Falling for His Suspect Read online

  Detective Greg Johnson was there to hurt them. She couldn’t like him.

  But when he asked her about The Lemonade Stand, about her job there, teaching the elementary-aged children who were residents, she found herself answering him like they were old friends.

  “I’ve got grades one through six,” she told him, thinking it would have been better if she’d faced the ocean rather than the house. That seemingly unending water mass was like a talisman. Reminding her of her strength. “But I rarely have students in all six grades at a time. The kids are generally never there more than six weeks—that’s the state-allotted time a woman can remain at a shelter. The Lemonade Stand is privately owned, though, so exceptions can be, and are, made when deemed appropriate.”

  “Why would anyone ever not deem it appropriate for a woman to stay longer if she had nowhere to go?”

  “Six weeks should be enough time for her to make some kind of arrangements. The thought is that if you don’t force someone who’s been victimized to take back control of her life, she’ll remain a victim. The shelter is a safe place—and for a woman who’s just left a home of terror, she could easily just settle in and want to stay.”

  “So how much teaching can you actually do?”

  “A lot. I teach to state mandates for public education, focusing on the basics kids will need to pass on to the next year. Reading, writing and math proficiencies. But since I have all grades in one classroom, I do a lot of one-on-one work. Much like school systems that share buses and start different schools at different times, my kids’ days start at staggered times. That way I can get one age group going on something before the next one comes in and needs my time.”

  “Sounds like a tough gig.”

  “It’s actually the best job I could imagine,” she told him. “I’ve been where those kids are. I love being able to work with them. To show them gentleness and love and understanding from a position of authority. I want them to know there are adults in charge of them whom they can trust.”

  So maybe they wouldn’t constantly be drawn to, feel safe with, people who tried to control them—with an overactive need to seek approval from those people—once they reached adulthood.

  Sadly, children who grew up with abuse were more prone to end up with partners with abusive tendencies. It made no logical sense to her. She couldn’t explain it. But she knew the statistics were high.

  And true. Because she was one of them.

  “So that’s why you do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Your work. You and your brother are both quite well-off.”

  “Me more than my brother now, since he gave half of what he had to Heidi when they divorced. Just offered it to her, not because he’d been ordered to do so.” Her job was to show this detective, this big man in her space, that Josh was one of the good guys. One of the very best.

  “So what about you? You’ve never been married?”

  “Don’t you have that information in your report?”

  His shrug didn’t tell her much. He did or he didn’t?

  “Why does that matter in proving that my brother didn’t hurt his ex-wife?”

  “It could tell me where you stand in terms of spousal negotiations...”

  If she had a bias for him to be concerned about, it would be her love for her brother. But even that wouldn’t let her hide any abuse. No way would she expose Bella to it. Not for anyone.

  “I’ve never been married,” she told him. “I’ve had three serious relationships but got out of all three before anything legal transpired.” That should do it for his investigative purposes.

  Why she hadn’t turned in Desmond the cop was a question for another conversation. With her counselor, not this detective.

  A conversation she’d already had. Multiple times.

  Why she’d never filed charges, never brought anything into the legal realm, when all three of her choices—two male and one female—had ended up being abusive in one way or another, was more of that “other” conversation.

  “Are you currently in a relationship?”

  His green gaze glinted as he watched her. In the back of her mind a thought hung out—surely that wasn’t an investigative question—and yet, meeting his gaze, she shook her head.

  Because she wanted to answer him.

  She wanted to please him.

  It’s what she did.

  And...

  “Has Josh been by to see Bella?”

  There. That’s what they did. People in authority, people you needed sucked you in. Made you feel safe. Cared for. And then, wham! So you’ll give them what they want from you.

  “No. He was ordered to stay away from her, except for supervised visits, since his arraignment two days ago. He’s waiting for the paperwork to clear Child Services.” This detective had to know that. And she had nothing to hide.

  “Josh is going to do this by the book,” she told him, straight on. “Bella is his world. Keeping her safe and happy means more than life to him. And to me, too, for that matter. He didn’t hurt Heidi. This is all new to you, but we’ve been dealing with her, and her insidious vindictiveness, for years. This is a new low for her, granted, but it’s of the same cloth.”

  “I’ve spoken with Child Services,” Detective Johnson told her. She wasn’t sure why. Was he warning her?

  If so, it was unwarranted. And unnecessary.

  “Then you’ll know Josh is complying.”

  “I also know that Heidi’s been in counseling and is committed to getting her rights to her daughter back.”

  Heidi had earned the right to supervised visits after completing a year of counseling successfully. And the restraining order Josh had been granted at the time of her arrest eighteen months before had been dropped.

  Jasmine hadn’t felt good about either development.

  “Do you know that she threatened Josh? Told him she’d accuse him of domestic violence if he didn’t agree to shared parenting with her?”

