Guilty

by Karen Fenech

  “Because I believe he suffers from mental illness and needs help, not punishment. He should be placed in a facility where he can receive medical treatment and not in a jail.”

  “Elaborate, please.”

  “He became obsessed with Sharon. His obsession with her escalated into fantasy and delusion. James has a habit of obsessing over women, creating relationships that only exist in his mind.”

  “A habit? You’re saying he’d become obsessed with women other than Mrs. Fahey?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I’ve seen him interacting with other women at the shelter, staff and volunteers.” Logan shook his head slowly. “Whenever a woman showed him a bit of kindness, he would become an ardent admirer of that woman. With Sharon, he told me of his feelings, feelings that I didn’t think anything of at the time. I’ve seen it happen before. It isn’t uncommon for someone in James’s situation to develop a fondness for anyone who would give them the slightest attention. I’ve been the recipient of that same,” he waved a hand, “interest a time or two from women who’ve stayed at our shelter.” Logan rubbed his brow thoughtfully. “In hindsight, I wish I’d given more credence to James’s infatuation with Sharon. If I had, maybe . . .” He left the rest of the sentence unspoken.

  “Who were the other women James became infatuated with?”

  Logan sighed. “I’m not comfortable revealing names without permission. I will speak to the women and if they allow me to, I will identify them.”

  Faith refrained from saying that she could force Logan via a court order and decided to give him a small amount of time to see what he came back with. “Mr. Logan, have you spoken with District Attorney Irwin?”

  Logan shook his head. “No, and I won’t if you’d prefer.”

  Surprise witnesses only happened in the movies and Faith was legally bound to disclose hers to the prosecution, just as the prosecution was bound. She shook her head. “If Mr. Irwin approaches you, you’ll need to speak with him.”

  “I’ll tell him the same as I told you.” Logan glanced at his watch. “I’m afraid I need to cut this short.” He got to his feet. He removed a business card from his jacket pocket and held it out to Faith. “Feel free to call on me day or night.”

  She took the card. “Thank you for coming in.”

  She tapped the card on the table. She would speak with Logan at length, as well as the women he’d alluded to. Depose him. Faith had been over every document about James and the Fahey murder and she hadn’t read of other women. As Logan left the conference room, she was mentally juggling her schedule, clearing time for Logan. Her phone beeped, reminding her that she’d missed a call. She accessed her voicemail. Ryan’s voice, deep and urgent, came over the line.

  “Faith, dammit, pick up.” Ryan blew out an audible breath, then said, “Faith, listen. Gaines escaped custody. Call me.”

  James had escaped. Faith’s grip on the phone tightened. When? How? She didn’t need to ask why. After Fahey’s shooting, James hadn’t felt safe with the police but being in custody was the safest place for him. As James himself had said, Fahey may not be the only one after him.

  As Faith was about to call Ryan back, the office admin assistant opened the conference room door. “Faith, there you are. I transferred a call to your desk from Chief Crosby. He says it’s urgent. I’ll send it here.”

  “Thank you.”

  Nerves humming, Faith reached for the telephone at the end of the table. She could now hear Officer Birch in the hall, speaking on his own phone.

  “Sergeant Galbraith?” Birch paused. “Yes, sir, I’m with Miss Winston. We’re at her office. Copy that, sir.”

  Faith tuned out Birch and picked up the receiver. “Ryan?”

  “You okay? Is Birch with you?”

  “Yes. Officer Birch is here. I’m fine. What happened with James?”

  “There was a train derailment in Hanover. Injured were sent to Wade Hospital. Gaines was being moved to make room for the new arrivals. There was a fuckup and he wasn’t cuffed to his bed during the move. He walked away.”

  “Chief! Over here!”

  Faith heard the shout. “Is that about James?”

  “We’re running down leads. Checking possible sightings of Gaines. Faith, I have to go. Don’t go anywhere without Birch.” Ryan’s tone was urgent. “Stay with Birch.”

  “I will.”

