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“I’ve got a man named Gary Willis down at the station claiming you assaulted him.” Cam’s gaze fell to the hand I was rubbing along Newt’s back. The hand with the bruised knuckles.
Before I could respond, Ford said, “It was me. I hit that guy.”
Cam and I both looked at Ford, me in surprise and Cam in… well, I didn’t know what to make of the look Cam sent him. I was about to protest when Newt hugged me tighter and I realized what it would mean if I was arrested too.
Newt would be alone.
But the idea of letting Ford take the fall for me was like a sour taste in my mouth.
Cam was speaking before I could figure out what to do. “I guess I should question Mr. Willis again,” he said quietly. “Seems like there might be more to his story.”
Something about the way he said that last part gave me a little bit of hope.
“Lieutenant, might I make a suggestion?”
I had no clue what he could offer that would undo the fact that he’d just put the love of my life in fucking handcuffs, so I didn’t say anything at all.
“Get the kid a lawyer,” he said as he pointed at Newt. “Protocol says I have to call family services to pick him up, but seeing as how I’m new in town, it might take me a while to find their number. If this one,” –he actually touched Newt’s back gently for the briefest of moments– “has a lawyer to speak for him, it might make things a bit easier on him.”
The sheriff turned his attention to Ford. “I’m hearing some interesting things about your family, Mr. Cornell. You should keep that in mind the next time you lie to me.”
With that, the man turned and went to his car.
“Sheriff,” I called.
He turned. “I’m getting lawyers for both of them. Isaac’s invoking his right not to talk to you,” I said. “And if you know anything about my family, you know I can get the best lawyers money can buy.”
Cam actually smiled and turned back toward his car. “I expect I’ll see you at the station real soon, Lieutenant,” he called over his shoulder.
“Damn straight you will,” I muttered.
“You said a bad word,” Newt whispered tiredly against my neck.
“I know I did. And I’m going to get Isaac back here just as soon as possible so he can tell me what my punishment is, okay?”
Newt sighed and nodded. “’Cause you spit on it.”
“Because I spit on it,” I agreed. “But you want to know why else?” I asked him as I climbed into the ambulance and sat down on the gurney with him. I ignored the chill that went through me at being in the vehicle.
“Why?” Newt asked.
“Because you and Isaac are my family now and I always take care of my family.”
“So we don’t gotta spit on things anymore ’cause we’re family?”
“No, we don’t.”
“’Kay… but what if I like spittin’?”
I smiled against his little body and said, “Then spitting it is.”
I glanced at Ford who was standing outside the ambulance with Loki by his side. “My brother will be home soon. Can you stay and tell him what happened?” I asked.
Ford nodded. “Sure. Bye, Newt. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Newt nodded. As the ambulance doors closed, Newt whispered, “You’re gonna get Isaac back, right, Mad?”
“Yes, I am,” I said without hesitation. I couldn’t help but smile when Newt began horking up what would probably be a pretty good-sized glob of spit.
Newt and I shook on it and then I was reaching for my phone, wet palm and all, to start making the calls that would get me my family back.
For good.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Isaac
Here.”
I looked up from where I was sitting on the cot in the jail cell and saw a cup being thrust at me. It was from one of Pelican Bay’s only coffee shops that served espresso.
“Oh, um, I’m not a big fan of coffee,” I said.
“It’s hot chocolate,” the sheriff said as he handed me the cup. He sat down next to me on the cot and dropped a bag onto the thin mattress. “It’s a burger… from that little diner over on Third Street,” he said as he motioned to it.
I was sitting with my knees drawn up to my chest, so I slowly dropped them and eyed the bag. The door to the cell was wide open. There were only two cells in the small building and they were in the same room where the sheriff and his deputy’s desks were.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Just after seven,” he said. “At night,” he added.
“Is Newt okay?” I asked. “Are you allowed to tell me that?”
“He’s fine. They didn’t even keep him at the hospital for observation.”
Relief coursed through my body. “Where… where is he?” I was too afraid to ask if Gary had him. The lawyer Maddox had hired for me hadn’t known anything about what was going on with Newt, or even my case for that matter. She’d breezed into the jail within an hour of me being arrested and promptly told me not to talk to anyone but her. She and I had talked for a couple of hours in a private interview room, and now I was just waiting to be arraigned in the morning so I could plead not guilty and hopefully make bail. I’d only been in jail for a handful of hours, but I was scared to death that I hadn’t heard anything about Newt.
