Chapter 4: Gwen - Hunter or Hunted

When I made it to the salon, I used my key to unlock the door. Simone had given me a spare shortly after opening because I was headed into town, and she realized she had forgotten to turn out the lights. I tried to give it back to her, but she said I would probably need it again one day. Just keep it safe.

This time, though, when I pushed the door open, it clunked into something hard. Something heavy.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Simone said.

Only when she scooted further into the opening did I realize she was the hard and heavy thing blocking the door. Wiping up the makeup that streaked her cheeks, she sat with her back against the wall.

Last time she looked like this, her lips were ballooned to twice their size, her eye was black and blue, and I hardly recognized her.

As I stepped inside, I flicked the lock behind me.

I stayed silent as I lowered myself onto the marble beside her and tossed an arm around her shoulders. She rested her head against mine.

Staring at the floor of the salon, only the quiet hum of pop music from Simone’s speaker in the back sounded. The cool ground beneath me counterbalanced the heat of her body against mine. She wrapped both hands around my bicep, sweat and tears dampening my sleeve.

Simone was usually the one to break the silence. When I realized she wouldn’t, I did. “Did your client ever show?”

She shook her head. “I texted to reschedule. Told her I had a family emergency. Hopefully I didn’t lose her.”

“Not like there are many other options in this town.” I rested the back of my head against the cool pane of glass behind me. “I’m sure she’ll be back.”

“Either way.” Sniffling, Simone swatted another tear away. “That appointment was gonna pay off Junie’s Christmas presents.”

“You’ll pay them off after the holidays.”

“Borrow from Peter to pay Paul,” she said under her breath.

On the phone earlier, Simone had mentioned that it was an extension appointment. That’s why she had hoped to pull herself together before her client arrived. She would’ve profited somewhere around five hundred dollars from that session. Now, she had five hundred less, which was a lot to someone who had just opened a business.

There it was again. Yet another way our pasts continued to screw up our lives, even from the grave.

“Story of our lives,” I muttered. “What happened? What did she say?”

Straightening up, Simone used the inside of her shirt to wipe up her tears and snot. “A whole lot of nothing, really. She thinks I killed David, but she doesn’t have any proof.”

“Because there is no proof. Everything’s handled. She won’t find anything, Simone.” I did my best to soften my voice. “You don’t need to worry about that. You’re not the one who did it anyway.”

“I cleaned the blood off your shoes.” Crossing her legs lotus-style, she slouched her shoulders and propped her elbows on her thighs. “Pretty sure that makes me an accessory.”

“And you cleaned them good.” I shook my head. “We’re fine. We’re good. There’s no evidence anywhere. I’m sure of it.”

“It’s not jail I’m afraid of.” She stared down at her hands in her lap and fiddled with her black, manicured fingernails. “She’s just as bad as him, Gwen. In a different way, yeah, but not by much. She’s where he got his temper. She’s where he got his addiction. But the thing is, she’s a hell of a lot smarter. She knows how to play people like a goddamn fiddle. She made some comment about how, if it were Junie, I would go to the ends of the earth for justice. Then she said something about talking to a lawyer. How I violated the custody agreement, how she’s going to try to get visitation, I think? Or maybe sole custody.” Head in her hand, she pinched her eyes shut. “She’s not going quietly. This is gonna be hell.”

When I was seven, an old man had showed up at the park behind my apartment building. Said he was my grandpa. That he wanted to come say hello, that he lived nearby now.

Mom must’ve been watching out the window, because she ran out those double doors like a bat out of hell with a shotgun. She hadn’t aimed it at him, but she’d made her point clear. He argued, saying that he was her father, he had rights, and she assured him that he was wrong. He could try to get visitation, or prove her unfit, but good luck.

For the next month, my mom stayed stone-cold sober. One of the only times in my life where she remained sober for any length. A time I looked back on fondly.

When CPS came, they’d drug-tested her. With clean piss, they’d closed the case.

“She’s a grandma,” I said. “She has no rights to Junie. David would, if he were here, but she’s got no leg to stand on.”

“Won’t stop her from trying.” She wiped her eyes and let her arms fall back to her lap with a thump. “I’ve gotta quit smoking. Today, I guess. The only thing that helps me sleep through the night, and I’ve gotta stop, because this bitch is going to use it against me. She’s gonna look for any reason she can find to get Junie taken away from me.”

