Love to Believe: Fireflies ~ Book 2 (32 page)

“Long day, Earl?” Sean slid into one of the battered chairs opposite the sheriff’s desk, a larger version of the monstrosity from which Marybeth provided efficient administrative support in the outer office.

Earl sighed, a deep rendering that appeared to come from the bottom of his robust belly. He faced Sean, shoulders sagging like his droopy mustache, and shook his head.

“Wife’s got me on a damned diet. Can’t eat anything but vegetables and plain Greek yogurt.” He brought his hand to his mouth and covered another belch. “I think she’s trying to kill me.”

Sean laughed. “Nancy’s a smart woman, Earl. If she wanted to kill you, you’d be gone and we’d never find your body.”

Earl grunted. “She wants to torture me first.” He glanced out the window one last time, and then took a seat at his desk facing Sean. “Since there’s nothing else of import going on at the moment, I’m going to assume you’re here representing Rebecca Walker, and that you’re looking for a favor.” Before Sean could answer Earl held up his hands. “I’m told she resisted arrest and assaulted one of my officers. And before you go putting on your Yale-law-school fancy-pants, keep in mind that I’ve only heard from the officers on scene. I haven’t interviewed Miss Walker yet, or my deputy, so I don’t have the whole picture.”

“I know Rebecca, know the family. Rebecca’s brother, Caleb, is engaged to marry my brother Jack’s widow, Maddie. Whatever the details are, I can tell you this. Anything Rebecca may have done, she did with good reason, and going forward she’ll have the full support of both the Walker and the Kinkaid families.”

Earl frowned from beneath his bushy brows. “As formidable as that alliance is in this county, I can’t decide if you’re trying to bribe me or scare me.”

“Neither,” Sean said. “You know me better than that. I just want to be sure you’re clear on the circumstances. And I’d like to confer with my client before you question her. I assume you want to talk to her yourself before you issue formal charges?”

Earl steepled his fingers and nodded. “She sent my deputy to the hospital with a broken nose and swollen balls, so I’ll talk to both of them, review Brewster’s dash cam.”

A commotion from the front office indicated the object of their conversation had arrived for questioning and booking.

Earl pushed away from his desk and stood. “C’mon, Counselor. Sounds like your Ninja Turtle has arrived. Let’s get this mess over with.”

***

With Artie Brewster en route to the hospital, Rebecca found herself sitting in the back of Nate’s patrol car watching the blurry world outside the window on their silent drive to the sheriff’s office. Her refusal to talk to him had hurt him, she knew, but he’d stood up for her, anyway, and insisted on being the one to bring her in. Tight-lipped, he’d ushered her into the back of his cruiser without handcuffing her, and told her he’d do whatever he could to help her, no matter the circumstances.

She’d offered a quiet, “Thank you.”

They turned into the parking lot of the sheriff’s department. Rebecca saw Sean’s truck and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he waited inside. Her hand went to her stomach and she blew out a steadying breath. Now wasn’t the time to worry about the Little Booger.

“Hey, Rebecca,” Marybeth said when Nate and Rebecca walked her into the office, followed by three other sheriff’s deputies. “Rough day, huh?”

Rebecca managed a little smile “How’s your little girl? Penny, right?”

“That’s right,” Marybeth’s dimples burst into view. “She’s a pill. Nate, take Rebecca on down to interview. Her cutie-patootie attorney’s already here waiting.”

Nate cut his eyes to Rebecca. “I bet he is.”

“Thanks, Marybeth.” Rebecca followed Nate down the hall. She’d been to the sheriff’s department with her father a couple times when Big Will had business with Earl, but she’d never been arrested and never considered how it would feel to be the focus of a police interview. Granted, all her knowledge of law and order came from...well,
Law & Order
, but still. She banked her nerves and followed Nate in silence. He stopped at the last door at the end of the hall and Rebecca peeked around him to look inside.

Sean stood leaning against the far wall, tapping the screen on his phone, thumbs a blur, but he straightened up and slid the device into his pocket at the sight of her. Their gazes met and her heart squeezed. The man embodied GQ cover gorgeous in his gray pinstripe suit--Tom Ford, her personal favorite--with his hair mussed as if his hands had plowed through it multiple times, and a jaw shadowed with sexy stubble that reminded her it was after hours. He made a “come on” motion with his fingers. “Shut the door please.”

