“No. I’ll keep you safe,” Drew promised.
“How? I thought they would both go to jail and I would be safe,” Bethany started to fray the strap on her purse again.
“Guys with that much money tend to get around things,” Miguel said with a shrug. “Even with them in jail, I’d be worried about your safety until you testified against them at trial.”
“Are you saying they might hire someone?” Bethany was astonished. “My father and Mr. Ramesly hiring a… what would you call it? A hitman?”
“That’s not going to happen,” Drew put a hand over hers, stopping her from shredding the poor purse. “Right now, David Ramesly is walking away from jail. He knows we can’t touch him. That means that you aren’t a threat. If you aren’t a threat, David isn’t going to come after you.”
At least he hoped that was the case. Drew looked at Miguel. “Is Green still in his office?”
“Yeah, why?” Miguel asked.
“Because I’m probably about to get busted down to foot patrol,” Drew stood up. More likely that he was about to get fired. “Look after her a moment.”
“Sure. What are you going to try to do?” Miguel asked.
“I’m going to see if I can get Ted Searson to roll on Ramesly,” Drew quickly went down to holding and checked with Fenton if he could arrange to speak to Searson. Fenton owed him one and Drew decided to cash in on the favor.
Within minutes it was all set up. Searson was seated at a table in an interrogation room, his hands handcuffed to a loop in the steel table. Drew entered the room and leaned on the table, making eye contact with the older man.
“Mr. Searson, this is off the record,” Drew said calmly. “You don’t need your lawyer and I’m not going to record anything.”
“Then what is this about?” Ted Searson wasn’t looking so good. He was sweating a little and nervous. “Has anyone told you that you look just like Max Ramesly?”
“A few times,” Drew remarked. “I don’t want to speak about Max.”
“You know you’re David’s son, right? Is that what this is about?” Ted asked anxiously. “He won’t give you money. He doesn’t care about his kids.”
“As far as I’m concerned, he only donated the DNA. I don’t want anything from him,” Drew crossed his arms and looked down on Ted.
“Then why am I here?” Ted asked.
“Your daughter,” Drew stated, watching Ted’s reactions.
“Is she alright?” Ted asked anxiously.
“She’ll make a full recovery,” Drew answered. Physically, Bethany would. Mentally, getting over the fact that her own father would have let her die… that was something else.
Ted sighed in relief.
“Do you think she’s safe?” Drew asked quietly but with a strong voice, implying that he didn’t believe that she would be.
Ted swallowed convulsively.
“I believe that someone tried to kill her,” Drew watched Ted’s reaction. The man had a poor poker face. “I think that someone will keep trying until they succeed.”
“No,” Ted shook his head quickly. “She’s my daughter. No one is going to hurt her.”
“I don’t believe you,” Drew pulled out the chair and sat down. He laced his fingers together loosely. “I don’t think you believe that either.”
Ted just shook his head to the negative.
“Mr. Searson, Bethany is in danger,” Drew quietly insisted. “Your daughter’s life is in danger. She saw something on that boat, the Sweet Bethany, years ago. Now her memories are coming back and your partner thought that it would be better to eliminate Bethany before she spilled the beans and put both of you into prison. Isn’t that right?”
Ted stared at his hands.
“He’s not going to stop until she’s dead, Mr. Searson. You have the power to stop him.”