Weed was legal in Montana and had been for several years. Given Simone’s sparkling record next to the shitshow Angela seemed to be, I couldn’t see a judge taking Junie away over a little bit of pot. “We’ll talk to legal about it. See what they say.”

“I don’t even want to send Junie to school now, Gwen.” Tears bubbled in her eyes as they met mine. “Angela got an apartment here. It wouldn’t surprise me if she tried to pick her up or something.”

“We’ll beat her there.” I glanced at my watch. 2:49. “We’ll stop at Maple & Thyme, grab a coffee, and sit outside until school lets out. When she goes back after the holiday, you can go into the office and make sure they’re aware of the situation with Angela. They won’t let anyone take her out of school that you don’t sign off on.”

Releasing a deep breath through O-shaped lips, Simone nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Sorry I’m such a mess. I don’t even know why it got to me like that. She made some comment about how I’m a perpetual victim, and we went back and forth a little, and then she left, and I just…”

All the memories came back.

“It’s alright,” I said.

“Okay. Coffee, pick Junie up from school, then talk to Rhiannon and the rest of the legal department.” Another calming breath. This one did far more to loosen her tight shoulders. “On the bright side, I think I might be sleeping with a cop soon, so that’ll help with all of this.”

Raising my brows, I snorted a laugh. “I’m sorry, did I hear that correctly?”

Nose still pink, lips and eyes swollen from the tears, a hint of joy pulled at the edges of her lips. “Edwards came down a little while ago. He—Well, he wanted to talk about something else, but before he left, he asked me to be his date to a New Year’s Eve party. One that you and Sebastian are allegedly going to.”

Sebastian had mentioned something about a party next week. I agreed, but I didn’t remember all the specifics.

Still, at the mention of his name, it took a great deal of willpower to keep from rolling my eyes. “Wow. That’s exciting. You and Edwards, huh?”

Her expression could only be described as giddy, like a schoolgirl who’d learned her crush liked her back. “I don’t know, maybe? He’s a good guy. And he’s so hot.”

The hot part, I agreed with. By and large, he seemed like a good guy too. I didn’t have bad things to say about him.

But apparently my face gave me away.

Simone slouched. “What? What’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing’s wrong with him.” I lifted my hands. “He’s cool. I like Edwards.”

“But?”

“He’s just not my type.” As I stood, I outstretched a hand to help her up. “But yeah, with everything considered, it’s a good idea for you to get in bed with the cop.”

“What do you mean?” She braced herself on the wall with one hand and used mine for leverage to get to her feet. Once vertical, her eyes flicked over me. “He’s hot, he’s nice, he has a steady job, probably with a pension. Those all sound like your type. Everybody’s type, really.”

“I just can’t do cops.” Another shrug. “He seems like a good one. In the same way that not all men are bad men. You know, just… when in shark-infested waters.”

Grabbing her jacket off the hook by the door, she frowned at me. “I thought, since you’re all happy, hunky-dory with Sebastian, you’d be happy for me too.”

“Not too happy, hunky-dory today,” I said under my breath. “But I am happy for you. I’m especially happy that it could help keep both of us out of prison.”

“Stop that. I’m not using him for his job.” Her frown deepened. “But what did you say a second ago? Something going on with you and Sebastian?”

I could tell her. There was a part of me that wanted to. Given his obscene level of paranoia, however, I settled for the cliff notes. “Sometimes, you meet a man. You think he’s, like, a really good person. All your morals and ideologies align. He sees the world the way you do. And then, one day, he opens his big mouth, and you realize he is just a man. A decent man is still one step below a mediocre woman.”

She laughed. “What did he say?”

“Just some stupid mansplainy shit.” Rolling my eyes, I reached for the door. “It doesn’t matter. I’m mad, but I’ll get over it. Coffee will help.”

* * *

We drove to Maple & Thyme, only a few blocks over, in Simone’s car. Given my exhaustion, I asked if Simone would drive home and bring me back to town for my car tomorrow. Walking was an option, but my limbs felt like gelatin. Sand lined my eyelids. Keeping them open was backbreaking labor at this point.

