Both a ceiling and a floor fan hummed in the office, but back here where the cells were the air hung like a wet blanket.
“Give him a fan,” she ordered.
“This ain’t the Holiday Inn. We don’t do our prisoners favors.”
“You know what? You’re a mean son of a bitch.”
“Emily, don’t,” Salem admonished.
The light that shone in the sheriff’s eyes was dirty and cruel, proving Emily’s point.
“Careful, lady, or you’ll be spending time in the cell across from your boyfriend.”
He made boyfriend sound like a dirty word. His son was out forcing young girls to have sex, and he stood here looking at her as though she were trash.
“I’ve done nothing wrong and you know it. You throw me into that cell—” she nodded across the hallway “—and I’ll have lawyers breathing down your neck so fast you won’t know what hit you. Then I’ll sue the shirt off your back.”
Sheriff White clenched his jaw. “Don’t threaten me.”
“Let’s keep the facts straight. You threatened me.” There was no point in staying here any longer. She wouldn’t get another private minute with Salem.
Salem approached the bars. “Don’t give up on me.” He kept his voice low, perhaps hoping White wouldn’t hear.
“Never,” Emily whispered, the fierceness of the word echoing what was in her heart. “I’m never leaving you again. How’s that for a commitment?”
When she tried to pass Sheriff White, he didn’t budge.
“Please step aside so I can leave.”
“You’ve got a smart mouth on you. One of these days, it’s going to get you into trouble.”
Sheriff White had come to town a little bit before Emily and her father and had married Sylvie Therrien. Emily remembered the woman who’d been a cashier at the grocery store. Her memories were fond. Sylvie had been kind and friendly. Never mean. Never in a bad mood.
But she’d married this man. Why? He couldn’t possibly be all bad. He had to have some redeeming features. For the life of her, Emily couldn’t see them.
“How’s Sylvie?” she asked.
His expression flattened. “Leave my wife out of this.”
“Just wondering whether you bully her as much as you do other people.”
“I love my wife. I take care of her.” He stepped close and she whipped her cell phone out of her purse.
“Who’re you going to call?” he asked with a mocking grin. “The cops?”
“Step aside or I’ll call my dad’s lawyer. He’s only two doors down and can be here in five minutes.”
“John Spade’s on holiday.”
He knew! Damn. That was why he’d been in no hurry to move on dealing with Salem, and why he thought it was safe to leave him in that cell without fear of retribution.
Sheriff White did step aside, but he took his time doing it, making the point that she didn’t intimidate him one bit. Maybe not, but her dad’s lawyer would when he eventually returned to town.
Just before leaving, she said, “If I see one more bruise on Salem, I’m calling in the State police. Got it?”
She couldn’t help herself. She’d antagonized the man again, but she hated to see Salem hurt. And she wanted to see Sheriff White taken down a notch.
* * *
EMILY STORMED INTO her dad’s office at the Accord Golf and Cross-Country Resort. “I’m so angry I could spit.”
Her father put his pen down on the papers he’d been reading. “Hmm. I won’t offer you a coffee. Doesn’t look like you need the caffeine. What’s up?”
“Sheriff White. He’s just letting Salem rot in the jail cell. He won’t move him to the county jail where he could at least have a shower. Why doesn’t he have a bail hearing set? We need to get charges laid against White for assault and battery.”
Her dad stood, walked around to the front of his desk and leaned back against it, crossing his legs as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “Stop pacing. Sit.”
Didn’t he get how serious this was? “How can you be so calm? What is this due process everyone always talks about? Shouldn’t White be doing something to get Salem into the system? Shouldn’t we be getting Salem a lawyer from Denver? And where’s that private investigator you said you were going to hire?”
“He’s been in town all weekend asking questions. He’s been discreet. He hasn’t advertised his presence.”
That pulled her up short. “Oh. What did he learn?”
“That Caleb had a bad reputation around town. He committed a few petty crimes to support his habit. When he disappeared, everyone thought he’d skipped out on bail after robbing the supermarket or was running from drug dealers There were a lot of rumors floating around. That’s why no one looked for him.” Her dad took her hands in his, his grip firm. “Doesn’t mean the man deserved to be killed, but there isn’t a lot of affection for him around here. There won’t be too many people up in arms demanding a pound of Salem’s flesh.”
Slowly, her father’s calm manner seeped into Emily. “Good.”
“Also, and even better, I got in touch with John Spade and he’s agreed to cut his vacation short and come back to help Salem.”
Emily’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. I’ve given John a lot of business since I moved here to build the resort. Even so, this is going to cost me a bundle.”
She threw her arms around her dad and held on tight, a little bit weepy and a whole lot happy. “I love you.” Then she pulled back. “Where is John vacationing?”
“Barbados.”
“You’re bringing him back from Barbados? No wonder it’s costing you a fortune. Poor guy.”
“Want me to cancel his flight home and let him finish out his week?”
“No!”
Her father grinned. “Didn’t think so.”
“When will he get here?”
“Tomorrow, and he’ll start working on the case right away.”