  Faith heard nothing after that. Ryan had ended the call.

  * * *

  Hours later, Birch came around her cubicle. “Miss Winston, you ready to call it a day?”

  Others were packing up. She gathered her things then fell into step beside Birch.

  “Have you heard anything about the search for James Gaines?” Faith asked.

  Birch shook his head. “No, ma’am.”

  She hadn’t really expected that Birch had heard anything. Ryan would have called if James had been found.

  Out in the parking lot, a man was leaning against Birch’s cop car. Detective Colson. Faith stiffened.

  Colson pushed off the hood. “Birch, can you give us a minute?”

  “Chief’s orders are to stay with Miss Winston, Detective.”

  Colson’s jaw clenched. “Okay. What I have to say can be said in your presence.”

  It occurred to Faith that this meeting was eerily similar to the one in the cab. “I would have thought you said all you had in mind last time, Detective.”

  “Your boy is out on the streets, free to kill another innocent woman.”

  “I didn’t let him go.”

  “Not yet, though you’re doing your damnedest. I wonder how you’d feel if someone close to you were killed?” He gritted his teeth. “I know what all this is about, your defense of people like Gaines. Nothing more than your way of exacting payback on the citizens of Wade for what happened to your father. Every animal you’ve put back on the street for one petty crime or another has been payback.”

  “If you’d done your job right, those people wouldn’t have walked. If you’re looking to blame someone, blame yourself.” Faith countered, but his words struck her.

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Then you can continue to hide behind your righteous anger. The truth is all of this has come down to pure and simple revenge—revenge for what was done to your father.” His gaze grew venomous. “You want to use Gaines for your own vengeance. I’m going to make it my mission in life to take Gaines down and take you down with him.”

  Faith shivered with both fear and anger. “Is that what you were doing in this parking lot two nights ago? Attempting to take me down?”

  Colson took a step toward Faith. Birch stepped in front of Colson, blocking Colson’s path to Faith. “You’re going to want to step back now, Detective.” Birch’s voice hardened. “Right now.”

  Colson’s hands clenched into fists at his sides before he raised them palms out and took several steps back, breathing hard. Faith would not let Colson see that he’d rattled her but she watched him as he stalked off to his own vehicle parked at the end of the lot.

  The night she’d been attacked, the lights in the lot had been out, deliberately knocked out. Faith eyed the car. Was it possible that Colson’s car had been parked there and she hadn’t seen it? She watched him drive away, tires screeching, and a chill went through her.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  When Colson opened his front door, Ryan grabbed him by the shirtfront and slammed him against a wall. A photograph of a sailboat above them fell and hit the dark wood floor, shattering the glass frame.

  “Did you hurt Faith?” Ryan shouted. “Are you the bastard who jumped her in the parking lot?”

  Colson tried to shake off Ryan’s hold, but Ryan held firm. He’d been in a red haze of anger since Birch had called and told him what Colson had said to Faith.

  “She come running to you after I talked with her?” Colson spat out.

  “She didn’t say shit to me. That because she’s afraid
of you?”

  “All I did was talk to her.”

  “Because Birch got between you and Faith before you could do more.”

  “No. I talked to her. Both times I just talked to her.”

  “Both times?”

  “Yeah, I talked to her twice. The first time was the day she took on the Gaines case.”

  “You been talking to her a lot. Harassing her. Threatening her.” Ryan was breathing hard. It was taking all he had not to let loose on Colson and pound him into the ground. “I don’t give a shit how much you want to get Gaines, you don’t go near Faith.”

  “I didn’t hurt her. I’m not the one who assaulted her. I was nowhere near her that night. I was at Bailey’s Bar watching the Packers.”

  “I’ll be checking out your alibi.” Ryan’s voice was deadly. “If you’re lying to me, you’d better find a deep hole to crawl into where I can’t find you.”

  “She’s lying if she’s telling you different. Not surprising. She lies for a living. You’d see it for yourself if you weren’t fucking her.”

