“You won.”
“Yep, but I’ll never live it down.”
“My lips are sealed, rabbit defender — I mean, Tom.” Mike let out a roar of laughter and hung up.
Great, Tom thought. What had I’d been thinking when I took that case?
He glanced at his niece again. “Sam, sweetie. I’m sorry. Uncle T.T. has to go to work.” He clicked ‘voice command’ and spoke his sister’s name. She’d be ticked, but what else was new? He was always upsetting his family.
No way could he tell Michelle where he was going. He’d never hear the end of it, but he’d already agreed to be Shelby’s attorney. And from what he read in the file, something wasn’t right.
Shelby had hit her ex-husband with a frying pan, but it had been in self-defense, she’d claimed. And for some reason, Tom believed her.
Chapter Two
Shelby sat in the cold gray cell and stared at the wall. She didn’t cry; she’d stopped crying years ago. The only thing she worried about now was Justin.
Her baby was only two, and the thought of him with that monster scared her. Carlin hadn’t laid a hand on him — yet, but he’d threatened. If she didn’t do what he wanted, he would.
She’d escaped him once after she discovered what he was. But when he found out that she was pregnant again, he tracked her down.
The promises were the same as the first time she’d returned to him. I’ve changed. I’m older now. Please … I’ll never hit you again.
When they’d met in college, she’d been ecstatic that someone of his stature would like her. Sure, she was pretty. Finding guys who wanted to date her had never been a problem. Finding men who wanted something other than a few dates was another thing altogether.
She’d eventually gotten so tired of the comments about her homestead that she’d stopped dating in high school. But when she started college on a running scholarship, it’d been a different story. Her grades had earned her enough money in scholarships that she’d been able to live on campus and had even been able to buy a few nice clothes. All of a sudden, she’d become somebody.
She didn’t have to marry Carlin. She was smart, she had great grades, and a chance of making more of her life than her mother had.
But when the prince of Ashville gets you pregnant and then claims undying love and that he’ll take care of you forever, how could she resist?
She just hadn’t known that the ‘undying’ love meant that he loved her so much he’d eventually kill her. When he’d beaten her so badly that she lost the baby, she’d escaped.
She’d tried to press charges, but his parents squashed that. They’d made it clear that no matter what happened, she’d lose and promised that they’d take care of it in their own way. They’d done nothing but reinforce his violent behavior, but that was how wealthy families handled things. Anything was better than airing out their dirty laundry for the world to see.
After the divorce had gone through, Carlin wooed her with flowers, expensive dinners, and talk that he’d gone to counseling. She didn’t believe him, but since she’d given up her scholarship and had been having a hard time finding a good job, she’d wanted to believe he’d changed.
When the beatings started again and she found out she was pregnant, she had to leave. She couldn’t lose another child because of him. The problem was … Carlin knew how to beat her without leaving any marks, so she couldn’t press charges —
The clang of the heavy steel door that locked the corridor of the women’s section off from the rest of the prison broke her from her thoughts.
The friendly caramel-skinned woman she’d met the first day stepped in front of her cell. “Hey, Castle. You’re outta here, honey. Grab your stuff.”
Shelby tilted her head in confusion. The judge had set her bail at five hundred thousand. No way would her family have been able to come up with the fifty thousand to pay a bondsman … even the deed to her mother’s trailer wouldn’t have come close to that amount.
She’d seen her brother in the back of the courtroom, looking uncomfortable and out of place in his work overalls. Thankfully, he’d remained calm, though, and hadn’t gotten himself arrested by acting the fool. If Carlin hadn’t been in a coma and had made it to her hearing, Andy would have ended up arrested too, she was sure of it.
“How?” she finally asked. “Who would have bailed me out?”
The guard shrugged. “Dunno, but be grateful.”
Grateful? Shelby wasn’t so sure about that, but she gathered up her few items and followed the woman down the corridor. She hadn’t come in with anything, so it didn’t take long to go through the paperwork.