  The woman he was trying to protect was dangerous. Maybe Jasmine was the one who had to show him that. They certainly didn’t seem predisposed to believe Josh.

  “This whole thing was planned. Just like the time Heidi claimed that Josh had stolen from her when, in fact, he’d merely taken what had been granted as his by the divorce. Or the time she claimed that her ring had slipped around on her finger without her knowing when she slapped him on the neck and left a big gash with her diamond?”

  She could go on. And on. It would all be in his record. If he’d bothered to read about Heidi’s past.

  “The past is past,” the detective said, almost as though he’d read her mind. He wiped at the back of his neck with his hand, perched there on her sofa like he thought it might give way beneath him at any moment.

  She shivered. September’s Friday evening air was balmy. Not warm, but not cold, either. The motion-sensor lights on either side of the deck had come on. Maybe she shouldn’t have brought him out here to her peaceful place. In the mornings she liked to sit with her soda and watch the waves in the distance as they raced up to the beach.

  With the sun having set, they weren’t visible behind her. But she knew they were there.

  “We are who we are.” She shot the platitude back at him. And then, “Did she tell you she’d threatened him?”

  “He did.”

  “And you don’t believe him.” It wasn’t a question.

  “She has proof of assault, Ms. Taylor. I understand your emotional investment here. I applaud your faith in your brother. But in my job, I have to deal with facts.”

  His pat on the head felt like a major thump. Disappointment flooded her when anger probably would have been more appropriate. She recognized the failing.

  “You want facts? Well, how about the fact that the picture of the fingerprints on Heidi’s wrist are on her left wri
st and it’s her right one that’s sprained?” She’d discovered the discrepancy the first night after Josh’s arrest and release—after they’d video-called Bella’s bedtime story and hug. Her brother had shared the evidence against him with her.

  No one had said he couldn’t contact his daughter. Thank God for modern technology that made it so easy to almost be in the room together.

  She had the detective’s attention now. He’d leaned forward, turned his head slightly. Wasn’t patting her on the head anymore.

  “How do you know this?”

  “Because I know her wrists. The fingerprints fit the sprain, but if you look at the picture with the prints, before the bruise appeared, you’ll notice a freckle just beneath the wrist bone. You won’t be able to see it in the bruising, I’m sure, but you look at her left wrist, you’ll see it there.”

  “A freckle.”

  “Yep. Bella has one, too. In the exact same place. It’s more like a little birthmark, really, but so small you wouldn’t notice unless you saw it on a baby who’d never been exposed to the sun and had no other freckles anywhere on her body.”

  He wanted facts. She’d give them to him.

  And...had that been a brief twinge of admiration in his eyes? She’d pleased him?

  She smiled. “If you want the truth, Detective, if you want the real facts, then we’re on the same side here.”

  His shrug was beginning to annoy her. Partly because it drew her attention to those big, protective shoulders.

  Protective over someone else.

  Not her.

  She neither needed, wanted, nor would accept protection. She couldn’t, lest she fall prey to bad choice number four. A woman could only stay strong through so many unhealthy relationships.

  “You’re saying you’ll give me the truth?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  His gaze was compelling in the softness of the outdoor lamp as darkness fell. “Have you ever known your brother to lash out in anger?”

  “No. I’ve seen him put himself in between my face and my father’s backhand. I’ve seen him grab me up and leave a room with my father’s belt slapping against his back. A belt that had been meant for me.”

  Because she’d dared to talk back when her father had told her that she didn’t know what she needed. She’d said she wanted to start babysitting and earn her own money. She’d been fourteen.

  “And I’ve seen him take Heidi’s pummeling without raising a hand to stop her because he knew she was fighting herself, and her past, as much as him. He’d turn his back to her slaps, put distance between them, but he wouldn’t walk out on her. He really loved her.”

  “She says she really loved him. But that, now that she’s been through counseling, she knows she has to get her daughter away from him.”

  “Bella’s the reason Josh left. Heidi picked her up in anger, started to shake her one evening when she was crying. Thank God Josh was there. He got the baby away from her before she did any damage. And just kept on walking. They came here that night, and I can guarantee you, my brother was devastated.”

  “Did you know they were seeing each other again?”

  “For Heidi’s supervised visits, yes. A counselor was there. Josh didn’t stay. But he allowed the visits in his home so Heidi could be around Bella with all of her things. So Bella could be at home to see her mother.” She’d worried every time. “I wasn’t happy when the restraining order was dropped, but Josh thought it was the best thing for all of them. As long as Heidi was healthy, and he believed she was, Bella needed her mama.”

  “And you witnessed him turning his back when Heidi attacked him?”

  “Yes. I also saw her slap his face. Until then he’d kept her abusive outbursts to himself. When I questioned him about it, he said it wasn’t a big deal. He could handle it. He understood that she didn’t mean or want to hurt him. She’d grown up in a violent home and just reacted without thinking sometimes.”

