Part 19 (1/2)
Deidre rolled her eyes and shook her head. ”Up till last week I thought Danny sent him.”
”Danny?”
”My ex...I mean my husband. But it was Kevin, my own son.”
”Your son with Danny?”
Deidre shook her head, brushed hair from her eyes. ”Danny and I don't' have any kids together.”
”Where's Kevin's father?”
”Best guess? Jail. I haven't seen him since Kevin was a baby.”
Deidre stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray Wehr pushed toward her across the table.
”I've got this talent for hooking up with the wrong men. They're either control freaks like my grandfather or losers like Kevin's dad and...and...”
Yes?”
Deidre looked straight into the camera's eye. ”I thought Danny was different, that I'd broken the pattern.”
”What happened?”
”He bailed on me. That's what I thought.” Deidre's face contorted. She wiped at something in her eye, then removed another cigarette from the pack and lit it.
”What happened to make you think Danny didn't send the drug dealer?”
”Kevin. He just acted different toward me--disrespectful. And he had his own stash. I checked out his cell phone and found texts from JJ. My own kid was too wasted most of the time to think to erase 'em.”
”Are you sure your son didn't meet JJ through your initial connection?”
Deidre made a strange choking noise. ”I'm sure,” she said. ”By the time I found out it wasn't Danny, he'd left me. I was too far gone, wasted. I didn't care. I guess I'm the loser any way you cut it.”
A gray whorl of smoke circled her head like some demonic halo.
”Mind if I walk around while we do this?”
”If that would make you feel more comfortable. We're here to help you, to prosecute the man who raped you and extorted money from you.”
Deidre stood up and paced the narrow confines of the room. She looked like a walking skeleton.
”He says you can't touch him.”
”He?”
”JJ. He'll find me and rape me again. Dangle c.o.ke under my nose, then take it away. Until I do what he wants.”
”Then you get money for him from your trustee?”
”Yeah. He takes what he needs, then gives me what I need. And for a while he leaves me alone.”
Deidre shuddered, pulling her blue cardigan sweater around her.
”Are you cold?”
”I don't feel much of anything right now,” she whispered. Her eyes took on a glazed look. ”I'm dying. Every time he touches me, I die a little. Smoking doesn't cut it. Every time I shoot up, more of me slips away.”
Five seconds of silence punctuated by Deidre's audible breathing, like sobs from some inner place that still had feelings, brought tears to Rae's eyes. She couldn't look at Veronica for fear the dam would burst.
”I know they're going to kill me soon,” Deidre continued, resignation in her voice.
”They?”
”Oh, didn't I tell you? This last time at the Aztec, JJ brought his brother with him.”
”OhmiG.o.d!” Rae couldn't hold back.
”Hush,” whispered Veronica, riveted to the screen.
”His name?” asked Wehr.
”No idea. He didn't introduce us. The big guy called him 'little brother'.” Deidre dropped the cigarette she was holding, picked it up and stubbed it out in the tray. Her shaking grew more violent.
”They took turns.”
”Raping you?”
”No, holding my hand.” Deidre wiped invisible tears from beneath her eyes, deepening the cavernous bags that sagged below them.
”Did either man use a condom?”
”What does my rape kit say?”
”Can't get results that fast.”
”I don't remember JJ ever using a condom. I asked him to once. He just laughed at me.”
”How about the brother?”
Deidre stopped pacing and sank back into the chair. She crossed her arms, like she was trying to hug herself, fingers tearing at the blue sweater, rigid body rocking back and forth.
”I told them not to. Please not to, because it was my period. They didn't care.” Deidre began to cry openly now.
Wehr handed her a Kleenex which she immediately wadded up, then shredded. Wehr handed her another.
Deidre wiped her eyes, took a shuddering breath and continued in a voice barely above a whisper. ”The brother used other things. The last being a set of jumper cables. He swore he'd take me out in the alley and hook the other end up to his truck if--”
”No more!” Rae's hand flew out to the stop b.u.t.ton. Deidre's face froze in mid-frame as the sound shut down.
”There's a lot more,” said Veronica, her face showing deep furrows of emotion.