Pink spots of annoyance flared on Johnsons already ruddy cheeks. “Answer the question, smartass.”
Elise inhaled sharply.
I didn’t look in her direction, instead keeping my gaze firmly and steadily on the officers. “Mae.”
“Mae Donovan? Jayela Donovan’s sister?”
I almost rolled my eyes. He clearly knew exactly who I was dating. “Yes.”
He clucked his tongue, the sound loud in the otherwise silent room. “I saw her at Michaelson’s trial. Seemed pretty cut up when he was declared guilty. Odd reaction, I thought.”
“Not when she knows you beat that confession out of his mouth and that the person who actually killed her sister is still walking around because of your incompetence.” The words dripped fake sugar. I straightened to my full height, an inch or two taller than the cop, and stared down at him. “If you wanted her to look appropriately pleased by a judge’s decision, perhaps you should have done your job properly in the first place instead of taking out your petty jealousy on Jayela’s ex-boyfriend.”
He stepped in, an attempt to intimidate. But I wasn’t budging. Anger and hate for the man buzzed around my system. After what Heath had done for me the other day, I was going to have his back more than ever now. He was so much more than just a client I was defending.
My gaze locked with Johnson’s, neither of us willing to back down.
But I was well-practiced in this. If you couldn’t handle direct eye contact, even when it made you uncomfortable, you had no place being a criminal lawyer.
And I was a fucking excellent lawyer.
I’d made a mistake with Heath’s trial, but I’d fix it. Starting now.
Johnson was the first to look away. Just like I knew he would be. Because inside his bravado, the man was a spineless coward who got off on using his badge as power.
I saw through his bullshit.
He huffed out a breath, his dislike for me clear behind his watery blue eyes. “I’ll be having words with your girlfriend.”
“Unless I’m under investigation for something, no, you won’t. I’ve already been more than accommodating with you. If you’re accusing me of something, speak up now, Officer. Because I’d love to hear it.”
He had nothing, and we both knew it. He could suspect me of helping Heath all he wanted. But if there was any proof of it, I’d already be behind bars.
He took a few steps backward, but his gaze didn’t leave mine. It said everything his words weren’t.
I know you’re involved. I’m watching you.
When the doors closed, my heart raced.
“Liam?”
I spun around to Elise, trying to control my blood pressure. “Mmm?”
“Johnson may not be the smartest man, but he’s a mean old coot and stubborn to boot. You’re in his crosshairs.” She paused, eyeing me critically. “Wherever you’re hiding Heath, I hope it’s good.”
24
Mae
Casting an eye over the three pages of paperwork, all filled with tiny type and dozens of questions, I stabbed my pen onto the page. It left an ugly black ink stain. “This is ridiculous.”
Heath, sitting on the other side of the picnic table in a plastic chair that looked ready to collapse under his bulk, glanced over from watching Ripley play at the back of the clearing. “What’s that?”
I picked up the paper and flashed the front page at him. “Paperwork from the hospital Tori’s being held prisoner in.”
He raised an eyebrow. “She’s not being held prisoner. She checked herself in.”
“Yeah, well, they won’t let me see her without filling in this stupid form that requires angel’s blood and the tears of a leprechaun.”
He plucked the paperwork from my hand. He studied it for a moment, his eyebrows inching together with every line he read. “Why do they want to know your religion for? What’s that got to do with anything?”
I shook my head. “What about the essay I need to write on the topics I want to discuss with the patient? And the declaration that I won’t speak of anything else besides those listed topics? What if I want to discuss how heavy my last period was? Do they want me to write that down, too?”
Heath chuckled and went to say something, but the rumble of a car on the drive stopped us both.
Heath jumped to his feet and shouted for Ripley. “Shit, where is he? I only took my eyes off him for a second to read that form. He keeps going down the back of the clearing where I can’t see him.”
I shoved him toward the door. “Go inside. I’ll find him.”
I ran down the steps, though there was no squeak of the front door opening which told me Heath wasn’t going inside. I shot a glare over my shoulder because we weren’t expecting Rowe or Liam home anytime soon. “Go, Heath! If that’s the cops—”
“And if it’s Zye come for Ripley, I don’t want him to find the two of you out here, served up for him on a silver platter.”
I blanched at the thought. “Ripley!” I shouted again.
He popped up from the back of the clearing at the same time the car came into view.
I let out a double sigh of relief at both Ripley’s appearance and at the fact the car was Liam’s.
Ripley ran over, and I picked him up, shoving down my fear and putting on a happy face for him. “Hey, sweetie. Look who’s home early from work.”
“Li-yam!”
He struggled to get down and ran to the driver’s side door as Liam opened it. Ripley chatted Liam’s ear off about the baseball game he’d watched with Heath on TV that morning, and Liam hoisted him up onto his shoulders to meet me and Heath at the picnic table.
We smiled at Ripley, but it was clear from Liam’s expression that this trip home in the middle of the day wasn’t for pleasure.
I swallowed down nerves, fighting to keep my leg from twitching beneath the table. “What’s going on?”
Liam shifted Ripley on his back. “Why don’t you go play, bud?”
“No! I’m staying with you!”
“Of course you are,” Liam agreed. “Silly me.”