Once everything finalized, another guard led her to the exit.
“Hey, baby.”
Carlin’s voice slithered over her skin like a muggy August morning, and her stomach twisted in knots at the fact that he’d woken up from the coma.
She looked up to see white gauze wrapped around his head and an eager-looking Justin perched on his hip.
“Ma … ma,” her two-year-old squealed.
Without warning, her eyes flooded with tears of love and embarrassment that her son was in the county jail. She couldn’t believe that her loser ex would bring her son with him.
When they’d informed her that Carlin was in a coma, she’d hoped that he wouldn’t wake up. She knew that meant she’d probably get life in prison, but at least her baby would have been safe. Her in-laws might have been ignorant and blind when it came to their son, but they would always take care of their grandson. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about his safety.
“Ms. Castle.” Shelby turned to see the same handsome man who’d met with her for a few minutes on Friday. He’d said that he researched her arrest and had wanted to speak with her on Monday, but he’d agreed to take her case. He’d only asked her two questions: Did you hit your husband? and If so, had it been in self-defense? She’d answered ‘yes’ to both, signed a few pages accepting him as her lawyer, and then he’d said he would see her on Monday. “Can I have a moment, Ma’am?”
Carlin stepped in between her and the man. “The charges have been dropped. We aren’t in need of your services.”
The lawyer, Tom, she remembered, took a step forward. “I need a moment for Ms. Castle to sign paperwork, releasing me as counsel. And excuse me, I understood that she’s your ex-wife. Did I misunderstand?”
Shelby couldn’t stop the smile that lifted her cheeks. Thankfully, Carlin’s back was to her, but Tom saw it.
“Since you are her ex-husband, you are not entitled to be present.” Tom motioned that she should follow him. “Right this way, Ms. Castle. There’s a room down the hall we can use.”
She started to walk off, but Justin squealed. “Oh!” She turned to Carlin and caught her son as he squirmed out of his father’s arms. Her ex-husband appeared too stunned to protest. She scooped Justin up against her chest and hurried after her attorney.
Tom opened the door and pulled out a chair for her to sit.
Shelby plopped down, squeezing Justin to her chest. “I missed you, baby.” She kissed the top of his head. He leaned back so she’d kiss his cheek too, then nuzzled against her neck.
She examined Tom as he sat across from her. Man, he was good looking. She probably shouldn’t be thinking about things like that, but she couldn’t help it. He had the prettiest hazel eyes that stood out under long sun-bleached eyelashes. His hair was light brown, but it too had a natural hint of gold in it.
He dug inside his briefcase. “So,” he began, as he removed a manila folder with her name written neatly across the tab, “they dropped the charges?” It was a question, not a statement. He folded his hands on the table and looked up at her for an explanation, it seemed.
“I’m as shocked as you appear to be,” she admitted.
One side of his mouth inched up as he leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest, revealing how well built his upper body was. “Well, at the moment, I’m still bound under attorney-client co
nfidentiality. Care to elaborate? Since you told me that you struck your husband — excuse me, ex-husband — but it’d been done in self-defense. Are you in danger?”
Shelby peered down at her son, who appeared to be oblivious to the conversation and just happy to be in her arms. She had to think of him. She couldn’t let Carlin hurt her son; Justin was all she had. “I honestly don’t know.”
“You said you hit him in self-defense, correct?” He lowered his head and stared at her as though he were now questioning her statement. “If he’d been abusing you, why didn’t you press charges?”
She laughed. Not really a laugh, but it burst out of her mouth like a laugh. Was he serious? Didn’t he know her ex-husband, or rather, his parents? She’d thought that everyone knew the Castles. Carlin was a loser, but his family would do everything in their power to conceal it. “You obviously wouldn’t understand and must not be from Ashville,” she said on a sigh. “Where are the papers I need to sign?”