Coffees in hand, we drove another ten minutes to Junie’s school. They let out at 3:30, and we made it there fifteen minutes after. The pickup line already stretched onto the main road.

We didn’t talk much while we waited. I was too tired to keep the conversation alive, and Simone’s head seemed somewhere amongst the stars.

The school attendant must’ve recognized Simone, because someone came out with Junie a few minutes later. Decked out in a red and green dress, hair tied in red and green ribbons, she beamed about her last day before Christmas. They had watched movies, and sang Christmas carols, and decorated cookies. She gushed that it was her favorite school day of the whole year.

Junie was a pleasant distraction from everything else. She offered me one of her cookies, which she had piped excellently for an eight-year-old. Her plan for the evening included watching The Grinch, followed by Home Alone, and finishing up with the masterpiece that was Barbie’s rendition of The Nutcracker.

She asked if I would come over tonight to join.

I doubted I would make it past sundown, but I thanked her for the offer.

When we got to the ranch, Simone asked if I would come down to legal with her. I wasn’t sure if she wanted emotional support or someone to keep an eye on Junie while she filled out paperwork, but I agreed. I didn’t have much energy left, but I could manage sitting in the legal building for a while.

On the way, I had texted Rhiannon and asked her to meet us there. When we pulled up, her car was parked in the driveway. Together, the three of us trudged up the barely shoveled path to the front door. Colleen greeted us with a nod, as friendly as she seemed able. She turned on some cartoons for Junie while Rhiannon brought us into her office. Simone explained what had happened with Angela.

Tongue in her cheek, Rhiannon propped her hands on her hips. “That bitch doesn’t have a damn thing. She’s not going to take your baby, Simone.”

“She’s going to try.” Leaning against the bookshelf at the edge of the room, Simone rubbed a hand down her face. “I don’t think you understand what we’re dealing with, Rhiannon. David’s a piece of shit, and he got it from her. Honestly, I think he was a milder version. She might not be as physically strong, but she’s not above violence. I have so many stories about that woman, and they’re all awful.”

“Believe me, I’ve dealt with the piece-of-shit mothers-in-law.” Rhiannon leaned against her desk. “They can do just as much damage, if not more, than their prick sons. But I’m not afraid of them. You don’t need to be either.”

Simone gazed out the window, lifting and lowering her shoulders with a huff. “There are so many angles she can come at this from. Taking Junie, for one. And she might have a case. At least the start of one. I did violate the custody order when I came here, and⁠—”

“And we handled it,” Rhiannon said. “You don’t have any warrants out against your name, Simone. You⁠—”

“Jess does.” Simone turned to better face her. “Simone might not, but Jess broke the law to get here.”

Rhiannon’s eyes narrowed, but not with anger. In an oh, you sweet child sort of way. “No, neither name has warrants against them. Jess and Simone are both clear names. We took care of the custody case. David didn’t know that because he was subpoenaed, and he didn’t show up to court. My lawyers handled it. You were awarded sole custody, and he never filed again. Once you were gone, when he didn’t know how to get ahold of you anymore, he stopped trying to get Junie. If he were to show up, and he were to file a petition for custody, maybe a judge would award him visitation. But even that’s unlikely. We know he’s not going to show up either, because then he’ll go to jail. Mothers-in-law can be a pain in the ass, sure, but you are safe, Simone.”

Throughout most of this conversation, I had zoned in and out of consciousness. But that last bit had my interest piqued. “Wait. We’re not committing identity fraud?”

Blinking hard at me, Rhiannon sputtered a laugh. “What?”

“When I got here, Simone told me not to ask too many questions about how the ranch is run.” Stifling a yawn, I sat up in the chair in front of Rhiannon’s desk. “I mean, she didn’t say it, but she sort of suggested that there was some nefarious business going on behind the scenes. I never had to go to court to get my name changed or anything. So I just assumed that the name changes we go through here, they weren’t… you know. Completely legal.”

Rhiannon crossed her arms. “Some things are morally ambiguous. All the donations we make to the local cops. The obscene amount of donations we give attorneys and law enforcement all around the country. But mostly, the legal side of what we get done here is through the system. It’s just carefully executed, with the right budget, the right loopholes, and the right connections. But no, I sure as shit do not give hundreds, thousands, of women fake identities, Gwen. There’s no way I could get that done on the scale we have here. It’s done through the system, it’s just done carefully.”

