Dirty South Drug Wars Read Online Free

Lucy and myself everywhere in my beloved Jeep. There was nothing greater than riding around with the wind whipping through our hair, a small freedom I learned to enjoy.
    The Jeep had been a gift from my mother on my sixteenth birthday, but she didn’t give it to me out of the kindness of her heart. Work kept her busy, too busy to cart Lucy and me around, or so she said. Truth be told, even when she wasn’t working she was rarely home.
    Over the years I’d become the woman she never was. I was the cook, the housekeeper, the one who made sure the bills were paid on time. Most of my spare time was spent keeping Lucy out of trouble, and that was hard enough to do on my own. Lucy became dependent on me, and I hated that I was a sixteen-year-old girl and already felt twice my age. Mama made me feel guilty for complaining, telling me she was a single mother and to stop being so selfish about helping her out. Over time, I began to resent the woman.
    I wished my father were still alive. But he wasn’t. He was dead, and it was by the hands of a Montgomery, or so my family repeatedly claimed. The identity of his killer was never uncovered. No evidence was found other than tire tracks near the empty field where his body was discovered. The tire tracks were identified to a make and model of car not found to belong to anyone in our small town or in Birchwood.
    Mayhaw was much smaller than Birchwood but still in the same county. Birchwood was extremely prosperous, thanks to Graham Montgomery who owned one of the biggest furniture factories in the great state of Mississippi. It supplied thousands of jobs.
    I didn’t share the same sort of animosity for the Montgomerys as my family did. I still couldn’t stand them for the simple fact that one or more of them had caused my father’s demise. However, my father had been in the thick of it all, bringing trouble his way by his own hand. Not only did I blame the Montgomerys for his death, but my father and his own brothers as well. If not for the way they chose to live their lives, my father would still be here, walking this earth.
    I hadn’t seen a Montgomery since the day they lowered my father six feet into the red-clay until one pivotal day, a day I’d never forget. It was the day I was kicked while I was already down.
    The stomach virus ran rampant throughout my school. When the nausea hit me, it was sudden and startling. Coach Brookes dismissed me from gym after finding me hunched over, clutching my abdomen and moaning in pain.
    When I arrived at the nurse’s office, Mrs. Glover emerged from the back room wearing a pair of pink scrubs and a smile on her face that dissolved as soon as she set her sights on me. With her face bunched in concern, she peered through her thick glasses.
    “Rue, you look so pale. What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
    “I think I caught the stomach virus.” A wave of dizziness washed over me, and I leaned against the small desk for support.
    Mrs. Glover tsked in concern and wrapped one arm around me, leading me to a room in the back of the office. While she took my temperature, she rubbed my clammy hand in a motherly fashion that was foreign to me.
    “You have a low-grade fever,” she announced, peering at me over the rim of her glasses. “You need to go home, sweetie, and take something for that fever. And drink lots of water. I don’t think you’re in any shape to drive yourself home. Is Christine home today?”
    “No, ma’am.” I groaned, pressing my hand to my warm forehead. Why was I suddenly so cold? “She’s working a double shift today. Can you call Aunt Maggie?”
    Aunt Maggie eventually arrived to pick me up from school. Both women helped me into her small, white pickup truck. The inside smelled of pineapples and coconuts from the multiple air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror. They were meant to mask the smell of weed, but my canine-like nose still detected the scent. Rolling my window down to escape the smell, I took mouthfuls of