Tom leaned forward. “I know exactly who your ex-husband is, but that doesn’t give him the right to abuse you. Why don’t you try me?”
Shelby rolled her shoulders. She was so tired. And what difference would it make to spill her guts to this man? “I’ve got to figure out something, I know. I’m just not sure what.” She sighed again, wanting desperately for him to believe her for some reason. “He beat me so badly that I lost my first baby, so I left him. Then he promised he’d changed.” She dropped her head against her chest. It sounded stupid even in her ears. “The problem is ... Carlin knows how to hurt me without leaving marks. He uses a phonebook or any other large book.”
Tom dropped his head, shaking it back and forth. “The Miami lie-detector test,” he grunted.
“The what?”
“Supposedly, it’s what bad cops do, a way to get a confession without leaving any marks. But I’ve never heard of anyone doing it … that’s only in the movies.”
“And ignorant ex-husbands … and obviously, it works,” she choked out. “God, how did I get myself into this?”
“There are centers for abused women, you know. He won’t find you. I can arrange it.”
“No, no. It’ll only tick him off, and he would find me. I just have to get away for good.” She sucked in a gulp of air. “Can I sign those papers, please?”
He pushed the papers toward her, then took off the cap to an expensive-looking pen and handed it to her. He fished through his briefcase again, pulling out a business card. He scribbled something on the back, then handed it to her. “Call me. Anytime. Day or night.”
Shelby accepted the card, made a mental note to memorize the number before she threw it away so Carlin wouldn’t see it and accuse her of cheating again, and then scrawled her name across the paper in front of her as she pushed back from the table and stood. “Thank you, Tom. I will.”
She walked out of the tiny conference room and approached Carlin, who was standing right outside the doorway. She stopped in front of him, noticing how Justin gripped onto her when he saw his father. “How’s your head?”
Chapter Three
Tom watched Shelby walk out of the room, out of his life.
What was it with him? He needed his head examined. He’d tried to convince himself that it was just a great case. If he could get her acquitted after she’d practically killed her husband, with a frying pan of all things, his reputation as a criminal defense attorney would be stellar.
Of course, he didn’t want to get scumbags off; he wanted to get the truly innocent people cleared after they’d been wrongfully accused.
His first case had almost been Chad. He knew he was innocent when the authorities had thought that he’d murdered his wife in cold blood. But Tom had recognized the truth in his eyes. It wasn’t because he was his best friend; he had a talent for identifying the truth.
Of course, he’d had years of practice with his sister. Though she’d rarely told the truth as a child, he’d learned to tell when she was. And that was the key for his career.
He might not always know when someone was lying; criminals were experts at fabricating stories. But he’d learned to tell when someone was telling the truth. It was the depth of their eyes that lent truth to their words, as opposed to the blankness when a person lied. It was almost as if he could see into their soul.
Again, the thing that he’d recognized in Brandy when she’d told him she felt nothing other than friendship for Chad. When she spoke about Chad, or worried that he’d be arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, she’d told the truth, and her eyes lit up like fireworks on Independence Day. When Brandy told him she loved him, they didn’t.
Shelby fascinated him. Yeah, she looked like Brandy, but she wasn’t anything like her. Brandy had been street-smart, but she was uneducated and uncouth.
Shelby on the other hand was both. Her slow southern drawl made her sound as though she couldn’t keep up, but her eyes were sharp.
He’d only spoken with her for a few minutes on Friday. Long enough to agree to act as her counsel, sign a few papers, and set up a time to discuss the case on Monday.
But during those few minutes, she’d asked all the right questions, taken notes, and didn’t harp on her innocence. In fact, she’d said nothing about the case until he’d asked her. He hadn’t asked her if she was guilty; he’d asked her if she did it and if it’d been in self-defense. In court, they would have accused him of leading the witness, but he’d wanted her to know that if she told him the truth, he’d believe her.
Tom packed up his things and headed out to his car. He needed to get away for the day. It was still early. Too late to pick up Sam, but not too late to make a run. It’d been so long, and he needed a release.
