The Defendant

by Chris Taylor

  But there was no turning back and no rewriting their history. He could only assume she was still angry over the stunt he’d pulled at The Bullet. The very thought of that evening weighed heavy in his heart but, short of telling her the whole sordid truth, there was nothing he could do to explain his actions.

  And now, there was her report.

  John Wall, a mountain of a man and a veteran prosecutor, who was in charge of the Logan hearing had recently delivered it to him. The matter was scheduled to be heard in a few days and when John had given Chase a copy of Josie’s findings, the contents stayed with him long after he’d read them. Although he’d guessed much of what her report would say, he knew better than anyone else how difficult it must have been for her to arrive at her conclusion.

  He wished he was brave enough to phone her; to dial her number and ask her how she was, but more than anything, he wished he had the courage to ask her why she wasn’t married with a handful of children, like she’d always wanted.

  “How’s the Logan matter going? Do you have a copy of the psych report from the defense, yet?”

  Riley’s question cut abruptly into Chase’s thoughts and he focused on his boss who stood a few feet away.

  “Not yet. They have until the end of the day to serve it on us. I’m guessing it will say the exact opposite of what’s contained in Josie’s.”

  “No surprises there. What date is the competency hearing?”

  “It’s slated for first thing Tuesday morning. We have four days to prepare and that’s counting the weekend.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of Riley’s mouth. “Sounds like John’s going to be busy.”

  “Lucky for us he’s the best in the business. I’m sure he’ll be ready and raring to go.”

  Riley nodded and turned away. He was halfway across the squad room when he stopped and turned back to face Chase.

  “Oh, I nearly forgot. Kate asked me to invite you to a barbeque this Saturday night. She said it’s been ages since we had you over. In fact, I think the last time we got together was the night of the tragedy at the Logan place.”

  Chase grimaced. “Yeah, we sure can do without a repeat of that.”

  “You can say that again. I’ve invited Josie, too. She’s been in town more than three months and I’ve barely seen her outside of work.”

  Chase dropped his gaze and did his best to keep his expression from showing the sudden discomfort he felt. Despite his efforts, Riley moved closer and frowned.

  “Are you okay with it, Chase? I mean, I know you took her to her high school graduation, but that was it, wasn’t it? You don’t have a thing for her, do you?”

  “A thing? Of course not.” Chase hoped the heat he could feel rising from his chest and creeping up his neck went undetected. Riley turned away again and Chase swallowed a sigh of relief. It was short lived. A moment later, Riley spun on his heel again and faced Chase.

  “What about Josie? She hasn’t been carrying some kind of flame for you, has she?”

  “No, no I wouldn’t think so. We… We barely knew each other back then.” Chase almost choked on the lie.

  “Good. I wouldn’t want to make things awkward, for either of you.”

  “Nope. No awkwardness here. You’re more than welcome to invite her over. She’s your sister, after all.”

  “Yes, she is and it’s been great to have her back. Mom and Dad are beyond thrilled. For too long, I’ve been their only child to live within a hundred mile or so radius.”

  Chase thought wistfully of the parents he’d lost five years ago. They’d been killed instantly in an automobile accident. He was grateful they hadn’t suffered, but being an only child now meant he found himself alone, disconnected, and with no family to speak of. Every now and then he wondered what it might be like to have a sibling or two—or six, like Riley.

  “It must be nice to know they care,” he murmured.

  “Yeah, it is. As much as they drive me nuts sometimes, I wouldn’t trade them for all the money in the world.”

  * * *

  Daniel stared at the cobwebs on the ceiling high above his bed and wondered about what it would be like to be a spider. Not a big hairy one that everyone wanted to swipe with the broom or drown with insect spray, but a harmless, useful one like a huntsman—one that could live its life spinning its intricate web in the dark corner of a room, far from everything and everybody, coming and going as it pleased without being noticed. It sounded so far removed from the reality of his life since the murder he could scarcely imagine it or remember what life had been like before the arrival of Neil Whitcomb.

