*****
In the Light of Day
Jones Street
It was a beautiful summer day in 1965 in the small town of Spring Creek, North Carolina in Taylor County. Spring Creek was your average American town that set nestled back in a cove along the North Carolina coastline. Donald McCarter had lived there all his life. Betty Jean, his wife, moved to Spring Creek in the eighth grade from Hawkins Branch, Ohio. They became good friends in middle school and then high school sweethearts. Donald was a year ahead of her in school. In her junior year, she got pregnant and had to drop out of school. Donald went on to graduate and they married after his graduation. They had a baby girl and named her Linda. Not long after that, Donald was drafted and sent to Vietnam. He had been over there a little over a year when he was killed.
About five years later, Betty Jean started dating Neal Jenkins, a man she met at work. Neal was from Lake Shore, South Carolina. After his second divorce he transferred from his job in Lake Shore to the Spring Creek plant. They started talking, became good friends and then started dating. They dated for a year before they finally got married and bought a house on Jones Street. Everything went well for the first two years. They seemed to be so happy; they were a typical, average American family. But, little did Betty Jean know, Neal had a dark side and a dark secret in his past. It was in their third year of marriage when he began to change. He became extremely jealous of her. And, he was verbally and physically abusive to her and Linda. He became possessive of her and constantly accused her of seeing other men which she wasn’t. Whenever she spoke or talked to another man, he accused her of running around on him. She tried and tried to tell him nothing was going on but he wouldn’t believe her. She told him over and over how much she loved him and she wouldn’t cheat on him for nothing in the world. Eventually, he made her quit her job and stay at home. She wasn’t allowed to go out of the house unless he was with her. She became a prisoner in her own home. Very seldom was she seen out in public anymore unless he was with her.
Donald had a brother, Billy, who also worked at the plant. Betty Jean and Billy were real close. He was like a brother to her and she was like a sister to him. But, Neal didn’t see it that way. He believed the relationship between Billy and Betty Jean was more than that. Whenever Billy would ask him about Betty Jean, Neal would cut him off. Neal was especially jealous of Billy. He accused them of having an affair behind his back. He did everything he could to stop Billy from coming by their house. He felt he wasn’t there to see him, only Betty Jean. Billy was concerned about her and would stop by from time to time to check on her and Linda until Betty Jean told him to stop coming. She told him she was alright. However, she wasn’t. Billy, didn’t buy it. He could tell she was unhappy and miserable but he also believed she loved Neal. Why, he couldn’t figure out. Billy confronted Neal several times about what he suspected but Betty Jean always defended Neal. Whenever Billy did visit, everything seemed to be fine. Betty Jean never told Billy what was really going on at home and that she was afraid of Neal. Before Neal made her quit her job and stay at home, whenever he saw Billy and her talking at work, when they got home, he would whip her with his belt and accuse her of slipping around on him. Billy tried to talk her in to leaving him several times because he suspected Neal was abusing her. She wouldn’t leave him because she was afraid of what he might do. Betty Jean never would come out and tell Billy what was really going on. She was afraid of what Neal might do to her and Billy. The physical and verbal abuse to Betty Jean and Linda went on and on.
After Betty Jean quit work, she got pregnant with Neal’s child. Neal denied the baby was his and never claimed it. He believed it was Billy’s child. After she got pregnant, Neal kept her locked in the house. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without him or have any friends. He took Linda, who was also afraid of him, to school and picked her up. Betty Jean and Linda were held hostage in their own home. Neal started drinking more. The more he drank, the more abusive he became. Neal did everything he could to isolate them from the outside world. Billy went to Linda’s school to try to talk to her but she wouldn’t say anything because she was afraid of what Neal might do to her and her mama. Billy would drop by every once in a while to see Betty Jean and Linda when Neal was not at home. Betty Jean would meet him at the door and wouldn’t let him in. When he tried to talk to her, Betty Jean would tell him that everything was alright and ask him to leave.
One day, Billy had to go out of town for a couple of weeks. He had to go to Lake Shore, South Carolina to do some training on a new job. While he was there, he did some asking around about Neal Jenkins. He was hoping he would find out something about Neal to help convince Betty Jean to leave him. After he was there a few days, he asked some of the other workers about him. A lot of them didn’t really know much about him. It appeared Neal stayed to himself a lot. He didn’t have too many close friends. It was about the beginning of the second week before he finally found someone who knew him pretty well. After talking to one of his co-workers, he found out Neal had been married twice before and his first wife had supposedly committed suicide.
“She was a good friend of his first wife,” the co-worker said. “There were a lot of unanswered questions about her suicide. I still don’t believe my best friend was capable of harming herself. As far as I’m concerned, there was more to it than what it looked like. They had only been married about three years when it happened. I just can’t accept that my best friend could have done such a thing. After they got married, my friend changed a lot. I didn’t think too much about it at first but around the second year of their marriage, I hardly ever saw her much at all. She quit her job and stayed home. Neal didn’t really have any close friends that I know of. He seemed to stay to himself a lot. I believe deep down inside he had something to do with it. But, the police didn’t have enough to go on. The police took him in for questioning. However, they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Why are you so interested in Neal anyway?”
