Chapter 7

Slate

I held my breath as I waited for the other shoe to drop. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman—or anybody else—had needed our help that pulled us into their deep, dark recesses of their fucked-up messes. For some reason I expected more of Emma, but I shouldn’t have. She might be cute, but she was just a woman, and in my experience, they often brought trouble. She seemed like a good mom, but I waited with a carefully blank expression for her to tell me that she had a side piece with a criminal record or a big ass life insurance policy on her husband. “More, how?”

She shook her head and kept her gaze focused on her fingers as she began to speak. “One night a little over a year ago Alex took me out for a romantic dinner, which was out of character for him, but I guess I was starved for attention, so I didn’t question it, not even to myself. Her smile was sad. “It was a nice meal, and we talked and laughed in a way he hadn’t since before he put the ring on my finger. We took dessert home and opened a bottle of wine.”

My nostrils flared and the heat of jealousy pumped through my veins. “Sounds like a good thing?”

She laughed bitterly. “You would think but I passed out after two drinks, which was odd. I’m a lightweight but not that much of a lightweight. Two days later DCFS was on our doorstep with a complaint of drug use. I had to go in front of a judge and try to explain why there were benzodiazepines in my system when I didn’t have a prescription.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Alex swooped in and made up some story about being drugged at a club, which the judge bought. Easily.”

“Fuck,” I growled, pissed off on her behalf.

“Yeah. He did it just to show me that he could. He also took Ash out of preschool early once and disappeared for three days. Even though he’s not her father or legal guardian, the cops wouldn’t take me seriously. He thought it was funny.”

“Asshole.” The more I learned about this guy, the more I wished I’d been the one to kill him. “None of this came up when I did a background check on you.”

“You did a background check?” Her eyes were wide and there was a note of anxiety in her voice.

I shrugged, “We needed to know who we’re helping. Anyway, nothing showed up.”

“Yeah well Dr. Edwards is very well-respected in the community. He puts on a good show.” The bitterness mixed with sadness was hard to ignore and dammit how I wished I had the right to hold her close and tell her it would be all right.

“You’re worried that this will make the cops focus on you?”

“Of course I am. Eventually his disappearance will become suspicious. Right?”

I could’ve lied to her, but I sensed a strength in her she didn’t even know she possessed. “Eventually, yes. But I’ll see what I can do.”

“Why? There’s no reason for you to put yourself out for me.”

It was a fair question. “Why did you call the number?” I remembered how shaken she was when we arrived at her house.

“Justin. He was always nice to me when I showed up at the community center for the domestic violence support meetings. He has kind eyes, and he always asked how I was doing. I tucked the card away and forgot about it until I needed it.”

That tracked. Justin was a good guy that you could trust with your kids and your woman. “He didn’t have a problem with you going to the community center?”

She gave me a weak smile. “I’d go there before I did our monthly grocery shop, the meetings were on Wednesday mornings which is when Alex’s department would hold their morbidity and mortality meetings. As the head of cardiology he had to be present, so I knew I had at least an hour where he wouldn’t be checking up on me.”

She wasn’t just beautiful, she was smart and resourceful too. And very likely in a whole lot of fucking trouble. I kept that to myself though because I was determined to find a way to help Emma. “How about we have a beer?”

Her shoulders relaxed just a fraction, and she nodded, offering up a grateful smile just for me. “That would be great, thanks. Something dark and full-bodied if you have it.”

Damn, just when I thought she couldn’t get any hotter. Or be bigger trouble. “Coming right up.” There was no need to give her more bad news at the moment, shit was hard enough for her as it was, so I grabbed two beers, and I let Emma relax with a smile while she watched her daughter get to be a kid for a few hours.