Jules a reed security ro.., p.21
Jules: A Reed Security Romance, page 21
“Because otherwise she knows what you’re doing,” I grinned.
“That’s not what I meant, asshole.”
“That’s what it sounded like.” The doorbell rang just as Chris went to punch me. I ducked away from him, laughing at his angry face. That smile dropped when I pulled the door open. Sean Donnelly was standing outside my door with two other officers.
“Sean. What can I help you with?”
“Can I come in?” I eyed the two other officers, thinking I shouldn’t let them in. “They’ll stay out here.”
I nodded and shut the door after him. “What’s this about?”
“There was a murder. Ivy’s the main suspect. We’re here to arrest her.”
“Are you serious? Ivy’s almost eight months pregnant. How exactly would she kill somebody?”
Sean shook his head and leaned in closer so no one would hear. “I wouldn’t be here for her if I didn’t have evidence. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is arrest a pregnant woman. You need to get her and keep her calm. The last thing she needs right now is a record of her resisting arrest.”
“This is fucked up. There’s no way she would do anything like this.”
“I know. I promise, I’ll do everything I can for her.”
I nodded and walked back into the other room where Ivy was sitting with the other women. I hated that I had to do this right now. She was happy and enjoying her day. Now, she was possibly facing a murder charge.
“Hey, Ivy. I need to talk to you for a minute.”
“Sure, make me get up now that I’m comfortable on the couch,” she grinned. I helped her up and pulled her further away from everyone. She could tell that something was wrong. My body was tense and there was no hiding the rage on my face.
“Ivy, I need you to stay calm, okay?” She nodded and I gripped her hand for dear life. “The police are here to arrest you.”
Her face paled and she gripped my hand tightly. “W-why? For what?”
“There was a murder.” She swayed slightly and I wrapped my arm around her to steady her. “Ivy, we’re going to figure out what’s going on, but in the meantime, you need to go with them. I’ll get a lawyer for you. Just don’t say anything until the lawyer gets there, okay?”
She nodded slightly, but her eyes were vacant, like she was somewhere else right now. I guided her to the door and Sean stepped aside for her to go through. One of the officers stepped forward and wrapped his hand around her arm, pulling her through the door. I saw red and rushed forward, ripping the asshole’s hand off her arm.
“What the fuck are you doing? Get your hands off her.”
Sean stepped into my space, pushing me back so I couldn’t attack the asshole.
“Calm down,” he whispered to me. “You’re going to get yourself arrested for assaulting a police officer.”
“I don’t give a shit. He doesn’t need to put his hands on her. She’s pregnant.”
Sean glared at the other officer. “Take it easy. She’s not a threat to you.”
The officer spun her around and grabbed first one wrist and then the other, locking them in place. He started reading her Miranda rights all the while she stared at me, trying to keep from crying. The cuffs were pulling at her, making her stomach stick out even more. She had to be extremely uncomfortable.
“Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?”
“Yes,” she said quietly, finally breaking eye contact with me as she was turned.
“I swear to God, if there’s one fucking scratch on her, I’ll sue the entire department,” I growled at Sean. “She’s pregnant and that’s my kid.”
“I swear, I’ll take care of her,” Sean said earnestly.
Ice wrapped an arm around my shoulder to the front of my chest, pulling me back. “Stop, man. Don’t get yourself arrested. She needs you right now.”
I shook him off and grabbed my keys to my truck. He and Chris were right behind me. Chris snatched the keys out of my hands and hopped in the driver’s side.
“You don’t need to drive right now,” he said as we piled in.
“How the hell did this happen? How could they think she murdered someone?”
“We’ll figure it out. Cap’s sent me the number for his lawyer. Call and tell him that he’s got a job for Reed Security and to meet us down at the police station.”
I finished the phone call just as we pulled into the police station. We weren’t allowed back to see her, so I was stuck waiting for her, not able to be there to help her out at all.
I paced back and forth, trying to figure out some way to help Ivy out, but I was coming up empty. Cap came in through the front doors and walked over to me.
“Hey, I just called Sean. I told him we needed to talk to him. Hopefully, he can shed some light on what’s going on.”
“Is he allowed to do that?”
“No, but he might do it for me.”
Five minutes later, Sean came out and motioned for us to follow him down a dark hall. We followed him into an empty room that looked like it used to be someone’s office.
“Tell me what the hell’s going on, Sean.” Cap stood toe to toe with his friend, standing up for me when he didn’t have to.
“Look, we have strong evidence against Ivy. A clump of hair was found in the victim’s hand and skin cells were found on the rope that strangled her. It all matches Ivy.”
“No, it’s not possible. She would never do something like this.”
Sean looked at me with sympathy. “Julian, I understand that you want to believe her, but you still don’t remember her, correct?”
“What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”
“She might have said something to you before that would help us understand her state of mind. But you don’t remember if she did or not. No one is as close to her as you are.”
