He rested his hand over hers.
“She bullies me whenever she sees me.”
“How?How does she bully you?”
Shaking her head she didn’t answer.
Sophie answered for her, “She bruises her up.”She growled.
Jolene looked down at her lap.“I got enough of it and punched her for it.”
“Then she was locked in her room for a week,” Sophie explained.“I finally threatened to get social services involved , so they let her out.But Emma has always been my favorite daughter while I was born to serve her. Now her daughter acts the same with Jolene.When I turned 18, I met Jolene’s dad and I thought for once I could be happy and have my own life.Dad put a stop to that right off the bat.He wouldn’t let me leave, then he saw my belly and he knew I thought I could get out of his house.He had my boyfriend arrested then showed forged paperwork in court.Trevor spent seven years in prison for statutory rape and no one would listen to the truth.By then, I had my baby and we were stuck.I tried to take Jolene away from his nastiness, but he would find us and drag us back.Trevor paid child support but the checks always went into my dad’s account.I had to work and turn my paycheck over to him.Around that damn town I could never get ahead.Every time I left, he had the sheriff drag me back.”
“How did you finally get away from them this time?”Rock asked.
Sophie hung her head.“I did something I’m not proud of.I mixed sleeping pills in their meal and when they fell asleep I locked their doors and I got out.I took Jolene with me because I didn’t trust them not to hurt her.They all fell asleep watching television.I got the keys from my dad’s room and I got us out of there.I thought about taking my car but I knew my dad would claim I stole it.So, we got down to the bus station and we took the bus.We were on the road for hours before we got here and I worried for the whole trip.Then we found you by asking around town.”She shook her head.“I never thought about them being right behind us the whole way.”
Jolene took up the narrative, “I didn’t know about the guns they brought with them, or that they would try to burn you guys out, but I sure am glad you could stop them.And you have a cop around that really believes in the law.”
“What do you think Patsy will do without the rest of the family behind her?”Asa asked.
Sophie sighed and explained, “Like we said, she is dangerous.Her mother and our dad are bad but Patsy?She’s dangerous in a way you wouldn’t believe.Emma raised her to be ruthless and cunning and not to ever take no for an answer.”She looked over at Miss Amy.“She might come back here and try to find the map she thinks you have.She ran for a reason.I think she’s gonna come back and try to get the map away from you.”
Miss Amy shrugged.“I don’t think that map will help her find the treasure.She won’t know how to read it, in the first place.”
Jolene shook her head.“That won’t matter to her at all.She’ll probably try to blackmail you into reading for her.She’s a greedy little bitch.She doesn’t even care that her mom and grandpa are sitting in a cell either.All that means to her is there’s more money for her in the end.”
Rock shook his head.“That’s just sick.”
Jolene looked over at him.“That’s just how she is.How Emma raised her to be.She’s been spoiled all her life.There’s just no sense of family or loyalty at all with them.You saw it.They are horrible people.”
Miss Amy just shook her head.“Then we can’t even go after the treasure until she’s been caught.She would pull an Amos on us if we found it while she’s still free.”
Sophie frowned and stared at Miss Amy in confusion.“Pull an Amos?What does that mean?”
Sami leaned forward and told them, “Amos would set a game up with someone who lost something.He would give them just a hint of what was lost and while they did all the work to recover it, he would wait until the last minute then he would state he did all the work and the thing that someone else found was his.He would use a crooked lawyer and forged paperwork to prove what he claimed and the law would turn the proceeds over to him.That’s what he did to my father, then he set up another man to shoot my dad.I buried him and Amos slipped out of town.”
Sophie gasped as her hands flew to cover her mouth, “That’s terrible.”
Jolene nodded.“And that’s exactly the kind of thing Patsy would do.”
Miss Amy slapped her hand on the table and announced, “Well, she’s not gonna be able to do that.I won’t allow that to happen, not again.”
“What do you want to do, Miss.Amy?”Asa asked.
Miss Amy sat back in her chair and a strange smile curved her lips.“We need to set up a little trap for a Pasty Rat, don’tcha think?Maybe we need to draw our enemy to our front door and then sack the little brat.We need to show her that not everything is about her and to finally tell her no, show her adult consequences.”
Asa gave her a slow grin.“I like the way you think.This will be a lesson that little girl needs to learn.It might be the hard way but she needs to learn it.”
Sophie chuckled.
The sound was so foreign to Jolene that it sounded strange coming from her mother’s lips.She stared at her mom for a moment then turned to Miss Amy and smiled.“I’m in and it’s about damn time.”
Sophie looked at her daughter and smiled.The joyful look on her face made her beautiful.“Yeah baby, it’s long past time that Patsy learned that lesson.Let’s make it happen.”
Asa nodded then sat back in his chair and you could almost see the cogs turning in his head.“So how do you want this to go down, Miss Amy?”
Cheyenne nodded.“I can see it forming in your head, Miss Amy.This is gonna be good.”