  Ryan drew back his fist and slammed it into Colson’s face, knocking him to the floor. Colson cried out. Cartilage broke and blood spewed.

  “Stay away from Faith.” Ryan’s voice dripped acid. “If I come back here, you’ll be going out on a stretcher. You’re suspended until further notice.”

  “You’re suspending me? How hard are you working this case now that your girlfriend wants to get Gaines off?” Colson swiped his hand across his now broken nose, smearing blood across his face and hands. “Your ass is gonna be mine, Ryan. Internal Affairs is going to hear about this.”

  “IA knows where to find me.” Ryan pointed at Colson. “You remember what I said about Faith.”

  Ryan had left the door open when he’d entered. Without bothering to close it now, he strode out into the night.

  * * *

  Judge Houghton had wasted no time denying Faith’s motion for a change of venue for the Gaines trial. She gave up trying to concentrate on an appeal and looked up from her laptop. She couldn’t get her encounter with Colson out of her mind. And now there were two of them. She should have told Ryan about the first in the cab, but she hadn’t put any stock in it. Or maybe she had for an instant, before she’d dismissed it, and that was why she’d told Ryan to ask his cops. Was Colson her attacker? She’d been scared that night, in pain. He’d been behind her the entire time and it had been so dark. She didn’t know.

  She needed to find out. She’d left a message for Ryan a while ago. She would tell him about Colson when he returned her call.

  That should have made her feel better yet Colson remained on her mind. In addition to the menace she’d felt coming off of him, his words about her father had stayed with her.

  Her father had lost something when her mother died, something he hadn’t been able to get back and as hard as Faith had tried, as a child of seven, and every day of her life after, she had not been able to fill the void her mother had left in his life. But they had been living, putting one foot in front of the other every day.

  The wind howled, rattling the windows. Feeling restless, she left her seat at her kitchen table. A full moon lit the night. Outside the window above the sink, the dark woods loomed, vast and forbidding. She hadn’t always thought of the woods with aversion. Once the woods had been her favorite place to be. Her fondest memories of her father were in those woods, taking long walks by his side as a child, with her small hand tucked in his as he pointed out nature’s beauty.

  Later, they’d celebrated each milestone in her adolescent and teenage years with a walk in those woods. Being in the woods had helped. Those woods had been a happy place for Jackson and that had made it a happy place for Faith.

  But that had been before he was accused and wrongfully convicted. She could never bring herself to go in there after that without him. Being in a place where he’d once laughed and relaxed, contrasted sharply with the desolate and lost man he’d become in the end. The man Wade County had made him.

  A bitter taste filled her mouth. Angry? Yes, she was angry. Anger so strong, it choked her. It was too late to right the wrong perpetrated on him. Too late to undo what Irwin, a jury, and the State had done. Nothing could bring her father back. He was dead and there was no way to change that. But she’d resolved to prevent what happened to him from happening to another innocent.

  She’d gone into law and worked as a public defender to provide the best legal representation possible to those who would not otherwise receive it. Like her father. She’d made it her mission to keep another person from Wade from being put to death. Colson’s words returned to her. Or was that what she’d been telling herself for the last three years?

  Was everything she’d done an attempt to strike back at the people in Wade? Had she let her hatred of Irwin drive her?

  She’d told James that they would win together. She knew her ability, knew she was a good lawyer. While James stood a better chance with her as his lawyer, the outcome of a trial was not assured. The evidence against him was staggering. James could still end up sentenced to die. Was Colson right? Was she using James Gaines for her own purpose?

  Her face reflected back at her in the window. Shaken, she turned away from it.

  She heard a vehicle pull into her driveway and then the doorbell. It was after eleven. The sound of her doorbell was enough to put her on edge, even with Officer Street, who’d relieved Birch, parked in front of her house.

  She went to the door and saw Ryan through the peep hole. Not surprising that he would stop by rather than call. She let him in. His body was rigid. She could feel tension and anger radiating off him but when he reached out and cupped her cheek, his touch was infinitely gentle.

