I picked at a nail, not wanting to dig up old wounds. A laugh broke out in my head. It was too late for that. Those old scars, the ones on my back from John’s whip, seemed to burn at just the thought of Thea’s dead body.
“Is Andie okay?” I asked as Officer Jane brought me a cup of water.
“As far as we know, she’s being examined at the hospital.” Officer Jane set the water in front of me.
I slumped in the chair. “I need to be with her. She shouldn’t be alone.” I knew that lonely, shocking, and panicked feeling all too well after nights of repeatedly being raped. “Please, Ted.” He had more clout than Jane.
He frowned. “Unfortunately, we need to hold you until you’re arraigned later today, Grace. It’s a crime to discharge your firearm within five hundred feet of a dwelling, despite your concealed carry permit. More importantly, you shot someone. You’re lucky the bullet hit his thigh and he isn’t dead. Still, I can’t get you out of this one.”
I’d been read my rights by the arresting officer, so I knew all that, but I had to ask anyway.
Jane took her leave as Ted studied me intently.
I fidgeted under his scrutiny as I gulped down water.
“Who were you talking about when I came in?” Ted probed, concern etched around the wrinkles in his dark eyes.
If I didn’t tell him something, he would continue to interrogate me, although I knew it wasn’t exactly his profession driving him to seek an answer but the father figure in him.
“Did Miguel get out of prison?”
Creases deepened on his forehead. “What? Miguel Rivera? The former leader of the Black Knights? No. Why are you asking?”
I shrugged, relief deflating my chest. Nevertheless, how could I tell him that I thought I was being followed? Or that I was crazy and it was all an illusion? Either of those scenarios would have him calling my brothers. What was I saying? I was sure Ted had already called either Duke, Dillon, or Denim because I shot someone. My guess was Dillon, since Ted was the closest to him.
But I wasn’t ready to voice my suspicions out loud. If I did, then they would be real, and if I knew Duke, he would go off the rails if he heard someone was stalking me. I was tired of putting him through hell. He was the one brother who still carried a large amount of guilt over what had happened to me.
“Grace, I asked you a question.” Ted’s harsh tone made me flinch. “Why are you bringing up Miguel Rivera?”
“I’m doing a thesis on sex trafficking, and Miguel is part of my research.” Part lie. Part truth. Before he could respond, I asked, “After you arrested Miguel, you didn’t locate John Smith’s body—he was the man who bought me—right? Or any other living relatives of his?” I knew he hadn’t but needed to hear it again.
“You know we didn’t.”
“Sure, but I also know that to spare me emotional trauma, you could’ve kept what you found a secret.”
He chuckled, but it wasn’t a nice sound. “If it puts you at ease, we found nothing on John Smith in the state of Missouri. You said yourself that the cops in the Ozarks were part of John’s clientele. So they didn’t give us anything to go on. Not even a dead body. In addition, Miguel never gave us anything on John Smith or his family.” He leaned forward, hands cupped on the rim of the table. “You’re safe, Grace. If there was a bountyon your head, like Miguel had bragged, don’t you think John’s family would’ve found you by now?”
I nervously played with a hangnail. “Yeah, you’re right. But I can’t help but think—how did Miguel know that I killed John Smith?”
Ted smoothed fingers over his mustache. “Miguel had a lot of contacts in the sex-trafficking world. What is really going on?”
Footsteps scuffed along the floor in the hallway.
My stomach dropped as Duke appeared in the doorway, disappointment etched into every line on his face.
I pursed my lips. I was hoping Ted had called Dillon, not Duke. I didn’t want to hear Duke tell me how reckless I was, though he would be right. I also didn’t want to argue with him and return fire with how foolhardy he’d been in selling illegal arms for the cartel, which had earned him a prison sentence.
Ted rose. “I’ll give you two the room.” He patted Duke on the back then closed the door on his way out.
My brother swiped a hand through his brown hair and occupied Ted’s chair. “What’s going on, sis?”
My life is falling apart.“I’m sure Ted already told you.”
“I want to hear it from you.”
I blew out a breath, crushing the paper cup. “I caught a frat boy raping Andie. I told him to stop, tried to tackle him—and see this?” I pointed at my eye, which was starting to bruise. I knew that only because I’d taken a trip to the ladies’ room. “He took a swing.”
Growling, Duke donned his big-brother hat that I knew all too well. He had always been the pseudo-father figure when we were growing up, since our dad cared more about alcohol than his own kids.
