Finding Gracie's Rainbow (34 page)

“
It isn’t as simple as
that.” Annie grew serious as she talked. “Everything you told me is
going to be brought in to court if he fights yours and Susan’s
testimony.”

“
Everything?” Gracie
choked as she asked. “How does my testimony, if that’s what you
want to call it, have anything to do with why he kidnapped my
daughter?”

“
I told you it goes to
character.” She answered while growing impatient with the
conversation. “Susan told us something else today that will help,
but I can't discuss that with you until I get the word from my
boss.”

Gracie stood and turned
towards her roommate as she heard the water cut off in the
bathroom. “So you’re going to destroy my character in order to get
to his.”

“
I don’t have to destroy
yours. He already has.” Annie was watching her pace in the living
room. “I didn’t want this case, Gracie. I'm too close to the people
that it involves.” Annie walked out of the kitchen and looked
directly at Gracie. “It was forced into my hands, and I'm glad that
you didn't have to deal with a stranger about what happened to
you."

Bea came out of the shower
and looked at them strangely as she heard very serious grown-up
tones. She walked off to her room, and Gracie followed her, picking
up the brush as she did every night. Gracie walked out the room
after she had tucked her in.

Annie was talking to
Garrison as she spotted her, and she held up a hand. She sent
Garrison to bed and then looked over at Gracie. “Christian would
like to set up a meeting to talk to you.”

“
Have him call my office
Monday morning.” Gracie started walking towards the
hall.

“
He wants to talk to you
tomorrow.” Annie informed her. “If you don’t want to talk here you
can go to his office.”

“
You aren't involved in
this one?” Gracie asked her as she had sat down on the
couch.

“
I am, and he asked me to
set it up.” Annie picked up an empty soda can and pulled the tab
off. “I only told him I would try.”

“
I didn’t realize that you
worked weekends.” Gracie was studying her as she picked up a toy
car that was left on the coffee table.

“
I guess it depends on who
you work with. I told you he was married to his job.” Annie stood.
“You have time to think about it. I'm not going to call him until
tomorrow. Night.”

Gracie handed her the car
and stood up herself as she thought. She opened the back door and
sat outside in one of the deck chairs looking up at the stars
twinkling merrily in the sky. She didn't wish to think about it;
she wanted it to be over and done with.

Standing up, Gracie walked
back into the house locking the door behind her before heading down
the hall to her bedroom. All of a sudden, she was wide awake and
spotted the papers that she had left laying on her desk. She walked
over and sat down; decoding every line on every page making sure to
read it back to herself.

Chapter 17

“
We're here though.” Annie
retorted while Gracie watched the sparks shooting between them. “We
both have kids that we have to take care of unlike
yourself.”

“
Look, if you're gonna be
working with me, then you need to manage your time better, kids or
not.” Christian looked over at Gracie. “How are you and Bea
doing?”

“
We’re doing fine.” Gracie
couldn't help but notice the animosity between them wondering just
how far off the mark she had been. “What did you want to meet
about? I do have other things to do.”

“
As we all do.” Christian
glared at Annie as he talked to Gracie. “I just need to go over
some points with you about what you told Mrs. Roberts
yesterday.”

“
She’s my roommate so call
her Annie.” Gracie told him before she went on. “And I don't feel a
need to discuss what I told her yesterday to you or anybody
else.”

“
Alright, I can see that
we're both used to being in command but this is an investigation,
and we need cooperation from all parties.” Christian sat on the
edge of his desk. He threw a hand in the air when Gracie started to
protest him. “Yes, you are involved, and I would rather not have
your daughter being questioned so I'm talking to you.” The look
that Gracie gave him could have killed him, but it just amused him
as he stood and added. “Jackson said you were tough, but I don’t
think he gave you enough credit.”

“
Mr. LaVern. . .” Gracie
started to talk as he cut her off.

“
Detective LaVern,”
Christian corrected her as Annie watched them with
interest.

“
Detective LaVern, excuse
me.” Gracie stood and looked at him straight in the eye. “I have no
need to tell a lie to you or anybody else.” She started to pace,
and Annie knew that Gracie was starting to warm up. “What I've told
Annie is the truth, and it is a truth that I don't wish to visit
again today or any other day. Now unless you have something to tell
me, I have a daughter whom I would love to spend some more time
with before my vacation is over.”

He glanced sideways at her
as she had finally come to a standstill beside him. “There’s
something I could tell you.” Christian was impressed by the way she
had stood up to him. “As I think you know, Annie and I had a
meeting yesterday. I can talk about that now.”

Gracie looked over at
Annie, who was writing things on a memo pad as Christian spoke to
her. “So are you going to tell me?”

“
The meeting was with
Susan.” He turned around so he could watch for any expressions.
“She told us that Mark had a friend who was a judge, and that was
why he never really spent any time in jail.”

“
That does explain a lot.”
Gracie finally sat back down next to Annie, who was listening as
Christian continued.

“
We’ve looked into his
files and out of curiosity; I wanted to ask if Judge Maddox rang a
bell with you.” He had to look back at his files before he said the
name.

“
Judge Carl Maddox?”
Gracie looked up as he walked over to her.

“
Yes, m'am,” Christian
looked at her stunned as she told him the first name.

“
He’s Mark’s cousin.”
Gracie informed him. “I didn’t think relations could work a case
that involved a family member.”

“
They can’t.” Christian
looked angry as he realized that the system had slipped over that
fact. “Somebody has really pulled one over on us.”

Annie looked up from her
tablet as she asked. “So what’s the next step?”

