by M. S. Parker
“I could have put them in the morgue.”
“Your restraint is admirable.” She was still waiting for the answer.
“Fine,” I said, giving her my back as I turned and looked at the attorney. I’d deal with him for the bail hearing. After that…
Chapter Nine
Reaper
“Out of the question,” the prosecutor said after my lawyer – still trying to wrap my brain around that one – requested that I be let out on my own recognizance. “He’s sent five men to the hospital in less than twenty-four hours, Your Honor. He’s a menace and shouldn’t even be considered for bail, at least not without a full psychiatric workup.”
I just stared straight ahead.
She’d tossed around more than a few comments about my mental health, but it would take more than that to get a reaction out of me.
Barrett, in his calm and controlled manner, waited until she was done before addressing the judge. “Your Honor, if I may, each of those men came at my client first. I have a signed statement from a witness to the attack in the prison, and he’s willing to testify that three men attacked him, and Chief Dedman defended himself. As to the alleged incident at the bar, the bartender has also signed a statement that they came at him first. The two men in question – both with a long and colorful history – are refusing to answer any questions. My client states that they came at him after admitting freely that he made some provocative remarks. He just lost his mother, Your Honor. He’s a highly decorated member of the United States Navy. He has no record. This is his first and only offense. I don’t see any reason why he can’t be released on his own recognizance.”
The judge held up a hand when the prosecutor started up again, looking tired.
“The statements?” he asked.
I didn’t watch as my lawyer took it up to him, nor did I look over at the judge when I felt his eyes on me.
But when he said my name, respect overruled everything, and I met his eyes. “Yes, sir?”
“You want to tell me what was going through your mind, son?” He waved the piece of paper he’d just finished reading and put it face down. “Not over this. But earlier in the evening. Your…escapades at the bar. I’d like to know just what you were thinking.”
“Your Honor,” Barrett cut in.
I put a hand on his arm. “I’ll answer.” Then I met the man’s eyes. We’d recognized each other from the time I came in. He’d been in the service himself, I could tell. You get to know each other, even those who’d been living the civilian life as long as this guy had. He was looking for…something. He could either make this easier or harder, but I refused to use a bunch of lawyerly lines and shit to try to make this anything other than what it was.
My fault.
“To be honest, sir, I wasn’t.”
He arched a brow.
“My mother just died. She’s been my rock my whole life. Now she’s gone. I haven’t had much time to spend with her the past few years and now…” I just shook my head. “So, I wasn’t thinking. I was just angry and looking for a fight. Those two boys were looking for somebody to hurt. I presented them with the opportunity to give them what they wanted. They weren’t up to the job.”
I thought I saw a flicker of a smile in his eyes, but it was gone before it ever fully manifested. “Is that a fact?” He glanced at his folded hands for a moment and then looked up at me. “Son, what do you do in the Navy?”
“Your Honor–”
The judge simply looked over at the prosecutor. She lapsed back into silence.
When he looked at me, I answered, although not entirely happy about it. “I’m a Navy SEAL, sir.”
A few moments later, he made his decision, and the prosecutor shot up from her seat yet again. “Your Honor, this is an outrage. The fact that this man is a Navy SEAL should have no bearing on this case. If anything, that makes his actions more appalling. He’s from a class of men who should hold themselves to the highest of moral codes, but he put five men in the hospital.”
“Ms. Lincoln, I’m about to hold you in contempt,” the tired old judge said, shaking his head. “But, before you have another outburst, let me frame my response this way. The truth is, considering the class of men he’s from, while he might have strayed from his code, he didn’t entirely fall. If he had, those men would be dead, not just in the hospital. And three wouldn’t be there at all if they hadn’t attacked him. Now, I would suggest you work out a deal. I have a feeling we won’t have this man in our jurisdiction long.”
He gave me a quick, commiserating nod, then smacked his gavel down. “Dismissed.”
* * *
“And what does that mean?”
The prosecutor practically jumped out of the shadows at us. I’d spent the past hour or so dealing with all the paperwork that came with being processed, and I just wanted out of there.
Olivia and Barrett had been waiting, and, apparently, so had my newest fan. Prosecutor Lincoln.
Olivia shifted subtly forward to cut her off. I couldn’t help but smile a little, although the petite prosecuting attorney didn’t budge. She kept her attention on Barrett and me. “Do you plan on just disappearing on some mission? I’ll subpoena your ass.”
“Ms. Lincoln–”
“First off, Miss Lincoln,” I drawled, cutting Olivia off. “If I were called up, you’d have no chance in hell of issuing a subpoena, unless you think a marshal will have much luck getting into someplace like Syria or Iraq. I think that’s a little out of his job description.” She tightened her jaw, glaring at me. “They might be used to serving subpoenas to hostile people, but my job takes me past hostile. But as to my ass disappearing? More than likely, I’ll be facing a military court martial. That ought to suit you just fine. And unlike you idiots out here in the civilian world, I won’t get a slap on the wrist…like oh, say, the drunk driver who killed my mother or those assholes who jumped me in the bar with their long and colorful history. I fuck up one time, and I’m done. So…be happy.”