“That’s bullshit. I’m telling you, Ivy isn’t the type of woman to do something like this.”
“Did she tell you that she was a suspect in a bombing in DC?”
“Yeah, and they cleared her. She didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Julian, I don’t want to put a pregnant woman in jail, but this is what the evidence says, and right now, she looks guilty as hell. A prosecutor is going to look at this and all her other arrests and think this is a slam dunk. There’s absolutely nothing that suggests this could have been done by anyone else.”
“Fuck.” I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated that I didn’t have a clue how to help her. “It’s not her, Sean. I’m telling you, this was done by someone else. She’s being framed.”
“Then I need to find out who could have done that. I’m assuming you called a lawyer?”
“Yes,” Cap said. “He’s on his way.”
“Stall him. I need a chance to question her and find out anything I can that might help me find someone else.”
“But then everything she says is on the record,” I argued.
“It’s not just about the evidence. If I can get a good feel for how she responds to questions, I have a better chance of convincing the chief to let me keep exploring the case.”
“Cap.” He turned to me and shrugged.
“Sean is a good cop. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to handle this.”
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I finally nodded and hoped that she didn’t say something that would incriminate herself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Ivy
I GOT IN the back of the cruiser and tried to keep a brave face on, but inside I was shaking. I watched out the window as we pulled away. Julian was getting into his truck, along with Chris and Ice. I didn’t speak the whole way to the police station.
When we arrived, I was taken back to an interrogation room. My cuffs were switched from behind my back to my front and attached to a hook on the table. The metal chair I sat in was uncomfortable and within fifteen minutes, my back and my ass hurt so bad that I could hardly stand it. I couldn’t stop wondering how the hell I had been accused of murder. I hadn’t done anything since I moved here to make anyone believe I was capable of murder. Of course, recent events could lead the police to believe that I was growing more dangerous, but it was all a lie. Was this somehow related to the other incidents? It seemed a stretch to assume that the other incidents could be connected with a murder, but I couldn’t deny that all this police attention lately was strange.
Sean Donnelly walked into the interrogation room with a folder and set it down on the table. Nerves were coursing through my body, not knowing if Sean was about to question me or accuse me of murder. Maybe the police just thought I might have witnessed something. Maybe this was all a huge misunderstanding.
“Ivy, do you understand why you were brought in tonight?”
“No.”
“We have reason to believe that you were involved in a murder.” My whole body started shaking. This couldn’t really be happening.
“Why-why would you think that? I don’t understand. I’m pregnant. I…” Tears filled my eyes as I tried to comprehend what was going on.
“Ivy, where were you three weeks ago on the 5th?”
I thought back, trying to remember what was going on. “Um, that would have been when we ran our seasonal sale. We were there every day from open until close. I worked most days, but I was also doing community service. I’d have to look at my schedule.”
“What time did you close?”
“Um, we close at 7:00, so we probably would have been there until about 7:30. Do you have a phone? I might be able to tell you what was going on.”
He pulled out his phone and pulled up his calendar. I looked at the week and tried to think back to what exactly was going on those days.
“This was also the week Julian was out of town for work. Um… I did my community service on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th in the morning and then I was sick on the 6th.”
He wrote down some notes, but his face was a mask. I couldn’t tell if this was good news or bad news.
“Did you go right home after work on the 5th?”
“Yes, I went home and I think I went to sleep.”
“You think?”
“I don’t remember that night. I woke up the next morning with what felt like the flu. My head was pounding, I was nauseous, and everything hurt.”
“So, you can’t account for your whereabouts after you got home?”
“Well, I know I woke up in bed the next morning. I’m not sure how I would have gone anywhere without knowing it.”
I didn’t understand what he was getting at.
“Can anyone confirm that you were home and went to sleep?” I shook my head. “Any neighbors that you talked to?”
“No, I rarely talk to any of my neighbors.”
He nodded and wrote down some more notes. “Ivy, the problem is that if you can’t account for your time and nobody saw you that night, the prosecution is going to rip you apart. They’re going to say that you don’t have an alibi.”
“I don’t understand. Why would you think that I was at a murder in the first place?”
He eyed me for a minute and then opened the folder. There was a close up of a woman who was obviously dead. She had some kind of line across her throat, probably strangulation and her eyes were open and bloodshot. I covered my mouth, turning quickly away from the image. The last time I had seen photos of dead people was when my ex had bombed the parade.
“We have DNA evidence that places you at the scene.”
“Wait, why am I in the system?”
“You gave the police in D.C. your DNA when you were trying to clear your name. It’s still in the system.”
“And it matches me?” I was baffled. I never went anywhere other than the shop, the soup kitchen, and the grocery store. How could I possibly have been at the scene?
He nodded.
“It’s got to be a mistake. Maybe I bumped into the murderer or we touched the same things.” I knew I was grasping at straws, but there had to be a reason other than I was part of a murder.
