Count on Me (Petal, Georgia) (24 page)

“We don’t have time for sex.”

He burst out laughing. “I think you’d be surprised at how many things I can do even with a very short amount of time.”

“This is most likely very true.”

“Since we don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow, I vote we don’t leave the house at all.”

She turned and gave him the eye, but he shrugged, still grinning.

“Sounds like a great plan.”

Chapter Fourteen

Caroline had been able to stop by the Millersburg cop shop right as Ron was finishing up. She met several of the officers and then attended a coffee-and-muffin-style debrief with Elliot afterward.

Ron had gotten the name of the person who’d been Chief Dickers’s secretary for several years. Dickers, as had been repeated by the cops she’d met, was a “lazy, racist asshole” who routinely lost evidence and halfassed investigations.

There had been missing pages from a call log with tips after the murder. If she could talk with the other woman, maybe she could figure out a possible place to search. There had been a basic search ordered by the judge to find the other pages, but they never were located. It had been ruled during trial and later on appeal that they had no real bearing on the case and it was a paperwork mix up, not a conspiracy to hide evidence from the defense.

At this point there were no appeals left. This new approach was crafted to find the killer. Something she’d hoped to leave to the cops after she’d freed her dad. But now that was her only choice other than giving up.

She was out of her element with this stuff. She could argue and write briefs and all that stuff, but her firm in Seattle used investigators. Up until she’d decided to move to Petal, she’d had one perspective on the case, and now she had to switch it up and change her approach.

She was never above asking experts what their opinion was. And so when she did, when she showed the proper respect to them and sought out their advice, they’d given it. Kindly and freely.

On the way out, Elliot walked Caroline and Ron to their cars.

Caroline turned to Elliot. “I’m so grateful for all the information and time you guys provided.”

He smiled. “Ron was excellent. You’re good with people in general. Listen, one of the guys I know, he produces a radio show. I was talking with him about you. If you’re up for it, he can give you five minutes. The station is on the outskirts of Atlanta, but you can hear it out here just fine. If you have a business card, I can give it to him and have him hook you up.”

“Wow. That would be awesome. Thank you so much.” She pulled out a card and put her cell on the back. “My information.”

Elliot tucked it in a pocket. “Keep me updated. If anyone remembers something I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks. I mean that.”

She got in her car and drove away.

“I’m so proud of you. This radio thing will boost the signal. That’s going to raise your profile in a big way. If you can’t find those lost pages, you can try to get people who are still alive to call in.”

She shifted in her bed. Alone. Ugh. That had grown to suck really fast. But she had an early meeting and hadn’t gotten home until after nine so it made sense to sleep at her place.

Sometimes sense sucked.

“I don’t like it when you’re not next to me. You’re warm and I fit right into your side and it makes it easier to sleep.”

“Yeah. Me too, baby. I can come over. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes,” he said, and it made her smile.

“Nah. You have a long day tomorrow. I have a long day tomorrow. Go to bed. I’ll talk with you later and see you Friday.”

He paused and then sighed. “You’re awfully small to take up such a big part of my heart.”

“You say the best things. I love you too.”

“Sleep well. Spike is headbutting my hand where I’m holding the phone so he misses you too.”

“He’s trying to get you to put the phone down so you can pet him.”

“Yeah that’s more likely. But less romantic.”

She laughed. “Goodnight, Royal and Spike.”

“Night. Sweet dreams.”

It had been a great day all around but for the absence of Royal in her bed, and as she’d be seeing him soon enough, it could wait a day or two. If anything the time apart from him always made her realize how much she liked hanging out with him.

He was low maintenance except when it came to sex. Then? Well then he was an exacting taskmaster, which was fine with her. If you wanted something done right you had to practice. A lot.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face, thinking of Royal as her fucking coach. Yeah that worked.

“So, I think you should tell me.” Shep put four slices of pizza on his plate. This, along with a giant bucket-like container of soda, and that was just his first go. She had a lot of sympathy for her grandparents. It must cost so much money to feed a teenage boy.

He settled on one corner of her couch, claiming that end table for his cup and plate, she did the same on the other side.

“What do you mean?”

“About him. About why you think what you do.”

She paused. It wasn’t that she hadn’t endlessly thought about how she should deal with this topic. She spent hours just trying to figure it out. Should she tell him? If yes, should she seek her grandparents’ permission because they were his guardians? If she did tell him, how much to say?

But the reality of that moment happening after so long got to her, and she needed a bit of time to pull herself back together.

“You want to know about our dad. About why I think he’s innocent. Just being super clear.”

He nodded.

“I have long wondered if I should ask Grandma and Grandpa for permission to talk about this with you.”

“I’m almost eighteen! You’re my sister. This is about our parents. Why should you have to ask? You know they’ll refuse.”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah. That’s pretty much what I thought. I think you’re a really mature young man. You’re off to college in like what, four and a half months?”

He nodded.

“I’m proud of you for that. I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. You are going to have such great things in your future. Mom and Dad would have been proud. So anyway, you’ll be eighteen in three weeks. You’re my brother. They were our parents and I knew them better than anyone. Which is why I’m going to tell you. Grandma and Grandpa will be angry when they find out, you know. Are you prepared to deal with that?”