  Neil Whitcomb. Daniel had finally discovered the man’s name. His lawyer had given him a copy of the police report when they’d met earlier in the day. His competency hearing was a handful of days away. His lawyer wanted him to be prepared.

  Reading through the police account, Daniel felt detached, removed from the events that unfolded on the pages—like he was reading about someone else.

  Neil Whitcomb. It sounded like such a normal, ordinary name. It sounded like the name of a man who had never done any wrong; the kind of name belonging to a man Daniel could be introduced to at the farm store and think nothing of it; the kind of name that could have belonged to his neighbor.

  There was nothing to indicate that a man with the name of Neil Whitcomb would break into Daniel’s home and rape his mother and drive Daniel to murder. There was no disguising or denying what it was and no way to minimize the event. In the blink of an eye, it had happened—just like he’d told Josie and according to his barrister, she’d said as much in her report.

  Everything she’d written was true, and he couldn’t blame her for her honesty. He’d always known his actions were wrong and that he’d probably go to jail, but he didn’t care. He still didn’t care. He was scared to death of the thought of being locked up, but if he came across the same situation again, he’d act exactly the same way.

  If there was one thing he was sorry for, it was the way it had affected his family. His beloved mother, the woman he’d tried to spare from pain, was dead. His father might as well be, too. When he was there, he moved around the house like a ghost, his face devoid of emotion, blank and expressionless. He’d returned to work out of necessity and even though he no longer did the long hauls from Melbourne to Brisbane, more and more often, he’d come home late, well past the hour of bedtime.

  Before the shooting, Daniel had never been scared; he’d been proud of the responsibility his father had entrusted to him, but now, he’d lie in the dark, grateful for the presence of his little brother and pray for his father’s return. He was beyond relieved that his dad no longer stayed away overnight. Every creak, every sigh, every whisper of the wind would stir the fear that lay dormant within him during the day, but would reveal its ugly head during the night. He wanted to sleep with the gun behind the door of his bedroom, but his father expressly forbid it.

  The sound of Jason turning over in the bed sent Daniel’s heart leaping in fear. With a soft curse, he forced himself to relax. What he wouldn’t give to turn back the clock, to return to a time when his worst nightmare was whether he was going to wake up with a zit.

  The ever-present fear and nervousness he’d been living with for more than a couple of months was eroding his mind. He’d barely slept since it had happened and the deprivation was taking its toll. He’d done his best to put on a cheery façade for his brother and his teachers, but inside, he was falling apart.

  Like the broom that destroyed the spider’s web with a single, vicious swipe, his life had taken too many hits in too short a time and had fragmented into a million pieces. He’d never be able to put them together again, no matter how hard he tried. But the thought of not trying terrified him. If he didn’t try, what then?

  There was no one he could turn to. Not to his father, not to Jason, not even to his friends. He hadn’t been in Watervale long enough to have made friendships strong enough to withstand the kind of pressure he’d put one u
nder. The only other person who came to mind was Josie and her report to the judge put him one step closer to jail.

  He had no one.

  He was all alone.

  Just like the spider.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The delicious smell of smoky barbeque wafted toward Josie’s nose and her stomach grumbled. Having woken late after another restless night, she’d skipped breakfast in favor of a swim and had then headed to her office to finish up paperwork on patients she’d seen late on Friday afternoon. She’d worked through lunch and by the time she arrived back home, given that she was shortly heading over to her brother’s place for dinner, there hardly seemed any point in eating.

  Riley had called her earlier in the week and had invited her over for a barbeque. Despite her sleepless night, she looked forward to sharing a few pleasant hours with him and his family. No doubt the adorable identical twins, Daisy and Rosie, would clutch at her legs and plaster her with sticky hugs and kisses like they usually did. She’d learned months ago not to arrive at the Munro household wearing white pants. At least the girls would distract her, even for a little while, from the turmoil and chaos in her head.

