Jeff drove toward the county hospital along the freeway. He tried to concentrate on Sammy and Paula and their plight.
Sammy had called an hour before. He had told Jeff that he had found Paula at her apartment the afternoon before. The hoods had gotten to her and used the dog. Jeff remembered that Sammy's voice had remained calm as he spoke. Paula would be alright, but she had suffered a terrible shock. The sedative had worn off and she was ready to talk, ready to tell Jeff everything she knew about Wade Jackson and his entire operation. With her testimony and Sammy's, Jeff would have Wade in jail in a matter of days.
But Jeff couldn't concentrate on the couple he was to meet at the hospital. He couldn't help thinking about his wife, or rather his new wife, he thought.
Jeff remembered from the moment he had heard her screaming over the phone that even her voice was different, more knowledgeable, and at last, more humble. Perhaps he should have taken the police with him, he thought as he drove. How Goddamned stupid to have thought he could have taken care of Wade by himself. As soon as he had gotten into the apartment they had grabbed him like he was a child and forced him to watch his wife's rape.
It wasn't that so much, though. He knew she had been drugged, though he hadn't realized it at the time. It was after he left that he realized his wife was a new woman, a woman like Carmen, alive and sexually potent beyond his wildest expectations.
They had made love for hours, and then, as soon as they woke up this morning they had done it again, though Pam was the aggressor, waking him and massaging his penis to erection. He thought of the sex-crazed look of ecstatic pleasure he had seen in her face as she straddled his huge cock, rubbing her soft, still sperm-covered pussy back and forth over his pubic hair while the massive organ tore mercilessly at her insides. She had climaxed twice before he did, her body racked with passion as she jerked spasmodically through the pains of orgasm.
Wow, Jeff thought as he remembered. He ought to stop thinking about it because he could feel his penis already growing to erection by just remembering how his wife acted in bed. He had an appointment to keep, and if he kept thinking about Pam, he might turn around and forget about Wade Jackson.
Jeff Lee had changed, too, in the last twenty hours. He knew that his wife's frigidity had been partly his fault, and not just hers and her mother's. Jeff had always allowed Pamela to stay on her pedestal; above the meager humanities that inhabited the world. But after seeing her raped, drugged by an aphrodisiac, he was able to talk to her. Now he could say words like cock, or pussy, or even fuck, to her.
Inhibited, he thought, I was inhibited myself until last night. Now she's a real woman, suddenly, and I'm a real man, with real emotions and real feelings.
Jeff couldn't deny that Wade had instigated the change in him and his wife, but some good must come from everything, he thought. Wade Jackson was an ugly and dangerous man and should be put away where he can't do any more harm to anyone. It's terrible, he thought, as he drove on, that we were not able to communicate until Pam was raped. Everyone has faults, there's no denying that, but no married couple should drift so far apart that they aren't able to take part in each other's lives. I'll just have to show interest in her society life, and in return, I know that she'll always listen to what I have to say about my work.
As soon as this is over, he thought, we're taking a vacation. I owe it to myself and to Pam. Christ, what a bastard I've been, working all the time, treating her like nothing more than a maid… and even worse in bed. If I'd been more understanding, none of this would have happened. But that'll change. She'll see a different Jeff Lee from now on. I'll be a husband to my wife, and a lover, he added to himself with a smile.
"Hello, Sammy," Jeff said as he entered the hospital room.
Sammy sat on the bed next to his girlfriend, holding her hand. Paula was propped against two pillows on the raised hospital bed, her hair in curlers. The two of them had been talking about Jeff just before he arrived. Sammy explained everything that had happened and assured her that she would be safe from the mob, and the police.
"You're Paula," Jeff asked, knowing that the question was unnecessary.
Paula smiled and nodded. So this is the man who's going to help us, she thought. He looks like an ordinary john… probably hasn't ever had a tragedy in his life. She continued looking at Jeff while he and Sammy talked. He looked like the kind of man who was happily married with two children, two cars, two banks and everything that a normal American man should have. How sad, she thought, that he should get mixed up with us. We're just a couple of losers and nothing's going to change that.
"… And so I've arranged for a private car to take you to my beach house where you'll be safe. With luck everything will be finished in a couple of weeks and you can come back here and start over."
"I don't think we'll ever come back here, Mr. Lee," Paula interrupted. "I've seen more corruption here in the last year than most people see in a lifetime. I've been a prostitute for almost the whole year. That means going to bed with every kind of pervert on the face of the earth. I can only take so much, and I think I've reached my limit."
Sammy took her hand and tried to soothe her. Paula had almost cried as she spoke, trying to tell Jeff Lee that she was so full of hate and despair that nothing really mattered any longer.
But Jeff tried to reassure her: "You've got a lot behind you, Paula," he said. "But you've got a whole life ahead of you. No matter what happens, you've got Sammy, and believe me, I think he's one helluva guy.
"Don't you realize that it doesn't matter where you live, or what you've been before. Your life is too important to give up because of the horrors that you've seen when you're young. You two people can really make something of yourselves if you want to. There are horizons just waiting for you to cross. All you have to do is take the first step."
