“Step around the front of the car and place your hands on the hood.”
“What exactly is your issue, Officer?” Jen calls out from her still open window.
I do as the cop wants, not giving any excuses to call foul play. The other cops gather close, watching. Some look confused, but most have blank faces. When I feel his hands on me, I suck in a sharp breath as power rushes to my skin.
“You’ll take your hands off my client right now, Officer, or you’ll lose your badge. Not only are you illegally searching my client, but you’re doing so knowing exactly who she is and what happened to her.”
“She’s a murderer,” he hisses.
“She’s a rape victim. Congratulations, you’re now the second man to sexually assault her. Thank goodness I have dash cams so I can nip this type of harassment in the bud. And make no mistake, Officer, that’s what this is.”
He takes a step back the second the wordassaultis mentioned. I stay where I am, making no sudden movements, as I fight to keep my breathing under control. A panic attack is the worst thing that can happen now. It will leave me at their mercy, or worse, them at mine.
“Yes, hello, Sheriff. This is Jenny Banks. I was expecting you to meet me at the Corvis Wing Ranch.”
She’s quiet for the moment, and I sense the cop behind me move closer again. His hands move to my shoulders, making me tense.
“Yes, well, perhaps you can explain why my client is bent over the hood of my car with one of your officers’ hands on her.”
“Fuck.” I hear the words cursed before I’m yanked back to my feet. “Get back in the car before I change my mind.”
I turn, eyeing him like the piece of shit he is. That’s when it snaps into place, why he looks familiar. It’s not because I know him, it’s because I knew his father.
“I should have known. Your father was a dirty cop, too. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
He reaches out to grab me, but another officer intervenes. “That’s enough,” they snap. I don’t know if they’re talking to him or me, but I shut up anyway. I wouldn’t have said anything, but I’ll always choose anger over fear.
“Ma’am, please wait in the car,” the intervening cop says gently.
I nod and move slowly to the passenger side once more before climbing in.
“What the actual fuck was that?” Jen seethes.
“I believe they’re a welcoming committee.”
Jen looks like she wants to climb out the window and beat him to death.
“He’s the old sheriff’s son. I never met him before. He’d left town to go to college before I was arrested, but he has enough of his father in him for me to know who he is.”
“I really fucking hate this town,” she grumbles, just as a crow lands on the hood of the car and taps its beak on the glass, its beady eyes on me.
“Well, hello, handsome.”
He squawks a reply before flying up to perch on the sign above the gate.
“Well, that’s not weird at all. Okay, so the sheriff is on his way. We just need to sit tight for a minute. You okay? That was some bullshit.”
“It’s something I’m going to have to get used to again.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t mean being groped. And now that I’m not being bent over the hood of the car, I think he was just trying to search me. What I mean is people being dicks to me. It’s always baffled me how I manage to make so many people dislike me, most of whom I never even interacted with.”
“Jealously.”
I snort out a laugh, but Jen doesn’t seem to be joking. “Are you serious? What the hell would people be jealous over? Look at my life, Jen. I’m the fucking cautionary tale people warn their kids about.”
“Have you looked in a mirror recently?”
