Finally a police officer strode in, and she snapped, “I want to talk to my lawyer. Now.”
“Why do you think you need a lawyer?” the officer asked in a condescending tone.
“Seriously, don’t pull this crap on me. I have nothing to say until I’ve spoken to my attorney.”
“Once you speak to an attorney, there’s not going to be much we can do to help you.” He gave her a pitying look.
She slammed her hands down on the table, and he started. “I know my attorney is here waiting for me, so quit acting like you’re trying to audition for an episode ofLaw & Order, and send her on in.”
Sullenly, the officer turned and walked out.
A few minutes later, her attorney walked in. She was a wolf shifter; she let her fangs briefly descend and gave a low rumbling growl at the officer. “Don’t keep me from my client like that again, or I’ll file a lawsuit and chew your ass off for good measure,” she snapped at him. The officer left the room in a hurry.
Hazel confirmed what Kelly suspected: the police had just held her there for so long because they were stalling and hoping she’d blurt out something incriminating. They had nothing on her – several of Orion’s friends had already testified that they’d been sitting near her and hadn’t seen or heard her muttering any incantations, and nobody really believed that she was a witch. Witches were required to register with the State Magic Boards just like empaths, and the idea that Kelly could have gotten to the ripe old age of twenty-five without anyone noticing a little thing like her having magic powers… Well, nobody was buying it.
Hazel, using her wolf-shifter hearing, had eavesdropped on some of the cops talking amongst themselves. The ice dragons who had blasted the Maplethorpe family had no recollection of what they’d done or why. Their minds had just gone blank, and the next thing they knew they’d been standing outside the restaurant surrounded by a ring of dragons. So there was absolutely nothing implicating Kelly in the attack.
As for motive, Pandora’s family insisted that Kelly wanted them out of the picture because they’d filed a legal challenge to her marriage to Gabriel.
“But the Maplethorpes have motive to frame me, given that they want to force Gabriel to marry their daughter,” Kelly pointed out.
“Exactly,” Hazel said. “And I’m going to demand that you be released immediately.” She went and knocked on the door, and the officer let her out.
A few minutes later, Hazel returned, looking triumphant. “You’re free to go,” she said.
As Kelly walked towards the front door, Principe Teague stalked up to her. “Don’t leave town,” he snapped at her.
She burst out laughing. “Are you kidding me?” she said. “As if I could.”