“Tomorrow isn’t soon enough, but I’ll take it.” Something had been bothering Emily since talking to Salem this morning. “You know what’s weird, Dad?”
“What?”
“When I told Salem you’d hired a P.I. to investigate, he got really upset. He wanted me to ask you to cancel the contract and send the guy home.”
Her father reared back as though she’d hit him. “That doesn’t sound good. Could mean Salem’s hiding something.”
“Not murder. Salem didn’t kill anyone.”
“No. He wouldn’t. But it’s possible he knows who did kill Caleb.”
“You mean he could be an accessory? I feel sick.”
“Not necessarily. Maybe he has a suspicion and is protecting someone.”
“Who would he care that much about that he would protect them with his life?”
“Len Pearce?”
Emily shook her head hard. “No. I can’t see Salem’s dad doing it. I really can’t.”
“Me, either, but I’m going to tell the investigator about this and get him to look at anyone Salem might be close to. A friend, maybe? Who are his friends?”
“I don’t know, Dad. I’ve been away too often.”
Emily left the club feeling only marginally better than when she’d arrived. The lawyer would be here tomorrow. Excellent. The investigator had been working in Accord all weekend. Also excellent, but what if he found out something that actually implicated Salem instead of clearing him?
What did Salem know that he wasn’t sharing with her?
* * *
BETWEEN THEM, EMILY and the girls found ten other girls who agreed to help with the case against Justin. They had all called in sick this morning. This was so much more important than missing one day of sch
ool. Every one of them had a grievance against him, of various strengths. Iris’s experience seemed to be the worst.
Maybe Justin had been drawn to her ethereal beauty, whether to own or to dominate. Emily couldn’t know for sure. She’d never tried to delve into the mind of a rapist before.
Emily was certain there must be more, but ten was an excellent start. With Aiyana, Sophia and Iris, and Mika to offer support, that made fourteen, plus Emily who marched into Sheriff White’s office on Tuesday morning. The sun shone through the window in stripes through horizontal blinds.
Deputy Hammond raised his eyebrows when he saw them crowd his small office. “You can’t all be here. You can’t visit Salem at the same time.”
Emily stepped forward as their spokesperson. “We’re here to see Sheriff White.”
“He isn’t here.”
“Call him.”
He did right away. He knew something serious was up, not only because this many young girls never walked into the sheriff’s office at one time, but also because of how angry they were.
While they waited, Emily, Aiyana and Mika slipped to the back hallway and greeted Salem. He approached the cell door. “I heard a commotion.” He wrapped his fingers around the bars and his daughters touched them. Salem might be feeling a bit out of his element with them as teenagers, but he’d done a good job raising them under difficult conditions.
They loved their father. Tears formed in Mika’s eyes. “Oh, Daddy, look what they did to your face.”
Aiyana’s look of militancy, the one she’d worn since they left the house, gathered all the girls and walked into this office together, softened for her father.
“How are you, Dad? Did you get the cinnamon buns I bought? Laura said she would bring them over herself to make sure the deputy or sheriff didn’t eat them instead.”
A smile formed on Salem’s lips and he linked his fingers with Aiyana’s. “Laura sat on the cot in the other cell and watched while I ate. White was furious.”
Emily laughed. “That sounds like Laura.”
“Yeah. She brought me coffee, too. Hot and fresh. Better than the rotgut stuff they brew here.”
“What else can we bring you?” Mika piped up. “Are you cold at night? Do you want my blanket?”
Apparently, Mika owned a fleece blanket with raccoons all over it. She never slept without it. The fact that she would give it up for her dad brought a mistiness to Emily’s eyes she had to blink hard to dispel.
“No, honey,” Salem responded. “You keep your blanket, but if you go to Tonio’s, get me some of their homemade lasagna. Okay?”
“You got it, Dad.”
“What the hell’s going on here?” Sheriff White’s voice boomed in the outer office. “What are y’all doing in my office?”
Emily squeezed Salem’s arm then led Aiyana and Mika back out front.
When White spotted her, he frowned. “I should’ve known you’d have something to do with this. What do you want?”
“We want you to open your mind, to consider other suspects besides Salem. We want you to stop harassing him just because he yelled at your son.”
“He bullied my son.”
“It’s about time someone did,” Sophia said.
White spun around, in search of the source of the voice. When he spotted Sophia, he said, “You’re the kid of that wop who owns that fancy store on Main, aren’t you?”
Everyone in the room gasped. Brent Hammond shot his boss a dirty look.
“We don’t use racist words like that.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself using a racial slur.”
“That’s a disgusting thing to say. Apologize.”
“I was taught by my parents to be better than that.”
“What century are you living in?”
The statements came so quickly, one on top of the other, Emily didn’t know who was saying what, only that the reaction was blessed, right and universal.
“These girls have better manners than you do,” Emily said.
“That’s unprofessional behavior, Sheriff.” Brett Hammond’s voice oozed disgust, even though he was the sheriff’s friend.
