Returning Home: A Second Chance Homecoming (Return To Me Book 4)

by Parks, AL

  “Why would you assume something had happened to her?”

  “Timing, Ms. Beckett. Now, can you answer my question? Or shall we take this downtown?” A smug smile crossed his face.

  Clarissa mimicked it. “I guess we’ll be taking this downtown.”

  “Fine. I’ll need you to come along, as well, sir,” he directed towards Griff, who just snickered at him. “My car’s out front.”

  “Are we under arrest?” Clarissa asked.

  The detective shook his head. “No, not at this time.”

  “Then we’ll drive ourselves, Detective, and meet you there.” She turned and opened the door for him, smiling as he walked past her.

  He turned back towards her as he stood on the front stoop. “Please don’t take too long, Ms. Beckett, or I will have to send a squad car for you.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of making you wait, Detective.” She closed the door and turned to Griff, placing a finger over her lips so he would remain quiet until the detective was safely out of earshot. She walked down the hall to the bedroom, and sifted through her suitcase for some clean clothes. She really needed to go shopping - and soon.

  “Okay,” Griff started as he entered the room behind him. “Want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “I know as much as you do, Griff.” She stood and pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. “But I didn’t like where his questions were going, and needed to buy us some time.”

  “Time for what?” Griff pulled on socks and slipped his feet into his boots.

  “To call my Mom.”

  ***

  Out in the truck, Clarissa pressed the speed dial button for her mother. The woman had been a lawyer and a judge, and instilled a healthy dose of skepticism in her children regarding being questioned by anyone. In fact, when both girls had started school, they had both been told that if they were called into the principal’s office for any reason, the only thing they said was, “I want my mommy.”

  A sleepy Eve answered. “Hello?”

  “Mom, it’s me. Brandi went missing last night, and the police have been at the house this morning asking questions.”

  “You didn’t say anything, did you?” Her mother was wide awake. Her voice was all business, a tone Clarissa knew well. Lawyer mode. Her mother slipped into it as easily as she slipped into comfortable shoes.

  “Only that Griff and I had been at Brandi’s in the evening.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “On our way to the police station for more questioning.” Her eyes slid over to Griff. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. “They want to question both Griff and me.”

  “I still have contacts back there, so I’ll call in some favors,” She could hear papers being rustled on the other end of the phone. Her mother had moved into the home office.

  “We will both need someone, Mom.” Clarissa verified, looking once again at Griff. His jaw was clenched, his eyes straight ahead.

  “I know. Don’t worry about my end. You take care of your end. You remember what to do?”

  “Yes. Don’t answer anything until the attorneys get there.”

  “Make sure Griff understands, Clarissa. He hasn’t had it hammered into him like you have.” Her mother was dictating, as she had on so many occasions when she was going up.

  “I will.”

  She ended the call, and turned to Griff. “Okay, my mother is going to get us a couple of attorney’s to meet us at the station.”

  “Why do we need attorneys? We haven’t done anything wrong.” He looked sideways at Clarissa, and his eyes seemed to be trying to confirm his statement.

  “Because you never answer questions without an attorney present. Not ever. It was drilled into me from a very young age. Things can be taken out of context. The police can ask questions that are irrelevant in order to get information. That irrelevant information can then be twisted and used against you later. So, you don’t answer any questions until the lawyer shows up. Okay?”

  “Okay,” he answered, but his voice was tentative.

  She scooted across the truck bench. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Placing her lips on his cheek, she gave him a quick kiss. “It’s just an ass cover, babe. Life is already fucked up enough. We don’t need to be included among the list of people that want to make Brandi disappear.”

  “I think we might already be on that list, Rissa, and probably up at the top.”

  “Which is why we need to have safeguards in place, in case this turns ugly.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Griff held Rissa’s hand as they walked into the police station. She gave the woman sitting behind the thick piece of bulletproof glass their names and told her that Detective Charles was expecting them. They were told to have a seat in the waiting room, and then the woman disappeared into another part of the station.

  “Griff, no matter what happens, no matter what they say to try and get you to talk, you don’t say anything until the attorney gets here. Okay? When you first get into the room, you tell them your attorney is on the way, and then you keep quiet.” Rissa ran off the instructions as they sat waiting for the detective.

  He looked over at her, his skin prickling. “You’re not going to be there?”

  “They’ll separate us, to see if our stories match.”

  “And you know this from your mother or personal experience?”

  “Law and Order.” Her lips tipped up into a small smile. He chuckled and shook his head at her. The prickles melted under the warmth that spread through him. Even waiting to be interrogated by police - a place he swore he would never allow himself to be - she could put him at ease and make him laugh.

