“What’s your name, deputy?” I ask at the same time, looking at the tag on his uniform.
“Deputy Norton,” he answers.
“Well, Deputy Norton, I don’t find it funny. What I do find hilarious is the fact that you’re going off of assumptions without asking proper questions. Around what time did this take place?”
“Are you a lawyer or something?” Deputy Norton asks, the smugness wiped clean off his face.
“No, but if I need to, I’ll get one for Shadow, but I don’t see why that’s relevant for this matter. Now, what time did this supposedly happen?”
“Between eight and ten last night,” he answers coolly.
I shake my head and want to scream at the fact this deputy would arrest a man without asking him questions first about the ordeal. “Deputy Norton, you must not know how to do your job.”
“Excuse me?” he demands, those beady eyes, narrowing to little slits. “I should have you arrested.”
“On what charges? Asking questions? If you asked instead of jumping to conclusions about a situation you know nothing about, then you’d know Shadow couldn’t have done what you’re accusing him of. He was with me, and I can confirm that we were out at Willow’s Bluff between those hours and well past them, in fact. My phone’s GPS logs where I am and how long I’ve been there.”
I had it set up that way for a reason. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting lost somewhere, and it helps.
“That doesn’t put Tyler King with you at the time of the rape,” Norton states.
“So, you’ll take the word of a woman, the victim, as you called her, and not the word of another woman who is indeed telling the truth?” I snap accusingly. “Then go right ahead and do as you please. But I’ll be making some calls, and I will report you to your superiors. Once I’m done with you, I’ll have your badge and gun. I can’t stand it when people like you think because you have them that you don’t have to do things the right way.”
“You can’t do anything to me.” Norton puffs out his chest, his face getting bright red.
“Right.” I sneer and pull my phone out of my back pocket. I find the number I’m looking for. I might have worked for a company that handles money all day long, but I’ve made connections and was owed favors from quite a few people, including who I’m calling now.
I lift the phone to my ear and wait for the answer.
“Della Meadows, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Senator Ricks says sweetly in my ear.
“Sorry to have to bother you, Senator Ricks. I wish I were calling for other reasons, but I need to call in a favor,” I tell the other woman.
Senator Ricks was a sweet woman who was great with politics and helping those in the state, She loved this country and was someone I knew wasn’t corrupted by those around her. She took pride in her job. I also knew she grew up here in Saddle Ridge and had known my family. She’d even been a friend of my mother’s long ago.
“You’re not a bother at all, Della, what can I help you with?” she asks.
Staring directly at Deputy Norton, I break it down for her on what I’ve been told thus far. The room had grown quiet, all eyes on me. Even some women I hadn’t noticed before were all staring at me.
“As you can see, there’s something not right with this situation, and I was hoping you’d be able to help me with it.”
“I will most definitely help you with it,” Senator Ricks says sternly. “Hand the phone over to Deputy Norton.”
“She wants to speak to you,” I state sweetly to the deputy, holding my phone in his direction.
Deputy Norton takes it and lifts it to his ears. Not a word is spoken while he gets his ass handed to him. I have no doubt that once Senator Ricks finishes scolding him, she’ll be calling his chain of command and reading them the riot act.
I wasn’t about to let Shadow be accused or arrested for something he did not do. The circumstances are different for what happened to me, but still, corruption can stick it however it may come.
Long moments later, Deputy Norton hands me my phone back, and I look to find the call had ended. With a glare in my direction, he looks to the deputies standing by Shadow.
“Let him go.”
Within minutes, the deputies clear the clubhouse, and Shadow is in front of me.
“What the fuck, woman?” he demands, nostrils flaring, eyes narrowed to little slithers.
“I wasn’t about to let them get away with something as stupid as that. He didn’t want to believe that I was with you. He wanted to put you away for something you did not do. I won’t stand for that. So, if it means calling a favor that’s owed to me, then so fucking be it. I won’t stand for corruption, and you know why. I’ve only ever told two people about the night I was raped. You believed me where those who should have didn’t. So, sue me for refusing to let them win at something they shouldn’t have even brought to your door. I doubt they even have a rape kit on the woman. They just took her word for it.”
