“He’s right, honey,” Nora said. “My husband has a real knack for reading people. If he thinks Miller is okay, then Miller is okay. All of us are here to help you.”
“But he—”
“Just hear him out,” Duane said with his deep, soothing voice. “I know you’re hurting, and probably a little confused right now, but I need you to think back and remember all the times I’ve helped you. Not once have I ever asked for anything in return, have I?”
She didn’t want to agree, but he was right. “No, you haven’t.”
“Well, now I’m asking. Give Jim a chance. Can you do that for me? Just listen to what he has to say. I’ll be standing right beside you every step of the way. So will Nora and Derek. You can’t keep trying to handle everything alone, sweetie. Let us help you. That’s what friends do.”
Emily’s emotions were a category five hurricane, spinning out of control inside of her. She wasn’t sure what to do, so she locked eyes on Derek, connecting her center to his. Almost instantly, his calming energy came charging across the link, helping her find her logic, even as the emotional winds blew and thunder cracked. She kept her eyes fixed on his hypnotic blues, taking in all that made him unique and amazing.
There he was, staring back at her with a swollen face and a bruised body, hurting terribly in the back seat. Yet, despite everything he was going through, she could sense he only wanted her to be safe and happy. He wasn’t concerned about himself in the least. All his thoughts and desires were about her. Just her.
She suddenly felt ashamed of her selfishness, realizing the situation should have been the other way around. What kind of person was she? She exhaled and took a few deep breaths to calm down and let everything soak in. It did, bringing clarity with it. She decided it was time to be more like Derek and be strong, ignoring her instinct to run. She couldn’t keep hiding from the world, and needed to start trusting those who have gone out of their way to help her: Duane, Nora, and maybe even Jim.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll talk to him.”
“That’s my girl,” Duane said. “Nora, you wanna get Derek inside while I stay out here and referee?”
“Already on it, D.”
Emily gave Derek a sidelong glance as Nora helped him. “You don’t think he told that cop everything, do you?”
“Only one way to find out,” Derek answered with a shrug.
“I got your back,” Duane said. “You have my word on that.”
She nodded and wiped the wetness from her cheeks. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Emily and Duane climbed out of the car and crossed the yard together while Miller and Detective Alison waited on the stoop of the group home.
“The cop is gonna want to know about Derek and what happened to him,” she told Duane. “Derek really doesn’t want anyone to know. He’s private that way.”
“I understand. I’ll talk to Alison. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
Emily touched the elbow on his arm and squeezed it. “You’re a good friend, Duane. Thank you.”
Duane slowed his pace, allowing Emily to move ahead and approach Miller first.
“Emily, I want to ex—” Miller said.
She had planned to keep her cool, but what she was feeling inside couldn’t be contained.
“How could you!” she screamed at him, not wanting to make extended eye contact. If she did, she’d open a connection and have to endure his betrayal all over again and do so on a deep, physiological level.
Duane grabbed her shoulders from behind, gripping her tightly. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Give him a chance, Em. Like you promised.”
“Okay, fine,” Emily said, fighting back the anger. “Sorry.”
She aimed her eyes at Miller, locking onto his consciousness. She knew instantly she had been wrong and Duane was right; Miller was there to help. The curiosity she’d felt from him when they’d first met had been replaced by layers of caution and concern. There were dozens of emotionally charged thoughts festering inside of him, too—he was hiding something, but it wasn’t related to her.
It took another flicker of a moment, but then she had it. Miller was hiding details from Alison. Details about her, but she couldn’t dig any deeper into his mind to find out which details he was holding back. She figured Jim held them back from Alison to protect her, or possibly to lure the cop in for some other agenda. Or was Jim trying to manipulate the cop in some way? She couldn’t decide.
Jim was a jumbled mess of contradiction, none of it balanced or focused. His attention was fragmented, changing channels as the emotional soup percolated inside. Then, just when she thought there wasn’t any more to glean from him, her psychic vision changed when something broke through the swirling gray fog inside of him and peered at her. What she sensed—what she felt was—she couldn’t think of any other way to describe it . . . endearment.
Jim held his hands up by his shoulders, close to his body, palms out—the exact same gesture he used when she’d first met him.
Emily approached and Jim quickly pulled her away from Alison and began to explain his actions and motivation. She was hearing his words, but wasn’t listening for two reasons. First, her flash on him had already told her what she wanted to know—he was there to help her. And second, her eyes and her attention were drawn to Alison, who was standing ten feet behind Jim, talking with Duane, hopefully hearing a fictional recap about Derek’s injuries.
Alison turned his head and looked into her eyes, giving Emily a quick flash. The cop was frustrated and annoyed, but she couldn’t feel any malicious intent. He was loosely thinking about Derek, but didn’t seem concerned. Good news. Duane must have done his job and defused the cop’s potential interest.
Her flash continued, showing her that Alison was hiding something, but unlike Miller, it was related to her. She held his gaze, waiting for more facts to reveal themselves, but what she received wasn’t what she expected: underneath his annoyance, she felt something close to happiness. Or joy. Like he was about to tell a joke and then go on vacation.
