Jail's Bait: Parole's Victim (Book 4)

Ray looked dumbfounded as he stared at Cheyenne, who stared at him and the baby he held in his arms. Then he looked down at Jamara, who looked up in his face and cooed happily.

To one side Marquis and Kap stood, looking at Cheyenne with shocked expressions. Marquis looked absently down then towards the shattered party placements, where Cuffy Holmes was trying to supervise the clean-up of the weather disaster. He could see Carmen and Angelina near the mogul, grabbing black plastic bags and attempting to wipe up the soupy remains of the rain-dissolved birthday cake. He couldn't believe that the night could get more 'weird-travels' than this... but of course, this was the Hill Family. The family crest should be 'With Deep Pockets Cometh Deep Drama'- written in Latin, of course, he grimaced to himself.

Meanwhile, Kap was staring at his mother. "Uhhh, Ma," he finally said, surprise in his voice, "when you say the words 'our-daughter' to Ray, what exactly do you mean?"

"Michael... you were away at school," Cheyenne began with a sigh.

“Ma, I don't live in a dorm,” Kap said incredulously. “How did you find time to have a baby when I live at home-”

“Actually, most weeks you stay here with Marquis,” Cheyenne countered. “You all don't even stay at Marquis's house, the condo he's supposed to be living in with his mother Marquette. Both of you technically live here, at HT with Malik and the hot-and-cold-running servants. Those rare moments you are home, you're only there to change clothes.”

Kap looked at Marquis, and realized his mother was right. “Okay, you might have a point,” he said. “But this..? You went through a whole pregnancy and you never even told me about it, Ma..?”

“Let me finish,” Cheyenne said, looking over at Ray wistfully. “It was last year's start of the fall school year. I met Ray... outside of the diner. I had known him back when I was no older than you, long ago- he knew your uncle.”

“You mean your brother, Uncle Telly?” Kap asked.

“Yeah, my twin brother- Shane, who you call your uncle Telly; Ray knew him before he died. I first met Ray at that crappy murder trial,” she added, looking once again at the man. “Remember I told you Shane had run away from home when we were teenagers..? Well, Ray met him in the streets- and they became the best of friends, sort of like you and Marquis,” she said. “When he died it was Ray who led the police to the suspect-”

“We never talked about that time,” Ray interrupted then; “and we not gonna start now...” he glanced offhanded at Marquis when he said that; to Marquis it almost seemed like a warning to Cheyenne to stay quiet about the long-ago trial; but why..?

Cheyenne looked at him, seeming to understand the silent admonition, nodded and continued. “Anyway, ancient history- I lost touch with Ray afterwards for years... then one night last year when I was out back of the diner, I bumped into Ray again- and we talked and he looked- well, he was...”

“Look, I aint ashamed, Shane,” he said, “so tell it like you knew it.”

“Shane..?” Kap looked at his mother. “Why does he call you by Uncle Telly's name?”

She shrugged. “Ray never could say my name correct, 'shy-enn'- so I let him call me Shane. I don't care, he knew my brother; and it’s an honor to wear his name, even if its only by mispronunciation,” she laughed softly-

…But Marquis cast a sidelong glance at Ray on the sly. Best friends like me and Kap, huh..? he thought wryly.

“Tell em like ya remember it,” Ray repeated. “Go on, I own what I am.”

Cheyenne looked at Ray, then swallowed. “Okay then- he was looking for food in the dumpster,” Cheyenne said, jutting her chin out at her son and Marquis. “He was homeless.”

Marquis and Kap stared in surprise at Ray, who stared back stubbornly. “I aint ashamed,” he repeated grimly, Jamara trying to climb up his shoulder for fun. “Been homeless most of my life, when I met Telly I was homeless, he had been my only friend for a long time, and after he died I went my way alone.”

The boys looked back at Cheyenne as she went on. “I felt sorry for Ray, so I brought him home with me to get cleaned up. He wound up staying with me for a couple of months.”

“And here I was living it up here, with hot-and-cold-running-servants,” Kap said ruefully. “I never even knew what was going on in my own house.”

“Hey, Mike, I liked the fact you weren't there, actually- now, let me explain,” Cheyenne said, noting the hurt look on her son's face- “I mean that as long as you weren't home I didn't have to explain why I suddenly had a live-in lover, okay...? But then I started feeling weird, and I took a pregnancy test- I was already nine weeks along.”

“Shane tol me she got pregnant,” Ray continued the story, “but as ya know, I was homeless an aint have no way of takin care of a baby- I told her she should get an abortion.”

