Her Mother’s Grave

Chapter Seventy-Nine

TWO WEEKS LATER

Josie perched on the edge of the hard plastic chair the county jail had provided. The walls of a cubicle closed her in on both sides. Thick glass separated the visitor’s room from the inmate room. It wasn’t thick enough, Josie thought as Lila Jensen was marched up to the seat across from her. The guard left Lila cuffed and pushed her down into a chair. Lila shot him a dirty look as he said something Josie couldn’t make out. He walked off, standing in the corner of the room, hands clasped together at his waist, eyeing Lila like she might jump up and attack someone at any moment. But there were only two other inmates with visitors, and each one of them were seated several slots away.

Lila’s face was saggy and yellow. Josie couldn’t tell if the jaundice was from the struggle in the woods or because her liver was failing her at last. She had refused to tell the doctors at Denton Memorial where she had been treated for her cancer or what her alias had been before she was Barbara Rhodes. A local oncologist was able to determine that she had ovarian cancer. She’d had at least one surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, but the cancer had returned, spreading through her body. They gave her two months to live. Josie thought she was just mean enough that she would probably outlive that prognosis—maybe even by years. Josie still wasn’t sure what would give her more pleasure—knowing Lila was dead, or knowing she was suffering in prison.

Lila smiled at Josie and picked up the phone receiver on her side of the glass.

Josie’s right arm was casted and in a sling, so she used her left hand to pick up her own receiver and press it to her ear.

“Didn’t think I’d see you again, JoJo. ’Cept on TV. I’m tired of seeing your face, to tell you the truth.”

Josie was tired of seeing her own face on television as well, but it was unavoidable. Trinity was a correspondent for a national news show, and she now had the story of a lifetime. Rumor had it the network was working to find an anchor position for her, so hungry were they for her and Josie’s story.

Josie got right to the point. “I want the names of your accomplices.”

“What do you mean?” Lila asked.

“You know what I mean. Anyone who helped you with, what did you call it? Your ‘projects.’ Anyone you paid to place craigslist ads or break into my house or stalk Trinity or her family. Or move Trinity. Or take my car to Ted’s Body Shop and then drive it back to where he found it.”

Lila laughed, dark blue eyes glittering. “No,” she said.

“I can make you more comfortable in here,” Josie offered. She hated to do it, hated to even offer it, but what she hated more was the thought of nameless, faceless people all over Denton who had helped Lila carry out her twisted plans.

“Fuck you,” Lila said. “You think I’m going to give you your happy ending, JoJo? No, you’re not getting it. Not from me. You made a choice out there in those woods. You could have let me go.”

“I made a choice?” Josie asked incredulously. “I never had a choice. Ever. You took that away from me when I was only a few weeks old.”

“Oh, you want to play that game? Who had the worse childhood? You don’t want to know what happened to me.”

Josie leaned forward. “You’re wrong. I do want to know. Your foster-care file was destroyed. There is nothing left. I don’t even know where you came from.”

Lila considered this for a moment. Then her hand tightened around the receiver. “I’ll tell you what, JoJo. You’re a detective, right? Big-time chief of police and all that. I’ll give you a clue. You figure it out before I die, and I’ll give you those names.”

“What is it?” Josie said.

Lila hung up the phone and stood. Behind her, the guard startled, hand on his gun, and took a small step toward her. She leaned forward, opened her mouth wide, and breathed along the glass until it fogged. Then with one finger, she traced a series of letters and numbers into the spot she had made.

OY9555

Then she turned away and signaled to the guard. Josie watched the message fade as Lila Jensen was led back into the bowels of the jail.