“Well, you said the sheriff was the enemy but look at you two now, coming in here addicted to his?—”
“Ms. Audrey,” Santiago stepped in, though he liked the idea of her being addicted
to him.
“Plus, your mama is a perfectly delightful woman, she’s just conflicted and angry like a certain other Green that happened upon this mountain.”
“You’re right,” Lauren said. “People change for better or for worse. But I choose my own better and worse, and Ma Mable ain’t who I’m choosing right now. I’m choosing me.”
“And so you should. All I’m saying is that your mama is changing too, and it might be something you could benefit from being present for.”
The lift in Lauren’s right brow, the pursing of her lips made Santiago doubt that she would be.
“Me and Ma Mable aren’t there yet, and right now I’m only focusing on the here and now,” Lauren capitulated. Slightly.
“Y’all be safe out there,” Santiago said, as he walked to the exit feeling that being around Lauren was an inherently unsafe activity.
They arrived at the courthouse in under fifteen minutes, which was ten minutes longer than Lauren anticipated. She’d believed the courthouse would be close to the station but learned that court took place in a larger town in Olympus County, closer to the highway she’d driven along before deciding to take the scenic route into Shrouded Lake. It was another small town, and whether true or not, looked more prosperous than Shrouded Lake.
There were more people out strolling and shopping, no vacant and abandon buildings.
“Shrouded Lake could be better than this,” Lauren muttered to herself. “The landscape is better and…I don’t know, with its lore and heritage, Shrouded Lake just has something special.”
She looked up at Santiago. “You’re right to fight for its future.”
“Well you just hold on to that energy during court, you may be called to the stand now that you’re here,” Santiago said. Lauren wondered if he was gonna follow through with the charges he’d threatened her with that first day. Maybe this whole getting her in his bed was a ruse to make her more vulnerable before pulling the rug out from under her.
She didn’t like having the thought, didn’t like the feeling that followed it, but after the betrayal, and how her and Santiago’s relationship started, she was more than a little justified in thinking it.
He and Roan left her alone in the hall, then he came back to guide her to two solid wooden doors.
Santiago led her inside to the small courtroom. A thin gray-haired White man was standing near where the judge presided, talking to a woman seated behind a stenotype. A bailiff was also present, and a few people were already sitting in the rows of benches for the public. The mayor and his mother were at the front of the courtroom with another man, and across the aisle, an Asian man stood reviewing paperwork.
Court was called to order and the judge, a olive-skinned woman who didn’t look too much older than Lauren, entered.
“Are we ready to proceed?” the judge asked.
“I am, Your Honor,” the Asian man said.
“We are, Your Honor,” the lawyer with the Archers said. “And we ask that this case be dismissed.”
“On what grounds?”
“Mrs. Archer has plainly stated that the crash was caused by a deer in the road. We have testimony from a number of witnesses who heard her say this repeatedly but the sheriff chose to dismiss this. In addition to that there was no victim in the crash other than Mrs. Archer.”
The lawyer, Mr. Tao, she learned, succinctly presented evidence that the Shrouded Lake Sheriff’s Department had collected.
He clarified that the witnesses only heard secondhand that there was a deer, that they had not witnessed the accident or anything leading up to it. He also presented the physical evidence collected at the hospital.
Lauren leaned to the side and looked at Santi with a raised brow, impressed. Justice might actually be served against that lying assed woman.
“My apologies, Santiago. I never should have doubted your dedication to justice,” she whispered humbly. For his ears only.
Santi side-eyed her, arching his brow. The gesture made him appear both smug and dangerously sexy. How had she not realized this man was fuckable as hell sooner.
Grief. Grief and pain.
Santi, Roan, and two people from the accident site testified, and no one appeared more shocked than Veronica Archer and the mayor when the judge found her guilty of driving under the influence, reckless endangerment, and assault of an officer.
