Nessa left the car running and the driver’s-side door standing open. Barefoot and still dressed in her nightgown, she grabbed Breanna and held her against her chest. Jordan, who’d hopped in the passenger seat before Nessa could back out of the drive, stood with her arms wrapped around her mother and her twin. The tears running down Nessa’s face felt scalding hot. She’d never contemplated killing another human being before. Now it was all she could think about. For the first time, she understood exactly how Jo had felt the night a man had come for Lucy.
“Jordan, drive Breanna to your aunt Harriett’s house,” she ordered. “Tell her what’s happened, and ask her to get all the ticks off your sister and make sure she’s okay.”
“You’re not coming with us, Mama?” Jordan asked.
“Not now,” Nessa told her.
“Your mother and I have someone we need to visit.” Jo shifted from foot to foot. She was having a hard time standing still. The energy racing through her system couldn’t be contained much longer. It needed to be released before it blew her to pieces.
“The chief of police?” Jordan scoffed. “You’ve got to be joking. What are the two of you going to do? The guy’s a dirty cop. He could shoot you.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going with them,” Claude said. “I’ll make sure I get everything on camera. Rocca won’t try anything stupid as long as I’m there.”
That didn’t seem to do much to convince Jordan. She kept her eyes on her mother. “How’s she going to protect you? Rich white ladies generating their own force fields these days?”
“Go,” her mother ordered. “Now, Jordan.”
“I’m not ready to be an orphan,” Jordan snapped.
“Now!” Nessa roared.
Jordan glowered but kept her lips sealed. Then she climbed into the driver’s side of Nessa’s car and slammed the door. Jo put an arm around Nessa as they watched the girls drive away.
“Something very bad is about to happen,” Nessa said. “I can feel it.”
Jo squeezed her friend’s shoulder. “I know,” she replied. “You ready?”
“Let’s go,” Nessa said.
They found the cop car with a number one on its hood parked beneath a massive house that sat atop stilts and hovered over the dunes. There was no way to reach the front door. A locked gate blocked the stairs that led up to the porch. The place was a fortress.
“Follow me.” Jo stomped around the house and climbed atop a grass-covered dune that faced the house’s deck. The sliding doors that led into the house were standing open, and their curtains fluttered in the wind. Rocca was sitting at a table with a cup of coffee in front of him.
“Morning, motherfucker!” Jo bellowed with her hands cupped around her mouth. “You ready for us to tell everyone in Mattauk what you really do for a living?”
Nessa climbed up on the dune beside Jo. Down on the beach, two joggers paused to see what would come next. The next-door neighbor appeared on his porch wearing nothing but boxer shorts.
“Chief Rocca sure has a very nice house, doesn’t he? You ever wonder how he can afford to live this way on a small-town cop’s salary?” Jo called out to their audience. “I can tell you! He pays the bills by pulling little girls into his cop car and selling them to perverts like Spencer Harding.”
“It’s the truth!” Nessa shouted. “And ten minutes ago, he tried to kidnap my girl. He went and messed with the wrong mama this time.”
Rocca yawned in response. “What are you talking about? And why are you bothering me on my day off? Get the hell off my property before I have you both arrested.”