Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes Book 1) (22 page)

“And what was that?” the attorney
asked.

Now her hands wrung together. I don’t
even think she knew she was doing it, but I smiled at her and
nodded again as she locked eyes with me. I even mouthed, “You can
do it” to her.

“Shane came barging into the office
one day. The poor receptionist, Ashley, had told Shane that his dad
was busy, but he’d barged into Elmo’s office anyway and slammed the
door shut. Now, I sat right outside both George and Elmo’s offices
and while I couldn’t hear every word, I heard a lot.

“Shane was screaming about the amount
of blood on his hands not being worth a hundred grand, and how he
was having nightmares after having to haul a dead body around in
his car, and then I heard something about a dumpster downtown near
the baseball stadium being full, and him having to dig through
trash… and the body having to be at the bottom. Honestly, I
couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’d looked to Ashley to see if
she had heard the same thing but when I looked up, she had her
headphones plugged into her laptop and was humming away to some
song.”

I couldn’t see the prosecutor’s face,
but the smile in his voice said enough. “What happened when Shane
exited his dad’s office?”

“He didn’t say anything more, he just
stormed out, and didn’t make eye contact with me or Ashley. Elmo
stood in the doorway, shot me a warning look that quite frankly
scared me at the time, and shut his door.”

The prosecutor nodded. “Thank you.
That will be all, Ms. Lynch.”

Rayanne exited the stand and kept her
gaze on me until she reached the table, and sat back
down.

“Mr. Jackson, you’re up,” the pretty
judge said to the Watsons’ attorney.

Chapter 26

Rayanne

I was still shaking when I reached the
prosecution’s table, but I was able to breathe once I sat back
down. It took every ounce of strength I had not to turn around and
look at Duke once again. Words cannot explain the way my heart had
soared when I’d seen him in the back of that galley. He said he was
going to show and he did. If my heart hadn’t been beating so fast
out of nervousness, it would have swelled with emotion. The way
he’d smiled and reassured me throughout my entire testimony had
been priceless. My parents had shown up today, too, and I’d stolen
a few glances at them, but Duke’s strong reassurance had gotten me
through this. I owed him so much – and I planned to repay him…
several times over. The memory of our time at the cabin and what
we’d shared there made the butterflies in my stomach do an
award-winning performance inside my belly and my cheeks to
heat.

The day was dragging on
after my testimony. They called Ashley to the stand, but she had
nothing valuable for the defense, even though I could tell by the
look of victory on Ernest Jackson’s face that he thought he’d won
some kind of small battle by Ashley’s useless testimony. I resisted
the urge to roll my eyes. He may have won that battle, but he
was
so
not gonna
win the war. I felt disgusted all over again that they had hired
Shane to kill poor Angela Silvey – and then tried to kill me. I
never really got to know Angie that well, but nobody deserved to be
shot in the head and then put in a dumpster. I thought of Shane and
hoped his bullet wound and infection was very, very
painful.

Ernest Jackson was a longtime attorney
friend of the Watsons’. I wasn’t surprised to see him defending
those scumbags. I’d met him at plenty of parties and cookouts but
I’d always kept my distance from him. Something about his squinty
hazel eyes and bad blonde comb-over always gave me the creeps.
That, and the way he’d look at every inch of my body, from my feet
to the top of my head, as if he wanted to get a piece of it
somehow. His cross-examination of me coming soon was already giving
me anxiety. I didn’t want to have to look at that scumbag piece of
shit. Technically, his only crime had been defending shady
characters, but deep in my soul, I knew he was a very, very bad
person. Rotten to his core, and probably should share a cell with
George and Elmo.

I let out an exhausted sigh when I
thought about my former bosses. I was so traumatized by their
actions. They had been like family to me. What kind of hopeless
desperation had driven them to do this? I’d had no idea about their
bogus nonprofit until I’d done their books. But why? Why the need
to not pay taxes? Greed. In their shady accounting, they had tried
to write off all of their lavish expenses. The dinners, the charity
galas, the all-day golf trips to just screw off all day. All a big
sham to try to avoid the wrath of Uncle Sam. Unfortunately for
them, the IRS was now the least of their problems. They had the
Department of Justice about to put them in prison. For
murder.

When court was adjourned, I was
escorted quickly out of the courtroom and through a side door. I
caught Duke’s eyes briefly, the longing I saw in his gaze matched
mine, of that I was sure. Tears pooled along my lashes. I wanted to
go to him so badly, to hug him and thank him for what he’d done for
me over the past couple of weeks. I knew it had been his job, and I
even knew that he had been assigned me to because he’d gotten in
trouble. It had explained his rudeness over the first few days of
his supervision of me, or perhaps that was just his personality and
he had softened around me. I think it was a combination of both.
But as I locked eyes with him leaving that courtroom, I could tell
he was just as desperate to speak to me as I was to him. But that
would have to wait until the trial was over. I wasn’t allowed to
speak to anyone. Even though the threat had been taken care of, and
Shane was well and good safely in custody, there were still more
threats out there.