“Ivy, the evidence against you is very strong right now. If you really weren’t part of this, then someone is doing a damn fine job of setting you up. Who would want to do that?”
I shook my head as tears filled my eyes. “I don’t know. The only friends I have are from Reed Security and their wives.”
“No customers that seemed off to you?”
“No. What about my ex, Jace Howell?”
“He’s still in jail. It’s possible that he’s paying someone, but he’s been closely monitored since he was locked up.”
“There’s no one else. I don’t know who it could be,” I said somewhat hysterically. “What about someone from the bombing? Maybe a crazy relative is setting me up.”
“There were hundreds of people injured in that attack. That’s a long list of suspects to sort through. We don’t have time for that. You have to narrow it down for me. Were there any specific threats from anyone?”
“I don’t know. That was so long ago and there were so many threats toward me that I just became numb to it until I left.”
“You need to figure it out, Ivy. I have to turn over this evidence to the prosecutor. There are no other suspects.” His voice grew louder and more urgent the more he spoke. I started crying, terrified of what this meant for me. “A jury is going to find you guilty and put you in jail. You won’t see your baby grow up.”
I was sobbing by that point, unable to even control my breathing. I didn’t want to go to jail and I didn’t want to lose my baby.
The door opened and a man in a suit walked in, glaring at Sean. “I hope you weren’t questioning my client without an attorney present.”
Sean got up and walked out of the room, glancing back at me sympathetically.
“How are you, Ivy? Do you need anything?”
I shook my head, still not comprehending everything that was going on.
“I’ve spoken with the chief about the case. It’s not looking good at the moment, but I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
“Thank you.”
“Is there anything you can tell me about the night of the murder that will help you?”
“No, I went home and I don’t remember that night. It’s a complete blank.”
“Because you don’t remember the date?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I woke up the next morning and didn’t remember anything. I was really sick the whole next day.”
“Is there anyone that can confirm that?”
“My friend, Emma came over.”
“What time was that?”
“Mid-morning maybe.”
“What about the night of? Is there anyone you talked to before bed? Anyone that might have come by?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
He nodded. “I see. As of right now, we don’t have very much to go on to help you out. I’ll work with Sebastian and see if we can find video footage of some kind that might prove you went home. That’ll be a start. I don’t suppose you have a security system in your house?”
“No, I live in an apartment and the most security it has is a lock on the front door.” I laughed humorlessly. “Julian had asked me if he could install one in my apartment, but I fought him on it. It would have proven I was home.”
“We can see if we can trace where your phone was on that night, but that’s a weak defense at best. It won’t prove that you were actually home, just that your phone was at home. The area in which the murder occurred doesn’t have any cameras or anything else that will help us. I’ll keep digging with Sebastian and hopefully we’ll find something. They can hold you for at least forty-eight hours since this is a murder investigation. If they charge you, we’ll try for bail, but with two other arrests, it’s not likely they’ll grant you bail with the evidence they say they have against you.”
“What happens if I am charged?”
“You’ll have a hearing where we’ll enter a plea and ask to post bail. Since that’s not likely, you would go to the county jail until your trial.”
It was all too much to take, but I needed to know what I faced. “What’s the penalty if I’m convicted?”
“It depends on what charge the prosecutor goes for.”
“Based on what you know about the case, what will the prosecutor go for?”
He pursed his lips, almost as if he didn’t want to tell me. “I would guess the prosecutor will go for first degree murder. The sentence is life imprisonment or the death penalty.”
I could barely swallow, let alone breathe. This was bad. This was worse than what happened in D.C. At least there, I was able to defend myself. I had proof that I had gone to the police. I had handed over my DNA to prove my innocence. And that was the reason I was here today.
“Ivy, let’s not think about any of that right now. We have a long road ahead of us, and Sebastian doesn’t give up. He’ll put his tech team on this and find every last scrap of information he can.”
“So, for now I just remain positive.”
“Don’t give up hope. We’ll figure this out.”
His smile was kind and he seemed very knowledgeable, but I was the one on the chopping block right now. I was the one that was facing not only life in prison, but never seeing my child.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Sean
I WALKED OUT of the interrogation room and headed straight to the chief’s office. I didn’t look over at Sebastian and Julian because I didn’t want them to try to talk to me right now. There was so much shit that I had to deal with and I had to work fast if I was going to help Ivy.
“Chief, can I have a minute?”
He waved me in and took off his glasses. “Sit down.”
I took my seat and passed the file over to him. “I don’t think she did it.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I watched her reactions, her mannerisms. She was scared and genuinely surprised by the photos. Besides, she’s pregnant. It would take a lot of strength to kill someone and I’m not sure she could accomplish that with how far along she is.”
“Do you have anything that could raise doubt that she’s the killer? Actual evidence?”
