“When he gets there, ask to see his badge number and ID before you open the door. All right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll stay on the line with you until he gets there. He was already patrolling a neighborhood close by, so it should only be about another minute or so.”
As promised, Eric stayed on the phone with her until the officer showed up and while she followed his instructions and verified the officer’s credentials.
Before he hung up, Eric asked to speak to Morse. There were a few yes sir’s before the young man handed Charlie back her phone.
The ride to the station seemed to take forever, and it wasn’t until she was walking up the police station’s steps and saw Eric standing in the doorway that she felt she could breathe again.
“Hey, honey.” He drew her in for a hug. “You doin’ okay?”
She nodded. “Better, now that I’m here.”
“Come on. Let’s go someplace private so we can talk.”
The ‘private room’ Eric took her to looked exactly like the interrogation rooms she’d seen on her favorite cop show.
The walls were a drab gray and there was a black, rectangular table in the center with two chairs on one side and one on the other.
“Have a seat. Would you like some coffee or soda or something?”
“Coffee, please.”
Eric gave her a kind smile. “One coffee, comin’ up.”
A few minutes later, the door opened, but the hand holding the steaming paper cup didn’t belong to Eric.
Charlie looked up at the woman who’d just entered the room. She was tall and thin, her long, brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Her features were striking and the olive skin tone added to her natural beauty.
She was dressed in a white button-up shirt, a gray suit jacket, and black pants. As she walked toward the table, the bottom of her jacket shifted, and Charlie could see the detective’s badge clipped to her belt.
“Hi, Charlie.” She smiled. “I’m Detective York.” She handed Charlie the coffee.
“Where’s Eric?”
“He had to make a couple of phone calls, so he asked me to bring you that. Figured I would sit with you so you wouldn’t be stuck in here alone.”
The woman smiled, but her eyes told Charlie she was guarded. There was a wall there much like the one Charlie used to see every time she looked in the mirror.
“Thank you.”
“So, I hear you’re having trouble with your ex?”
Surprised Eric had divulged that to this woman, she hesitated to answer.
“It’s okay.” Detective York smiled back at her again. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it.”
She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but Charlie was having a hard time gauging this woman’s angle.
Maybe there is no angle. Maybe she’s just trying to be nice.
Annoyed with her paranoia, she cleared her throat and told her the truth. “My ex isn’t a good person.”
Sympathy flashed in the woman’s eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Charlie shrugged. “We’re divorced now, so he’s no longer a part of my life. Or, at least he wasn’t until tonight.”