Mouth dropped, I furrowed my brows at Simone. I wanted to say, So I could’ve just called the cops? I could’ve claimed self-defense and gotten away with it?

At the time, my primary reason for covering up David’s murder was that it would endanger the ranch. It would expose all the women inside, for the crimes we’d committed when we left our husbands.

And I hadn’t needed to?

Then again, it was still for the best. A murder at the gates would’ve brought too much attention to this place. And even if I had gotten off on self-defense, I still would’ve wanted to do it again. At least now, I had no criminal record that would make my future endeavors more difficult.

“Wait, I don’t understand either.” Simone shook her head. “I didn’t go to court. Wouldn’t I have been required to go to court? The other times that I filed for emergency custody, I had to show up in person.”

“Remember the stack of paperwork you filled out the day you got here?” Rhiannon asked. “One of the papers you signed was for the emergency custody. Next to your testimonies about the abuse that you’d endured at David’s hands, in addition to his criminal record, with a kick-ass, seven-figure attorney presenting it? We didn’t need you in the courtroom. I wasn’t even there. Honestly, it’s kind of bullshit how much power you have when you’ve got the kind of money the ranch does, but that’s the world we live in. When you’ve got enough money, you can buy anything. Even freedom.” Rhiannon shrugged again. “Judges too.”

Damn.

Rhiannon had mentioned this before. The day Simone had filed the report for David’s assault, I mentioned Simone getting into trouble for taking Junie against the custody agreement, and Rhiannon had only shrugged it off. She still wouldn’t tell me much, but she’d alluded to the fact that she paid off the local cops. I thought that was where the connections ended.

But this made more sense. With a billion dollars, or a few billion—I still wasn’t sure on the exact number—and Rhiannon’s connections to shelters all around the country, all this stood to reason. Money ruled the world. With that level of it, being among the top five thousand richest people on the planet, came exponential power.

If only all the billionaires used that power to help rather than exploit.

“Okay,” Simone said. “Alright, that’s good. It’s good to know that I haven’t broken any laws.”

“It’s going to be fine, sweetheart.” Rhiannon managed a dry smile for her. “I understand why it got you so worked up. But you don’t have anything to worry about.”

Simone harrumphed. “Maybe not on the legal front. But she’s insane, Rhiannon. She’s violent. She and I once got into a fistfight at a cookout, while I was holding Junie. She was only a couple months old, and Angela insisted that I let her try this spinach dip. I told her no, because she would choke on it, and she started swinging at me. This woman is batshit.”

“So we start taking precautions.” Rhiannon crossed her ankles, leaning against her desk still. “Your salon is already run on an appointment basis. Lock and unlock the door with each client that comes in. She can’t touch you in here, we know that. With Junie and school, we’ll talk to the bus driver, and to the secretaries, and we’ll make sure that she can’t pick her up. But let her try. If she gives us a reason, we’ll get you a restraining order. Then we’ll lock her ass up if she violates it.” Rhiannon paused. “Come to think of it, I think we could get you a restraining order now. She’s your ex-mother-in-law, and she’s been violent with you in the past. If you want, I can get a lawyer on the phone, and we can try to get ahold of the judge.”

“That’s gonna be too complicated with the holiday.” Simone glanced at her watch. “The judges are going home for the day, if they’re not already, and they probably won’t be back until the new year.”

“Then we’ll make it through the new year,” Rhiannon said. “But would it make you feel better to give my attorney a call? Go over the process?”

Blowing out a calming breath, Simone nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe. If that’s not too much of a burden.”

Rhiannon waved her off as she strode around her desk. “She works holidays. Here, let me⁠—”

A knock rapped against the door.

“C’mon in,” Rhiannon called, lowering herself to the rolling chair.

It squealed open. Colleen stood in the threshold. The peaks of Junie’s high pigtails reached the center of Colleen’s waist. She gave Junie’s shoulder a mothering squeeze. “This little one just had a quick question.”

“What is it, baby?” Simone asked her.

“Are we gonna be here for a while, Mommy?” Junie asked.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Rhiannon said. “Just a little while longer.”

“That’s okay.” Her eyes came to me. “Could you help me with something then, Gwen?”