Before she could discover more about the detective, Duane diverted Alison’s attention away from Emily and the link dropped.
“Em? Are you listening to me? Hello?” Jim asked, grabbing at her arm.
She looked at Jim. “Yes, Jim. Apology accepted. I’m sorry I got so upset, but given the situation, how could I have known?”
“That’s why I wanted to explain. So, are we good?”
“Yep,” she said, giving him a quick smile. “Can we go see how Derek’s doing?”
He nodded and gave her a quick hug. “Good idea. Someone needs to make sure Nora isn’t scaring the crap out of the house monitor.”
She laughed. “I really like her. She doesn’t take grief from anybody.”
“Neither do you. You two are so much alike, it’s scary.”
Emily held up her right hand and made a claw shape with her fingers, then let out a sharp hiss like an angry cat.
“Exactly,” Jim said with a grin, turning for the front door. Emily followed him inside, with Duane and Alison close behind.
They walked into a large, open room filled with two weathered couches, a wall-mounted TV, six beige recliners, and a wall of shelves stuffed with paperbacks.
Derek was sitting on one of the couches watching Nora lecture a man who Emily assumed was the group home’s night monitor. He was a little taller than Miller but thin as a board. His receding hairline made him look much older than his face, and his brown eyes were blinking abnormally.
When Emily got closer, she picked up on Nora’s conversation in mid-stream.
“—had a nasty fall down a flight of steps. He needs to rest for at least a week. No school and no strenuous activity. And until his jaw feels better, he shouldn’t eat solid food. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am. Crystal,” the tall man replied, nodding like he was hopped-up on speed.
“What about you?” Nora asked, glaring at Derek.
“Yes, ma’am.
My orders are to lay around the house and eat. I think I can handle that,” Derek replied, with a huge grin on his face. “What about Em? Can she stay for a bit?”
Emily crossed the room and sat on the couch next to Derek.
The house monitor looked at Nora. “Is that acceptable?”
Nora folded her arms. “Yes.”
“Then, by all means, she can stay,” the house monitor told Derek without hesitation.
Alison broke in. “Thank you, Mr. Thomas. I’m Detective Alison, of the Phoenix PD.” Alison took out his badge and flashed it at Thomas. “If you provide the number, I’ll call Derek’s correctional supervisor and clear his absence for the next week. However, his CS might want to stop by and check on things before then.”
Thomas peered at Nora again.
She nodded.
The house monitor looked back to Alison. “I’ll find the number for you and make sure the staff is made aware, Detective. Anything else?”
“Is there a place where Mr. Miller and I can have a private conversation with these two kids?”
Thomas nodded. “You can use the study room. It’s just down the hall past the kitchen.” He gestured toward the back of the house. He turned and made a quick exit, keeping his head down and legs moving.
“And I think that we need to be going,” Nora said to the group. “We have kids waiting for us at home.”
She looked at Emily. “Do you have a place to stay tonight? You’re welcome to stay with us if you need to. Isn’t that right, D?”
Duane hesitated, looking at Miller before he answered his wife. “Ah, sure. I don’t see why not. The more the merrier.”
Emily couldn’t accept. “I appreciate the offer, but I have a friend expecting me down at the Phoenix Central Shelter. She’d be worried if I didn’t show up. That’s nice of you though. Maybe next time.”
Nora frowned. “A shelter?”
“Don’t worry. I’m used to it. I stay there all the time.”
Nora looked at Duane and shot him a concerned look. He nodded.
“Okay, then. I guess that’s settled,” Nora said with a hint of disappointment in her voice. She scanned the room, giving everyone a piercing look. “Who’s going to make sure she gets to the shelter safely?”
“I will,” Jim answered.
“Very well. Then I guess that about covers it. I’ll be back in the morning to check on things.”
“I’ll be here, too,” Emily told her.
Duane held out an open arm, aiming it at the front door. He bowed in front of his wife. “Your chariot awaits, my queen.”
“Thank you, Nora,” Emily said from the couch as Team Morris walked away. She nudged Derek with her elbow.
Derek seemed to understand and turned his eyes toward the door. “Yes, thanks Nora. Thanks for everything.”
“And Duane,” Emily added with an apologetic tone.
Duane looked back just before he went through the door. He pointed two fingers at his eyes, then turned his hand around and pointed one finger at Derek.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Ten minutes later, Emily, Derek, Miller, and Detective Alison were sitting around the study table in the common room, chatting and getting to know each other better. Each member of the group had taken turns sharing something about themselves.
“Well, we should probably get to it,” Miller said, looking at Alison first, then at Emily. “Are you willing to hear what Detective Alison has to say?”
His change in tone worried Emily, but she needed to know more. “Yes. I’m all ears.”
“Me, too,” Derek added, scooting his chair close to Emily.
Jim motioned at the detective.
Alison cleared his throat, then began. “Lemme make a few things clear. First off, both of you are very fortunate. I hope you realize how damned lucky you are to have a good friend like Jim Miller going to bat for you. Without him, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here amicably like this. And I say that as a friend, not as a detective.”