The satisfaction that washed over her eyes burned through me like acid. “Well…that being the case…I might be willing to talk about a deal.”
“I’m sure you will.” I glared at her, filling more disgusted with every passing second. “I’m just quite pleased to know that the boys in the United States military will be the ones dealing with me. Not you.”
She sneered but turned on her heel and walked away, head high and shoulders back.
“She’s really worked up over this, isn’t she?”
“Eh, she’s new. Trying to climb her way up the ladder.” Barrett gave me a kindly smile. “She’ll settle down in another year or so and focus on the real criminals.”
It didn’t help much though.
I still couldn’t believe what I’d done.
My phone buzzed at that very moment, and I pulled it out, staring at the message with more than a little dread.
I’d known who it was even before I looked.
Tipping my head back, I stared upward for a long moment. Then I looked at Barrett. “You’ll have to figure out what to do next. I need to turn myself over to the nearest military installation.”
Chapter Ten
Reaper
“Do you have any idea how many fucking strings I had to pull to get the okay for you to have a few days to get your affairs in order and…” LC Hawkins stopped talking and turned to face me, his weathered face folding into a scowl. “Shit, kid. I know you’re down about losing your mom. Losing Dog and Rake the way we did, but you went ape shit on us the past few days. If you hadn’t had an exemplary record during your time here, there would be no way in hell you’d be leaving here, except under lock and key, and that would only be for transport to wherever they decided to have your court martial.”
“I know, sir.” Standing at attention, I stared straight ahead.
Anything he had to say couldn’t be any worse than what I’d said to myself over the past few hours. I’d gotten to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in nex
t to no time, and while I’d been a bit unsettled to see my commanding officer, I wasn’t really shocked. My CO was on top of things.
“Just tell me one thing.” He planted his hands on his hips and glared. “I get why those idiots in jail got their asses handed to them. But what the fuck were you doing, messing with some low lives in some dive at midnight?”
Running my tongue across my teeth, I debated on that answer. “Sir, permission to speak freely?”
LC Hawkins waved a dark hand at me.
“Sir, my mother is dead because some piece of shit drunk driver with two offenses on record couldn’t wait until he got home to crack open another bottle of Jack.” Clenching my jaw, I fought the urge to turn and drive my fist into the nearest wall. It wouldn’t do any good and just might do a whole lot of harm. “I was feeling mean and looking for somebody to hurt. A dive offered the best option since I didn’t really want to attempt to break into a Cincinnati police station and try to find that said piece of shit and strangle him.”
While I was fighting that urge, Hawkins came closer. “You want to tell me how you already know about his past offenses?”
“I didn’t break any privacy laws, sir. Two staff members made mention of it. They didn’t realize I overheard.” I glanced at him as I spoke. And I saw something.
Relief.
Why?
“Sir?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it, turning away to brace his hands on the desk. Big shoulders strained against his uniform as he dropped his head. “Son of a bitch. If I don’t tell you…” Finally, he turned and looked at me, his hands locked together behind his back. “He’s been arrested before. Went to court once, and the case was thrown out due to a bad warrant.”
I saw red.
In my mind’s eye, I could see me doing what I should have done. Instead of beating the shit out of some skinny, no-account fool at the bar, I should have found out more about the man who’d killed my mother. Found out everything. I could have been waiting for him when they released him. It might have taken a few weeks, but sooner or later, he’d get released on bail. They’d give him a slap on the wrist and take his license.
Not good enough.
“Whatever you’re thinking…”
I looked at Hawkins. “It’s not enough.”
He blew out a breath and nodded. “Probably not. But we can’t carry out justice like that.”
“What are you talking about?” An ugly laugh tried to break out, but I fought it. “We do it all the time.”
“Not like this. Not for this.” He was in my face the next instant. “Don’t you go forgetting who you are. I’m trying to take care of this for you. You made one stupid mistake that snowballed. But if I think you’re going to get stupid on me, forget having me do you any favors. You’ll go to that court martial, you’ll do your time, and you’ll ask yourself every fucking day what you could have done differently.”
Without blinking an eye, I asked, “Don’t you think I’m doing that already?”
Hawkins studied me for a long moment and then slowly, he nodded. “Yeah, I imagine you are.” He paced over to the window, looking out over the base for a long moment before he spoke again. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to make this go away entirely, Reaper. I’ll try, but things aren’t what they used to be. Everybody’s bitching about accountability and all that. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” Swallowing the knot in my throat, I nodded. “I know.”
I also knew what he was telling me – and what he wasn’t.
He’d already mentioned a few things. Nobody wanted to see me do time over this, so chances were, I probably wouldn’t.
But I had a bad feeling my career in the Navy was over.