“My brother was killed in Vietnam and Neal married the lady who was married to him. I’m worried about her and her daughter.”
“I don’t trust Neal,” she said. They may be in danger.”
“Do you know if Neal was abusive to your friend?”
“I think so but I really don’t know. My friend never told me he was. I suspected it. However, I never could get any proof of it. Neal was jealous of her. I don’t think she was very happy the last two years of her life. Besides, after she married Neal, I hardly ever saw her.”
A couple of days later, he ran in to another co-worker who also knew Neal. Billy asked him how well he knew Neal.
“We used to drink at the local bar in town on weekends. Neal seemed to be a troubled man,” he stated. “Neal’s second wife who also worked here at the plant was killed in a car wreck. There were a lot of unanswered questions about the cause of her accident. I dated her before she and Neal married. When I stopped seeing her, she took up with Neal. The police report stated the brake line on her car appeared to have been tampered with. However, it was never confirmed. Neal was taken in for questioning but they had to let him go since he had a solid alibi. From what I heard, she and Neal had a heated argument the day she was killed. It was pouring down rain the night she was killed. The police believed she stepped on her brakes to slow down when she started to go around a curve and the brakes went out. She was going pretty fast when she hit the guardrail; the car flipped over and hit a tree. She died at the scene of the wreck.”
“Do you know if Neal abused her in any way?” Billy asked.
“I don’t know. After she married Neal, she quit work and I lost contact with her. I know for a fact Neal was at the bar the night she was killed because we drank a few beers together. One thing I know for sure is Neal was real jealous of her.”
“Do you think Neal had something to do with her death?”
The co-work
er paused a minute and said. “Yeah, that has crossed my mind. He is a strange person. Yeah, he could have. But, there was no real proof.”
During the time Billy was out of town, Neal got up out of bed one night after he had been drinking and went into Linda’s room. He told Linda to be quiet and not make a sound or he would kill her and her mother. Betty Jean woke up, saw he wasn’t in bed and sensed something wasn’t right. She got up and went downstairs to the living room to look for him. That’s when she heard an upstairs door close. She looked upstairs and saw Neal coming out of Linda’s room. She knew exactly what had happened. She screamed out and ran up the stairs to get to Linda’s room. Neal met her at the top of the steps and grabbed her by the arm. As she fought to get loose from him, she slipped and fell backwards down the stairs. Shen Linda came out of her bedroom and looked over the balcony, she saw Neal standing over her unconscious mother laying at the bottom of the stairs. Linda screamed and ran down the steps to her. She couldn’t get her mother to wake up.
“Call an ambulance!” she screamed at Neal but he wouldn’t.
Linda called the police and told them she need an ambulance to because she couldn’t get her mother to wake up.
“What happened?” Linda looked at Neal and asked.
“She fell down the steps.”
Within a few minutes, the police and ambulance arrived. Betty Jean was still unconscious. The police asked Linda what happened.
“I really don’t know. I was in my room when I heard something. When I came out, I looked over the balcony and saw her lying at the foot of the stairs.”
When the officers asked Neal what happened, they could tell he was drunk.
“I got up to go to the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom, I heard a noise. I looked down from the balcony and saw her laying there. I don’t really know what happened.
Betty Jean was loaded in the ambulance and taken to the hospital; Linda rode with them. Neal rode with the officers because he was too drunk to drive. When they arrived at the hospital, Neal and Linda waited in the waiting room. They had to wait for about an hour before the doctor came out to give them an update on her condition.
“Mr. Jenkins, I’m sorry to tell you but your wife lost the baby. She has a concussion but she is awake. Do you know how the bruises got on her body?”
“I guess she must have gotten them from the fall,” Neal answered.
The doctor seemed to think otherwise. Linda didn’t say a word.
“Can I see my mama now?” Linda asked.
“Sure,” replied the doctor, “but only for a few minutes. She needs her rest.”
“Thanks, doctor,” Linda said as she hurried off to see Betty Jean.
“Mr. Jenkins, we’re going to keep her in the hospital for a few days for observation. Again, I’m sorry,” the doctor said, “about the loss of your baby.”
Neal just dropped his head and sat down in a nearby chair. An officer went over to talk with the doctor. After talking with the doctor, the officer went over to question Neal but he was uncooperative.
“I want to see my wife,” Neal said as he jumped up. “I will not answer any questions until after I see my wife.”
The officer allowed him to go in and see Betty Jean. About ten minutes later, Neal and Linda came out. The officer questioned Neal about what happened and how she got the bruises on her body.
“I don’t know,” he said. “They had to come from the fall. My God, man, I have lost my child. Can’t we do this at another time?”
“I’ll come back tomorrow,” the officer replied, “and talk to Betty Jean.”