Emily nodded.
Derek didn’t.
Alison didn’t appear to care. “Emily, Jim has gone into great detail with me about what’s been happening to you and as a result, I’m fairly certain you’re an innocent victim in all this. You’ve just been protecting yourself, like any of us would do. However, there are still a number of outstanding questions that will need to be answered once a few things blow over. But more on that later.”
Alison turned to Derek. “And he’s been vouching for you, too, kid. I know you’ve done your time and are trying to start over. That much is clear and I respect that. I can truly say I wish I knew more young men like you. Men who are willing to stand up and take responsibility when they mess up like you did. I’ve lived long enough to know that making something of yourself in this world takes effort and patience, especially when you’re at a disadvantage to start with. Let’s face it, everyone makes mistakes. Some bigger than others. But what you do to rectify them is what defines you and makes you either a stand-up guy, or a—”
“—street urchin,” Emily interjected.
“Yes, a street urchin. Not what I was going to say, but okay,” he said, pausing to look at Miller and then back at Derek. “Anyway, you’re young, and hopefully you’ve learned that there are consequences to every decision you make in this life. That being said, you’re someone else’s problem now. Follow the terms of your early release and you’ll be fine. Just no more bedpans, okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
Alison continued. “I’ve known Miller too long to doubt him about any of this. But where crimes are concerned, I still have people I must answer to—and that’s part two of why you’re lucky.”
He focused on Emily. “What you probably don’t know is that the department is catching hell over you, young lady. Someone in our office let it slip to the media that you’re a person of interest in several incidents that have occurred over the past couple of years. And now the history of your case is biting us in the ass. ABC posted a video of you assaulting that cab driver and stealing his car. Now, it’s all over the Internet. At last check, it had two hundred seventy-one million views, and climbing by the second.”
“Oh my God,” Emily said, thinking about her privacy. It had just vanished.
“Wait. Wasn’t the video already online?” Derek asked. “People usually don’t sit on those things. They love to post them right away.”
“Yeah, sure it was, but it never caught on. Not until the national networks jumped on the story. Once they linked all the aspects of the case together and reposted it, the views went through the roof.”
Derek nodded. “Something needed to spark the viral.”
“It always amazes me how that occurs, once a tie-in to law enforcement happens. People with nothing better to do have gone out of their way to swarm the social media sites and hound us for harassing a teenage girl who they think is scared and in trouble. They’re fabricating all kinds of shit about why you were naked and in the middle of the street. Every one of their lies is making us look bad across the board.”
Emily looked down at her hands, remembering the beating she gave the cabbie. “Sorry, I was just protecting myself. He tried to grab me. I had to get out of there.”
“The worst part of it—for us working stiffs at the department—is that the mayor’s wife has decided to make your case her sole mission in life. And everyone knows who wears the pants in that family. She’s a self-important, preening socialite who’s using her political position to make a big stink about you. Probably to help bolster her plans to run for office. Word has it, governor in the next election. She’s a real piece of work, I tell you. In fact, I’ve got a clip I should show you. It’s from an interview she gave on Good Morning America.”
Alison swiped his smartphone, clicked a few buttons, and played the video. A classy, middle-aged brunette with perfect makeup and hair appeared on the screen. Her vigorous voice was clear and concise, like a politician announcing her run for office.
“—I’m outraged at the sequence of events. Members of the Phoenix Police Department shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer money chasing an innocent young girl who’s probably the victim of a sexual predator. My husband’s office has received reports that this poor girl may have been abducted from her home and forced into a life of prostitution, and God only knows what else. City officials should be trying to rescue her, not have her arrested and treated like a common criminal. To that end, I’ve asked my husband, the mayor of this great city, to appoint a special citizen-led oversight committee to look into every aspect of this girl’s case. Rest assured, we will get to the bottom of this. If anyone knows the whereabouts of this helpless child, please get in touch with me immediately. As a society, we have a duty and a responsibility to protect our youth, and this girl obviously needs our full attention. I’m asking all citizens to unite in this quest and help when and where you can. Together we are strong. Together we can effect change. Together we are invincible.”
Alison tapped the screen and the video shut off. “That about sums it up, don’t you think?”
“Looks like you’re famous, Em,” Derek quipped.
Emily put her head in her hands. “That’s the last thing I wanted.”
Then she looked at Alison. “Why do they think I’m a prostitute? Where did that come from? Because I was naked?”
Alison shrugged. “Doesn’t matter why. The point is, it’s all terrible press for us. The entire world is watching, and the mayor is pressuring my boss to make this all go away. And that means my boss is pressuring me to make it all disappear. Combine that with Miller’s testament on your behalf, and I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to make it all vanish like it never happened. But you have to promise to stop showing up anywhere close to a crime scene. And you can’t be connected to any more bodies.”
Emily swung her head around and looked at Miller sitting to her left.
He nodded to her, gesturing with his eyes to Alison.
“Okay. I promise,” she said, trying to sound genuine and resolute. “But I don’t know anything about any bodies.”
Glassford Girl: Boxed Set (Complete Series) (Time Jumper Series) Page 36
