Tracey?
A strange satisfied smirk played on her face.
Her head throbbed, and her heart ached. How had this happened?
Nolan was in a holding cell, probably separate from Zach, and the police were shoving her fingers on a computer screen and telling her to hold still for the camera, and Becky wasn’t anywhere in sight.
A female officer handled her from the time she entered the police station. With her, Karen thought maybe she could get through. “I don’t care what you do with me, but you have to keep Becky away from her parents. She’s not safe.”
“Ms. Jones. Right now, you need to think about yourself. Kidnapping, resisting arrest, harboring a criminal.”
“Harboring a criminal? What are you talking about?” As for resisting…well, she couldn’t argue that without a lawyer.
“Turn to the right.”
Karen did, the flash was evidence that she now had a complete mug shot. “Her parents beat her. Please. Just don’t let her leave with them. She’s scared.”
Officer Carmen hesitated.
“Please.”
“You can give a statement to my partner.”
Karen closed her mouth. Why was no one listening to her? “I get a phone call. I’m not talking to anyone until I have a lawyer.”
“Your choice.”
Nearly an hour later, they gave Karen a phone.
The phone rang several times, making her worry that maybe her friends weren’t home. Neil finally picked up. “Yeah.”
“Neil? Jesus, Neil…I need you guys.”
“Karen?” His voice was surprisingly awake for such a late hour.
The fact that she was calling from jail hadn’t hit her until that moment. “I’m in jail.”
“Jail?”
Her words tumbled on each other as she tried to explain the situation. “Listen. The police are saying Zach and I kidnapped Becky. We need a lawyer. We need to make sure Becky is safe. Her parents beat on her, Neil. And she’s pregnant.” The thought of Becky’s parents getting her alone sickened her.
Karen heard Gwen’s sleepy voice from beyond Neil on the phone. “What’s going on?”
“Karen’s in jail.”
Karen’s mind ran to the next obstacle. “Someone needs to call Michael. Oh, God. Becky’s going to need protection, Neil.” If anyone could know what needed to be done it was Neil.
“Where are you?”
“St. George.”
“OK…hold on.”
“Please hurry. The police aren’t listening to me about Becky. I have no idea where she is.”
Gwen’s voice picked up from a second line. “Karen? Are you OK?”
Tears swelled in her eyes and she choked on her words. “I’m going to need Samantha and Blake’s fancy lawyers.”
“Oh, honey. We’re on our way. Stay strong and don’t say anything.”
Karen’s hands shook as she hung up the phone. All she could do now was wait and worry.
Chapter Twenty-Five
If someone had told him he’d be calling his parents to tell them he was in jail by the day’s end, Zach would have told them they were on crack. Unfortunately, the call went to voice mail and Zach had little choice but to leave a message.
After the booking portion of his evening, he was placed in a holding cell with several other men, including Nolan.
“How are you doing?”
“They won’t tell me where they took Becky.”
“I’m sure she’s safe.” He wasn’t sure of anything, but he needed to say something to ease the kid’s pain.
“They’re accusing me of raping her.”
“It will all be worked out, Nolan. Just keep your mouth closed until the lawyers arrive.”
“I can’t afford a lawyer.”
Zach nudged him. “Don’t worry about that. I have you covered.”
Nolan shook his head and stared at the floor. “I should have just run off with her. Then you guys wouldn’t be here and she’d be safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
Nolan slammed his fist against the bench he sat on in frustration. “Dammit.”
There wasn’t anything Zach could say to ease the kid’s frustration. To add to his own, when Zach closed his eyes all he saw was Karen standing in front of the police with nothing on from the waist down. The humiliation of not being able to stop anyone from viewing her slapped him in the face. Where was she now? Was she scared?
Her father’s phone pinged as they drove down the mountain. Hannah had decided to stay behind for another day with Rena and her family, while Judy shoved into the backseat of her parents’ truck and rode with them back to Hilton.
The confidence Karen had infused into her during her brief visit gave her the incentive to discuss changing her major. To do that, Judy needed alone time with her parents.
Judy’s phone buzzed in her pocket as they reached cell service. She saw several messages from one of her college roommates and opened up her texts.
OMG is this your sister-in-law? Was followed by a picture of Karen shoved up beside a police car.
Judy gasped and read the next text.
Your brother? Not the one she’s married to?
Zach stood shirtless, hands behind his back.
“Oh, God.”
The next picture showed the two of them kissing in a parking lot. “Oh, God!”
“What is it, dear?” Janice said from the front seat.
“Daddy, pull over.”
Sawyer looked at her through the rearview mirror.
“Are you sick?”
“Just pull over.”
The last thing she wanted was her father to see any of this while driving.
Her mother was turned around now and staring. “Judy?”
There had to be a mistake…Zach would never, Karen would never.
Her dad pulled over, not that there was much room on the road to do so, and put the truck in park.
With a shaky hand, Judy handed the phone to her dad and let the images sink in.
“This has to be a joke.”
Janice took the phone next and Sawyer looked at the screen on his cell phone. He clicked a few things and put the phone to his ear.