The next day, Billy returned home from Lake Shore. He ran in to a buddy of his from work who told him Betty Jean was in the hospital. He immediately rushed to the hospital to see her. When he got there, Linda was the only one there with her. Neal had gone home but was going to come back later.
“What happened, Betty Jean?” he asked.
“I slipped on the steps and fell,” she replied, turning her head.
She told him the same story she told the officer but Linda didn’t say a word. Billy could tell she was lying. He was about to tell Betty Jean what he found out about Neal but then Neal walked in. Neal and Billy got in a heated argument so Betty Jean asked Billy to please leave. Billy just shook his head, turned and walked out. After Billy left the hospital, he went down to the police station and talked to the officer who answered the call that night. As they talked, Billy filled him in on what he found out about Neal in Lake Shore. The officer also had his suspicions about Neal. However, he couldn’t do anything unless Betty Jean and Linda would come out and tell the truth about what happened and what had been going on. Billy told the officer he would do what he could to find out what really happened.
The next day, Billy went back to the hospital to talk to the doctor who treated her the night she was brought in. The doctor told him about the bruises. The doctor, in his opinion, was sure the fall did not call all the bruises. Unless Betty Jean came forth with the truth, they would never know. However, Billy was determined to get to the bottom of it. A couple of days later, Betty Jean was released from the hospital and went home.
One afternoon, Billy went to the school to talk to Linda. He got there a little before school let out. As soon as he saw her come out the door, he yelled for her. She looked up, saw it was Billy and started walking toward his car. She had almost made it to his car when she saw Neal turning in. She stopped, went over to Neal’s car and got in. Neal never noticed Billy was there.
A few days later, Billy stopped by to check on Betty Jean. As he approached the porch, he heard a scream coming from inside the house. He ran upon the porch, banged on the door and called out for Betty Jean and Linda. He heard another scream and then kicked the door open. As he entered, he saw Betty Jean standing over Neal’s lifeless body with a bloody butcher knife in her hand. Linda ran toward Billy and grabbed him. Betty Jean and Linda were both crying; they were tore all to pieces. Betty Jean’s left eye was nearly swollen shut and she was bleeding from her nose and mouth. Billy held them both to comfort them. Once he got them to calm down, he bent down to check on Neal. He slowly turned Neal’s body over and realized he had been stabbed. Billy decided it would be best for Betty Jean and Linda to wait in his car until the police arrived. As they neared the door, all of a sudden, Neal grabbed Billy from behind. Betty Jean and Linda screamed. Billy turned quickly and punched Neal in the face. As Neal was falling to the floor, he hit his head on the corner of the table and passed out. About that time, the police pulled up. Billy figured some of the neighbors had called them when they heard all the commotion. As Billy, Betty Jean and Linda stepped out onto the porch, the officer asked them what happened. Betty Jean and Linda was so upset they couldn’t talk. The ambulance arrived and took Neal to the hospital. Billy told the officer he would take Betty Jean and Linda to the hospital so they could get checked out. The officer followed them to the hospital because he still wanted to question Betty Jean.
“Mrs. Jenkins, can you tell me exactly what happened?” asked the officer.
“We got in an argument and before I knew it I had picked up a knife and stabbed him,” she replied.
Betty Jean told the officer everything that had been going on with her and Neal. She also told him Neal had raped her daughter. Billy took Betty Jean and Linda down to the police station to press charges. Neal was arrested for domestic violence, assault and rape. At first she was afraid but she knew she had to do something before he ended up killing her and Linda. Plus, she couldn’t take it anymore. Billy told the officer they would be staying with him.
About a week later, they went before the judge and she got an order of protection against him. The judge kept Neal in jail and denied him bond. Billy took Betty Jean to a lawyer and she filed for divorce. A few months later, Neal went to court. He was convicted of aggravated domestic violence, aggravated rape and aggravated assaul
t. He received thirty-five years in prison. Finally, the nightmare was over. Soon after, she and Linda started counseling.
Six months later, Betty Jean and Linda moved back to Hawkins Branch, Ohio to live. She and Billy kept in touch over the years. Betty Jean never remarried and Linda went on to college and majored in human services. She worked with troubled families and domestic violence victims. Billy stayed in Spring Creek until he retired. Neal served ten years in prison before he went before the parole board; he was denied parole. A year later, he was found hanging in his cell. It appeared to be a suicide but was it. Later on, Linda wrote her first book, Jones Street.
*****
Beyond the Truth
A Cry in the Wind
Thistles and Thorns
Dead Limbs and Leaves
Troubled Waters
When Autumn Falls
When Time Was
Bittersweet
Sycamore Tales
Stepping Out on a Limb
Odds n Ends
Turning Point
The Fall of Night
In Times of Quitting
Still Wind, Forgotten Days
In Times of Trouble
Special Moments
The Fall of Autumn
Reaching Forward
Still Voice
Sounds of Many Waters
The Wings of a Dove
Bobby A. Troutt is a southern writer who writes a variety of short stories, spiritual books and children’s books.
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