to quit doing that. "I don't think so. I don't really know. I was pretty, um, woozy. He untied me, and picked me up. He told me to stay behind him, and we walked out into the office. Then, there was a big crash. And I looked, and Jere had driven his pickup truck right into the front of the office."
She almost shook her head again, before remembering not to. She still couldn't figure out why the dumb-ass would do that, unless he'd thought he could drive right in and hit T and her. Even so, what a waste of a new truck.
"Then what happened?" the detective pressed.
Manda shrugged again. "Again, I just don't know. I...I passed out, and the next thing I knew... I woke up here." And she wished the two of them would go away now. Just this much talking had tired her out, and her head was hurting again. All that remembering was not fun.
"Why do you think you passed out?" LaRond asked. "Did Turner hit you?"
"No! I told you, Rezan hit me, twice. And Jere tied my hands and feet so I couldn't walk, and he shoved me so hard he slammed my head into the wall. The doctors say I have a concussion." She squinted at the detective. "Why do you keep asking me if T-Bear hurt me? He rescued me."
His face hardened. "Because he's a member of a known motorcycle gang, who allegedly participate in a number of activities which are illegal. And people who cross them tend to get beaten up and sometimes disappear."
Manda struggled to take in this information. "It's a club," she said. Wait, where had that come from? She had no reason to care what the police thought of the Devil's Flyers. Just T-Bear, because he was her hero, at least for now. "I mean... they're not as bad as those Prairie Rattlers back in the Tri-Cities, or people like that."
The detective looked like he wanted to grind his teeth. Instead he gave her a flat look. "I really can't make a comparison, Ms Kowitsky. Is there anything else you can tell us that will help us locate Mr Faro, or his associates?"
"No," she said regretfully. "I wish I could help you. Tim's the one who knew him."
"And where do you think we might find this Tim? What'd you say his last name was?"
"Tim Garner," she said. "He's from Boise, but he lived in the Tri-Cities for the last few years. That's where I met him. But where he is now, who knows?"
"Is he likely to return to the Tri-Cities?"
She snorted. "Uh, no. He skipped out on the last month's rent on his apartment, and he owed money to some guys there, too. I don't know who, he never said."
Manda didn't really care where Tim went, as long as she never had to see his face again. Although she'd like her things back, he'd probably hocked them by now, or discarded them somewhere the way he had her.
The two cops rose, and LaRond tucked his little notebook in his jacket. "All right, Ms Kowitsky. You think of anything else, give us a call." He left a business card on the swing-tray table, and they walked out.
Manda lay in the bed and stared unseeingly at the bright hues of the flower bouquet. She felt exhausted, used up, and yet edgy at the same time.
She'd had sex with a member of a known motorcycle gang? Holy hell-buckets.
Well, at least it had been great sex. And contrary to what one might expect from a biker, he'd been sweet, even gentle. And he'd then rescued her from Rezan and Jere, and left one of his biker brethren to guard her in case Rezan came after her again.
But even so... he was still a biker. And according to the police, not far removed from the kind she thought she'd left behind in the Tri-Cities.
Here she went again, falling for the wrong guy.