  Riley’s two-storey, modern rendered brick house sat on a large corner block in a very nice part of town. The manicured lawns and neat garden beds overflowed with colourful blooms, evidence of Kate’s green thumb. A couple of small tricycles along with an array of balls and plastic toys littered the concrete path that led to the front door.

  Josie skirted around the side of the building, assuming everyone would be at the back. From the tantalizing smell of the barbeque, she figured it was almost time to eat. She rounded the corner and came up short, almost stumbling over her feet.

  Chase stood with his back to her, less than ten yards away. As she watched, he threw back his head and laughed at something Riley said. Her brother spied her and waved to her with the barbeque tongs and then said something else to Chase. Unaware of her presence, Chase’s laughter rumbled out once again.

  Josie forced air into her suddenly depleted lungs and tried her best to gain control over her traitorous heart. She hated that he still had an effect on her, but there was nothing she could do about it.

  If she’d known Chase was invited, she would have found an excuse to decline. Anything to avoid having to spend time with him, exchanging nothing more than superficial pleasantries that only served to mask her hurt. She hadn’t forgotten how he’d flaunted the bar floozy right before her eyes and no matter how often she analyzed it, she’d drawn the only obvious conclusion: He’d wanted to send her a clear message that night—it was over and had been over for more than a decade. He’d moved on and she should too and the sooner she surrendered to that fact, the better.

  And now he was in her brother’s backyard, looking super comfortable, a bottle of beer in his hand and a lazy smile on his face. She looked around a little frantically for signs of other guests and found none.

  Surely it wasn’t just the four of them? Oh God, she’d be forced to sit next to him. Her panic ratcheted up another notch. All she could think of was escape.

  “Aunty Josie! Aunty Josie! You’re here!”

  Before she could turn on her heel and sneak away like a thief in the night, two chubby little bodies dressed in matching denim dresses and cute white sandals with bright pink bows launched themselves at her legs. With her chances of escaping undetected fast evaporating, she bent low and scooped up both of the toddlers in her arms. She swung them around amidst squeals of laughter and delight.

  They took turns kissing her on the cheek and on her lips and on any other part of her they could reach. She kissed each of them on the top of their snowy blond heads, setting them down gently with a protectiveness that came to her naturally when she was around any of her nieces and nephews, or any other children for that matter.

  “How are my favorite little princesses?” she asked, smiling at their adorable faces.

  “Good,” they chorused. “I’m Rapunzel,” Daisy announced, flicking her longish hair. “And I’m Cinderella,” Rosie added. “I have a wicked stepmother.”

  Josie looked suitably horrified. “A wicked stepmother? You poor, poor girl.”

  “Yes, and she makes me live in a dungeon and sweep up all the dirt.”

  “She does? How mean is that? Lucky you have a fairy godmother,” Josie smiled.

  “She’s going to bring me a beautiful, magical dress. The prince will take one look at me and fall in love and ask me to be his wife.”

  Josie stifled a laugh. “Wow, that’s…that’s pretty special. You’re lucky to have such a wonderful fairy godmother.”

  Daisy pulled at Josie’s sleeve. “I want a fairy godmother.”

  “No, silly,” her sister replied. “Rapunzel doesn’t have a fairy godmother. She stays locked up in her castle forever.”

  A dark frown creased Daisy’s small face and she stamped her foot. “I don’t want to be locked up in a castle forever!”

  Stepping between them, Josie hastily intervened before the girls came to blows. “Daisy, Rosie, it’s okay. Daisy, you don’t have to be locked up in a castle forever. That’s what the prince is for, remember? He rides up on his strong white steed and rescues you.”

  She was met with identical frowns. “What’s a steed, Aunty Josie?” Daisy asked.

  Rosie rolled her eyes. “It’s a car, silly. How else is he going to rescue you and take you away from the castle?”

  Josie stifled another grin and squatted on her haunches until she was at eye level with the twins. “Actually, it’s a horse. They didn’t have cars back in those days.”