  “Ms. Beckett. Mr. Griffith,” Detective Charles called to them as he approached the waiting area. “If you could follow me. We’ll just head back here where it will be more comfortable, and have a discussion.”

  They walked down a long hallway and the detective stopped next to an open doorway. “Mr. Griffith, if you could wait in here. I’ll get Ms. Beckett settled in another room, and be back to talk to you in a moment.” He gestured inside the room.

  Griff gave Rissa a quick kiss and a wink and walked into the room. There was enough room for a small table with two chairs. The door closed behind him as he took a seat. It was warm in the room. Too warm. Probably intended to make a person want to say whatever they needed to in order to get out of there as soon as possible.

  It took the detective ten minutes to return, He had a water bottle in hand, and slid it across the table to Griff and took the seat opposite him. “Here, have a drink. These rooms can get a little stuffy.” He leaned back in his chair and watched Griff suck down half the bottle.

  “So, Robert, tell me what happened yesterday?” The detective folded his arms across his chest, his eyes never leaving Griff’s.

  “I’ll wait for my attorney to get here.”

  “Your attorney? Why would you need an attorney? We’re just having a conversation. You answer my questions, let me know where you were yesterday and, if all checks out, you and your girlfriend can leave. You start getting lawyers involved, and we start wondering what it is your trying to hide.”

  Griff replaced the cap on the bottle and set it on the table. “The fact that you don’t want me to have a lawyer present when you talk to me makes me wonder what the hell you’re trying to trap me into saying.”

  He sat up, and leaned over the table a bit. “What are you trying to hide? If you’ve done nothing wrong, how could I possibly trap you?”

  Griff smiled, but kept his mouth shut. Detective Charles sighed heavily, pushed his chair back and stood. “Well, we can’t tie up a room waiting for your attorney to show up, so I’m going to have to place you in a holding cell until he gets here.”

  “Am I under arrest?” Griff asked, but didn’t move at all.

  The detective shook his head. “Not at this time.”

  “Then I’ll wait for my attorney out front and come back w
hen he gets here.” Griff stood and took a step towards the door.

  “I’m afraid that’s just not possible - “

  “Detective, do you not know who’s daughter I came here with?”

  A smug smile hit the detective’s face. “Brad Beckett, the man who dumped his plane in the ocean days before he was outed as a child molester.”

  “I’m talking about her mother,” Griff said. “Eve Carlisle. You may remember her, I believe she was an attorney and a judge here in Newport for many years.” He watched as the smile faltered on the man’s face. “Huh. Well, Detective, that doesn’t say much for your investigative skills. Now, should I wait here for my attorney, or in the lobby?”

  The man’s face turned a bright shade of red, a tight grimace replacing the smugness. “Take a seat, Mr. Griffith. I’ll see if your lawyer has arrived yet.” He stormed out of the room.

  Griff took his seat again, and drank more from the water bottle. His hands were shaking and he was trying to keep his breathing even and controlled. He should’ve just walked out of the room and went back to the waiting room where it was a damn sight cooler. But he wasn’t leaving without Rissa. At least back here, he had the ability to find her, if he needed. If he left, he wouldn’t be able to get back in unless they opened the door. That type of separation was not going to happen.

  No way was he leaving Rissa in here to fend for herself without some way of escaping. He leaned back in his chair and ran his hand over his face. What the hell had happened between the time he had left the Beckett house to find Rissa, and when she finally returned home? She had never really answered him about where she had gone. And while he would never admit it to anyone, she had made threats against Brandi. Had she gone back and done something to her stepmother? Could she do something like that?

  He hadn’t even thought before now to ask Rissa if she had been involved in Brandi’s disappearance. Not that he could really blame her if she had. Riss was under a tremendous amount to of stress, and was not very emotionally stable after finding out the world knew her secret. But Griff had a hard time believing she could hurt Brandi. It just didn’t seem like something Rissa would do.

  Revenge, yes. But not physically hurt the woman. Rissa was more intellectual, she would have planned something to hurt Brandi were it would sting the most - in her bank account.

  Griff glanced at the wall clock. The second hand slowly ticked around the circle. The detective had been gone for twenty minutes. The water bottle sat empty on the table, and Griff wiped the sweat from his brow. It was getting hot in the room, and he wondered hot much hotter it was going to get.

  ***

  The detective walked in the room and placed a bottle of water in front of Clarissa. She made no move towards it, just kept her eyes on the man as he took his seat.

  “Ms. Beckett, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I just have a couple of questions for you, then we can get you out of here. I know things have been stressful for you over the past few weeks, with your father’s accident and death.”

