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“He’s an incredible deceiver.”
We arrived at Jules’ house and I jumped out to see for myself what had scared my Jules so badly. The red maple was surprisingly beautiful. Its red leaves, on the verge of falling, dusted lightly with a recent blanket of snow. I circled the tree and found no painting. Always one step ahead, isn’t he?
“Where’s the painting Elliott?”
“Jules isn’t lying. He must have gotten it.”
“Jesse’s been at the station since you hit him. He couldn’t have done it Elliott.”
I sighed in obvious defeat.
“I know how this looks Danny.”
“Do you?” He asked me seriously. “Because if I didn’t know you personally, I’d think that you and Jules were out to start trouble.”
“But you do know us personally!”
“I’m starting to think that I don’t really know you at all. Get in the car!” He screamed.
He must have called Taylor, I thought. Damn it! I punched the dashboard and then brought both my fists to my forehead.
The tiny one room police station had several people standing around it as we drove up, including my parents and Jules’. Jules must have called them. I saw Mrs. Thomas standing next to my mom and they were talking quietly. Jules sat on the hood of her own Karmann Ghia biting her already short nails.
When she saw us, she jumped up and ran to my window. She placed her palms on the glass. I shook my head and she immediately started to tremble. Danny told me to face her so he could cuff me since everyone was standing around waiting for me.
“It’s procedure. I’m sorry son.”
I nodded in response. Jules and I both knew what it meant to have the painting in Danny’s possession. She came to the same conclusion as I did that Taylor had taken it.
“You have to go search Taylor’s house!” She screamed through the glass at Danny. Danny stepped out from the driver’s side and came over to mine.
“Julia, I can’t do that. I’d need a warrant and the judge is not going to issue a warrant over something with no evidence to back it up. Besides, if Taylor did take the painting, and I’m not saying she did, she more than likely didn’t take it back to her house darlin’. Now, go stand next to your mama.”
Jules did as she was told. I didn’t need to look at her face to feel the tears of disappointment pouring down her face. Danny removed me from the cruiser and I had to toss my head back to get the hair out of my eyes to see my poor family looking on at me in fear. I glanced at each one of them but lingered with Jules before breaking my focus and catching Jesse Thomas, or his angelic alter-ego, smiling at me in fraudulent pity. He intelligently didn’t say a word.
“Sit down here Elliott,” my uncle said and pointed to an old wooden chair.
I did as I was told but kept a cold hard stare on Jesse. He smiled an evil grin when he was sure no one was looking. Danny went outside to talk to our parents and Jules came in from the cold and knelt on the floor before sitting back on her ankles. She wrapped both her hands around the back of my knees and peered deep into my eyes.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
Jesse leaned forward to eavesdrop.
Knowing this I said, “I’m great. I’ll be out of here in no time at all and we can go back to our life.”
“Your life is over Elliott,” he said and winked at Jules when she turned around to glare at him.
I nearly jumped up but restrained myself with everything I had.
Instead, I said, “Lip is lookin’ a little fat Jesse. Sort of matches your head now. You should consider those once a day to even things out. I can work something out if you wish.”
Jules turned back and pleaded with her eyes.
“Don’t,” she mouthed so Jesse couldn’t hear.
She was warning me to stay as civil as possible. She knew the power lay entirely in his hands and this visibly terrified her. This was working out so well for Jesse and it just infuriated me. Whether he pressed charges or not, he looked the innocent, but I knew if he didn’t, it also meant he had something larger up his sleeve and he wanted the police as little aware of him as possible. Plus, it added to his Eddie Haskell-like intentions and he would look like the bigger man. It was a win-win for him. The exact opposite of the catch twenty-two he very decidedly deserved.
Jesse got up to talk with his parents, mine and my Uncle Danny. Jules got up and sat in the chair next to mine. She reached her left hand behind me and wove her fingers through my imprisoned hands. That helped, a lot, for both of us. We were suddenly prepared for it to go any direction he wanted it to go. We were ready. We waited patiently as the conversation became slightly elevated, then died down and ended with handshakes all around.