  “No cars?” Rosie asked, her frown deepening. “How did they go to the shops?”

  “Well, I guess they walked or—”

  “They rode their horses!” Daisy finished, grinning triumphantly.

  “Yes, that’s it, Daisy,” Josie smiled, drawing both of them in close for a hug. “You girls are far too clever. Whatever will your teacher do when you get to school?”

  Rosie shook her head. “We’re not going to school. We’re staying home, with Mommy and Daddy. We’re staying home forever.”

  Josie swallowed a sigh and hugged them both again tightly. Far be it for her to disillusion them. There were some things an Aunt didn’t have to do. Breathing in the scent of their sweet-smelling hair, she looked over their heads and straight into Chase’s tormented gaze.

  * * *

  Chase stared at Josie from across the yard and his heart tightened with emotion. With her blond head pressed close against her nieces, she could have passed for their mother. The smiles on the faces of the little girls, with their arms stretching tightly around her, told him they adored and loved her.

  He’d always known she’d make a fantastic mom. She was naturally maternal, kind and gentle, patient and loving—all the things a mother should be. It wasn’t right for her to be denied that gift and it wasn’t right that he yearned for her to be his when he couldn’t guarantee her one of the things she longed for most.

  He guessed there was always adoption, but it wouldn’t be the same. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to carry a child, but he was certain it was an experience that couldn’t be replicated.

  He’d been surprised to discover that she wasn’t married, that she hadn’t started a family of her own. The reasons for this weren’t clear to him and that was something he desperately wished he knew. Could it be that the longing she’d expressed when she was a teenager had dissipated over time? If that proved true, would fate be willing to give them a second chance? Could he be that lucky?

  She stood and with a twin on either hip, closed the distance between them. The image of Lucy plastered all over him at The Bullet suddenly flashed into his mind, along with the pain and hurt that night on Josie’s face. Pangs of guilt ripped through him. He could only imagine the names she’d called him. He wondered if she’d even speak to him now.

  Unable to help himself, his gaze roved over her and took in every minut
e detail. She wore a fitted, cornflower-blue shirt that matched the color of her eyes. The soft fabric clung to her breasts and gently caressed her curves. A pair of denim jeans and highly polished dress boots completed the ensemble. Summer was long since over, but her skin still evidenced the vestiges of a tan.

  Her cheeks were pink and her mouth was softly parted, as if she was also finding it a little difficult to breathe. As he watched, her tongue peeked out and swiped across her lips.

  Blood rushed from his head and centered in his groin and it was all he could do not to groan. Instead, he clenched his jaw, turned slightly away and prayed no one would notice his predicament.

  “Josie. It’s good to see you, sis. Glad you could make it.” Riley enveloped her and his girls in a hug and then tickled one of the twins under the chin. She giggled and the other one begged him to do it to her. He took both girls from his sister and to their matching squeals of delight, threw them up in the air.

  Chase was glad for the distraction. It was difficult enough to greet Josie without her brother looking on. He cleared his throat and tried to appear casual and unaffected.

  “It’s great to see you again, Josie. How have you been?” He cursed silently at the inanity of his conversation, but there was nothing else to be done. Her expression grew cool.

  “Fine, thanks Chase. Busy. You know how it is.”

  He nodded and cast around for something more clever to say, but came up with nothing. He was relieved when Kate stepped out onto the back porch to greet Josie and offered to get her a drink.

  “Thanks, Kate. I’ll come in and get it,” she replied, looking almost as relieved as he was to put some distance between them. She hurried toward the back steps that led up onto the porch and Chase exhaled on a surreptitious sigh.

  “What was that all about?” Riley asked shrewdly, his gaze narrowed on Chase.

  Chase shrugged and took another swig of beer in an effort to delay his response. “What are you talking about?”

  “You and Josie. You both looked like you’d bit into a moldy donut. What gives?”