Chapter 17
“Sonny . . . Sonny, it’s me, Liddy, I know you’re there so pick up! It’s an emergency,” Liddy sobbed, eyes brimming with tears, as she stood in front of Sheriff Daphne’s desk speaking into the old-fashioned corded phone.
Daphne was seated upright behind her desk, typing keys on the keyboard of her desktop computer, busy with paperwork, but keeping one eye on Hayley and Liddy, whom she had escorted out of their cell to make their one allotted phone call.
Liddy, of course, insisted they call Sonny Rivers, her ex-boyfriend, and mercifully for them, a highly respected lawyer.
Liddy turned to Hayley, distraught. “He’s not answering.”
Hayley turned to Sheriff Daphne. “Can she hang up and try his office number?”
“One phone call means one phone call,” Daphne said flatly, never taking her eyes off her computer screen.
“Stay on the line, Liddy. He’ll have to come home eventually.”
“There is a ten-minute time limit and then it is straight back to the cell with your friend,” Daphne growled.
Liddy glanced at Hayley and mouthed the word Bitch.
They had left Mona in the cell, chatting with a teenager who got caught trying to steal OxyContin from behind the pharmacy counter at the local drugstore. The girl poured out her life story, and Mona always had a sympathetic ear. Hayley believed Mona would fit right in perfectly with the cast of characters in Orange Is the New Black, Hayley’s favorite show on Netflix to binge-watch. She pictured Mona as the large, intimidating inmate whose physical appearance might scare you at first, but once you got to know her, she would turn out to be a protective Mama Bear and champion the underdog inmate who might get separated from the herd and vulnerable to an attack, and Big Mama Mona would make sure you were safe under her watch.
It was a comforting thought having Mona with them as they faced the prospect of serious jail time.
“Sonny! Sonny! Thank God!” Liddy screeched, cupping her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “Sonny just picked up.”
“Yes, I gathered that,” Hayley said, shaking her head. “Tell him to get in his car right now and drive to Salmon Cove!”
“Sonny, you are not going to guess where I am . . . Sonny . . . Stop it, Sonny . . . Stop . . . for heaven’s sake, Sonny, shut up! I didn’t mean for you to actually try to guess . . . I’ll tell you! I’m in jail! Yes, we’ve been arrested! Hayley, Mona, and myself! You’ve got to get down here and get us out!”
Liddy bit her lip tightly as she listened to Sonny on the other end of the phone, and her face started turning beet red.
“What’s he saying?”
Liddy raised her hand and shushed Hayley.
She listened some more.
“Sonny, I don’t care that you have to be in court in the morning . . . No, I don’t care how important the case is, or how much money you’re going to make . . . I am sitting in a jail cell, do you hear me, jail cell in Down East Hicksville, and I need to get out of here right now before I go absolutely insane!”
Hayley reached for the phone. “Let me talk to him.”
Liddy pushed her away, keeping the phone clamped to her ear. “Sonny, where are you? It sounds echoey . . . your hot tub? I thought the doctor told you to steer clear of the hot tub until you got your blood pressure under control.”
“He’s barely thirty and he already has high blood pressure?” Hayley asked.
“Yes, and that’s one of the pathetic excuses he used when we broke up. He said I was a big reason his numbers were so high. Can you imagine?”
Hayley kept her mouth shut, but yes, yes she could.
Suddenly Liddy gasped.
“Who was that?” Her eyes flared with fury. “Don’t lie to me, Sonny. I heard someone giggling in the background. Is someone with you in the hot tub?”
“Liddy, for heaven’s sake, it doesn’t matter,” Hayley wailed.
“It’s a simple yes or no question, Sonny,” Liddy snarled.
“Please don’t tick him off, Liddy! He might hang up!” Hayley pleaded.
“Destiny? Isn’t that your new paralegal? She’s barely out of high school!” Liddy cried. “You are the lowest of low, Sonny! It hasn’t even been a week since our breakup and you’re already playing around with some dim bulb floozy!”
