Page 80 of Chasing Justice
“What kind of information?” Wayne asked. He was genuinely curious, and he wanted to keep Jenna talking. Her appearance came across a little ragged—her eyes were bloodshot, and her face was pale. She was a beautiful girl, but Wayne suspected based on her appearance that she’d been sampling a little bit of her own product. He didn’t know if he could reason with her or not, but maybe if he kept her talking it would help.
“My dad wanted to know what Doug had told you and if there was an investigation into him. We had no idea how much you knew. The mob wanted someone to pay for losing the product to the explosion that day. Thinking Doug was responsible for the explosion, my dad was convinced you knew all about the drug trafficking operation. He thought kidnapping you was a good way to get his information and get the mob off his back by handing you over to them when he was done with you.”
“You’re not making total sense, Jenna. Slow down. Why did your father think kidnapping me would keep what Doug told me quiet?”
“Doug only told you about our family’s illegal activities, no one else, so with you gone our secrets would be safe. Plus, my father’s crazy. We all are. Haven’t you noticed?” Jenna stepped back and gestured behind her. “I mean, who freaking makes drugs in one of their old outbuildings? Fire hazard at the minimum. Crazy people. My dad thinks he’s so badass, like some drug kingpin or something. He thinks he’ll rule the world because I’ve made the perfect product. Give his daughter a little education and see what happens. I never should have come home.”
“Why did you? Come home, that is?”
Jenna stared at Wayne, and for a moment he thought he’d crossed a line. One that she wouldn’t come back from. To his surprise she teared up a little bit and slumped back on a nearby hay bale. “It was my mom.”
“If I remember right, she was sick. Cancer?” Wayne asked.
“Yes. And that bastard, otherwise known as my father, thought he could help her by taking codeine from someone in the Russian mob. Brilliant, don’t you think? That’s when I started making this shit.” Jenna gestured behind her. “It helped with the pain and we didn’t have to pay for expensive prescriptions. Krokodil is just desomorphine. Long ago it was used for anesthesia. Now it’s been contaminated with lots of crap like lighter fluid. I figured out how to make it pure. It helped my mom feel less pain...and apparently users love the high.”
“And your dad decided to have you make more and sell it.”
“Yeah. That asshole. I would call from college and Mom would try to make it sound like things were good, but I knew better. So, I came home,” Jenna said. “I took care of her to the end, not my dad like he tells everyone. He likes to make it sound like he was a perfect, loving, devoted husband, but he wasn’t. He didn’t do shit.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, and I’m sorry you had to come home, but I know you loved your mom and she loved you. I ran into her once at the café. She was proud of you and your accomplishments. The first person in your family to go to college is what she told me. Why didn’t you go back to college?”
“Why do you think?” Jenna said, her face turning red with anger. “My father wanted to make big money, supposedly just to pay off the medical bills. Yeah, right. That was bullshit. I didn’t want any part of that and told him I was leaving. He told me he’d turn me in to the authorities because what I’d done was wrong, illegal. He said he wouldn’t turn me in if I made a few more batches. Or at least that’s what he made me believe.”
Wayne’s head throbbed, but he had to keep Jenna talking. Get her over to his side. Not to mention he was learning some interesting information that matched what Doug had told him. He took a chance and said, “I can help you.”
“No one can help me. Not now or ever. I’m on my own. It’s the way it is. I have to take care of myself.”
“That’s not true, Jenna. It’s not too late to make things right. If you let me go and promise to be a witness against your dad, then I can help protect you. Get you in witness protection.”
“Isn’t that a federal thing? Like the U.S. Marshals or something?”
“Yes, but this has gone federal. The DEA has been watching your father for a while. You’re right, he’s under investigation. Just not from me. They had the courtesy to let me know they were investigating but that I needed to stay out of it. I can’t give you any more information than that,” Wayne said, knowing that wasn’t the full truth, but trying to keep Jenna calm.
“So, what you’re saying is that you really can’t help, because the feds have cut you out? You don’t really have any control then, do you?” Jenna said. “No, I’m taking care of my father my own way. I don’t trust law enforcement. Even Doug was going to turn me in, and I thought he loved me.”
“He loved you very much. He wasn’t going to turn you in,” Wayne said, rubbing his temple, where his head was pounding. If he could just get Jenna to let him go, he could take care of this whole situation his own way. He’d have to involve the feds, but he would do everything he could to protect her.
“I don’t believe that,” Jenna said, interrupting Wayne’s thoughts. “Doug was going to see you. He was going to tell you everything. He told me that the morning before he visited. I pleaded with him not to do that, but he had to be a Boy Scout and make things right. See? I couldn’t even trust him.”
“He came to me to make things right, but he wanted you protected. He was taking full responsibility. He said he wanted you to go back to college and live out your dream. He’d serve his time in prison for what he did. He wanted you to be happy.”
“That’s not true,” Jenna said. Anger and frustration crossed her face. She kicked the hay bale.
“Itistrue. And I’ll honor his request. He was like a son to me.” Wayne watched Jenna pace and realized it wasn’t just anger on her face, but grief.
He closed his eyes. Had Doug set the bombs? He didn’t tell Wayne that. Perhaps Doug hadn’t trusted Wayne to keep Jenna out of trouble, so was he going to destroy the evidence? That’s why his fingerprints were all over the bomb pieces. He hadn’t been expecting anyone up at the lab that day, but why didn’t he leave Maya behind? Wayne didn’t know. Maybe Doug was desperate and not thinking straight.
“It was you there, wasn’t it?” Wayne asked.
“Shut up.” Jenna kept pacing. “There’s no help for me. But I’m not going to prison. I’ve been in prison. Here, at this ranch. My father won’t let me go. You’re the only way I’m getting out of this. You’re my escape plan.”
“No, Jenna. It doesn’t have to be this way. Please let me help.”
“I said shut up. Get to your feet. Now. You’re going to help me take down my family. Then I can run the business while my father and worthless brother rot in prison.”
Wayne kept his eyes closed. He heard Jenna stop pacing.
“Stand up. Now,” she said, coming closer.
