by Beverly Bird
“What about the D.A.?” someone shouted. “What about your personal relationship with Mr. Hadley? Are you doing this now to facilitate his campaign against Mr. Price?”
She’d known that was coming. She swallowed carefully, and for a moment, she floundered. What personal relationship? Oh, God, what was it between them?
Trust, she thought. Trust and need and caring. She’d take the first step. She would protect him as best as she was able.
“Our personal relationship is, at present, one entirely brought about by the rumors and allegations against us. Against me. Our offices are working in tandem. I felt it was crucial for me to share with him what I know about Mr. Price. This has nothing to do with Mr. Hadley’s campaign at all, although I obviously would not want to see a rapist take over the district attorney’s office.”
“Are you concerned Mr. Price might charge you with slander?”
Angela’s smile was slow and full. “I would like nothing better. I’ve waited fifteen years to have another day in court with this man.”
“Mr. Hadley said this ties in to the rumors circulating about your involvement in the murder. Now you tell us that Mr. Price raped you. What’s the connection?” someone challenged.
“Are you saying that Mr. Price is framing you in this matter?”
“Someone is framing me,” she said sharply. “I haven’t killed anyone. I did the autopsy and turned the results over to the proper authorities. I found a tape splicer in my home subsequent to a break-in. I discovered this myself and turned that over to the authorities, as well. And we have proof that Mr. Price is involved at least on the periphery of this case.”
“What proof?”
“I’m sure the police and the D.A.’s office will give you all the details at a time when it won’t jeopardize the remainder of their investigation.”
More shouts, more questions, loud and demanding and intimidating. Angela had to shout over the noise.
“I’ll release a written statement in the morning,” she called out, “detailing the fine points of my accusation. I have not decided at this time whether or not I want to reopen the case.” That ought to worry him, she reflected with a quick little thrill of victory. Then again, as far as the media and his reputation were concerned, the damage was already done.
“If what you’re saying is true, then why wouldn’t you want to reopen the case?” someone demanded.
“Because evidence disappeared at the time. I no longer have access to it. Witnesses declined to testify. Unless they—and others—come forward now, I have little recourse. They know who they are.” And so, she prayed, would at least the one other woman who in all probability had also been Charlie’s victim.
“Mr. Hadley, how exactly are you involved in this?” someone pressed.
For a moment, Jesse couldn’t speak. There was something hot, large and painful lodged at the back of his throat. He wasn’t at all sure he could get words around it.
He looked at her, her golden hair shimmering in the harsh lighting. She was pale, but her chin was high. Something rolled over inside him, something unnameable, a tangle of pride and awe, need...and love. He’d thought once that she was smarter than he was. Now he knew that she was stronger, as well. The only person she’d needed to prove it to was herself.
He stepped up beside her.
“My office is open to any and all citizens who feel any crime has been committed against them. In this case, as in every case, I will do whatever I have to do to get a conviction if the charges are substantiated, regardless of who the perpetrator might be. I feel great regret that in this case, allegations have been made against my opponent in the current election. Obviously, it puts me in an awkward position, one I’d really rather not be in. Mr. Price is a personal acquaintance, as well. However, I will not shy away. If witnesses come forward and evidence is accumulated. I will nonetheless prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.” He allowed a crooked grin. “For the next several months, at least, that’s still my job.”
Someone laughed. It was a faint sound, almost a cough. Then one of the female reporters clapped. It was buried beneath another rush of voices, of questions.
Jesse took her elbow. “Come on, let’s go.”
Angela wanted to sag against him. But not yet. Not now. She turned her back on the podium.
Before they even got into Jesse’s inner office, telephones were trilling.
Chapter 20
Tessa cracked open Jesse’s office door two hours later and peered into the anteroom. She groaned. “We should have brought pillows.”
“Maybe we should call John and have him send some over to us,” Angela muttered. She was sitting on the windowsill, hugging herself, exhausted. The adrenaline had rushed out of her and left her with virtually no energy.
She had done it. Now she needed to withstand the fallout.
Jesse was at his desk, busy on the phone. Calls were pouring in, although so far they were all from the usual kooks and loonies. Gunner had gone back to the Police Administration Building to field the hullabaloo over there.
There was no response yet from Charlie Price, or from the remainder of the Hadley clan.
It was half past one in the morning before the anteroom cleared out completely. Tessa finally peeked through the door to virtual darkness and murmured. “Ah.”
“They’re probably all still downstairs, outside,” Jesse reminded them wearily. “I’ve never known a press vulture to simply give up.”
“I don’t care.” Angela sprang from the chair in front of his desk, where she had moved when the window had become too uncomfortable. “Let’s make a run for it.”
But Jesse caught her elbow. She looked up into his eyes, startled. They were dark with terror. For her.
“We have no choice,” Tessa said quietly, reading his expression, as well. “We’ve got to leave sooner or later.”
