AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Niall was still processing everything and not quite understanding any of it. His wife had been having an affair with him behind his back to protect him from his own splintered mind. The journal he held in his hand had it all documented and he could just imagine her going through all those hoops to keep their family together, to keep him happy, both as himself and this Simon person.
“Her face; did you say her face was in acid? Does that mean…?” His eyes went to Valerie once more and the look of horror on his face said it all. Valerie stepped back behind officer Bailey at the murderous look Niall sent her way, muttering to herself all the while that it was not her fault, that Sonya should’ve told her.
“I want her out of my house.” Niall was barely holding back his temper. It was only because his children were somewhere about that he held himself in check, otherwise he would’ve rung her neck, cops or no cops.
Officer Bailey moved to put the cuffs on Valerie but she started squealing and squalling loud enough to send the housekeeper running from the back to see what all was going on.
“You should thank Ms. Nettie for helping us crack the case sir. Without her help we would still be trying to catch our own tails.”
“Nettie? What did she do?” Detective Sparks chose to leave the telling of that tale to the woman in question.
“I just did as I was supposed to sir. I’ve been taking care of you in one way or another since you were no higher than a grasshopper and I figure I’ll be doing it ‘til the day I die.” She turned and left the room leaving no doubt that she too had heard what was being said in the room.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs she sent the nanny such a look that the younger woman recoiled and went back to the nursery where she’d left the children to play on their own. What did all this mean? She wondered, as she saw everything that she’d worked for about to slip out of her grasp.
Back downstairs Niall kept reading his wife’s words over and over as the love she bore him became more evident. How could I ever have doubted her he thought? And to think, last night…in our bed. Now he was the one who felt sick to his stomach. It was sheer strength of will that kept him seated.
Officer Bailey had finally got the cuffs on Valerie and was leading her from the house when she announced her need for the bathroom. Officer Bailey had the good sense to stay rooted outside the door so he could cuff her again once she was done and then led her outside to put her in the back of the squad car.
“I guess I’ll be going now sir. I’ll be in touch in a couple days or so but you have my number if you need me.”
“Thank you detective and please accept my apologies for giving you such a hard time.”
“No apology necessary sir, I understood your position.”
He nodded his head as she turned her attention to the room’s other occupant. She hadn’t given herself time to be excited at the fact that he wasn’t the murderer; that her judgment hadn’t been that far off after all.
The look on his face did not bode well so she kept her goodbye to herself and walked out the door to the waiting car where Mrs. O’Rourke was already making noises about calling her lawyer.
It was the weekend so there was a good bet she would be behind bars for the next couple of days until the courts opened up again. But she was still due her one phone call.
They rode to the station in silence except for the intermittent ramblings of their prisoner who couldn’t seem to make up her mind if she were sorry or if her victim deserved what she got. Detective Sparks figured that any lawyer worth his salt would get the woman off with diminished capacity.
The most the other woman would probably face was time in some ritzy hospital for the criminally insane and be out in a few years at most. That wasn’t her end of things though so she tried not to let it get to her. Her job was done, or near to it anyway.
She felt more tired now that it was over than she had when she was running around looking for answers. She was both emotionally and physically drained and if she were completely honest she’d admit that part of her angst was for Riley. It was crossing all kinds of boundaries for her to even be thinking of him in these terms, but as long as she kept her true feelings locked away no one would ever be the wiser.
They got the prisoner booked, who was not too pleased and let her displeasure be known to all and sundry. It seems her lawyer was away for the holiday and wouldn’t be back until Tuesday.
And wouldn’t you know, there were no public defenders on call that weekend seeing as it was a Sunday and nothing ever happened here that would facilitate them working such odd hours.