  “I’m not answering anything until my attorney is present.” Her voice was controlled and even.

  “Are you sure that’s how you want to play this, Clarissa?” His tone was soft, sympathetic. He leaned over to her in what Clarissa could only feel was an attempt to be consoling. “If your boyfriend talks first, I can’t help you. I’ll have to work with him, and everything will fall on you. Do you really want that?”

  Clarissa smiled at the man but said nothing.

  He sighed and sat back. “Here’s what I think we’re going to find out, Clarissa. I think you and your boyfriend went over to your stepmother’s house, confronted her about her involvement in providing the information regarding your father’s alleged molestation to the press. Things got out of hand, maybe your boyfriend took his rage too far, and something happened to Brandi. I know it can seem as if there is no way out, but I can assure you, if you talk to me, I can help you. If this was your boyfriend’s idea, if he was the one who actually acted and caused whatever the end result was to Mrs. Beckett, we can make sure he pays. But you have to help me, help you. Is your stepmother still alive, Clarissa? Can you tell me where you put her body?”

  Clarissa snorted. They weren’t even looking for Brandi. They were already convinced she was dead. And while that thought did warm Clarissa’s heart, it wasn’t because of anything she had done to the woman. She kept eye contact with the detective, answering him with one word.

  “Lawyer.”

  The detective stood and shook his head. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Ms. Beckett. I was hoping we could get this wrapped up so that we could let you go home. But if you aren’t going to answer even simple questions about where you were and what you were doing, I’m going to have to assume you and your boyfriend planned and executed the kidnapping and - most likely - murder of your stepmother.” He patted her hands as they lay on the table in front of her. “Sit tight, Ms. Beckett. You’re going to be here for a while.”

  He left the room in a huff. This was worse than Clarissa had expected. Was Brandi dead? Had they found a body? What the hell had happened after she left the house yesterday? Had Griff taken things into his own hands? Gotten rid of Brandi before she could hurt Clarissa any more?

  Griff’s number one objective lately had been to protect her, to keep her safe. But murder? She couldn’t imagine him taking it to that level without there being a more serious threat. There was no longer the threat that Brandi would be involved in his business. That deal was off as soon as Brandi had carried out her threat against Clarissa by telling the press about the sexual abuse. That also took away any motive Clarissa would have to want to get rid of her. There was no secret to protect any longer, so killing Brandi in order to keep her quiet was too little, too late.

  No matter how much she tried to convince herself that they would discover the truth and find the real perpetrator, she couldn’t control the pounding of her heart or the twisted knot that was once her stomach. She was getting a little tired of this roller coaster her life had become lately. Just when she thought the light at the end of the tunnel was growing brighter and getting bigger, something would cause it to flicker, threatening to extinguish it for good.

  All she wanted was the happily ever after that was a real possibility with Griff. It was so close, she could almost reach out and grab it, but it remained just outside her grasp.

  But it was there. And Clarissa was going to continue to fight for it.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  The door opened, and a grim-faced Detective Charles entered the room. He closed the door behind him and turned to face Griff. Shaking his head, he took a seat, rested his elbows on the table and dropped his head. When he finally raised it, he looked Griff square in the eye.

  “Your attorney hasn’t arrived yet, which is bad news for you since your girlfriend is singing like a canary in the room down the hall. I don’t know what to tell you, man, but she is out to save her own ass on this and letting you take the wrap for all of it.”

  What the fuck? Rissa was the one who said they couldn’t talk until they had lawyers there? Had they gotten to her, convinced her that Griff had done something wrong and that she was going to be an accomplice?

  He fought to keep control of his emotions. He could feel heat surge through him, the blood pounding it’s way through his heart and beating like a very loud drum in his head. His stomach twisted and turned violently, leaving him nauseous.

  It made no sense.

  “You need to come clean, protect yourself from whatever she is going to try and put off on you. If you’ll be honest with me, I can help you, son. But if she gets her story out first - pins everything on you - my hands will be tied. There won’t be a damn thing I can do.” The detective leaned over the table forcing some sort of commoradery with him. “I know how things could’ve gotten out of control. You wanted to help your girlfriend, and she wanted to make Brandi pay for what she had done. We have a witness that heard all the threats Ms. Beckett
made against her stepmother. It’s only a matter of time before we uncover enough evidence to charge you both with kidnapping and murder. This is your one opportunity to get your admission on record first. Get your side of the story - what really happened - out there. Once your attorney arrives, he won’t let you talk to me, and I’ll have to arrest you for murder. I don’t want to do that, Robert. Help me, son. Help me, help you.”