Cole glanced around, feeling a trap snap closed around her. There were two cameras trained on her face. Embarrassment burned in her throat, all but strangling her words. “Where did you get that?”
“It came by mail earlier in the week.”
Cole’s gaze homed in on the scrawled X. “I need to know exactly who sent it, and the envelope it came in.”
“Excuse me. Who are you, Noel Jenkins? Or is it Officer Jamieson? And I know that’s your dog in that picture. So first you tell me, and everyone here, exactly why you’ve been lying about who you are.”
Cole recoiled as the implication of the cameras trained on her fully impacted her. She needed to get away from them. “If you’ll excuse me.”
“The hell I will.” Shajuanna reached out and snagged her by the arm. “Don’t you dare run away from me until I get some answers. Why are you targeting me? I’ve done nothing. Is this a case of police harassment? Eye-C’s got a record now, so we’re fair game for any and all kinds of entrapment schemes.”
Onlookers had pulled out their cell phones. With a sickening lurch of her stomach Cole realized that whatever was said now would be all over the Internet in a matter of seconds. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Shajuanna stepped in close to her, her gorgeous face hard with anger. “And here I was worried about Boyfriend. You are one cold customer. You played me, bitch. Worse, you played my children.”
“No I didn’t.” Cole’s gaze moved sideways, right and left. She lowered her voice. “Leila and I have a legitimate friendship.”
Shajuanna recoiled as if she’d been slapped. “Don’t you bring her into this. Don’t you even say her name. I don’t want to hear it in your mouth. That’s why I had to send her away. You were using Leila. To get to me.”
She turned a little toward the camera, her voice angry but trembling under emotion. “As a mother I try to protect my girls in every way. I tell them every day: don’t trust anybody. Take nothing at face value. Be smart. Don’t get hurt.” She faced Cole again, one long polished fingernail waving back and forth. “But you, you played me in front of my girls. That’s some cold shit, bitch.”
Cole stiffened. “I’m really sorry if you think—”
Shajuanna held up her hand, her palm inches from Cole’s face. “Don’t speak to me. If somebody throws shit on me I will get even.”
Cole felt her middle hollow out with guilt. Shajuanna was acting her butt off for the benefit of the camera and their audience, but the pain in her gaze was real. She had every right to feel betrayed. Cole had lied and cheated and wormed her way into her family. But Cole hardened her heart. There was nothing to do now but tough it out. She was still a law-enforcement officer taught to control a situation and never back down.
Cole held her ground, her voice firm. “I’ve done nothing to you or yours. You need to take a step back. Now.”
“Or what?” Shajuanna took a step back, flung her hair back from her face with a toss of her head, and placed a hand on a hip and gazed down at Hugo, who growled in response to her stare. “You’re going to sic your dog on me? Is that what you plan to do?”
Cole watched her carefully, willing her heart out of overdrive. Shajuanna was furious but she wasn’t in meltdown stage. Hugo was simply alerting on the woman he knew. If she kept her own head, nothing worse could happen.
Cole turned to the cameras. “Turn those off. You’re in violation of my civil rights.”
“Your what?” Again, Shajuanna moved into Cole’s space. “Your rights? What about mine? You going to arrest me for calling you out for the lying-ass double-dealing bitch you are?”
Cole stood her ground and locked gazes with the taller woman. “I would like to walk away, Shajuanna. Do you really want to test me?” She lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned in close. “You don’t want your daughters to see their mother cuffed and taken away for accosting a police officer. You have more class than that.”
Shajuanna blinked at her. For a moment, her expression crumbled, her voice choking her. “How could you? I trusted you. Had you in my home. Let you train my child.”
Cole swallowed and the guilt felt like shards of glass going down. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry.” Shajuanna’s gaze hardened to black-diamond brilliance as she straightened up and struck a pose. “We’re not done. First I’m going to run this tape on my show for all the world to see how the police treat people like me. Then I’m going to sue you. Sue your superiors. Sue your dog. Sue people who just know you by your first name.”
With that she spun on a heel and walked away, trailed by cameras and onlookers.