I had to believe he was alive somewhere, either in a cell here at the station, or back at the prison.
Footsteps that stopped outside our door had me looking up, but I groaned when it was Johnson again. “What?” I bit out. “I told you, I’m not saying a word without a lawyer. So unless you have one…”
Johnson’s beady eyes filled with hate. “Your sister would be ashamed of you, you know? For what you’ve done.”
I snorted. “Rich coming from you, when you were the one who beat her ex into confessing to a crime he didn’t commit. You think she’d be proud you fucked up the investigation into her death so royally that her killer has been allowed to roam the streets, while the man she once loved rots in prison?” My hate for the man bubbled over. “You know what? It doesn’t matter that Jayela would hate you for what you did. You should hate yourself.”
“You little bitch.”
I shook my head. “You disgust me. Where’s my lawyer?”
“Get up and call one yourself. You have five minutes.”
He stepped aside, letting me out into a bigger room where a phone was attached to the wall. But a lawyer was the last person I cared about calling. I knew Liam would handle that anyway. He probably already had someone from his firm—the very best someone—on their way.
I needed to take care of Ripley.
I called the one number I knew by heart because I’d been calling it for a decade and prayed she’d answer the unknown number calling her in the middle of the night.
“Hello?”
I slumped in relief against the wall and turned away so Johnson wouldn’t see my face crumple. “Tor, I need you.”
She instantly sounded more awake. “What is it?”
“I’ve been arrested. So has Rowe, Liam, and Heath.”
“What? What on earth did you—”
“Don’t say anything else. They’ll be recording this call.”
“What do I need to do?”
I let out a relieved breath. “I know you’re still at the clinic, and I know you want to be there—”
“I’ve already got my shoes on and my purse in my hand, Mae. Whatever you need, I’m there.”
I loved this woman so hard. I couldn’t believe that I’d entertained the thought she might have killed Jayela even for a second. I’d spend the rest of my life making up for that lapse in judgment. “Rowe’s son, Ripley. He’s at our cabin. I need you to go get him. They’re threatening to put him in foster care if there’s nobody to take care of him tonight. He’s already been through too much. I need to know he’s safe.”
“Don’t think about it again. Give me the address.”
I rattled it off, but my stomach was in knots. “Don’t let them take him, Tor. We can’t lose him. He called me Mommy tonight…”
A sob came down the line. “Oh, sweetheart. Really? I know how much that must have meant to you.”
I nodded miserably. “I just want my little boy.”
There was a new resolve in Tori’s voice. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll rain down Hell and highwater on anyone who tries to take him. We’ll both be there when you get bail.”
I knew she would. Tori was like a dog with a bone when she wanted something. She’d convinced the police to let her and Will into a murder scene when I’d needed her. She might have been tiny, but so were chihuahuas. And everybody knew how crazy they were.
I couldn’t have loved her more.
She paused. “You are going to get bail, right?”
“I really hope so.”
31
Mae
Liam looked as bleary-eyed as I felt by the time his colleagues got our bail sorted out. My lawyer, Linda, had walked in like she owned the place and run circles all around the cops. I’d never seen a woman so determined, and frankly, pissed off. Not at me, she assured. But she was the senior partner at Liam’s law firm, and she wasn’t having one of her colleagues, or his family, sitting in a jail cell until they’d had a fair trial.
Whoever had been assigned to Liam’s case had been equally skilled because both of us found ourselves standing outside the police station, waiting for an Uber to come pick up our sorry asses.
We’d been promised that Rowe wouldn’t be far behind, but it was still a relief to see him walk down the station steps. I flew into his arms, and he caught me tight. “Where’s Ripley? Have you heard anything?”
“I sent Tori,” I assured him. “I don’t know if she was able to convince them to leave Ripley with her, but I’m willing to bet she’s camped outside his foster placement if they didn’t.”
Rowe swallowed hard. “And Heath?”
We both looked in Liam’s direction.
“He’s alive.” His lips pulled into a grim line. “Gave himself up before they could warrant opening fire. He’s back in solitary, waiting for his turn on death row. Likely right at the very top, though Linda didn’t say that in as many words. But what she did say wasn’t good.”
Rowe grimaced. “Tell us.”
Liam put his phone in his pocket. “They’ve gone through all of Jayela’s old cases and ruled out everyone involved with them.”
My mouth dropped open. “What? All of them? That has to be hundreds of people.”
“Every single one. I had them look into anyone Jayela had arrested, their gang affiliations, their families…there’s nothing.”
Panic gripped my chest like a vise. “What do we do?”
Nobody had an answer for that.
The Uber pulled up, but I was too numb to move. Rowe put his hand to the small of my back. “We need to get home to Ripley.”
I nodded. It was all we could do in the moment.
The Uber ride felt decades long, with the chatty driver asking questions that nobody answered and making jokes nobody laughed at. The man eventually gave up, and the rest of the ride was silent.
I semi expected our house to be cordoned off with police tape, but it wasn’t. All the cars from last night were gone, and the only evidence they’d ever been there at all was the flattened grass.
And the fact I was one man down.