“But Ma doesn't believe in abortion,” Kap said then to Ray. “She’s ‘right-to-life’.”

“You got that right,” Cheyenne replied. “But Ray didn't agree with my choices. He told me he wasn't going to stick around if I didn't get rid of the baby.”

“And so she kept the baby, and so I left- the whole relationship lasted about four months,” Ray said, the story over. “We went our separate ways. I left hoping that if ya knew ya'd be raising this child alone on a waitress's salary, ya would spare da kid this pain and get it terminated,” he looked at Cheyenne.

“That's because you didn't know me well enough,” she replied archly. “You were right, however. I couldn't support another baby on my present income. I went to a private clinic my HMO provided for; I had the baby, gave her to a nurse and left the hospital without her.”

“Then how does ya know if this is ya- our daughter,” Ray asked then.

“I may not have seen her since I gave birth, but I know my own child,” Cheyenne said then fiercely, glancing over at Jamara.

“I guess I'll have Danny run a DNA test on her, just ta make sure,” Ray said then grimly, holding Jamara up by her armpits, looking into her face. She blew him a baby raspberry and then giggled.

“Wait,” Marquis said then. “Lamar and Pop already adopted Jamara legally-”

“What?!? Are you serious?” Cheyenne said then, staring at Marquis. “I thought that Ray- I-I mean that I was sure youhad found her...”

“Well, in a way, I did,” Ray said then- “tonight.” And he filled Cheyenne in on the events leading up to the rescuers pulling the basket back over the edge of the cliff, saving himself and Jamara.

“Oh, Jeezus,” Cheyenne said then, her heart in her throat- “all this happened while I was on my way up the mountain?”

“Basically,” Ray said simply. “When I jumped to catch the baby, I didn't think about it- I just knew I... had to,” he finished haltingly, looking with new eyes at the baby happily fussing about in his lap.

“...A father's instinct, you think..?” Cheyenne said wisely to Ray; “because my mother’s instinct is why I know that this is our daughter.”

Ray stared quietly at his ex, then he held out the baby. “Do ya wanna hold her..?”

Cheyenne hesitated, then took at step back. “I don't think I should,” she said then; “it would be too confusing for me and Jamara. Huh- ‘Jamara’… that's a pretty name,” Cheyenne added then, wistfully. “I wanted her to have a good life, and look! now both my children live a good life with the Hill Family,” she smiled wanly. “I couldn't ask for better comfort that I did the right thing.”

“Well, that's you,” Ray said then, holding Jamara close to his chest then. “Ya did the right thing, but I never got no say in what should happen to ‘er.”

Cheyenne's eyes blazed. “You had your say when you said GOODBYE,” she spat at Ray. “You cant come in between Malik and this child now!!”

“Perhaps,” Ray said then, looking at them with an indecipherable expression.

“Hey, Cheyenne,” Danny appeared just then, wearily, making them all jump- “have they filled you in?” He was greeted with an awkward silence then. “…What's going on now,” he asked warily. “Is there any news on Malik and Rah-Rah..?”

Before anyone else could say anything, Danny's cell rang. “It’s Joe, he saw, clicking his phone open. “Where are you...?”

“I'm up in one of the choppers, we're flying the route of the waterfall- it lands in that underground lake, then it flows northwest to join the Gulf of Alaska,” Joe said, yelling above the sound of the helicopter's engine and whirring blades. “We're scanning the ground- but I'm calling to tell you about Sophie the nanny.”

“Oh my god… Sophie, where is she?” At this Marquis, Kap and Ray all looked at each other in fear.

“I saw her when I went running past, didn't have a chance to stop- but she's still in the nursery, and she looked strapped to a chair and gagged. Get someone to go untie her.”

“I'm on it, keep me posted if you hear any news,” Danny said, hanging up. “I'm headed upstairs, Joe says he saw Sophie tied up in the nursery as he ran up to the roof.”

“Thank god she's still alive,” Marquis said with relief. “I expected the worst.”

“Sophie..?” Cheyenne asked then curiously.

“The nanny,” Kap explained. “There’s a lot you don’t know yet, Ma.”

“Ill be back,” Danny began- but just then a horrible scream rent the air, followed by a more terrible, pain-filled shriek- again, then again- and mixed in were the sounds of a growling ROAR...

Marquis, Danny and Kap all looked at each other with growing horror. “LEO!!!” Marquis shouted, and the three rushed pell-mell towards the white baboon's tree...

Ray stared after them, and suddenly got up and strode off to HT with Jamara in his arms. “Where are you going,” Cheyenne said then, running along.