“Oh, my.” Judy’s mom’s face turned white.
“This can’t be true,” Judy said. “A tabloid ploy.”
“Son of a bitch,” her dad said as he tossed his phone to the seat beside him and shoved the truck in gear.
“What?”
Sawyer’s hands gripped the steering wheel and his expression turned stone cold. “Zach’s in jail. So is Karen.”
It wasn’t a joke.
“There must be a misunderstanding,” Janice said quietly.
“He said he needed a lawyer, and that Nolan was with them.”
“Nolan?” Judy asked. “What does Nolan have to do with Zach?”
“I have no idea,” Janice said. “I know he’s been working with him on his job site, but can’t imagine why they’d be in jail.”
“Unbelievable!” Sawyer grumbled.
They rode down the mountain in silence, and instead of driving toward home, they took the highway and drove toward St. George.
The sun streamed through the windows in the early morning hours as they pulled into the police station. The three of them filed into the sterile county building and walked past several people waiting in metal chairs before approaching the desk. Behind the counter sat a female officer who had one ear on the phone and her hands on a computer keyboard.
Judy stood behind her parents and glanced around the lobby of the station. She felt the eyes of someone fall on her from across the room. Trying to be careful of who she looked at, Judy removed her phone from her pocket and pretended to read a text as her eyes found those who watched her.
Light green eyes followed her every move. The man who possessed them had military short hair and a neck that was thick enough to bounce baseballs off it. His broad shoulders sat under a jacket that looked too small…o
r maybe the man was simply too big.
Judy couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling down his frame any more than she could stop the sun from rising. He filled up the small space of the chair he sat in and long legs stretched out in front of him. As her gaze traveled back up his frame, she noticed those green eyes laughing above his dimpled smile.
She jumped and forced her eyes away.
“We’re here for Zach Gardner,” she heard her father tell the officer when the woman managed to hang up the phone.
“Two of you can come back.”
Her mother looked at her and smiled. “Will you be OK here alone?”
“Mom, please. It’s a police station.”
On the other side of the glass, Zach’s parents sat with their backs perfectly straight and their expressions full of shock.
Even though he knew the charges against him were bullshit and that they’d be dropped as soon as light was shed on the entire situation, talking to his parents from jail had to be one of the lowest points in Zach’s life.
“Hey, Dad.”
“What the hell is going on?” Sawyer jumped right to the point.
“I know it looks bad.”
“Do you? Jesus, Zach…you’re in jail.”
Zach glanced behind him at the officer guarding the door. “I’m aware of that.”
“Karen and Nolan are in there with you.”
He nodded. “I know. We need a lawyer.”
Sawyer shook his head, disgust sat deep in his eyes.
“What’s this about, Zach? What did you do?”
The back of Zach’s jaw grew tight. “Nothing. We did nothing wrong. Becky Applegate ran away from home. Karen and I found her and Nolan hiding out and we put them in a hotel until we could get to the bottom of the situation. The kidnapping charge is bogus.”
“You should have just taken Becky home. Kidnapping…they’re charging you with kidnapping.”
Zach glared at his father now. “Am I capable of that, Dad? Do you really think for a fucking minute that is part of my character?”
How dare his father look at him with such accusatory eyes?
When his father didn’t instantly agree that he wasn’t capable of being the monster the police were pointing him out to be, Zach lost it.
“All my life I’ve done everything in my power to please you. Stuck in fucking Hilton, scraping together a construction business…all so I could be there for you and Mom…for everyone.” Behind Zach, he noticed the officer stand taller. His hand reached for the door behind him.
Zach lowered his voice but felt his face heat up. “I’ve always done the right thing. Keeping Becky and Nolan away from her parents was the right thing.”
“Zach, honey…” his mom grabbed the phone from his father’s fingers. “We know you’re not the man they’re accusing you to be. It’s a shock…for both of us to see you here.”
Zach kept glaring at his father. “We need a lawyer, Mom.”
Behind his parents, a man walked in wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. “Mr. and Mrs. Gardner?”
Sawyer turned in his seat. Zach heard some of the man’s words through the phone. “I was hired by Blake Harrison to represent Zach.”
The name sounded familiar but he didn’t understand what was going on until after his parents told them they’d speak with the lawyer after he talked with Zach.
“Mr. Gardner…I’m Ron Bernard. Blake flew me and two of my colleagues in from California to represent you, Karen, and Nolan.”
“Blake who?”
Mr. Bernard sent him a puzzled look. “The duke and duchess?”
Oh, that’s right…Karen’s friends.
“If you’re willing to let me represent you, I’ll have the officer set up a conference room so you and I can talk privately.”
Mr. Bernard looked more capable than any lawyer his parents could possibly come up with, and he saw no need to question Karen’s high-powered friends.
Right now, his main priority was getting them out of jail and to make sure Karen was safe.
“Let’s talk.”
Mr. Bernard smiled and motioned for the officer.
Behind the lawyer, his parents dropped their gazes and walked from the room.
Five minutes later, Zach sat in a conference room explaining what had happened from the moment he left the cabin to the moment the lawyer showed up.