“I hate it,” Jesse said tightly. “I still hate this whole thing:”
“Of course you do,” Tessa soothed. “But it really went well. And it’s over. Now there’s nothing we can do but let the dust settle.”
“And watch our backs,” Jesse corrected. But he was still watching Angela, and his face softened. “You were incredible. Have I told you that?”
A thousand times so far, she returned silently. But it still made pleasure wash through her like warm rain.
“Let me call John first,” Tessa interrupted. “I want to make sure there are still cops on the premises.”
“Good idea. I feel a little vulnerable,” Angela admitted. Even Melanie had left, first to help beat back the hordes, then to assist John with the phones over at the homicide office. She’d still been muttering and shaking her head in shock when she’d left.
Tessa went back to the desk. Jesse said nothing more. He paced. Angela realized, pained, that he wouldn’t look at her now. He’d been avoiding her eyes intermittently all night.
Her heart felt as though it was tearing, not only with fear, but also with pride that she’d come this far, had done as much as she had. And with exhaustion, because it wasn’t finished yet. And she knew Jesse was feeling most of those things, as well, and that she was the one dragging him through it.
No, she denied immediately. No. She was done with that. Charlie was dragging both of them through this. She refused to take the shame and the blame upon herself ever again. Unconsciously, she squared her shoulders as she had been doing all night.
Tessa finally hung up. “We’re all set. Roger has sent six new guys to hang around downstairs on the street, on the corners. And there are still four on every floor of this building.”
Jesse nodded. This was the hardest part of the night now. Things had gone beyond his office, were out of his control. He hated depending on others. His nerves felt like live wires.
He had an inkling, in that moment, of how Angela must have suffered all those years ago. And the fear, he thought. He shared her helpless terror, knowing all the while that there was little he could do t
o stop anything that might happen now.
“All right,” he said finally. “Let’s get out of here.”
Tessa went outside first. Kennery had officially put both her and Gunner back on active duty, and she was armed.
Angela was trembling badly. It was a deep, subconscious reaction. She didn’t want Jesse to see it and couldn’t control it. She felt irrationally certain that a bullet was going to come for her from one of the windows across the street or from a passing car.
As they went out onto the street, Jesse caught her arm. He drew her close and kissed her hard despite what she had said in the press conference. The remaining cameras caught it and bulbs flashed crazily. She knew what he was thinking, and it chilled her. Just in case. The hell with all of them.
But there were cops all over the place. Nothing would happen, she told herself. Nothing could.
“You’re making a liar out of me.” She tried to laugh. It didn’t work.
“No. Everything you said was true. As far as it went. Angela, when this is over...” He didn’t finish. He realized he didn’t know what he wanted to say.
“Come on!” Tessa urged from the unmarked car waiting for them.
Jesse turned away with something that sounded like a groan. He let go of her hand to get into the car. Then his heart started thrumming so painfully, so fast, he felt physically ill. This was all wrong. He knew it instinctively with his heart. He turned in the seat and started to get out again.
“What is it?” Tessa asked.
Then they both heard Angela scream.
She’d forgotten that on at least one occasion. Charlie had masqueraded as a cop. They’d all forgotten. She wasn’t expecting the cab that pulled up to the curb, either. The block had been closed off earlier, but now it was apparently open again.
She hesitated on the sidewalk for one lethal moment, and something slammed into her from behind. She half jerked around as she fell, screaming. She saw a blur of blue. Charlie was one of the cops on the door. Seven cops, not six. Not just the six new guys Kennery had sent.
He hit her again with nearly enough force to make her neck snap. She hurtled forward again, expecting to fall this time, crying out and throwing her arms up to brace herself. Someone shouted in surprise. She heard Jesse’s voice, raging. And she heard at least one gunshot before pandemonium set in.
At the last moment, Charlie caught her from behind, his arm around her waist as he pushed her into the cab. She had a startling moment of revelation, razor sharp in intensity. Now she knew why the taxi was here. Charlie had arranged it.
No one could get a clear shot at him without hitting her. He held her close to prevent it. The entire police department was on her side, but she realized it wouldn’t make a bit of difference this time, either. Because Charlie had struck quickly and cleverly enough that none of them could help her after all.
Terror filled her, and something else. Revulsion, horror. A deep, crawly feeling spread from her waist into her limbs because he was touching her again,.
She screamed once more and prayed wildly that Jesse—that anyone—would get to her in time. She couldn’t see anything, anyone. Charlie had pushed her head down. He held it.
“Shut up,” he hissed in her ear.
“Don’t touch me. I’ll go with you. Get your hands off me!”
He laughed cruelly. “Right.”
She’d landed hard on the seat on her hands and knees. She scrambled to the far door. He caught her arm in a painful grip and hauled her back to his side of the seat. His breath was in her face. A scream began inside her, an endless wail in her head, a cry that had gone beyond reason.
The driver watched them in the mirror, bug-eyed. “Hey, man, you didn’t say nothing about cops and a gun! You just said come around the corner when she came out!”