“Well, sumthin else dune happened, cant ya hear,” Ray said, huffing. “But the gotdamn nanny iz STILL tied up- sumone gotz ta git her…” and with that he picked up the pace, long strides towards the game room entrance, Cheyenne hurriedly following behind him.

******

A crowd had gathered near the base of the tree where the white baboon had made its home, much to Malik’s endless chagrin. Marquis, Kap, Danny sped up to the tree and pulled up short, pushing their way through the crowd… and stopped as the sight before them struck Danny and the boys with fresh horror.

Marquis's pet lion cub, Leo, was trembling- crouched high in the tree before the crowd, snapping and snarling- his paws streaked with blood, as high above the chittering sounds of the white baboon could be plainly heard. Underneath the tree, lying mercifully unconscious, was-

“OH MY GOD,” Danny cried out; “is that …CLAIRE..???”

Danny’s ex-wife lay in a heap at the base of the tree, her white dress ripped and shredded, bloodstains covering a great part of her- and her face..! It was just as shredded as her dress, scraps of skin laying in patches all over her cheeks and forehead. The problem was, every time someone tried to go near her Leo snapped his half-grown jaws, which even half grown was impressive enough to keep everyone at a safe distance. Security guards stood at the forefront of the crowd, aiming their service revolvers at the growling animal.

“Listen,” Marquis shouted at security- “if anyone fires even ONE shot at Leo I will PERSONALLY tie you underneath my new bike and go back over the cliff..!”

The security stared at him- and then as one, they lowered their weapons.

“Thank you,” he said simply. Turning to his cub, he called out, “Leo! Its okay, come on down…”

The lion stared back at its master, the whimpering issuing from its gaping maw a terrible thing. A howling screech came from the hidden baboon.

“Come on, Leo,” Marquis coaxed. “ You can come down, no one will hurt you.”

Leo looked around at the crowd- some of the girls shuddered in fright when he fixed his bright yellow eyes on them. Leo looked back at Marquis, then apparently deciding otherwise, bunched up- and leaped over the heads of the now frightened crowd. Girls screamed, everyone ducked- and in a flash Leo had jumped from tree to tree, finally jumping down to the ground far from the crowd and, as everyone whipped their heads around, they saw him vanish into the nearby natural cave that lay nearby.

Danny and the security guards rushed forward, then stopped before the prostrate form. “I don’t know if we should touch her at all,” Danny said then, stricken as he watched her unconsciously jerking from the horrible pain. “Did anyone call the EMT’s back?”

“They pulled into the gates five minutes ago,” one of the security guards said then; “the same one that was here before. They figured they would have to come back anyway…”

“Well, thank god they were proactive,” Danny said then, feeling helpless as the ambulance pulled up to a stop right under the tree. The white baboon clearly did not like the lights and noise, the chitter sound began to increase wildly, then with a rustle it faded away.

Marquis had turned back to the excitable crowd. “Look, I will handle Leo… he was spooked by the storm, I forgot to untie him and take him inside under all the excitement. Please let me handle this, everyone; you’re safe.”

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, then as one they trooped back to the game room entrance as the horrified EMT’s loaded Claire onto a stretcher, after doing what they could to dress her wounds and giving her a sedative to keep her asleep. “It’s the best thing we could do for her,” one of the EMT’s explained with a shocked tone. “If she was awake, the pain would only knock her back out again.”

“I understand,” Danny said then- “look, can I ride with you to the hospital?”

“Let’s go,” the EMT responded, holding the back door open.

Danny turned to Marquis and Kap- then started to himself. “Damn, I forgot about Sophie,” he said then- “could you-”

“We’re on it, Uncle Dan,” Marquis said then. “I expect that someone will show up from the ESPCA too, so if they do-”

“Just call me and I’ll represent you and Leo,” Danny smiled wearily. He got into the ambulance. “Keep an eye on Jamara,” Danny said finally as the EMT’s shut the back door, got into the front and drove away, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

Marquis and Kap stared after the ambulance- then looked at each other. “Let’s go get Sophie untied,” Marquis said.

Carmen and Angelina came running up the walkway towards the baboon’s tree. “We just heard, we were in the house trying to clean up,” Carmen said, going towards Marquis, frowning in amazement. “Did Leo really maul your godmother..?”

Marquis and Kap both gave a big sigh. “There’s more,” they said simultaneously to their girlfriends- then looked at each other. “We really spend a whole lot of time together, huh..?” Kap said to Marquis as their girlfriends gave them a simultaneously surprised look.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, yo,” said Marquis, putting one arm around Kap's shoulders. Then Marquis, Carmen, Kap and Angelina headed back for HT. “What ELSE besides your godmother getting attacked by a lion could have POSSIBLY happened,” Carmen said then.