Now all he had to do was wait for a judge to be called in and an arraignment to be set up.
What a day!
Judy found an empty chair away from the massive hottie of a man who watched her.
Unlike any lobby she’d ever sat in, this one had flyers from bail bond agencies and dial a lawyer pamphlets spread on the small table. A middle-aged woman and teenage boy sat at one end of the room, both looked as if they’d slept in the chairs all night.
Green Eyes stood when the door her parents had just walked through opened and an even larger man with a stunning blonde woman walked through. “How is she?” Green Eyes asked.
Judy tried not to listen, but the small lobby made it difficult.
“Worried sick about Becky and Nolan,” the woman said.
With the mention of Becky’s and Nolan’s names, Judy looked at the three people with renewed interest. Were they friends of Karen’s?
“Shouldn’t she be concerned with her own fate?”
“She’s not concerned about herself at all.” The blonde’s polished British accent had Judy sitting forward. Hadn’t Karen told her about her British friend who was married to a retired Marine? The man at her side was certainly large enough to fit the description of ex-military. So was Green Eyes. “I received a message from Samantha. They’ll be here within the hour.”
Judy stood and walked over to the small party. “I’m sorry…are you friends of Karen’s?”
The blonde fixed her eyes on Judy and smiled. “Yes.”
“I’m Judy. Mike’s sister.”
The woman smiled brighter. “I’m Gwen,” she said as she stuck a hand out for Judy to shake. “This is Neil, my husband, and a friend of ours, Rick.”
Green Eyes placed his full wattage of a smile on her. At his side, she had to look up to see him. This close, she felt like a pixie in the presence of a dragon.
“Is Karen OK?”
“Oh, she’s fine. We’ll have them all out of here in a couple of hours.”
“I don’t even know why they’re here. My parents just went back to talk to my brother, Zach.”
Gwen and Neil exchanged glances.
“Why don’t we step outside and talk?”
Judy followed them outside and away from anyone listening.
“From what I’m told,” Gwen began, “a girl named Becky ran away from home with her boyfriend.”
“Nolan?”
“Right,” Gwen said. “Zach and Karen found them hiding and put them up in the hotel for a couple of days until they could figure out how to keep Becky safe.”
“What’s wrong with Becky?”
Gwen sighed. “According to Karen, her parents abuse her. They accused Karen and Zach of kidnapping…and her boyfriend of other nefarious acts.”
The picture was clearing before Judy’s eyes. “Becky’s always been so shy.”
“You know her?”
Judy nodded. “Hilton is a small town. Everyone knows everyone.”
Gwen glanced at the men. “Do you know where Becky lives?”
“Of course. Why?”
As the question escaped Judy’s mouth, a news van pulled into the driveway.
Neil moved between the newly arrived media and his wife.
“Karen believes Becky is in grave danger. She’ll not be allowed to go anywhere near Becky until these ridiculous charges are dropped. And if I know Karen, she’ll ignore the court to help the girl.”
From behind them, a man with a microphone approached, his eyes narrowed on Judy.
“Aren’t you Michael Wolfe’s sister?” the reporter asked.
Rick moved betwee
n Judy and the reporter. “No comment.” His deep voice made the reporter pause, but not for long.
“Is it true Michael’s wife is being detained?”
“What about no comment did you misunderstand?” Rick’s voice lowered and the smile on his face fell.
Neil ushered Gwen back into the station.
“Is it true Mrs. Wolfe was found naked in the hotel with Mr. Wolfe’s brother?”
Judy froze. Her eyes grew big.
Rick placed his large hand on her back and gently pushed her through the door and away from the reporter.
The reporter didn’t follow them inside right away.
“Is that true?” Judy asked Gwen.
The soft expression on Gwen’s face confirmed the reporter’s accusation. “It’s not what you think.”
What is it then?
The reporter took that moment to push inside the station.
Rick turned toward the door and once again blocked Judy from their annoying presence. “Dude, you’re starting to piss me off.”
Gwen grabbed Judy’s arm and pulled her away. “I know you’re confused. I can assure you that everything is going to be OK. I’ve already spoken with Michael. He’s on his way here now.”
Her stomach turned thinking of her brother. “Poor Mike.”
“Mike is more concerned for Karen and Zach’s safety right now than for himself. Listen, Judy…Karen told me that Becky is pregnant.”
The rest of the air in Judy’s lungs left and her head felt dizzy. “Really?”
“Yes. If her parents abuse her, she could be in danger.”
Judy glanced at the police officers that were intervening between Rick, Neil, and the reporter.
“Then tell the police and let them handle it.”
“Karen has. But they’ve given no indication that they are following up on her accusations. To them, Karen is the criminal.”
That Judy didn’t believe, and she knew Zach would never kidnap anyone. “The entire situation is ridiculous.”
“Agreed. Would you be willing to check on Becky for Karen?”
Judy nodded. “Of course.”
Gwen glanced around. “Can you go to her home now and make sure she’s safe? Rick can go with you…keep you both safe.”
Judy glanced at the broad back of the man blocking the reporter.
The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday Page 23