Rebecca cleared her throat, but her words croaked out anyway. “Thanks for being here, Sean.”

He nodded, gave her an encouraging smile, and held out a chair for her to sit.

“Can I get you some water? Coffee? Anything?”

Rebecca shook her head. “No, thanks.”

“Okay, so, tell me what happened.”

Rebecca folded her hands in her lap, knuckles white. She considered her words, nervous and scared now that the adrenaline rush had evaporated. She couldn’t be arrested, she just couldn’t. She was pregnant, for god’s sake, and besides that, she looked horrible in orange. It clashed with her hair.

“Take your time.” Sean’s soothing voice prompted her to speak.

Rebecca nodded and forced herself to focus. “I was on my way home, and decided to stop at Caravicci’s for a calzone and salad. I noticed the cop car following too close behind me, but it was a sheriff’s car, right? So I didn’t want to brake check. I just eased off the gas to drop to the speed limit--I wasn’t speeding, only like five miles over the limit, but I slowed anyway. He stayed on my bumper and pulled me over when we got to Caravicci’s.

“Then, um, I got my license and registration out. He took a while to get out of his car. He came over and--and--he smashed my taillight with his flashlight.”

“Deliberately?”

Rebecca nodded. “Yes. I saw him swing the flashlight.” She pushed her hair from her face and drew a breath, heat rising into her cheeks. “So I was furious, Sean, really pissed. I jumped out of the car and confronted him. We exchanged heated words, and then he started asking me about my gun. I told him that I didn’t have it with me, and he didn’t believe me. He wanted to search my vehicle and I told him no, he needed to go bully someone else. I told him his supervisor had to be present if they were going to search my car, and I threatened to make a complaint about him. He told me no one would believe me because he’s a cop. I started to get back in my car. He grabbed me and pushed me against the car, like, to frisk me.” She dropped her gaze to her hands, humiliation blooming. “Next thing I know, he’s grabbing my, um, breasts, an--”

“Jesus Christ!” Sean’s hands slapped the table and he stood up so fast his chair tumbled over.

Rebecca grabbed hold of her own control in the face of his exploding anger. “He won’t ever do it again.”

“Sonofabitch.”

“Yeah, I know, right? So he’s holding my wrists, pressing into me. I could feel his duty belt against my back. I acted like I would do whatever he wanted, but that he needed to give me some space because I couldn’t breathe. He backed off, but he--” She looked away, awash in shame but not sure why, and that pissed her off because she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong. She forced herself to look Sean in the eyes. “He rubbed against me and squeezed my breasts again and I, well, I--I--I put him down.”

“Show me.”

“What?”

Sean nodded. “C’mon and show me. I need to know.”

She drew in a deep breath and blew it out, then stood up and pressed her palms against the wall, approximating her stance at the scene.

“Okay, I’m standing right behind you. Pretend I’m Brewster and show me what happened. In slow motion, please. I’d prefer not to have my balls annihilated for the sake of re-enactment.”

“Real funny, Sean.” Rebecca turned her head to check his proximity. “Closer. Just a little.”

Sean moved closer and waited. In spite of his dry humor, Rebecca felt the tension rolling off him in waves. She looked again and nodded, then made her moves--flexed her arm, elbow against his neck and under his ear, spin, blow to the nose, fist against the nose below the eye on the other side.

“I didn’t hit his nose head on. It happened so fast, and he was so close, I didn’t even have time to take aim, really, just punched out with a couple of solid hits, ” she said, “but hard and fast and, I promise you, with no mercy. I should’ve put him down faster, but I’m out of practice. Anyway, he started yelling, his nose was broken and bleeding, but he was still upright--sort of--so I--” She pushed her hair out of her face again and sighed. “I kicked him in the balls as hard as I could. I wanted him on the ground and I put him there.” She let loose another quivering sigh and blinked back quick tears. “He took Mr. Peabody, Sean, and dumped him somewhere. He told me so.”

“Jesus. Why?”

“He asked me out, and I told him no.” She shrugged. “I guess he wanted to pay me back. Anyway, while he radioed for backup from that mic thing cops wear on their collars, I called you. And here we are.”

The muscle in Sean’s jaw worked and his eyes, pools of deep space blue, flashed with the fire of a supernova. She thought for a brief moment that he might reach for her, hoped like a little girl wishing for a Christmas miracle that he would, but he looked away, jaw tight, pocketed his hands, and stepped back.