A gun? Her heart stalled. Then she saw it, in Charlie’s hand. Jesse was right. He’d kill her this time.
Maybe that was better than the alternative.
“Drive,” Charlie said to the man. He was grinning. “Drive, or I’ll use it on you, too.”
The driver’s throat worked. Angela could see it in the mirror. The cops were all around the car now, and she laughed shrilly at their helplessness as they shouted for Charlie and the driver to get out of the car. Their weapons were drawn. But what could they do? They couldn’t storm the vehicle without risking her getting hurt. She wanted to scream at them to do it anyway. They wouldn’t hear her. The windows were up and Charlie had slammed the door shut behind him.
A cop was holding Jesse back. He was fighting viciously to get free and she changed her prayer. Let’s go, let’s go, before he gets loose and comes to get me and Charlie shoots him, please, please, please! The driver was too terrified to move. She whimpered aloud. “Drive,” she begged.
“Where do you want me to go?” the driver bleated.
“Penn’s Landing. The north side.” Charlie looked at Angela and leered cruelly. “That ought to give us some privacy.”
Angela stared back at him. She realized that she couldn’t even cry. She was so cold inside. Finally, in the oddest of circumstances, the jail doors were slamming shut again, locking her in.
She had to think. It was her only salvation. But she felt as though someone had stuffed cotton into her head. Fear and revulsion... and the doors, always the doors...had dulled her senses.
The cabby finally gunned the engine. There was a horrible thud and a distant-sounding scream beyond the glass as he hit one of the cops. Rubber shrieked as the tires gained purchase on asphalt. But there was nothing else the poor driver could do.
Charlie had the gun pressed to the back of the man’s neck.
Jesse managed to wrench away from the cop who was holding him. He drove his elbow back into the man’s gut. He was running after the cab before the sound of the wounded cop’s voice died in the air. Almost unconsciously, he saw a man on the far corner also move, his weapon drawn. One of the plainclothes cops.
There hadn’t been enough. The entire police department wouldn’t have been enough. The bastard had been dressed like one of them. Why the hell hadn’t he counted when they’d gone outside?
Another cab rounded the corner just as he reached it. He lunged for it, still roaring senseless words like a madman. He caught the door handle and it would have pulled his fingers clear off if the driver hadn’t slammed on the brakes. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, buddy?” the man shouted when Jesse wrested open the door. “Are you nuts?”
His sister was half a step behind him. She’d left the unmarked, as well. Something told him that she hadn’t been planning to give chase on foot. She’d been coming after him.
Jesse turned and picked her up almost bodily, pushing her into the car ahead of him. He had one last rational thought—that he needed her because she had the gun and the badge.
“Follow that other cab!” Jesse shouted.
“Hey, man, I ain’t making a U-turn and getting no ticket!”
“Do it!” Tessa shouted. She dug frantically in her pocket for her ID. “Police. Now go!”
The driver hit the accelerator.
Jesse knew that of all the new emotions Angela had made him feel in the past weeks—jealousy then relief—none was as strong, as clawing as this fear. None was as debilitating as the persistent worry over losing her. He realized why he hadn’t easily been able to look at her upstairs. He’d been trying to pull away from her, had been trying to prevent feeling like this when everything went wrong.
He’d known, damn it, he’d known that something was going to go wrong. And it was too late. There was no pulling away from her. There was only this agony in his chest.
“Get out of my way.” Tessa pushed at him. When he moved aside on the rear seat to give her room, she scrambled over into the front. She grabbed the radio microphone. “How do you work this thing?” she demanded.
The driver told her.
“What are you doing?” Jesse asked hoarsely.
“I’m going to ha
ve their dispatch put me through to John,” Tessa said.
Jesse didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His heart was in his throat.
“At least Price incriminated himself,” she said after a moment. “Loud and clear. Everyone saw him this time.”
Jesse could barely nod. He didn’t care. He just wanted her back alive.
Charlie’s gaze was on the window, but every once in a while, it flicked back to her. “You’re too quiet,” he said finally. “You used to scream. Cry.”
“No,” she said flatly.
“Sure you did.”
“I won’t let you get to me this time.” Even her shuddering had finally stopped. She was numb.
Something like surprise flitted across his face, almost too quick to be noticed. “We’ll see. I think I can get some reaction out of you when we get to the Landing.”
He really didn’t know her determination, she realized. If it was going to happen again, she did not dare feel. He was right. The first time she had been crazed and wild, and emotion had scoured through her blood, making every moment excruciating, clear in her memory for an eternity. But she had learned her lesson. Now she could shut down.
Then she thought of Jesse. And for a brief, deadly moment, emotion did flare in her. It was a longing, a terrible, agonizing regret. I’m so sorry. He hadn’t wanted her to do this. If the way you’re looking at me right now is true, then don’t do this. I can’t live with it, Angela.
If only she had listened to his fear. If only, if only...
Angela finally let out a quiet moan. Charlie looked over at her sharply, and something in his eyes brightened.