“We got into a big fight after you left. Grandma and Grandpa do not agree at all about what went down Saturday. He feels bad. She’s mad at you for embarrassing her in front of Royal and the rest of town with your crusade. Garrett is right up her butt on that. Mindy…well. She wants to support you. She actually argued for you for a while. He doesn’t want her seeing you. I just think that’s bullshit. You’re our sister. This is about our family and our life, and I think we have a right to feel however we damn well feel.”

“That was a few curse words there, Shep.” She gave him an amused warning.

“It makes me feel like cursing. I don’t like secrets. This thing where they want you to shut up about how you feel and what you know about what happened to you? I don’t like it at all. That’s a damned secret. One of those secrets that tears everyone apart. And you’re the one who pays the price. I’m not okay with that. I want you to tell me. So I can make up my mind without secrets.”

She took a deep breath and she told him.

Over the next few hours she spoke, he asked questions, she answered them. Once they finished eating, she let him see the press kit with all the relevant facts about the case and then handed him a black three-ring binder.

“That’s pretty much everything I just went over with you along with supporting legal documentation and case law. Some of those subjects have articles attached. It’s all layers of proof for everything I’ve just told you.”

He dropped onto her couch, an arm thrown over his eyes, and she felt awful for overwhelming him. “Look, let’s stop now.”

“You keep saying that. But I want to know.”

“I know you do. I’m not saying no to giving you the answers, but I think you’re tired and you have school tomorrow and I’ve just told you stuff that you need to find a way to process and deal with. This is enough for the night. I’ll tell you more. You can talk to the other attorneys and people I deal with to see what they think. I just want to say to you, Enrique Mendoza would never, ever have hurt Bianca Mendoza. You were two when this happened. You didn’t get to know either of them and for that I am so sorry. But I did. I saw them both every single day of my life. He didn’t do this. And when, or if, you decide I’m telling you the truth, you’re going to struggle. I’m telling you in advance that you need to give yourself permission not to feel guilt. You couldn’t have known.”

“But I could have! Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

“You were two. Mindy was five. It was made clear to me that I could
not
stay here if I continued to hold on to the belief that our dad was innocent. So I went with our dad’s family.” Jesus, they’d been so anxious to see her brother and sister all these years. Their grandmother would be so thrilled. But she needed to take it slow and not overwhelm him any more.

“And later?”

“It was in my best interests to not speak of it in front of you or Mindy if I wanted to keep seeing you.”

“What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t matter. The point is, I’m sorry to be dumping all this on you at once. I wanted to tell you, but I wanted you in my life. I wanted to keep on seeing you and Mindy, so I kept my mouth shut. Grandma is going to flip out when she finds out.”

“I’m not going to say anything for a while. I want to think on everything you’ve told me. Read some of these things.”

“You should keep that binder to yourself.”

“That’s more lying. I told you, I hate it.”

She nodded. “I get it. I swear I do. So how about you be discreet? Do you think there’ll be the peace to think all this over if she sees the stuff in that binder?”

“This is dumb and awful and I hate it.”

She hugged him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry to be giving you this major info dump. I really should have taken it slower.”

“I pushed. I want to know. You did the right thing.”

They walked to the door. “Text me when you get home, okay?” She kissed his cheek and hugged him before handing over the entire leftover pizza she’d ordered so he’d have breakfast.

“You got it. I’ll be discreet.” He held up the binder.

“Good. Thank you. Love you.”

He’d already been halfway down her steps when he called back that he loved her too.

Her phone rang right after she locked the door.

Chapter Fifteen

Royal raised his glass. “To you, darlin’.”

Caroline grinned and took a sip of her beer. “I can’t believe they played it during drive time.” She’d prerecorded the radio interview
and
played it during drive time.

“Clearly your cop friend likes you to hook you up nicely.” He smirked at her.

“He’s a nice guy who wants to do the right thing.”

“Sure and gaining the trust and affection of the hottest woman to cross his path ever.”

“Aw you’re jealous?”

He snorted but she blushed and may have giggled a little.

“Well, sir, when you come in to my house and there’s a naked man in my bed we can talk.”

It was his turn to blush as he nearly choked on his beer.

“Touché,” he croaked.

“Anyway. I’ll check the tip line tomorrow morning before we go over to Melissa’s.”

They were nestled in a corner booth up at the front window, a pitcher of beer between them, burgers ordered.

“It’s not such a bad way to spend a Friday night. Beautiful woman with great news. There will be some sexing going on when we get to my place. Just in case you were wondering. So that’s a good thing. Add beer and a good burger and, really, a man can’t ask for much more.”

“You’re sassy today.”

“I’m sassy every day.”

She laughed and caught sight of Anne and Beth coming in with Joe. Anne turned, and upon seeing Caroline, she waved and they all started over.

“Hey you,” Anne said to Caroline. “If you go over there and sit with him, we can join you.”

Caroline rolled her eyes, but it was teasing and taken in that manner. Anne slid in followed by Beth and Joe.

The newcomers ordered food and another pitcher before Anne turned to Caroline. “I heard you on the radio tonight.”

“He got a cancellation at nine last night. I went to his studio this morning after court and did the piece. I had no idea it would run during prime drive time. He was going to try for late afternoon.”

Anne nodded. “Cool. You made some really great points, by the way. I hope you find answers.”

Caroline smiled. “Stop being so nice.”

She nearly leered and it made Caroline guffaw. “All part of my plan.” Anne looked to Royal. “Doesn’t your girlfriend’s hair look fantastic?”