Chapter 8

Slate

“W hy would you tell him that?” Emma was in panic mode since the sheriff was on his way to her home.

“Because he wanted to know why I was so interested in this case, and I had to tell him something.” Cross wasn’t an idiot, and he was right to be suspicious of the MC’s general interest in the wife of a missing doctor.

“So you told him that I’d called your club to help when Alex didn’t come home?” Her voice grew louder with each syllable until she could summon dogs from all over Steel City.

“Yeah. I told him his colleagues had never been helpful when he put his hands on you, and we were able to convince him that beating women is a shitty thing to do. He bought it.” It wasn’t all that unheard of for law enforcement to give preferential treatment to so-called important people.

Her shoulders fell and she nodded her head for a full minute. “Yeah. Okay. All right. I’ll remember that.”

“I’ll stay close for the first few minutes while keeping an eye on Ash. Promise.”

Her smile was stunning. “Thanks Slate. Truly.”

I got on my motorcycle and headed to her place well in time for Sheriff Cross’s visit. I kept my promise and stayed in the kitchen where I could listen to the sheriff and one of his detectives question her while I watched Ash play in the backyard.

“Did you have a fight?” Cross kept his voice calm and even, there wasn’t a hint of accusation in his tone even though I knew he was suspicious.

“We don’t really have fights, Sheriff. Alex gets mad and I take it, I learned early on in our marriage that it was easier that way. He was upset about the steak, which he tossed across the room and then left to find someplace where they know how to cook a damn steak.” Her emotions were real, and I had no doubt that was exactly what had happened that night.

“You didn’t have enough of his abuse and take him out yourself?”

She laughed bitterly. “The good doctor? Never. You people refused to believe anything bad about him, but you’re so willing to believe the absolute worst about me. The victim.” Her anger was palpable but under the circumstances it was understandable.

“We’re just asking questions,” Cross assured her.

But Emma was slowly finding her backbone. “No, you’re accusing me of doing something to him which I didn’t. Even if I wanted to, this is exactly the reason I couldn’t.” She shook her head, and I turned my attention and my smile to watch Ash jumping rope and singing to herself. “Look, do I want him to come home? No. But it’s odd that he’s been gone for so long and he hasn’t called. Alex is possessive and he never goes more than two hours without calling to make sure I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

“You don’t exactly sound like the worried wife.” The young detective, Massey, was playing bad cop and I hoped he didn’t rattle Emma.

“I’m not worried because I’m his wife and love him, I’m worried for myself. If something has happened to him either you’ll blame me, or he will when he comes back. Don’t you get it? Everything is my fault. If he’s been mugged or something, it’ll be my fault for not cooking the steak properly.” The sincerity in her tone made me want to kill the asshole all over again. “I wanted to take this opportunity to run but I knew how that would look.”

Good girl.

Seeing that she had the cops under control, I went outside to check on the little girl. “You okay Ash?”

She stopped jumping rope and grinned at me. “Is Mommy okay?”

“She’s fine. Stronger than she knows.”

Ash nodded sagely, looking like a child far older than five. “I hope he never comes back.”

Her words surprised me. I assumed she’d witnessed everything but then again maybe she didn’t know what she saw. “He’s not going to hurt you ever again.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah, I promise.” There was something so fucking sweet and endearing about this little girl. She had her mother’s spunk but there was a curiosity there that made her a joy to be around.

“The cops aren’t going to take my mommy away, are they?”

I hoped not. “No.” I wouldn’t let that happen.

“Pinky swear?” She held up her little finger, half-crooked with a trusting expression on her face.

“Double pinky swear.” I hooked our little fingers together and stared at the little girl because for some reason I wanted her to trust me, to believe the words I said to her.

“Wanna play?” Her blue eyes held a hopeful expression as if she really wanted me to say yes but fully expected me to say no.

“Yeah. What are we playing?” There was nothing else I could do for Emma so focusing on Ashlyn seemed like the best course of action.

With a sweet giggle, she pushed me and took off running while she yelled, “Tag, you’re it!”

I couldn’t resist her laughter as I chased after her, letting her get halfway across the backyard before I took off after her.

Still, I couldn’t stop my gaze from darting towards the house, hoping like hell that Emma was doing okay inside.