Paula sat looking at the greying newspaper editor for a moment. He's forty, yet he's still got hope for the future, she thought. And I don't really know what he's been through.
"Yes," she said aloud, "Maybe there is some hope for us. I'm willing, Sammy, if you are."
"Oh, wow," he exclaimed. "You'd better believe that I'm ready."
Jeff looked at the couple on the bed and smiled. Jeff Lee is on the winning side, now he thought. I guess that can make a new man out of you.
"Well, I guess that makes things a little clearer for you two," he said. "But I'd better fill you in on the rest. My campaign to jail Wade Jackson went into effect today. When the evening edition of the paper comes out, everyone will see it in print. I'll have to mail you a copy, though, because I want you out of town before the story hits the streets. Wade'll be in jail when you come back to town to testify, so please don't worry."
Sammy and Paula grinned at the good news. Maybe they would get a fresh start after all. They could easily begin by wiping the slate clean when they testified as state witnesses in court.
"… So," Jeff continued, "Pack your bags and a car will pick you up at three."
"Jeff," Sammy broke in, his voice suddenly solemn. "I've got some bad news for you."
The editor said nothing, but waited for the boy to speak.
"The girl you got the information from, Carmen…" he paused. "She was found dead in her apartment about an hour ago. One of the other girls called Paula and told her."
"Carmen," Jeff said reflectively. "How did it happen?"
"She was shot through the head," Paula told him. "The police don't have any idea who did it, but I do. All you have to do is tell the police to pick up Carl Pearson and they'll have their killer."
"I'll do that," Jeff said. "I'll be sure to."
"Extra! Extra!" Jeff heard a paperboy yelling on the street corner. "Read all about it! Local millionaire exposed as arch-criminal! Extra! Extra!"
Well, Jeff thought to himself. The convention's over and the story's out; now all I have to do is wait.
Jeff didn't have to wait for very long. Twenty minutes later three members of one of Miami's commissions entered his office. They were older men, all three in their sixties, and all three were very wealthy, prominent citizens. Jeff knew why they had come, and wasn't surprised when the first one said: "Lee, you've got to retract that story!"
"Go fly a kite," was his reply.
"Now, listen," the second commissioner said, his tone more soothing. "What you've written about Wade Jackson is probably a misconception. If you really looked at the facts, you'd find that you've made a mistake."
"No, gentlemen, I have not made a mistake. I believe that you've made the mistake. Your first error was to know Wade Jackson, your second was to play puppet for him, and your third was to come storming into my office in support of him.
"This town or any other town doesn't need men like Jackson, no matter what your economics tell you. Wade Jackson is a despicable man, beneath contempt. His kind of corruption has ruined the lives of thousands of people in the United States and all over the world. He runs his empire with blackmail and brute force. But he, and all the others like him, will pay someday. I plan to see that Wade Jackson pays now!"
The three men stood silent for a moment, each of them trying to understand what Jeff had said. Sure, there was truth in what he said about corruption, they thought, but not about Wade.
"Listen," the second man said. "Wade Jackson pays enough taxes every year to buy and sell your newspaper. He's helped the city of Miami build playgrounds, recreation areas, churches, and too many things to mention here."
"Money's not the answer," Jeff retorted. "People are what count. Just because Wade helps the community or the local churches doesn't mean he's a good man. Think of all the people, little people, who don't have the money. I'll bet you any amount of money that a thousand Wade Jackson's could not match the charity of heart that any one of them has.
"No, gentlemen, Wade Jackson is finished in Miami, and anywhere else. He'll spend the rest of his life behind bars."
The first man spoke: "Wade's going to sue, you know. He'll rock this newspaper right into the Gulf, by the time he's finished with you. You'll have to publish a retraction, or face complete ruin."
"He can do anything he pleases," Jeff said, "… from a jail cell."
"What do you mean?"
"Wade Jackson is in the maximum security ward at the city jail."
"Why, hell! He'll be out on bail in an hour," one of them said.
"The charge is rape. He won't get out."
"Rape! That's incredible… why that's impossible," the second man nearly yelled.
"It's not incredible at all. I'm an eyewitness, and I'll see to it that he spends the rest of his life in jail for that, if nothing else."
Suddenly the phone rang, breaking the silence that had swept the room after Jeff's speech.
"Good day, gentlemen," he said and turned his back to answer the phone.
"Yeah, Charley," Jeff said to his assistant editor. "I hope you've got those sworn affidavits from Sammy and Paula ready for today's edition."
"I do, Jeff, but it won't make any difference."
"Why not?"
"Well," Charley said, hesitating. "The D.A.'s office showed them to Jackson this morning about ten o'clock. When the guard went back to the cell to take him his dinner he found Jackson dead on the floor. He cut his wrists."
Jeff paused for a moment.
"O.K., Charley, run an obituary."
Jeff Lee hung up the phone and picked up his pipe. Wade Jackson had taken the coward's way out, and saved the state a lot of money. But Jeff's job wouldn't be over for a long time. Wherever a Wade Jackson lives, thriving off the misfortune of others, there will always be a job for men like Jeff Lee. Within a week someone will have taken Wade's place in Miami and Jeff will nave to start another investigation… but not until after his vacation… a long one with his new found Pamela…