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And she intimidated the hell out of Raine.
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Perez. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your association with Macen Hammerman. Do you know him?”
“Yes.”
“How did you two meet?”
Raine looked at the attorney. The answer to that could be so misconstrued and land Hammer in more trouble, but Calvin probably didn’t know enough to realize that.
She shrugged. “I don’t remember exactly.”
“What’s your relationship with him currently?”
Raine sorted through possible answers and tried to choose the safest. “We live together.”
“You have sex with him, correct?”
“My client doesn’t have to answer that,” Calvin piped up.
“It’s relevant to our investigation.” Perez glared. “I need to establish how long Ms. Kendall has been a sex slave.”
“What?” Raine rolled her eyes, really wishing everyone would stop assuming she was a victimized slut. “I’m not a sex slave. Hammer and I are in a committed relationship, and I’m with him of my own free will.”
Perez raised a dark brow at her. “You’re living with and committed to Mr. Hammerman, but you’re also living with Mr. O’Neill? Having sex with him of your own free will, as well?”
Now Calvin looked every bit as annoyed as Raine felt. “My client has stated that she is not a sex slave. She is a legal adult, and who she chooses to have sex with is her business.”
Raine tilted her head and tried to keep her cool. “Have you ever been married?”
The detective blinked. “Twice.”
“Did you love both of your husbands?”
Perez looked at her as if the question was ridiculous. “At the time, of course.”
“Then you should know exactly how it’s possible to love more than one man in your lifetime. I just happen to love mine at the same time, and they’re okay with that. Now, do you want to ask me real questions, or did you just bring me here to shame me?”
By her side, Calvin chuckled under his breath. “Moving on…”
The detective’s face hardened. “When did you and Mr. Hammerman begin having sex?”
“If you’re asking whether I was a minor, the answer is no. I was a very-much-consenting adult. If you’re asking whether he ever mistreated, abused, raped, neglected, or in any way hurt me, the answer is also no.”
“Did he pimp you out? Force you to have sex with himself and others? Did he make his living off your back?”
“Hell no! This is ridiculous. You clearly know nothing about either of us.”
“I know you’re pregnant.” Perez shot her a superior glance. “Do you know who the father is?”
“No, and if not knowing was a crime, then most of the people who ever appeared on a daytime talk show would have been arrested. Macen Hammerman has done nothing except make me a happy woman. And I’ll tell anyone who asks me the same thing.”
Now Calvin laughed outright. “Any other questions?”
The detective scowled, and Raine had the impression these two had tangled over an interrogation before.
Perez leveled Calvin a really nasty stare. “Tons, actually.” The woman tossed down stacks of paper on the table in front of Raine. “These are copies of money orders, written out to your father. Two thousand dollars a month over a span of six years. Did you know Hammerman was paying your father?”
Raine glanced at the pages, her entire body clenching tight. She recognized Hammer’s handwriting, so she had to be careful. “I’ve never seen those before in my life.”
That was the truth.
“The way I understand it, you worked for Mr. Hammerman, kept his books.”
“Yes, but—”
“He wrote out a money order every month and you never saw or heard anything, despite the fact that you did his accounting?” Perez sent her a skeptical glare.
“I kept the club’s records, not Hammer’s personal ones. He’s a private man, and I don’t know everything he does. If these copies came from my father, I’d be very skeptical. He was an abusive alcoholic, murderer, and rapist, always out to make a quick buck. I don’t know if these money orders are even legitimate. My father swiped some guy’s checkbook once and wrote hot checks for a week when I was a kid. So the more likely scenario is that my father was extorting Hammer for money.”
“Because he was having sex with an underage girl?”
“My client already stated that she did not have sex with Mr. Hammerman as a minor. Do you really need to keep treading the same ground?”
Now Perez slapped her palms on the table between them and zeroed in on Raine. “Doing some simple math, you were underage when you went to live with Mr. Hammerman at that skanky club of his, weren’t you? Glare at me all you want, but you dropped out of high school at seventeen. The day you turned eighteen, you renewed your driver’s license and listed Shadows as your place of residence. Mr. Hammerman’s name is on every one of your bank accounts. Now you want to tell me you’re not a sex slave being held against your will?”