Heaving a sad sigh, I let the agents
take me back to the unmarked car. At least I could go home tonight.
I prayed the jury would convict quick after tomorrow’s testimonies
by the forensic accounting professionals and whoever else they were
going to be calling in. I hoped that George and Elmo would be off
to prison and this whole nightmare would be behind me.

I woke the next morning and repeated
the protocol. I got dressed, ate, and the agents took me to the
courthouse, where I was once again seated next to the federal
prosecutor. Before court started, he turned to me and said, “I
don’t think they’re going to call you back to the stand today, but
I do need you here just in case. You don’t have to sit up here. In
fact, I’m gonna have today’s witnesses at the table. You’re welcome
to sit behind me in the galley.”

My face must have lit up because he
gave me a small smile.

“Do I have to sit right behind you?” I
asked, hopeful.

He shook his head and looked back down
at his paperwork. “Nope, just stay in the courtroom. Sit next to
one of the agents, though. For your own protection, of
course.”

“Thank you,” I said, getting up and
going to the fourth row where Duke had sat the day before. The two
agents who had escorted me sat in the fifth row so I was now in
front of them.

And then I waited.

Court was set to commence in six
minutes.

I tried to breathe normally and
checked the clock on the boring brown wood of the courtroom’s walls
and saw three minutes ‘til court started.

The jury walked in and took their
seats, all of them looking refreshed from the night they obviously
got to spend in their own beds.

“All rise!” the bailiff said loudly.
We all stood and watched Judge Sarah Johnson walk in. She nodded
and we all sat with a reverent swish of our clothing on the cloth
bench seats of the galley. The entire courtroom was full. I
wondered who these people were. Well, I of course recognized the
Watsons’ family. Their wives looked ragged and tired, and Elmo’s
wife seemed to have a perpetual tissue in her hand. I felt bad for
the poor lady. I doubt she had any idea her husband and son were
such bad people. I mean, how would you ever get over finding out
such awful things about people you’ve known your whole
life?

I startled when someone sat next to
me. I gasped to see Duke. The judge had begun talking but I didn’t
hear her. Duke sat still, not breaking any rules by being here. He
simply looked into my eyes and smiled a little then looked back to
the judge. As she continued to recap yesterday’s events, Duke
reached over and grabbed my hand, resting our hands between us on
the bench. He wasn’t sitting close enough to put it on his lap but
we were far enough apart that anyone, besides those sitting right
next to me, wouldn’t be able to tell we were holding hands. Just
that simple touch sent a rush of tingling warmth through me. I
suddenly felt like everything would be okay.

The day had been long. They called up
government employed forensic accountants, they called up
fingerprint experts to testify on the weapon retrieved from Shane
for fingerprints, and they called up forensic psychologists to
testify as to the nature of Elmo and his son.

In a surprising twist, George was
continuing to maintain his innocence about the knowledge that Elmo
and Shane had collaborated on the murder of Angela. I’d known these
men five years, and when George got up to testify – against the
advice of his attorney – I had to say I sort of believed it. In his
eyes he looked haunted and exhausted. He literally looked like he
was about to have a nervous breakdown. He also claimed he knew
nothing about the false accounting, but I wasn’t quite sure I
believed him on that one. I think they knew what they were doing,
but as the trial went on, I grew to believe more and more that Elmo
had orchestrated this whole thing, and had elicited the help of his
bonehead son. That kid had always been trouble. He barely graduated
high school, and that was only because Ernest Jackson and a bunch
of money had gotten him released early on bail from his second DUI
charge to attend his own high school graduation. The kid was a
perpetual screw-up. I never had much hope for him anyway, so I
really shouldn’t have been that shocked when I saw him a few days
ago hitting poor Agent Morris over the head while trying to kidnap
– or kill me.

I hated him all over again. Duke must
have felt me tense, because he stole a brief glance at me and
squeezed my hand tight. I relaxed again. I wasn’t in
danger.

Chapter 27

Duke

During some particularly
boring testimony, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Man, I was
so happy to have my phone back. I inconspicuously read a text sent
by my boss:
Get your ass back here. Shane
Watson’s escaped custody.

All the blood drained from my face and
I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. Are they fucking kidding
me.

I turned around as discreetly as I
could to the other agents sitting behind me to see they were both
looking at their phones. They looked at me and had the same sick,
haunted look I knew I wore. Rayanne was trying to remain facing
front but she eventually relented and looked at me
questioningly.

“I have to go,” I whispered, hoping
she heard me. I was relieved when she gave me a brief nod and
reluctantly let go of my hand. I didn’t want to let go. I wanted to
stay there with her and tell the other agents to get to the
hospital. I wanted to tell them that I could protect her better
than they could. But everyone knew that wasn’t exactly the truth.
I’d let her down, even if she was technically safe and alive. The
guilt of being made by Shane and me not shaking down my car to find
the tracking device would forever haunt me.

I bid her a sad goodbye
with my eyes and I quietly left the courtroom. As I was getting
into my car, I got another text from my boss to meet him instead at
Tampa General
Hospital and to prepare for
a hell of a long day.