AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’d awakened with some questions that had skipped her mind the night before and after a leisurely breakfast with the lecherous Riley O’Rourke, who seemed mighty pleased with himself, was raring to get the day started. His threat or warning, according to how she chose to look at it as she walked out the door that he would be dropping in on her sometime today and that asshole better not be in her orbit, still made her snicker when she thought about it.
Who’d have thought the great Riley O’Rourke, the man himself, could have a jealous streak so wide? Celia cleared her mind of wayward thoughts and focused on the man sitting across from her, looking a bit greener than he did when they brought him in the night before.
“Okay, tech is going through your devices to see if they detect any form of spyware as well as tracing where exactly the messages came from.”
“They can do that?”
“Yes, with the right resources, they can pinpoint exactly where the person was when the messages were sent.”
“Oh, okay, that’s good then.”
Ryan began rubbing his chest where a tightness had started. His hand went to his temple next to press against the throbbing headache that was beginning to form there. “Mr. Swamp, are you okay?” Ryan blinked his eyes at the detective until she came back into focus.
“I don’t know; maybe it’s the strain of being here. I don’t feel so good.” The words were barely out of his mouth before everything went dark.
CHAPTER 10
Word of the arrest started spreading like wildfire around town and throughout the high school the next morning. Marissa’s parents were so upset by the betrayal that they were telling any and all who’d listen to their complaint. There was already talk about suing the school district, among others.
Misty found herself once again hiding from shame and embarrassing questions and decided it was best to stay indoors with the curtains drawn. She’d spent the better part of the night down at the station before that mean old sergeant asked her who was home with her daughter. Until he did, she’s ashamed to say that she’d forgotten all about poor Connie.
But who could blame her? Her husband was facing serious charges that she was sure, if found to be true, would upend their lives once again, and this time much worst than before. She kept Connie home from school as well and wondered how to go about getting in to see Ryan later on that day. Apparently, that was out of the question until after he was arraigned, which could be who knows when.
At the local high school as well as on the streets of Briar Reef, it was all anyone could talk about, and by the time Ryan was being wheeled out of the police station handcuffed to a stretcher headed for the emergency room, the people of the town were about evenly split.
Those who knew Ryan were adamantly in his corner, and no amount of arguing could change their minds. All the kids on the track team had been taken in to see the counselor one after the other, but none had the same complaint of being touched by the coach. In fact, some of them were highly offended at the suggestion that their coach, the man who’d always been open and honest with them, the man who’d treated them like more than brainless imbeciles, could or would ever do such a thing.
The counselor, Mrs. Peat, heard more than once how it was coach who had told the kids they could always come to him if someone were being inappropriate with them. He’s the one who drilled it into them not to stay silent if something like that should ever happen. At the end of it all, it was decided, amongst the high school kids at least, that Marissa must be lying.
Marissa, too had stayed home from school after a restless night spent tossing and turning. She silently wished her parents would stop telling people about the situation, hoping somehow to keep it as contained as possible though she knew how impossible that might be in a town the size of theirs. She didn’t want anyone else knowing, didn’t want to answer any more questions, especially ones that made her question herself.
She knew the second the news spread to her inner circle because her best friend called her all bent out of shape for not being told before it was on everyone else’s lips. If only that was the worst thing, she heard that day. After Stacey’s call, the phone just kept ringing until she was ready to bury her head under the covers and disappear for a week or until this, all blew over.
She wasn’t sure what she expected, especially from people she once called friends, but the abuse was shocking. There was hardly a word of support for her in any of the calls, and she was left stunned by their response.
