Retribution

Chapter Nineteen

Katherine harshly rubbed her eyes as she slowly drank her second cup of coffee, the dark overcast outside forcing her to have a light on. Her eyes seemed fixated on the phone. Why won't it ring? she asked herself again as she continued to stare at it as she had for the last hour, willing it to come alive. Her restless night showed in the faint circles under eyes, in the faint blue of the skin there that couldn't quite be hidden by powder. What had happened last night with Wesley? How was Pamela's father involved in this whole mess? And what kind of secrets was Johnny hiding? The questions had been plaguing her ever since she left the party.

A loud buzz made her jump. She knocked over her chair as she stood up quickly and pounced on the phone. "Hello?" The dial tone greeted her ears as the buzz sounded again.

            She slammed the phone down as she realized it was the doorbell. Laughing at her own stupidity, she ran for the door while quickly tucking her white blouse into her pale pink slacks.

"Wesley!" She wrapped her arms around his wiry figure as relief and joy released her tension.

"Now that's a greeting you should practice more often." Wesley put his arms possessively around her.

She closed her eyes and inhaled the faint smell of cigarettes mixed with expensive aftershave that always surrounded Wesley. "I love that smell," she muttered before she knew she had, and finally coming to her senses, she gently pulled away. "Better come inside." And as soon as the door was shut she looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell his story.

"Can we do that again?" Wesley asked merrily, his eyes meeting hers.

"No!" Katherine laughed. "Tell me what happened! I've been up all night worried about you."

Wesley's face turned solemn. "I think we should sit down."

"Really? It's that bad?" Katherine led the way to the couches and gracefully seated herself facing Wesley. "Now tell me what's going on."

He took in her position for a moment before seeming to decide where to begin. "It's about Johnny, first of all." And he cringed as her face fell. "I'm sorry," he said gently, "but he's involved in this Drake thing up to his neck."

"You don't think it was he who—" Horror must have shown on her face as the ugly implications of her own words set in. 

"I don't know." Wesley cut in, stopping the wreck of that train of thought. "I just know he's involved somehow with Doug, Pamela's father, and they know that I'm helping Bailey."

"Doug . . . " Katherine repeated slowly, remembering the strange meeting she'd witnessed between him and Jerry in the drive-through, wondering again how he knew Jerry. "Doug, who is somehow tied up with Jerry."

"Yes, Doug is in control. To his credit, Johnny sounded pretty upset about the attack on you."

Wesley was thoughtful for a moment. "Jerry and Johnny have worked together before, haven't they? I mean, when, ahem, Johnny was sent up for a year . . . wasn't Jerry suspected as well?"

"Yes. I believe so. Johnny only told me that Bailey was convinced Jerry was the mastermind, but Johnny wouldn't talk. They had just enough evidence to put Johnny away for a year. After he got out he followed Jerry down to South America, but finish telling me what you heard," Katherine urged.

"It's like I told you. Doug seems to be the one in charge, at least over Johnny. I don't know about Jerry, and they're involved with Drake's death somehow. I don't know who pulled the trigger, but neither of them are happy that the verdict has been changed from suicide to murder."Wesley took a deep breath as he remembered how terrified he was when he heard them talking about him. "Someone that Doug knew overheard when I went to meet Bailey, so he knew all along. I think that's what he had to talk to Johnny about, but I'm not sure because right then we got interrupted."