Bear rises to his feet and comes back to me. His face is troubled, now, sorrowful. "They were a distraction. So he could get to you."
"I know," I say.
"I wasn’t there."
"Bear." I lean into him. "You can't be with me every moment of every day. He'd have found a way somehow."
The sirens are close, now—arriving. Two squad cars and two ambulances skid to a halt behind Riley's and Felix's trucks, lights flashing, sirens going silent.
Four officers approach Bear, hands on their weapons. Bear takes a deep breath and looks at me. "I'm sorry."
He steps toward the officers, wrists together in front of him, his body language resigned.
The officers, however, move past him. Two of them grab Duane by the arms and haul him to his feet. "Duane Murphy, you're under arrest for assault and battery, attempted rape, conspiracy to cause bodily harm…" the list goes on, followed by his Miranda rights, as they drag him to the ambulance, where he’s handcuffed to a gurney and loaded inside. The ambulance departs, leaving behind the second ambulance, the other two officers, and a very puzzled Bear.
Fifteen
BEAR
Panic boils inside me as the cops split ways—two of them follow the ambulance away, and the other two approach me.
I wait for them to arrest me, desperately resisting the urge to run, to fight for my freedom.
I can't go back.
I can’t.
They stop in front of me, one of them pulling out a notebook and pen while the other watches with his hands hooked into the front of his bulletproof vest.
"Need your statement," the officer with the notepad says.
He’s a few years older than me, with close-cropped blond hair, a short, neat beard, and piercing brown eyes. He’s muscular, fit, and intensely good-looking, his gaze hard but not unkind as he takes in my size and bloody appearance. The nametag on his left breast says “Mannix” and a gold star emblem indicates that this is the county sheriff himself, Cole Mannix.
"Statement?" I say. "I…I'm not being arrested?"
The officers exchange glances, and Sheriff Mannix shakes his head. "Seems to me like you got jumped, kidnapped, and fought your way free. Self-defense." His eyes go to Noelle, anger fillinghis gaze at the sight of the blood on her face. "That piece of shit should never have been allowed out. It was only a matter of time before he did it again."
Riley steps forward. "Wait,again? His sheet only has petty theft, grand larceny, and grand theft auto."
Mannix shakes his head. "Duane Murphy is an alias. He's wanted in Arizona under the name Philip Bradshaw for several counts of rape."
"How can he have gone to jail under an alias?" Riley asks.
Mannix shakes his head, shrugging. "Somebody fucked up big time, somewhere. The Duane Murphy alias is paper fuckin' thin. A blind kid could see through it. Not sure how he got through the system at all under it, let alone through a fucking work release. Philip Bradshaw is a nasty, nasty motherfucker. Done time in three states for sexual crimes. Arizona is only the latest."
Riley falls to a crouch, head in his hands. "JesusfuckingChrist. How did I miss this?" He looks at Noelle with agonized eyes. "I'm so fucking sorry, Noelle."
"It's not your fault," Noelle tells him, her voice quiet and calm. "The legal system failed, not you."
"I knew he was creepy. I just…I figured I'd keep an eye on him. If I'd known—" Riley trails off, shooting to his feet and kicking the dirt. "Motherfucker. Ifedthat man. Gave him a job. He was in my fuckinghousewith my fuckingMOTHER."
Mannix claps his hand on Riley's shoulder. "Miss Harper is right, Riley. You couldn't have known. He's going to prison for a long, long time. Won’t ever get out if I have anything to do with it.”
The officer turns back to me, looking at his notebook. "So, according to my notes, here, you were in your home getting ready to work at Three Rivers Animal Rescue when eight men armed with bats, knives, chains, and brass knuckles brokein and began assaulting you. You disarmed them, but they incapacitated you and brought you here, where you managed to escape and fight your way free. Is that correct?"
It's a leading statement—it's very obviously not what happened at all, with major holes in the story, but Felix has somehow managed to massage things in my favor; how I don't know, but relief floods through me as it starts to sink in that I'm not going back to prison.
I frown, glancing at Riley and Felix—Felix nods subtly. "Yes, sir. That's correct."