White looked chastened. “You’re right. I apologize. I shouldn’t have said that.” He turned stern again. “Now tell me what the hell this is about. I’m not letting a murderer out of jail.”
“An alleged murderer,” Aiyana said. “You’re persecuting my dad just because your son is a bast—”
Emily gripped the girl’s arm to cut her off. “We’re here to tell you exactly who your son is, and why Salem felt he had to defend his daughter. Aiyana, tell him what happened.”
The look that Emily sent her said, Keep it cool.
“Justin pretended he wanted to be my boyfriend. On our first date, when we were supposed to go for ice cream, he took me down into the ravine and tried to get me drunk. Then he...did stuff that I didn’t like. When I told him to stop, he got angry because I wouldn’t have sex with him. He ran away and left me alone in the dark.”
“So you sent him the wrong signals. Not my son’s fault if he misunderstood.”
“Tell him how old you were at the time,” Emily prodded.
“Fifteen.”
“That was two weeks ago,” Emily clarified. “How old is Justin?”
White looked a little green. “Eighteen.”
“Right.” Emily cocked her head to one side. “If he’d gone through with it, even with Aiyana’s permission, that would have been statutory rape, wouldn’t it?” She’d done some research and discovered that the laws were more complicated than that, but was counting on the sheriff not knowing everything about these things. Emily couldn’t remember there ever being a rape case in Accord. She just hoped he wouldn’t call her bluff. All she needed was for him to be intimidated enough to see reason.
“That’s not a legal term.”
“Fine,” Emily huffed. “Rape of a child. Corruption of a minor. Carnal knowledge of a minor. Sexual assault. I’m not a lawyer. Take your pick of whatever it would be called here in Colorado.”
The other girls spoke up, all at once, all with the same complaints, angry and wanting their say. They’d kept their emotions pent up for too long about a kid who didn’t deserve the time of day from them let alone sex.
“He had sex with me when I was only fifteen,” Sophia admitted, stepping forward to get into the sheriff’s space. “He was sixteen. He said he loved me. After that night, I never heard from him again. He saw me at school and laughed at me. Age of consent in Colorado is seventeen.”
“Justin’s only a year older than you. It’ll never stick.”
“It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s legal.” Sophia sounded exasperated. “We’re talking about a matter of principle. We’re trying to get you to see who your son really is. He’s a bully.”
“He gets mad at the drop of a hat and uses his temper against people.” Aiyana moved forward beside Sophia. “The morning after I wouldn’t have sex with him, he posted all over Twitter and Facebook that I had, and that he wasn’t the first. He called me filthy names. He said I was a slut.”
She got into his face. “I’ve never had sex with anyone!” she shouted. “I’ve never even been out with a boy. I thought Justin was my first boyfriend, and on our first date, he tried to force me to have sex with him. Your son is a waste of a human body. He stinks.”
Sheriff White didn’t look so hot, but he still came out swinging. “It’s only your word that you’re a virgin.”
“I’m willing to be examined for the record. That point can be proven.”
For an intensely private girl, this stood testament to how much she loved her father.
“I’m a good girl,” Aiyana continued. “I get straight As at school. I dress modestly, but even if I didn’t,
your son wouldn’t have the right to try to force me.”
“He’s done creepy stuff to all of us,” one of the other girls said amid a chorus of “yeahs” and “me, toos.”
“I still say he could have been misinterpreting signals. My kid’s not a rapist.”
The only one who hadn’t spoken was Iris. She stood across from Emily with her skin pale and her hands curled into fists so tightly they looked painful.
Emily waited. Iris’s story was her own. No one could force her to tell it. In this she needed control.
“Yes, he is.” Iris spoke so quietly, people almost didn’t hear her.
Sheriff White’s glare was designed to intimidate. “What did you say?”
She quailed for a moment, but rallied. “I said he is a rapist. He raped me.” Her voice rose. “He had sex with me without my permission. He forced me and he hurt me.” All of that anger finally had a place to go. Iris finally found her voice. “After I said no, he put his hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream. There were no signals for him to misinterpret. I didn’t agree to go out with him. I never wanted to have anything to do with him. He dragged me into an alley and took what he wanted.”
“You can’t prove it.” The sheriff no longer sounded confident.
“I can. I went to the hospital. I had a rape kit done. I was torn. He wasn’t gentle. There were people who saw him with me that night after he finished. I can prove it in a court of law.”
“If that’s all true, why haven’t you?”
“Because I didn’t want the trial. I didn’t want the scrutiny or the ridicule from his stupid friends. I didn’t want everyone to know what he’d done to me. I was too ashamed, but you know what?”
White stared at her with a deer-in-the-headlights fascination. He shook his head.
“The shame wasn’t mine. It was his. I was only fourteen. Not only did he rape me, I was a minor.”
Sheriff White’s Adam’s apple bobbed nervously.
Iris held her arm wide to encompass all of the young women in the room. “Your son hurt a lot of girls. Unless you stop him, he’ll hurt more. This is how many we found in one day. How many more are there? How can we be sure I’m the only one he raped?”
Always Emily Page 22
