37. Abbey

37

ABBEY

"I'm telling you, Captain Hogan, you can't charge him. You can't even hold him." Councilor Lizabeth Paige, the head of the Kindred Mother Ship's Legal Department, shook her head, her long dark hair swishing over her shoulders.

Abbey knew this because she could see the blurry motion and hear the swishing sound. They hadn't had to call the lawyer to represent Solon. The minute the news of what had happened at the reunion had gone wide—which hadn't taken long since a lot of people had apparently recorded the incident on their cell phones—she had been dispatched from the Mother Ship to come and represent Solon.

"Tell me everything," she had demanded and Abbey had listened numbly while Solon described getting a confession from her attacker and then severing his genitals and throwing them on the floor in front of a crowd of her old classmates.

Then she had called the police captain back into the interrogation room and coolly informed them that they had a "Rage Mauling" on their hands and that Solon's actions were protected under the rulings of the World Court which held that no Kindred or Monstrum warrior could be prosecuted for protecting or avenging his human bride.

"Bullshit!" Captain Hogan growled. (Spex had described him to Abbey as having broad shoulders, short gray hair, and "angry-mad eyes.") "We can too hold him—hell, he's going to jail for what he did tonight! Do you know what kind of connections Chris Brander has? His father's a goddamn state senator!"

"I don't care if his father is the President," Lizabeth Paige said firmly. "Chris Brander admitted to attacking and raping my client's human fiancée, Abbey Lennox. My client was well within his rights to punish him for that offense."

"But she said it happened over ten years ago!" Captain Hogan protested and Abbey knew he was pointing at her. She shivered and put her arms around herself.

She'd already been forced to relive the awful details of the attack and admit how Chris Brander had attacked her when the police questioned why Solon would do such a thing. It was something she hadn't let herself even think about—let alone talk about—in years, and talking about the dirty, disgusting, shameful details made her feel like she was vomiting all over the table.

"There is no statute of limitations on rape—at least not where the Kindred or the Monstrum are concerned, officer," Lizabeth Paige told him. "You can't legally hold my client. If you try?—"

There was a squeaking sound as the door opened and a new voice said,

"Excuse me, Captain? There's another one here who says she wants to testify."

"What? Another?" Hogan demanded.

"Uh-huh. Says Brander attacked her too," the other voice said. "Says he, uh, got what he deserved."

"That's the third woman who's come forward in the last two hours, isn't it?" Lizabeth Paige demanded. "It sounds to me, Captain, like you have a serial rapist on your hands. And no, it doesn't matter that these crimes were committed ten years ago—Chris Brander hurt women and you can't deny it!"

"That's still no reason for this big fucker here to rip off his cock and balls!" Captain Hogan sounded upset and angry. "He should have brought him to court!"

"What—so someone like you could argue that he shouldn't be punished just because his crimes were committed over ten years ago?" Lizabeth Paige demanded. "So you could drag his victims up on the witness stand and ask them what kind of clothes they were wearing when he raped them? Because maybe they were ‘asking for it' so it's not really his fault? Is that it?"

She sounded truly outraged on Abbey's behalf and Abbey wanted to be grateful. But right now all she felt was numb. She'd never in a million years imagined her high school reunion ending like this. If only she had just stayed home!

"Please," she said, turning to Lizabeth. "Please, I just want to go home."

"Of course you do." The lawyer put a comforting hand on her arm and squeezed. Then she spoke to the police Captain again. "Captain Hogan, if you don't release my client right now, I promise I'll bring a lawsuit that will bankrupt this whole town. Furthermore, I'll leak to all the press and social media how you're on the side of a known rapist."

"I never said I was on his side!" Hogan protested uneasily. "I'm just saying, his father's really important."

"Which is why I never reported what Chris did to me back when he did it," Abbey said, still feeling numb. "Because I knew his family was too rich and too well-connected and nothing would come of it. I knew that people like you would ignore me or say I was lying." She had begun to cry now, but she couldn't seem to do anything about it. "Do you know how scared I was that I might be pregnant? I was sure my life was over. And it took me years to trust anyone male again. When I did, I wound up with the Wheelchair Killer!"

"The Wheelchair Killer?" Captain Hogan snapped his fingers. "Oh, that's you—the one who got away from him."