“
I guess I wait until
Monday and have a warrant issued for the judge’s arrest. This just
gets more interesting every day.” Christian looked at Gracie
seriously after he had answered Annie’s question and told her
everything that Susan had told them yesterday.

“
She was trying to get
arrested?” Gracie was stunned as she asked.

“
She wanted safe haven.”
Annie answered her. “He treated her the same way he had treated you
when you were married to him.”

She frowned as she stated a
fact. “So Mark had his cousin sentence her to house arrest to keep
her around him.”

“
That’s about it.”
Christian watched Annie stand. “Where are you going?”

“
I think we’ve said
everything that we know.” She grabbed her purse. “Unlike you, I'm
not married to my work.”

“
I’m not married to my
job.” Christian caught the amusement on Gracie’s face before he
glanced over at Annie. “I just like to solve my cases.”

“
This case is already
solved, Christian, if you haven’t already noticed that.” Annie
motioned for Gracie to follow her. “Right now, we're going to spend
some time with our families. You do know what that is, don’t
you?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I'm
sure that I do.” Walking over to his desk, he flipped the file shut
as he watched them walking out of the office. “Women!” He mumbled
under his breath wondering just what it was about Annie that
irritated him so much. He glanced at the pictures of his parents
whom he barely remembered and then of his grandparents. They
weren't around anymore, and he had no brothers or sisters. “I know
what family is; it’s something I don’t have.”

He opened the file and
looked down at Annie’s handwriting. How much of Mark’s family was
actually Amish and how did that fit into the case they were working
on? Maybe it was time he went to visit Gracie’s parents to see what
else he could find out. He was frowning as his phone rang, and he
answered it while looking up Janet McBride’s address.

~

Gracie saw that Jackson’s
car was parked in her driveway after they pulled into the court,
and she asked Annie to stop at Kim’s. Annie glanced at her sideways
as she parked her car. “Are you and Jackson arguing?” She asked as
they started to walk up to Kim’s door.

“
Why would you think
that?” Gracie walked into her sister’s house watching as Sammie
grinned up at her from the couch.

“
Oh, Mom is so good.”
Sammie stood up. “She saw Jackson’s car and said that you would
probably stop here first.”

“
She did?” Gracie sat down
and studied her niece thinking about what she had told Annie the
day before. “I could've just dropped by to pick up Bea. She doesn’t
know me that well.”

“
Don’t I?” Kim walked into
the room listening as Sammie and Gracie talked.

Gracie looked up at her as
she sighed. “How long has Jackson been down at the
house?”

“
About thirty minutes,”
Kim looked over at Annie, who was looking lost.

“
Can I please ask what is
going on?” She looked over at Gracie.

Gracie narrowed her eyes as
she asked Annie a direct question. “How do I know you won’t tell
Jackson everything I've told you?”

“
My job swears me to
confidentiality.” Annie informed her as Garrison had finally
realized his mother was sitting in the living room. “You could
swear me to secrecy.”

“
You are sworn to secrecy,
Annie." Gracie looked solemn as Kim watched her amused that she was
acting a lot like her teenage daughter.

“
I swear I won’t talk.”
Annie looked down at her son before she asked him to go back
outside for a little while longer.

Gracie waited until after
Garrison left. “Jackson is hanging around a lot. He's at the house
as much as I am.” Gracie stood at the front door looking out before
turning back to Annie. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that he
was there when Bea was missing. Then I go and change the game. I
told him that I would give us a chance, and he’s been at the house
all the time.” She paused. “I didn't know that meant I was going to
see him every single night. I need some space; some evenings just
to spend with Bea.”

“
And he isn't giving you
that.” Annie stated the obvious. “I have seen that this week, and
was wondering how long that would last. You're the only one that
can change that. You, Gracie, have to talk to him and let him know
what you're feeling.”

“
Why can’t men just take
the hints that you throw at them?” Gracie turned as Sammie started
to laugh at her.

“
Who needs to watch a soap
opera when they have an aunt like you?” Sammie kissed her cheek
before walking outside to the back yard.

Annie looked back over at
Gracie, who had sat down before she started to talk again. “For
over eight years, my life was blissfully quiet, and all of a sudden
in the last couple of months, it gets turned in every direction
possible. Upside down, inside out, and completely in circles.” She
looked down at her hands knowing that Annie and Kim were still
staring at her. “I need some time to catch up with
myself.”

“
And that makes sense, so
tell him.” Annie looked over at Kim, who was the one looking
puzzled as she tried to figure out just how much Annie knew about
her sister’s life.

Gracie looked over at her
sister who was still staring at Annie. Kim knew that at that point
Annie probably knew more except for when it came down to Gracie’s
emotions. “Gracie has never been one to share much of her own
feelings with anyone.” Kim sat down at the table with them. “She
can talk to us about Jackson because it doesn’t affect
us.”

“
So let me talk to him.”
Annie offered as Gracie shook her head.

“
I’ll talk to him.” Gracie
just stared at them as Bea came running into the room.

“
When? I've heard about
this before and evidently your hints don’t work on him.” Kim
stood.

“
Jackson is walking into
the driveway.” Bea whispered in Gracie’s ear as they both watched
the door.

Annie watched as Jackson
walked into the house and looked over at Gracie. She leaned over
and whispered to her. “Maybe now would be a good time to talk to
him.” She motioned for Bea to walk outside with her as Gracie
begged Kim with her eyes to stay.

Jackson looked at them and
then studied Gracie before speaking. “What is going on with you,
Gracie?” He focused on her eyes as he talked. “Are you trying to
avoid me or avoid us?”