Chapter Eleven
Olivia
In the past thirty-six hours, I had placed no less than six calls to Adam Dedman. I knew he was back in Cincinnati. He’d only been gone for roughly seven hours, and when he returned, he contacted Barrett. He’d actually been in contact with Barrett several times.
I knew this because Barrett had been in contact with me and had assured me that he’d relayed my requests quite clearly.
Please contact Olivia. She needs to speak with you.
Yet, had he called?
No.
Had he emailed?
No.
He did have the email. Barrett had passed it on. Barrett was too efficient not to. I knew from personal experience. Barrett had bailed me out of a jam or two back when the boss had first taken me on. And when I’d started cussing the stubborn SOB up one wall and down the other, it had been Barrett who had talked me down.
And I had calmed down. This had to be hard for the guy. But I didn’t like being ignored, and I didn’t like feeling not coming through for my boss.
Adam Dedman was avoiding me, and that just wouldn’t cut it.
The two of us were stuck together whether he liked it or not.
All this avoidance shit was going to stop.
I blew out a breath, compassion softening my heart for a second. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. It had to hurt. If I’d actually known my mother…
But I hadn’t.
I’d been found in a dumpster. A dumpster. Talk about abandonment issues. I was less than a day old, and according to the information the boss had eventually been able to dig up on me, my cord was still attached, and I’d been wrapped in newspaper. Not exactly a happy story. There was no telling who my parents were, but one thing was clear – I hadn’t been wanted.
More than likely, some high school girl had been left high and dry by her boyfriend. Part of me wanted to say I wasn’t bitter. On a good day, I was even able to do just that.
But then I’d remember how miserable my life had been and how I’d dealt with things.
I wouldn’t have thrown me away.
And although Adam didn’t know it, he’d come from two people who didn’t know the concept of throwing something away.
The hard-ass Navy SEAL wasn’t going to get away from me so easily. Dodging phone calls, refusing to talk to me…hell. He might have been to hell and back as an adult, but I’d already taken that journey a few times over before I’d even had my first period.
I’d seen him for just a few minutes that morning at the viewing.
I’d kept my distance though. Approaching a man as he stood by his mother’s open coffin just wasn’t right. Of course, if I’d known he was going to turn around and walk right out, I might have been waiting outside for him.
He was the only family she had. Shouldn’t he…I don’t know…be there? That was my kneejerk reaction.
The next reaction was – I wanted to kick myself.
All these trappings with death, they weren’t for the one who’d already passed on. They were for the ones left behind, and if Adam didn’t want to be there, if he needed to mourn in private, then who was I – or anybody else – to judge him?
I could accept that and understand.
But that son of a bitch needed to talk to me.
Barrett and I had done our best to help him get out of this mess he’d caused for himself, and we needed to get this deal signed before it was suddenly yanked away. I knew enough about LeAnn Lincoln to know how fickle she was. If she decided it would do more for her career to prosecute a Navy SEAL with an impeccable record, then she would.
And since he hadn’t returned my calls, I’d just go to him.
One thing the boss had taught me was that sometimes you didn’t wait for the other party to make the move. You took the fight to them.
I was in no mood for these power games.
Adam Dedman didn’t want to acknowledge his father.
I got it.
I really did.
Nobody understood what it felt like to be abandoned better than me.
But things weren’t what he thought, and he’d have to suck it up and move on. The reality he thought he knew was a lot different than the reality that was. And that reality was still pla
ying out, and he needed to clue into it before everything imploded on us.
The least he could do was hear me out.
I grimaced, even as the thought went through my head.
Maybe he’d hear me out.
But would he hear his father out?
That was yet to be determined.
Moving up the sidewalk, I fought the urge to smooth my skirt and brush my hair back. I looked fine when I left the hotel. It was a twenty-minute drive. Nothing disastrous could have happened during those twenty minutes, and I refused to primp.
Of course, the sly voice inside my head was having a field day…so why are you wearing a skirt? You never wear a skirt.
Sure I did.
When I wanted to show off my legs.
My legs were my one good attribute, next to my eyes. And my butt.
Okay, so I knew my strong points.
But guys didn’t fall for a pretty pair of eyes. They’d notice a nice butt and nice legs.
And I wasn’t trying to grab his attention either.
Like hell…
He’d already grabbed mine and some part of me regretted the fact that I wasn’t one of those delicate hothouse flowers with perfect breasts and pouty lips with a body to match.
There was nothing delicate about me.
I looked like what I was – a woman who’d grown up fighting for everything she had. Delicate and I had never exchanged a passing glance, and pretty was something I couldn’t even hope to achieve. I wasn’t going to waste my time trying.
So why was I tugging at my skirt and looking in the reflective panes of the windows to see how my hair looked?
Because I was an idiot.
I started up the steps, only to stop, following an instinct that had never died, no matter how long I’d been off the streets. As I moved down the cobblestone path, I paused, touching my fingers to the flowers that spilled from a basket on the patio. They were so bright and pretty. Somebody had absolutely loved flowers.