Mercy Kill_ A Mystery - Lori Armstrong [66]
His gaze turned sharp. “You’ve seen her around Clementine’s?”
“Not personally. But I’ve heard she was in, and I want to talk to her.”
“She ain’t gonna talk to you without Victor Bad Wound’s permission.”
“You sure?”
Rollie ground out his smoke. “Lemme tell you a story about Cherelle. About six years ago, Sarohutu returned to the rez to ‘establish’ himself after he’d run away to L.A. fifteen years before. He noticed Cherelle—hard not to, she was a beautiful girl. She competed in Junior Indian Princess pageants, and everyone believed she’d be Miss Indian South Dakota, maybe even Miss Indian America.”
This was not going to be a happy Indian parable.
“She fell under Saro’s spell. But Victor had his eye on Cherelle long before his half brother returned to the rez. His jealousy became an obsession, and he snatched her. Victor knew Saro would dump Cherelle if she wasn’t the hottest chick on the rez, so Victor marred her. Rumor is her face isn’t the only place he sliced her. Another rumor is Victor kept her tied up for three weeks, allowing the slice on her face to become infected so it wouldn’t heal right. Victor thought he was being clever, giving her a ‘bad wound’ so everyone knew she belonged to him, not Saro.”
What a sick fucking bastard.
“When Victor released Cherelle, she ran to Saro and told him what’d happened. She believed Saro would want her no matter how she looked, and she demanded Saro punish Victor for what he’d done.” Rollie paused. “Saro beat her severely. When she recovered, he swore to keep her ugly face around as a reminder to everyone on the rez never to come between him and his brother. Saro announced the mark on her face meant she was Victor’s property. Then Saro warned if she ever tried to leave Victor, he’d kill off her family members. One by one.”
Sounded like an idle threat, yet I knew it wasn’t. It reminded me of J-Hawk’s wife. God, lots of psychopaths walked free, in every culture and in every walk of life.
“Cherelle didn’t believe him. She went to Rapid City to stay with her cousin. Two days later, her unci was the victim of a hit and run. After the funeral, Cherelle moved in with Victor and cut herself off from her family. She’s their errand girl, their go-between, their whore for hire. She’s whatever they want her to be.”
I was sickened by the story. I didn’t doubt the truth of it, but I wanted to know how Rollie had come across the information. Or if it was common knowledge on the Eagle River Reservation.
Took him a long time to answer. “The basics are common knowledge. But Cherelle is Verline’s cousin. Verline was thirteen when that happened.” He fingered his necklace. “Verline begged me to do something about Saro and Victor. No doubt what they done ain’t right. Mebbe if I’da been twenty years younger I’da taken them on. But I’m an old man. Ain’t proud of using that as an excuse, but it is what it is.”
No point in building up Rollie’s ego; he’d see through my insincerity and take offense. I changed the subject. “How is Verline?”
“Mean.” He sighed. “She’s pregnant again.”
Holy Viagra. Verline, Rollie’s live-in, was barely nineteen and younger than any of his six kids from his various relationships. I suspected Verline was younger than Rollie’s oldest grandkid. She’d given birth to their son seven months ago.
“You’d think by your age you’da figured out what causes that situation.”
“Smarty.” Rollie slowed behind a Lexus parked at elk crossing, which was a sign by a gravel pullout that warned of wildlife at large. He threw it into Park. “Be right back.”
In the side mirror, I watched Rollie approach the vehicle and pass a small box through the window opening. The driver handed over folded cash. Rollie unfolded it and counted it. He nodded, tucked it in his shirt pocket, and sauntered back to the truck as the Lexus roared away.
Don’t ask, Mercy.
But I had to poke Rollie a little, to see if he’d share the information I wanted. He’d do it to avoid answering my question about what he was selling on the side. “So if I had drugs to unload in this area, who would I get