Marquis leaned over and kissed his girlfriend as they walked on. “Remember,” he said then pityingly, “you ASKED…”

******

Lamar lay on the hospital bed, staring into space, silent and unmoving as the EKG machine beeped in slow intervals. Joan sat by him, holding his hand in an effort to make him feel that he was not alone; she knew her son would want someone to be there for Lamar and there was nothing she could do as far as finding him in the rainstorm and the darkness, so she felt like sitting here with Lamar for Malik was doing something to help her son. She was as afraid as any mother would be, seeing their only child pummel off the side of a mountain and vanish- but there was a feeling Joan had in the pit of her soul, her mother's intuition, which screamed at her that her son was still alive- and for some odd reason that gave her comfort… which is why she sat by her son's life-partner's bedside- to pass on that unexplainable comfort to him...

"Wake up, baby," Joan soothed to Lamar, patting his hand; "you got ta get up, Malik is waitin for you, he needs you right now, you can’t give into fear..."

The door opened up and Danny strode in. “I was wondering where you went,” he said then with a wan smile.

"Danny- what happened, did they get Ray and Jamara off the ledge?" Joan asked, jumping up and coming over.

Danny sighed. "Yes, Ray and the baby are fine," he said. “He's staying at HT with the baby, it seems like she's grown instantly attached to him... Marquis and Michael, Marquette and Michael's mom Cheyenne are there too, helping Cuffy Holmes clean up the disaster. Joe is in one of the choppers, searching the Rainier River's route for signs of Malik and Rah-Rah, he'll call if- WHEN he comes up with anything,” he amended.

Joan went into his arms, holding him tightly. "Thank god the baby’s alright," she whispered. Joan pulled away and stared at Danny. "That Trey look-a-like of yours sure proved himself a daredevil, didn't he..?"

"Yeah," Danny said distractedly; "a regular 'Flying Trapeezie'. How's Lamar?"

“The same- he hasn't responded yet," Joan said then; "the doctors are sure its just deep shock due to severe psychological trauma, and he'll come out of it all at once as soon as his mind adjusts... not that anyone's mind can adjust to a shock like that," she added ruefully.

"Shocks..? You don't know the half," he replied. "Here's another." And he filled the shocked Joan in on his conversation with Lionel.

"...And when I asked Claire if she really did sleep with him, she ran out onto the grounds... apparently, right into the white baboon's tree where Marquis had tied Leo,” he said.

"JEZZUS- What happened...?" Joan asked, her eyes wide.

“Well, both the baboon and the lion were obviously spooked from the sudden thunderstorm, and Leo hates the thunder especially. But, he was tied to the tree right out in the open and couldn't hide from the weather- so when Claire ran up on him out of nowhere, Leo reacted and snapped his rope; he mauled her,” Danny said, his voice drained. “I came in with her in the ambulance. She's unconscious, thank god- but her face... the EMT's managed to stop the bleeding but they said Leo shredded over 80% of her face. Even with major surgery, she'll never look the same again.”

“Gotdamn, I tol Malik about that damn lion,” Joan said, exhaling in a low whistle. “Where's ol’ Leo now?”

“He ran off to the caves; Marquis will be able to catch him once things die down a bit. He's a tame lion that got spooked during a thunderstorm, its not like he went wild. I don't think Marquis will allow anyone to press charges or try to put the lion cub down; but this is serious,” Danny replied, his eyes dark.

Joan was silent then. “Do you think that this Lionel is really your brother,” she asked him pointedly.

“I don't know,” Danny said after a moment; “I'll have to run a DNA test on him, me and Lamar after all this is over. It's a damn shame that Claire spent the last few decades of her life in AFRICA'S ISSUE, only to find out the only cause they were really into was a revenge plot against me.”

“I told dat woman to come on to the hospital with her son instead of stayin behind with ol Inamae X, Lionel or whoever the fuck he is,” Joan said then, shaking her head. “Karma's a bitch for real, aint she..?”

Danny looked at her. “Well, the hits just keep on comin; when we brought Claire here, the nurses in the ER know me as 'Detective Dan', and asked me to take a look at a comatose Jane Doe that was found outside the entrance earlier on tonight. They hadn't called the police yet because they were giving her a chance to wake up and tell them who she was on her own...” He looked at her with a sigh. “Joanie, it's Rena.”

Joan looked at Danny, then went and sat back down on the folding chair. “Rena HOWARD??? Rah-Rah's mama? How in the hell did she wind up here in the hospital?”

