Chapter 9
THE NEXT PERSON TO SEE JILL, AFTER SHE HAD RESTED for awhile in the office of Dr. Orville Perkins and had given her statement to the deputy sheriff, was her Uncle Lou. He had arrived home from Boise just before the doctor called.
As worried as he was about his own problem, for which Jill was indirectly to blame, he now devoted all his thoughts to her and the terrible experience which she'd had at the Fruitvale Hotel.
He found that Jill was reluctant to discuss it, but he had received most of the details before the doctor had let him in to see her. The men who'd attempted to rape her were employed by his company, he'd found out-at least, two of them were.
That made the occurrence even worse, from his viewpoint. He was responsible for Jill's welfare. His sister had entrusted that duty to him but he had failed even to keep his own employees from molesting her.
He seemed to have failed all the way around, and each aspect of his failure was related directly to Jill herself. Yet she wasn't really to blame. She hadn't been to blame for anything that had happened.
Lou was grateful, at least, that the rape attempt had been unsuccessful. Doc Perkins had told him about the teeth marks, and that was bad enough, but the doctor was certain none of the men had actually raped her. This certainty was based upon the firmest possible evidence: Jill was still a virgin.
Lou bent over her as she lay on the table in the doctor's examination room, which was located in an annex attached to the old house where Doc Perkins lived. She was covered by a sheet and she smiled up at her uncle, her face wan, the fright still showing.
Lou held her hand. "That was a terrible, terrible thing that happened, honey. Believe me, I'm going to find out who those men were, and I'll see that they ... "
Jill turned her hand in his and gripped firmly. "Please, Uncle Lou. I don't want to make any trouble. They won't bother me again."
Her uncle was worried as he looked at her. "I don't know what to make of you, darling. Most girls, if a thing like this happened, would want the men to be caught and punished. But you wouldn't tell the sheriff anything that would help him catch them."
"I don't want a lot of fuss stirred up, Uncle Lou. Let's forget what happened, can't we?"
Big Lou stared at her for several seconds. She was so beautiful even then. Looking at her as she was at that moment, he was conscious of a sinful desire to lower the sheet on her gorgeous body. Sternly he rebuked himself in his mind
"Well, there's one thing I'm gonna do, and that's to move you in with me right now. You're not gonna be living by yourself any more, young lady."
"Oh, Uncle Lou ... " She turned her head from side to side in helpless frustration.
"Now. I won't hear any argument about that. Your mom put you in my care and I'm going to see you're all right from now on. And one thing more: I don't want you having anything to do with anybody who works for the company not the men in the plant or the office, either. I'm going to pass the word around the place."
"You do that and I'll be mortified," she said, her eyes flashing in what appeared to be genuine anger.
"Don't you understand?" he told her. "Those men who attacked you worked for me. They must'a seen you at the office and got an idea then about what they were going to do. Well, they probably won't be back. They're most likely high-tailin' away from town this very minute. But I'm gonna see that none of my other people get any ideas like that."
He paused and a softer light case into his eyes. "You gotta help me, too, by being a little more careful. You know, Jill honey, you're so sweet and so innocent, you expect everybody else to be innocent-minded, too. Well, men aren't that way, darling."
In spite of the shock from which she had not as yet entirely recovered, Jill had an impulse to laugh out loud. Of course, she kept this impulse hidden. She knew about men. She knew a lot about men. She even knew a lot about her uncle.
She knew, for example, that Uncle Lou would just love to get his hands and his lips at her, the way those men in the hotel room did. He would like to do what they hadn't been able to accomplish, too. But he wouldn't, of course, since she was his niece. No, he would suffer and try to pretend he didn't feel about her the way she knew darned well he did.
Men! They were animals. And they were silly fools, too.
"I'll be more careful, Uncle Lou," she smiled.
"That's my girl." He straightened up, some of his old good humor returning. "Now, do you think you're strong enough to get dressed and come with me to the house?"
"But I don't want to move out of the hotel," she protested. "I'll be all right there. No one will dare try anything now. I'll leave my door locked and I'll be careful to pull the shades from now on."
There was something about the look on her face as she said this that made Big Lou squint. "Listen, little lady ... did you have the shades up before those bums broke into your room?"
"No!" she said quickly. "I mean ... I don't think so, Uncle Lou."
He leaned closer. "You're not telling me the truth. You did have the shades up, didn't you? And you were undressing there in the light, I'll bet."
"Uncle Lou!"
He held her by the upper arms and looked her in the eyes. "You didn't know those shades were up, did you?"
"No! Of course not!"
He studied her. To think that she would deliberately expose herself was too much. Lou couldn't bring himself to believe this. But he remembered the time she had insisted on changing her clothes in the same room with him, and the later occasion when she had exposed her legs in his office. Then, too, she always sat with her legs crossed in such a way that a man could see almost to her panties.
Maybe she had some kind of subconscious urge some compulsion that made her behave that way. If that were so, she couldn't help herself. Maybe she needed professional treatment.
He straightened up again but continued to look at her in a worried way.
"I'm all right, Uncle Lou," she said. "And I will be more careful. If I forgot and left the shades up tonight, I'll never do that again. Please let me stay in the hotel? Pretty please?"
She raised up slightly, her breasts joggling, and the sheet slipped. She grasped the edge of the cloth just in time to keep her nipples from becoming exposed.
Lou stared at the luscious swells of her bosom, which had almost spilled entirely naked before his eyes, and found himself assailed once more by an overwhelming desire for her. Good Lord, what was he going to do.
He turned and walked woodenly to the door. "You get dressed now, and I'll take you back to the house with me. We'll get your things from the hotel in the morning."
"But, Uncle Lou!"
"No arguments," he said firmly, looking at her from across the room. "You're moving in with Fanny and me and that's final. We're going to keep our eyes on you, little lady."
He smiled then, walked out, and closed the door.
For one of the rare times in her life, Jill said a very naughty word.