"Yes, that's me," Abbey said bitterly. "The poor little blind girl who keeps getting attacked. But guess what, Captain? I am through being a victim. You couldn't catch Henry—if that really is his name—but Chris Brander got exactly what he deserved. Now I want to get out of here and go home! I can't…can't take much more of this." Her voice wobbled and nearly broke and she swiped at her eyes, which were stinging with tears.

"We're going right now." Councilor Paige rose, her chair scraping loudly against the linoleum floor. She reached for Abbey's arm and pulled her to her feet.

On Abbey's other side Solon rose as well, and Abbey saw a golden blur as he made a motion at the police captain.

"If you would please take these cuffs off me, Officer?" he rumbled politely. "They don't fit properly anyway—they're much too tight."

Captain Hogan grumbled angrily but Abbey heard metal clinking and knew he was doing as Solon asked.

"There," he snarled at them. "Now get out of my sight!"

"We'll be happy to," the lawyer said coolly. "Thank you for your cooperation."

This earned her a burst of muttered profanity but the police captain didn't try to stop them as they left.

Abbey wanted to be glad—they'd been at the police station for hours—but she just felt numb inside. She held onto Lizabeth's arm, not Solon's, as they walked out to the parking lot and the lawyer offered them a ride.

"Do you want to go to the Human/Kindred Relations building?" she asked. "It might be a good idea if Chris Brander's father really does have influence. I'll call Commander Sylvan and let him know about the situation."

Abbey shook her head.

"I'm so tired. Please—can't I just go home?" she pleaded.

"Well…all right. As long as you think it's safe," Lizabeth Paige told her. "We don't want this Brander's people coming after you."

"It's fine. I'll be fine," Abbey said tiredly. "Please—I just need to be alone."

"I'll come with you," Solon offered.

Abbey shrugged.

"Sure. Fine."

"All right—let's go then. And if you want, I can have a Kindred warrior come and drive Solon's vehicle back to your house so you don't have to see anyone from your reunion," Lizabeth Paige offered.

"Thank you, that would be good," Abbey said gratefully as the other woman helped her into her car.

Right now she just wanted to go home and take a long, hot shower to wash the awfulness of the day off—if she could.

Lizabeth drove them back to Abbey's house where Aunt Rose was waiting on the front porch.

"Oh honey, I saw what happened on my phone!" she exclaimed, taking Abbey's arm. "My goodness—you never told me that boy hurt you back then!"

"Because I didn't want you to know!" Abbey exclaimed. She was starting to cry again but she didn't want to. "I didn't want anyone to know and now the whole town does!" She was crying harder now. "Look, can…can we please j-just go inside?"

"Of course, honey, I'm so sorry." Aunt Rose put an arm around her shoulder and helped her inside with Solon trailing behind them and Spex nuzzling her neck comfortingly.

After they got into the house, Abbey somehow managed to get hold of herself. She swiped at her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Thank you, Aunt Rose," she said gratefully, hugging her aunt. "I'm sorry I couldn't…couldn't tell you about what happened back in high school. I was afraid that Chris's father would go after you and find some way to shut the shop down."

"The shop doesn't matter to me—you're the one who matters." Aunt Rose hugged her back. "But I know it must be hard, all this coming out like it has."

"Yes, it is," Abbey admitted. She turned to Solon. "Not that I'm not grateful, but…"

"But you are also upset. Because I shamed you in front of your former classmates," he said quietly. "Forgive me, lelka, that was not my intention."

"I know it wasn't." Abbey took a deep breath. "I just…I don't know what I'm going to do now that everyone in town knows what…what he did to me."

"You don't have to do anything at all right now," Aunt Rose told her. "Why don't you take a nice long bubble bath and relax? That always makes you feel better."

"That sounds good," Abbey said gratefully. Earlier she had wanted a shower, but a bath sounded even better. She just wanted to soak in the tub and try to forget everything.

"May I come with you and draw your bath?" Solon rumbled, sounding hopeful.

Abbey hesitated. To be honest, she really just wanted to be alone. But she knew they needed to talk.

"All right," she said at last. "I guess that would be okay."

"Thank you, lelka," he murmured. "Come—let's go."

"Oh, before I forget, I left a pile of mail for you on your bed," Aunt Rose said, as Abbey was turning to go. "And your spare My Eye is on the night table in the usual place. One of those envelopes looked really official and important," she added.

"Thanks, Aunt Rose." Abbey nodded. She didn't really care about catching up on her mail right now, but it was nice of her aunt to put things where she could find them.

At the moment she just wanted to take a long, hot bath and forget everything that had happened in the past few hours.