“Well, they say it was blunt force trauma to the parietal lobe, with defined non-reaction to stimuli- basically she was knocked out a little too hard and she may be in an irreversible coma,” he explained to Joan. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking...?” he asked her pointedly.

“...No, Dan, not her own SON,” Joan said incredulously.

“Well, I called up to Oak Grove on my way here, and the night nurse checked the sign-in book. Rena did visit Rah-Rah tonight... which reminds me,” Danny said then, his eyes widening with fresh shock; “there's something we all overlooked... tonight is the tenth anniversary of Trey's murder.”

“It's been ten years to the day???” Joan said then, amazement afresh on her own face. “And Rah-Rah chose tonight to escape- wanna know what I think, Danny? I bet Rena tried to help him escape, then after the fact realized what she got her self into and tried to stop him- which landed her in da ICU.”

“Just like Sophie the nanny,” Danny added. "Marquis called me while I was seeing to getting Claire settled in, they found her tied up in the nursery. She confessed to having helped Rah-Rah escape the asylum, she had the keys to the whole hospital and the grounds- he was able to leave at any time he wanted to. He told me the whole story.”

“What the fuck???” Joan said to Danny, shocked and angry. “This bitch, lettin dat crazy killer loose ta get at us AGAIN! What the fuck did we do to her???”

“It wasn’t about us for her, she didn’t know what he was planning,” Danny explained. “She'd been doing part-time volunteer work before she was hired on as Jamara's nanny. No one thought to find out what she was actually doing part-time; it turns out Sophie she is a licensed physical therapist, assigned to catatonic patients, protecting limbs from atrophy. Her helping Rah-Rah get keys to unlock himself out of the asylum is clearly an ‘aiding-and-abetting’ charge- but when she realized that Rah-Rah was out to kidnap Jamara she tried to stop him- and got knocked out, tied up and gagged," he concluded.

“What's amazing is that it sounds like Rah-Rah really didn't plan any of this revenge scheme... the whole plan just sort of fell into his lap,” Joan said darkly. “Him waking up from his catatonic state, Rena's coming to see him tonight, the very person that helped keep him be able to walk just happened to get hired by his true enemy, Sophie havin just the right level of access to break him out of Oak Grove, everything happening on the tenth anniversary of his father's death- it just fit too well for him, like Christmas had come early.”

“Well, Rah-Rah always did like to make an impression,” Danny said. “And now it might have cost him his own life.”

“And my son's,” Joan said then in a whisper.

“...and MY son,” as well, Danny said then, looking at Lamar laying there like a stone.

Looking at the figure on the bed, staring sightlessly, Danny could never believe that this man was nor his own, his son... Memories of his life with Lamar flashed across his vision- the time when Lamar was 10 and they went on their first camping trip and he caught that snapper that was almost bigger than he was- no one ever believed that story either. Then there was the time Lamar was 14 and he had skinned his knee from jumping down on the trampoline in the back yard- from off the roof. He thought it was a good idea at the time, and when Danny had rushed down to pick him up from the ground, Lamar had hugged him tightly, and made Danny swear he would never tell anyone that he'd punked out by crying for his daddy. Danny was just grateful that at age 14 Lamar still needed his father, letting Danny still protect him...

...and he still felt this way about the young man lying in the hospital bed before him. He loved Lamar unconditionally, whether he was his biological son, or even if it turned out that Danny was only his uncle...

Just then Lamar sat bolt upright, making Danny and Joan jump. “JOOP!” Lamar yelled out, jumping out of the bed and, sitting up, looked around wildly.

"Lamar- Lamar WAIT," Joan was saying as the frantic man found his shoes and started to put them on. "Let the doctors look at you-”

"I KNOW WHERE JOOP IS," Lamar said directly to a surprised Joan; Lamar bent down to put his shoes on, looking over then at the man he thought of as his father, and Danny saw the ferocious determination in his son's eyes. "Trust me, Pop, he's alive, I can feel him; I know where to look," he pleaded as he finished putting his shoes on and stood to his feet, coming over to stand before Danny. "Don't let them get in my way, I have to go to Joop- he doesn't have much time."

Danny looked at his son- then mutely nodded, stepping aside.

Lamar hugged him gratefully. “I love you, Pop,” he said hurriedly; “come on yall!!” and he dashed out of the room.

Joan and Danny looked at each other. “You think he's got a clue where Malik might be..?” Joan said, a surge of hope in her voice.

“I'm sure of it- because Lamar is sure of it,” Danny smiled back; “I know my son.” And with that the two of them rushed out the door behind him.