  Feeling really good about the detective now, as he actually sat there and listened to the truth, Jasmine started to relax again. He could help them.

  He could let the prosecutor know they had no case and get him to drop the charges.

  He could smile at her and she’d smile back.

  But he didn’t. He stood up. “Thank you for seeing me,” he said. “I’ll be in touch if I have any other questions.”

  She didn’t want him to go. Didn’t immediately hear the alarm bells in the back of her brain, at that. But she stood, too. She had to get Maddie back, then bathe Bella and call Josh for his daughter’s bedtime story and virtual hug before bed.

  “So...you think the prosecutor is going to be willing to drop the charges?” she asked, to prolong the moment anyway.

  “He can’t.”

  Of course he could. That’s how the system worked. No evidence. Charges dropped. “Why not?” She was cold all of a sudden, out there in the dark on her porch with a man whose throat was above her head.

  “Heidi has an eyewitness to Josh grabbing her.”

  It was a lie. Another one of Heidi’s ploys.

  “You’ve talked to this witness?”

  “Not yet,” Josh said. “We’re going to try to do this without her.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s only three years old.”

  It took her a second to get it. But...wait... “Bella? You mean Bella?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “You think you’re going to question a baby? My three-year-old niece?”

  “I won’t be. But if it comes to that, someone with the proper training will do so.”

  This couldn’t be happening.

  “And there’s nothing you can do? This prosecutor, can’t you talk to him? You said you wanted the truth. I swear to you, whatever Heidi’s telling you is a lie. Or her own made-up variation of a small piece of truth. Like Bella saw the two of them together, or something.” Bella’s imagination was remarkable. Wonderful. And...imaginative. She’d thought squiggly lines were her and her father riding horses to dinner. She’d never even been near a horse, as far as Jasmine knew.

  Could she be led to think she’d seen her father hurt her mother?

  Oh God. If Josh had even held Heidi’s hand, the child could be convinced to say he’d grabbed her wrist.

  No.

  She couldn’t panic. All those years... Josh had fought her battles with Jasmine and even taken his own beatings. He was her earth. Her water. She wasn’t going to let him down now.

  “I know Josh didn’t do it,” she blurted before she could think. And then couldn’t stop the next words from emerging.

  “I know he didn’t. Because...I did.”

  Chapter 4

  “You want to rethink that?” Standing on the deck, facing an ocean he mostly couldn’t see due to the darkness that had fallen outside the reach of the lights, Greg did what he could to force Jasmine to meet his gaze.

  She held her own for a few long seconds. Then looked away.

  Swallowing disappointment that had no place in his system in that moment, in that situation, he noted that she’d lied to him.

  He’d wanted to trust her.

  “Because, you know,” he continued, “I can check alibis and probably prove, pretty easily, that you weren’t present when Heidi’s wrist was...damaged.”

  She glanced back at him, and for a second there he saw Liv’s eyes, imploring him. Needing something from him that didn’t exist. He felt compelled to help people. Needed to help her. He understood the reasons behind her struggles. He just wasn’t a guy who was good with so much drama in his home.

  “I didn’t do it, and that was a ridiculous thing to say.” Her words were soft and yet...strong, too. Nothing like Liv’s needy tone that generally accompanied that vulnerable gaze. “Please, please, don’t put that on the record, or whatev
er. In your report. If I’m a suspect in any way, I could lose Bella, and...”

  He had her. The gift was right there for his taking. She needed him to keep quiet. He needed her to talk.

  The fact that he’d never risk a child’s life on something as innocuous as a nonsensical statement made out of desperation to save a loved one didn’t have to play in here. She didn’t know what he was and was not capable of. What he would or wouldn’t do to help get a conviction.

  She didn’t know that while he served at the pleasure of the prosecutor’s office, he was there to see justice done, not to get convictions.

  He’d earned enough of those all on his own, when he’d been the county’s lead prosecutor. And he carried the burden of them, too.

  “I’ll make a deal with you,” he said, speaking slowly as he did a quick mental check on the idea as it occurred to him. Giving himself the go-ahead, he continued. “You agree to speak nothing but the truth from here on out, you cooperate with me every step of the way, and I’ll forget I ever heard you implicate yourself.”

  She loved her brother. He needed the real abuser to take accountability or, chances were, the abuse would escalate.

  “Since I’ve had every intention from the very beginning to cooperate and to speak the truth, I agree with your stipulations,” she said.

  Nodding, he turned away, figuring he’d done his job there for the moment.

  His hand was on the knob of the French door when she said, “But I have a stipulation of my own.”

  Slowly rounding to face her, he waited.

  She seemed to have no trouble whatsoever meeting his gaze then. “If I’m going to give you everything I might have or find out, I need to be able to trust that you’ll keep an open mind about Josh. That you’ll weigh everything against the possibility that he’s innocent. Not just what I give you, but everything you get. That you entertain other theories...”

  What the hell? He had her on the hook, and she was...