Free Bad Juju by Dina Rae Page B

graciously offered her tea, and she accepted.  Jake could see Henry’s mood sour.
    “So, you spend a lot of time with Jake, and now Henry…That’s wonderful.  I understand you’re from Haiti?  Is your family safe?”  Lucien shrugged.  “I’ m so sorry.  Hope they surface soon, alive and well.  Like your pet snake.  He friendly?”  Henry grunted a sound of disapproval.  “Nice meeting you , but Henry thinks I’m intruding so that’s my cue.  Boys, you ready for some lunch?”

Chapter 13
    Jake was dropped off late afternoon after having lun ch with Henry and his mother.  Mrs. Novak offered a second invite on attending church with them the next day.  He felt pressured into going and finally agreed.
    “Okay.  You can pick me up tomorrow morning,” he said.  It seemed to make Henry’s mother happy he would join them.
    Onc e inside, the trailer was still.  S omething felt wrong o r at least more wrong than usual.  Jake crept through the rooms to double check its vacancy.  A few minute s later the phone rang.  The caller I.D. showed Leah’s cell phone number.
    “Leah, it’s Jake.  What’s wrong?  I can hear you crying.”
    “T.J.  He’s unconscious.  Mona officially ended it.  She threw all of his stuff out in front of our house.”  Jake already heard a different perspective of the story from Esther Muddraker , but continued to listen.  “ She’s got a new boyfriend and he just moved in , Cody something or another.  She didn’t want any of his shit in her house.”
    “Where’s Rhianna ?” he asked, worried.
    “ She was here earlier, but then my mom took her for the night .  I don’t think T.J. is going to make it.  The doctors…they say he’s got a depressed skull fracture.  That’s code for he had his brain pulverized with a baseball bat.  He bled from the ears, nose…and then yellow gooey stuff came out from his eyes.  It’s not good, Jake,” Leah cried.
    “Who hurt him?   Pete?”
    “No.  It wa s the new boyfriend.  I don’t know exactly what happened, but according to Pete, he and T.J. got to drinking.  As we both know, nothing good ever comes out of that.  Anyway, they went to the bars and did some more drinking.  Then they went over to Mona’s, begging her to give T.J. another chance.  I’m sure Pete had ulterior motives of getting my brother out of the house .  Supposedly , T.J. brought Pete’s gun with them .  One thing led to another , and I get a call just as I’m don e working that T.J. ’s in the hospital and Pete’s in jail.  I tried to call you this morning , but you were working for our neighbors.  So I thought now would be a good time to call…”  Her voice was shaky and almost incomprehensible.
    Jake couldn’t help but glow with joy.  Thankful Leah couldn’t see his facial expression, he asked, “Why is Pete in jail?”
    “Oh, he’s in the process of getting bonded out.  I’m not sure if he’s coming straight here or if he’s getting you.  He’s using T.J.’s car if you were wondering why his is still at home.”
    “What’s the charge?” Jake asked almost doing a n unseen victory dance.
    “B & E and gun charge.  You wanna come visit T.J. with me?  He might not have much longer.  When Pete calls, I’ll have him pick you up be fore coming here, ” Leah offered.
    His victory was put on hold.  J ake knew if the situation was reversed, T.J. might not have visit ed him in the hospital , but Leah would.  Could this be part of the Voodoo spell?
    Within the hour, Uncle Pete pulled up in T.J. ’s old, dilapidated Camaro , honking the horn for him to hurry up.  They drove in silence to the hospital.   Jake took a chance and spoke, hoping his uncle was in a mellow mood.
    “So, how long were you held for ?”
    “Well, let’s see...There was the initial arrest, hours of questioning, mug shot, prints…by the time they finally locked me up , it was morning, light out.  And then I was just released now, about a