Chapter 10
Heather paced back and forth in front of the police station, her heart beating rapidly. Jack sat on the bench next to her, texting on his phone. Scott had been in there for over three hours. What the hell was going on? Checking her phone again to make sure he hadn’t called, she sighed and shoved it back in her jeans pocket.
Two hours ago they’d gone inside asking about Scott, but hadn’t gotten any information. They’d been told to wait until he contacted them. No way was she going home when he was sitting inside being questioned. She still didn’t know what this was all about. A sexual assault on a woman? No freakin’ way. Not Scott Holland. He hadn’t taken advantage of her when she’d been naked in bed next to him. And willing. She didn’t believe he’d do it tosome stranger.
“What is takingthem so long?”
Looking up, Jack pocketed his phone then shrugged. “I don’t know. I made a few calls to see if I could get some answers. Nothing yet.”
“Heather? Jack?”
Turning at the sound, relief settled in when Drew Thayer trotted down the stepsof the station.
“Drew. Have you seen Scott? What happened? Is he coming out?” She looked behind him, hoping to see the tousled brown waves and blue eyes heading in her direction. Nothing.
Drew’s expression tightened. “I’m not his attorney so I didn’t see him, but I got some information. Working for the DA’s office has some perks.”
“The only thing I know is he was being questioned about some assault on a woman.”
“You said they questioned him about Wednesday?” Jack asked. “We had a drink at a bar, but nothing happened while I was there.”
Looking back at the building, Drew took her elbow and escorted her to the bench Jack had been sitting on. Jack followed then stood next to Drew, his hands on his hips.
“Apparently there was a woman assaulted Wednesday night. It must have happened after you left, Jack. Witnesses reported they’d had some sort of altercation. Scott’s statement said he was simply helping her but the woman claims he came on to her then followed her outside.”
“Why would he do that?” Scott certainly didn’t need to go running after women.
“He claims he didn’t. But the woman was beaten badly and Scott’s fingerprints were on her bracelet. They also got the surveillance tape from the bar and have the evidence that she looked scared when he grabbed her.”
“Grabbed her?” Jack asked. “Why?”
“I can only tell you what’s in the reports. According to the woman, Scott made sexual advances on her then followed her out and assaulted her when she resisted them. She said he started beating on her and even hit herwith a wrench.”
“The one they found in his truck?” Her lungs dried up.She needed air.
“Yes. It has blood and hair on it. They’ll send it to the lab for analysis but the hair had blue tints on it and the woman also has blue highlights in her hair. They also found skin under her fingernails. They sent that off to the lab as well.”
“He didn’t do it.” Her voice shook at the thought that Scott was being accused of something so heinous.
“Of course he didn’t,” Jack growled in agreement.
“I know. I don’t think he did either but he’s got scratches on his arm that match fingernail marks and he admitted that she’d scratched him. The DNA will confirm this and that’s not good.”
“How do we proveit wasn’t him?”
“We need to find hima good lawyer.”
“You’rea good lawyer.”
He shook his head and frowned. “I work for the prosecutor’s office. I can’t defend him.”
A strange thought entered her head. “You won’t prosecutehim, will you?”
“No, I don’t work in this district, but I do know the ADA who’s been assigned his case. Virginia Dennis. She’s usually fair, but she has a stick up her ass about domestic abuse and loves to set examples of men who hurt women. I’m afraid she’ll go for the maximum penalty.”
Horror filled her, running through her blood. “But it won’t get that far, right? I mean, he’s innocent. They’ll figure that out.”
“I hope so.” Drew’s brows creased. Likehe wasn’t sure?