  His eyes bore into hers. “Are you all right? Birch said Colson didn’t touch you. Is that right?”

  Of course Birch would have told Ryan about Colson. “He didn’t touch me. I’m fine. Is Colson the man who attacked me?”

  “He says no. We’ll be checking out his alibi.”

  Faith felt a near crushing disappointment that it wasn’t over. “You spoke with Colson?”

  Ryan gave her a curt nod. He was still holding her face. Blood smeared his knuckles, and even though he was standing in front of her, her stomach clenched. “You’re hurt.”

  He shook his head. “Not my blood.”

  Colson’s, she guessed. Softly she said, “You shouldn’t have gone after Colson.”

  Ryan’s eyes blazed. “There was no way I wouldn’t.”

  He was still holding her face. He brushed his thumb down her cheek once then removed his hand altogether. As soon as he was no longer touching her, she missed his touch. Missed him. Don’t go there. She closed her eyes but when she opened them, the longing for him had only sharpened. She thought of how he’d been giving her his strength since she’d taken on this case. How she’d let him. Just looking at him now made her heart squeeze as it had one year ago.

  * * *

  Ryan rolled his shoulders against the tension that had them bunched tight, but still it remained. He was fighting the need to take her into his arms. With Gaines now free, with her attacker still out there, Ryan wanted nothing more than to secure her somewhere safe where the evil of the world would never touch her. He’d been a cop too long and knew that no such place existed but that wouldn’t stop him from doing everything in his power to protect her.

  Faith wrapped her arms around herself. “Do you have any leads on James?”

  Before seeing Colson, he’d spent another day and night on the street with most of his force hunting Gaines. “Nothing yet. You spoke with Gaines before he walked. Did he give you any idea where he would go? Anyone he’d become friendly with in Wade?”

  “No. Nothing like that. I don’t know where he could go. His face is known. He’ll be recognized on sight. Shelters will be closed to him. He was afraid for his life after being shot. He told me that much.”

  “He’s not going to find himself safer out o
f police custody. The best thing for him is my people between him and the general public. He may contact you.”

  “Me?” Faith paused, thinking about that. “Doubtful.” She shook her head. “Maybe.”

  Ryan had been afraid of that and hearing her confirm his fear, the flame burning in his gut burned hotter. “If he does, if he wants to meet with you somewhere, call me. Do not meet with him alone.”

  “I won’t meet with him,” Faith agreed then added, “James has no reason to want to hurt me.”

  Ryan eyed her. “He had no reason to hurt Sharon Fahey either, until he did. Fahey was his champion, just as you are, and it isn’t only Gaines. The bastard who assaulted you is still out there.” Ryan’s voice dropped, filled with emotion. “Do you know, can you possibly know, what it does to me seeing you hurt, knowing you’re in the crosshairs of some asshole? And now with Gaines on the loose, come home with me where I can protect you myself. I won’t touch you. I’ll sleep on the couch. I just need you safe.”

  Faith gripped her elbows hard enough to stretch the skin on her knuckles. Her breath came hard and fast. “Don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

  He hadn’t meant to bring up their history. It would only work against him, but the thought of her in danger triggered a fear in him the likes of which he’d never known before. “I’m not going to apologize. I want to make it difficult for you to tell me no. I want to make it damn near impossible for you to tell me no because you want to be with me every bit as much as I want you, but this isn’t about that. It’s about keeping you safe and if pressuring you to put aside for the moment all that’s gone down between us will accomplish that, then that’s what I’ll do. Nothing is more important to me than your safety. Nothing. If you believe nothing else, believe that.”

  In a whisper she said, “I do believe that.”

  He blew out a breath then rubbed a hand down his face. “But you’re turning me down anyway.”

  Faith didn’t respond. Her silence was response enough. Old frustration, old failure over her surfaced. And fear. Fear that a clock was winding down and time was running out for Faith as it had for Sharon Fahey.