“Anything else I need to know?”

“No.” She blew out a frustrated breath, resigned to his distance. “That’s pretty much it.”

“The sheriff is going to--”

A rap at the door interrupted them, and then the door opened with force and banged against the wall. Marybeth stood in the doorway, her cheeks red and her breathing labored.

“Sean, you gotta come see this. And I mean right now.” She looked at Rebecca with a hundred-watt smile and two thumbs up, and then dashed back down the hall with unexpected agility.

“Give me a minute,” he said and followed Marybeth, closing the door behind him.

Chapter 16

“Harvey, move it,” Marybeth said after she rounded the corner. “Sean’s gotta see this.”

The deputy hefted himself from Marybeth’s chair, and the other officers parted like the Red Sea in the wake of her bustling momentum. She dropped into her seat and motioned for Sean to come closer, then tapped her keyboard.

It took Sean a second to clue in to what he was seeing, but when the image of Artie Brewster swinging his hefty torch at the taillight of a Civic came into view, his attention became riveted.

The video played out as Rebecca had described, but with a running commentary adorned with colorful vernacular by whoever caught the event on camera.

“Holy shit. She kicked his ass,” observed Sheriff Brannigan. He stood beside Sean, the corners of his mouth drooping downward. He rubbed his hand over his face and dug into his pocket, coming up with the antacid bottle.

“And then some,” added one of the deputies standing off to the side. “Play it again, Marybeth. This’ll never get old.”

“Hang on, Oscar.” Marybeth swiveled toward Sean and the sheriff. “This has only been up about an hour, and it’s already had almost 10,000 hits.”

“Going viral,” Nate said. “Artie sure stepped in it this time.”

Marybeth shrugged one shoulder. “At least now we know why Artie disabled his dash cam.”

Sean’s brows shot up. The sheriff held up his hands, palms out. “Keep your fancy-pants on, Counselor. I’ve got a lot of investigating to do regarding my deputy. And obviously, in light of this...er...new evidence, Ms. Walker won’t be charged with anything.”

“Have you talked to Cassidy Marsh?” Sean asked.

“Who do you think told me about the video?” Brannigan said. “The DA is all over this mess.”

“You know what this video tells me about Artie Brewster?” Sean said.

“That he’s a certified idiot?” Earl ground out, his bulldog face hung in an angry scowl.

“That he’s done this before. It took a fine combination of stupidity and balls to pull a stunt like this in a busy parking lot during rush hour. He wasn’t worried about being caught. He’s swaggering, sure of his ability to get away with it. What do you suppose is going to happen when I run a notice in the
County Times
that I’m looking for other victims of this asshole? You can bet we’ll have women coming out of the woodwork to press charges. And I’ll represent every single one of them, pro bono.”

Earl sighed, tapped a handful of tablets from his pill bottle, and slugged them back, chewing while he talked out one side of his mouth. “I already told you I talked to the DA. She’s pissed off times a thousand, so if you want a piece of Artie Brewster you’ll have to stand in line.”

Sean nodded, mollified. “Bastard better never carry a badge or gun again.”

“Not in this county,” Earl said.

“Not in any fucking county.” Sean’s jaw tensed, and he shoved his balled fists into his pockets. “Is Rebecca free to go?”

Earl nodded. “Yep, but I’d still like to get her statement first.” To his deputies he barked, “Get back on patrol. Showtime is over,” and stomped off toward his office.

“I’ll go tell her the news,” Nate said. His eyes swung to Sean, daring him to argue.

The door opened and Caleb strolled in with Big Will. Sean deferred to Nate with a nod and stepped around him to greet Rebecca’s brother and father.

“You’ve seen the video?” Sean asked, and their broad smiles answered the question.

“Told you she could take care of her herself.” Cal shook Sean’s hand. “Thanks for being here.”

“Turns out she doesn’t need my services as there won’t be any charges brought against her, but she was smart to call me nonetheless. It never hurts to have a lawyer on board. Any idea who caught that on camera?”

“A couple of our employees happened to be sitting in the parking lot,” Cal said. “Perfect timing. They called us after they posted it online.”

“How many hits on that video now?” Sean asked Marybeth.

Marybeth clicked her keyboard, eyed the screen and whistled. “Over 15,000 and climbing.”