Mending Fences

Dani gave her a resigned look. “Yes, ma’am. Does Josh have to be in at midnight?”

“He’s got a one a.m. curfew tonight, since he’s not driving.”

“That sucks.”

“Take it up with the court of appeals in the morning,” she suggested.

“Who’s that?”

Emily grinned. “Me.”

If she could get her kids through the next few years with their hearts and limbs in one piece and their minds at least halfway well educated, she would consider herself lucky. She thought of the brokenhearted sobs she’d heard earlier and amended the thought. She was already darn lucky.

Chapter 6

Present

The whole scene at the police station was totally surreal. Marcie felt as if she were caught up in a nightmare. All she wanted to do was grab her son and run. She’d declared him innocent until her throat was raw, but no one was listening to her. The two detectives had pointed her to a hard chair and told her to wait. She’d watched helplessly as they’d taken Evan off. He was still in handcuffs, and still berating them loudly and with language that made her cringe. Though she understood the fear and anger behind his outburst, she doubted his attitude was helping.

Across the squad room, Ken was on the phone trying to reach their attorney, who only handled civil matters, but might be willing to come to the station in the middle of the night to help them straighten out this mess. Every chance he got, Ken was also insisting that there be an immediate arraignment so he could take Evan home.

“Sir, that’s not going to happen before morning,” Detective Rodriguez told him. He had to raise his voice to be heard above Ken’s nonstop demands. “Why don’t you and your wife go home and get some rest?”

“I’m not leaving my son here so you can railroad him into confessing to something he didn’t do,” Ken snapped.

“We’re not going to railroad him into anything,” the detective responded, his tone growing increasingly impatient. “He’s asked for an attorney and until he has one, we’re not asking him a thing.”

“Yeah, right,” Ken said, getting in his face. “I know how guys like you operate. You want to write this up and get it off the books so you can move on to the next case.”

Marcie saw a muscle working in the detective’s jaw and guessed he was rapidly getting to the end of his rope. She crossed the room and put her hand on Ken’s arm. He jerked it away and scowled at her, clearly furious about her interfering. For once in their marriage, she refused to back down.

“Have you found an attorney?” she asked quietly. “Is Don coming in?”

“No, but he recommended somebody and said he’d give him a call. He told me to call back in a few minutes. He said he’d have another name if this guy wasn’t available. I was about to do that when this joker tried to hustle us out of here.”

Marcie avoided Detective Rodriguez’s eyes and focused on Ken. “Then don’t you think you should concentrate on getting in touch with Don again? Evan needs legal repre-sentation as quickly as possible, so we can put this behind us. The last thing he needs is us making a scene that will make things worse for him.”

“Okay, okay,” Ken said, shooting another lethal look at the detective before dialing the number for their longtime business attorney.

Marcie turned to the detective. “Could I see my son?”

He hesitated a moment, then nodded. “I don’t see why not. Come with me.”

He led the way to an interrogation room. The pretty, dark-haired detective whose name Marcie had forgotten was sitting outside the door, her presence a disturbing reminder that Evan was in custody.

“Let her spend some time with her son,” Detective Rodriguez said.

“Sure,” the woman said, giving Marcie a look filled with surprising compassion. “You doing okay, ma’am?”

“I’ve had better nights,” Marcie told her.

“I imagine so.” She looked as if she wanted to say more but, instead, she merely opened the door for Marcie.

Inside the nearly bare, sterile room, Marcie found her son seated at a table with his head resting on his arms. When he glanced up, she saw the fear in his eyes for a split second before he managed to hide it behind the bravado of a boy trying desperately to prove himself a man.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“I came with your father, of course. Are you okay?”

“What do you think?” He blinked back a traitorous tear that threatened to escape. “You should go home. Dad’s got everything under control.”

Marcie knew better, but she didn’t say that. Resisting the desire to rush around the table and hug Evan, a move she knew he’d despise, she sat across from him instead and reached for his hand.

“Tell me what happened, Evan. Explain to me how the police could have come to this horrible conclusion.”

He frowned at her. “What, are you working for the cops now? You want me to make some big confession so they can use it against me?”

Marcie stared at him in shock. “Of course not. I just want to help. How can I do that if I don’t understand how this happened?”

“It’s not your problem,” he said. “Dad will get an attorney over here and I’ll be out in a few hours. This will never stick.” His cocky expression faltered. “You believe me, right?”

“You’re my son and I have faith in you,” she said, not entirely certain why she couldn’t put any more conviction in her statement than that. Surely this whole thing was a lie. She wanted to believe that her son was incapable of raping anyone. No, she did believe it! Evan simply couldn’t do such a thing.

Unfortunately, Evan heard the note of doubt in her voice. “You’d believe the word of some lying little slut over mine?” he asked incredulously.

Marcie immediately sat up a little straighter and looked him in the eye. “No son of mine will ever refer to a woman—any woman—in that way, do you understand me? And if you expect anyone to believe you about this, I suggest you drop that disrespectful attitude at once. It won’t serve you well.”

Evan blinked at her harsh tone, probably because he hadn’t heard it in years. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “But, come on, Mom, what do you expect? She says I raped her.”

“Did the two of you have sex? Can they prove that?”

Evan’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but Marcie knew this was no time to mince words. She had to be strong and get to the bottom of this, if only for her own peace of mind. “Did you?”

“Yes.”

“Then there’s no question about that much,” she said, her tone matter-of-fact, her heart aching. God, could this be any more of a disaster? “But you’re saying it was consensual.”

“Damn straight, that’s what I’m saying. I know when a woman wants to sleep with me.”

There was an arrogant note in his voice that made her wince. “Oh? How do you know that?”

He faltered at the direct question. “I can just tell, okay? Come on, Mom. Do you really want to discuss this? It creeps me out talking to you about my sex life.”

Marcie wasn’t overjoyed about the conversation either, but she knew his answers were too important to back off just because the topic made them both a little squeamish. “What if she says no? Is that enough for you?” she asked, cursing herself for leaving this kind of conversation to Ken. Who knew what he’d taught his son about sex, probably that a man could get whatever he wanted with enough charm and determination.

Evan pushed away from the table so quickly that his chair tumbled backward and crashed on the floor. The door to the room immediately opened and Detective Rodriguez walked in.

“Everything okay in here?”