Even after she turned the corner and I couldn’t see her anymore, she kept screaming. It bounced off the walls and cameback to slam into me again, sounding like the end of the world coming from down the hallway.
Tears ran down my face. I kept shouting for her. My daughter. My baby. I’m here. I’m right here.
Lacey’s voice bled out somewhere deep in the building, and I couldn’t hear her anymore.
Then my knees gave out, and I dropped. The floor was cold on my legs.
Belmont rushed past me in panic. Her black high heels banged against the floor as she fled. No more sass now. She didn’t even look at me.
“We’ll let you know where they take her,” she said in a shaky tone.
Then she was gone. Her footsteps faded. The hallway noise settled, and, one by one, officers slipped back into their rooms.
Finally, someone’s hand touched my arm, steady and careful.
For a second, I thought it was Jack, but when I looked up through the blur, it was Detective Nolan.
“I’m so sorry, Nicole,” he said quietly.
Jack wasn’t done. He was furious. “You turned a voluntary interview into a shit show,” he barked at Nolan.
Nolan kept his hand under my arm, keeping me from sliding onto the floor.
“You’re charging a traumatized woman who hasn’t said a word.” Jack’s voice was gravel now. “Based on circumstantial evidence and blood on her clothes. I assume there’s no murder weapon, or that would have been mentioned. And without a weapon, you arrested and abused a mentally traumatized victim. Good luck explaining that to a judge. Let’s go, Nicole. I need to call my assistant. We need to get an emergency hearing with the judge as soon as possible.”
I nodded. Tried to stand. But my body didn’t listen. My legs felt like gel, and I almost went down.
Nolan caught me before I hit the floor.
“I …” My tongue felt so heavy. My jaw shook. “I need a moment.”
Detective Nolan walked me over to a bench set against the wall and helped me sit like I was an old woman who needed a walker. “You go ahead,” I told Jack. “Call Susan. Every second matters. We need to get Lacey out of here. I’ll be right out.”
He narrowed his eyes at Nolan. That lawyer look. A warning.
“I’ll be okay,” I said. “Go.”
“Don’t sign anything or talk to anybody about the case.”
“Okay,” I promised.
Jack threw Nolan one more angry glare, then turned and headed down the hallway in long strides.
I thought Nolan would leave too. Go do whatever cops did after something like that. Write reports. Call superiors. Eat doughnuts.
Instead, he sat next to me.
“I know it doesn’t mean much,” he said quietly, “but I really didn’t expect it would go this way.”
He held out a handkerchief.
My sleeve was already soaked from wiping my face like a child. I hesitated and looked him in the eyes. And when I saw empathy staring back at me, I accepted the handkerchief.
It was still warm from his pocket and smelled faintly of aftershave.
“Thank you.”
We sat in silence. Phones rang steadily in the background. The low murmur of officers behind closed doors drifted through the hallway.