Hayley pried the phone out of Liddy’s fist and shoved her away, screaming into the phone, “Sonny, Sonny, please don’t hang up!”
Liddy was still yelling even though she no longer had possession of the phone. “I don’t care if she went to Stanford! You’re a two-timing whore bag!”
Hayley, panicked, cried breathlessly into the phone, “Sonny, please tell me you’re you still there!”
“I’m here, Hayley.”
“Thank you, thank you. Now I’m begging you, please, you’ve got to come and get us out of here. We’re going to be charged with breaking and entering.”
“And tampering with an official police crime scene,” Daphne added, almost smiling.
“Listen to me, there’s no way I can drive all the way down to Salmon Cove tonight. I told Liddy I’m working on a very big case in Bangor and we’re at a very critical juncture,” Sonny said. “But don’t sweat it. I have a friend near Salmon Cove. He’s a good egg. We went to law school together.”
“A lawyer?”
“Yes, his name is Oliver Hammersmith.”
“Okay, how do we get in touch with him? We’re only allowed one phone call and this is it,” Hayley said, panic rising in her voice.
“No worries. I will call him and have him come down there before the hearing tomorrow, okay? He’ll have you out by mid-morning, I promise.”
“Thank you, Sonny,” Hayley said with a sigh of relief.
“There’s just one thing you need to know about Oliver before you meet him, Hayley.”
“What’s that?”
“How can I say this politely? There’s a little too much yardage between the goal posts.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you, Sonny.”
“He’s a couple of Froot Loops shy of a full bowl.”
“What?”
“The wheel is still spinning but the hamster’s dead.”
“He’s dumb! You’re saying he’s dumb!”
“No, I would never say he’s dumb! Oliver is a friend. He’s just a little slow on the uptake.”
“What’s the difference?”
“He wasn’t the brightest in my class but he absorbed the basics. Trust me, he’s a decent lawyer. He’ll get you out.”
“You are not reassuring me right now,” Hayley said, gripping the phone tighter.
Hayley heard Sonny’s paralegal Destiny cooing in the background. “How long are you going to be on the phone, baby? The champagne will go flat.”
“I got to go, Hayley, I’ll put in a call to Oliver right now. I promise.”
And then the line went dead.
“What happened?” Liddy asked.
“He’s calling a colleague he went to law school with, Oliver something, to come help us.”
“Is he good?”
“Sonny says he’s the best,” Hayley lied.
She hated living with the truth alone, but Liddy was already having a meltdown over her ex-boyfriend’s rapid-fire rebound fling with his paralegal.
Daphne stood up from her desk and waved for them to head back down the hall to the jail cell where Mona was waiting for them. She followed behind them, but halfway, she told them to stop.
They turned to face her.
“You know, ladies, there is the possibility I could have a change of heart and release you right now before any official charges are filed,” Daphne said, folding her arms, relishing her power position.
“Really?” Liddy asked, wide-eyed and hopeful.
“All I would ask in return is that all three of you get in that Mercedes and drive out of Salmon Cove, and promise never to return.”
“Yes, yes, you’ve got yourself a deal! We’ll never come back! Ever! Ever! Ever!” Liddy screamed, jumping up and down and clapping her hands.
Daphne turned to Hayley for her response.
“We’ll think about it,” Hayley whispered.
Liddy’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Think about it? What’s to think about? We’re taking the deal!”
“We need to talk to Mona first. She has family and history here. I’m not sure she’ll want to agree to never come back,” Hayley said.
“Of course she’ll agree!” Liddy barked. “The alternative is sitting in jail and possibly living the rest of her life with a criminal record, even though I’m not entirely sure she doesn’t have one already!”
Hayley turned and stared at Daphne, refusing to be intimidated. “Like I said, we’ll think about it.”
“Suit yourself. But don’t take too long. My offer expires in the morning,” Daphne said, reaching out and shoving them back toward the jail cell at the end of the hall.
Hayley did not want to make any kind of deal with this woman.
She clearly had some kind of ulterior motive for forcing them out of town.
And she just didn’t trust her.
Not one bit.