Decided, he sped home.
He changed into board shorts and a Body Glove Neoprene Top. March was still cool enough that he’d need the dry-wear on top. He never wore a full wetsuit. Because once he got paddling, he wouldn’t notice the temperature on his legs, only his body parts open to air got cold.
The Nantahala River had opened for whitewater a few weeks ago, and he’d been dying to go, but too busy. He unlocked his single-car garage and jumped into his Toyota pickup. The kayak was already in the bed, as the only time he drove the truck was when he wanted to kayak. As he sat in the front seat, he realized he should grab a change of clothes and take Michelle out to dinner.
Nah, he decided. Then she’d fuss at him again. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he liked the new Michelle. The old one had been much more fun. Now she acted like their parents.
Normally he’d park his truck at the takeout and hitch a ride with one of the ROCK’s shuttles. But it was too late for that, so he’d have to get a ride with Chad or Mark; they wouldn’t mind.
Worst case, if they’d already left by the time he made it to the end of the run, he’d hitch a ride with a passerby. It wasn’t an unusual sight to see a lone kayaker hitchhiking to or from the put-in. He’d stopped many times for his fellow paddler.
Tom threw his kayak in the water, tightened the straps on his life vest, and then snapped his helmet in place. He lowered himself into the yak, then snapped on the skirt.
Dipping the paddle into the water, he paddled out to the center. The Nantahala was an easy paddle with mostly class-two rapids, but it was the closest river for his needs. And it did have some fun holes where he could literally surf the waves by balancing the downstream force with the upstream hydraulic.
If he got it just right, he could carve the breakers as long as he wanted, until he decided to roll out. He’d seen many a new paddler caught in what he and his friends called a Maytag … because it would thrash them around and they couldn’t get out.
The Bump near the end of the run and The Falls were always enjoyable for a final rush and saving pretty girls. Maybe he’d get lucky and be able to rescue a damsel in distress today.
After all, that’s how Chad had met Cassandra the first time. He laughed inwardly. He loved them both and really had no feelings for Cassandra at
all, but he still couldn’t help but be a little jealous. He’d be twenty-seven in a few months, and it was time he settled down.
“What is wrong with you?” he chastised himself aloud, smacking his paddle against the water in frustration. The reason he’d come paddling was so he wouldn’t be thinking such things, but the river wasn’t holding his attention.
Instead of enjoying the whitewater, he found himself looking at his surroundings. The trees were bursting with new green sprouts, and tiny white and pink flowers dotted the sides of the cliff bordering the river’s edge.
Springtime in North Carolina was invigorating. The scent of the fresh buds and the sound of newborn life fed his soul. It felt as though everyone had a chance to start over every year as the trees and blooming shrubs did.
He passed over the hole he’d been looking for and headed for the pullout. It wasn’t the same. He wasn’t a college student anymore. He would always enjoy paddling, but now, he wanted to do it with someone, his wife, his child. He sighed, not believing those thoughts had entered his head.
Then Shelby’s face flashed through his mind as if someone had pushed play on a remote. Her pale blue eyes had hinted at such sadness. She needed his help, he knew. But how could he force his help if she wasn’t willing to accept?
Chapter Four
Shelby strapped a sleeping Justin into his car seat, then crawled in beside him.
“You’re not gonna sit up front beside your husband?” Carlin growled. She could see his distaste in his dark brown eyes as they narrowed at her in the rearview mirror.
“Ex-husband, remember.” She was tired of reminding him of that fact. She’d tried to make it work. God knows she’d tried. She wanted nothing more than to stop fighting for everything in her life. She’d only moved back in with him a few weeks before he attacked her again.
She wondered briefly if she’d committed some heinous crime in a past life that caused her such grief. She scoffed at her thoughts. She didn’t believe in past lives, but sometimes she wondered why God didn’t put an end to men like her ex-husband.
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