Page 44 of Duress (Birch Falls #3)

EVERLY

T he interrogation room at the police station is cold.

So cold I keep my hands wedged between my thighs in a futile effort to keep them warm.

If they lowered the temperature a degree or two, I wouldn’t be surprised to see my breath misting in the air.

My jaw aches from how hard I’m clenching it to keep my teeth from chattering, but I can’t blame my uncontrollable shivers on the frigid temperature of the room.

I haven’t been able to stop shaking since I woke up in the hospital and realized I killed my husband.

The moment Bryce stabbed Dane with that broken piece of glass, I lost all sense of reason.

The only thought in my head when I saw the crimson stain spreading over his clothing was no.

Not him too. Everything after that is a blur.

The only thing that stands in sharp relief is the memory of how hot and slippery the blood coating my hands was until it cooled and grew sticky on my skin.

That memory will never leave me. I’ve showered and washed my hands dozens of times, and I can still feel Dane’s blood coating my skin.

Now I understand why Lady Macbeth was driven to madness.

I stare at my dry, cracked hands, raw from being scrubbed so harshly, wondering if anyone is ever going to come take my statement, or if they’re letting me sit here in misery until I confess to something.

When I woke up, groggy from the anesthesia they gave me to stitch up the cut on my head, I kept crying out, asking “Where is he?” The abject terror I had been experiencing at the thought of losing Dane before passing out came roaring back as soon as I regained consciousness.

The poor nurse who was taking care of me thought I was asking for my husband.

She told me tearfully that there was nothing they could do for him.

He had a massive head injury in the fall and was unresponsive when the first responders arrived.

My body began quaking as the realization of what I had done hit me, and it hasn’t stopped since.

My eyes begin to droop as I sit there, exhaustion from the last twenty-four hours pressing down on me.

My head aches from the concussion Bryce gave me during our fight.

The nurses kept waking me up every two hours last night to check on my vitals.

There is a bald patch on the back of my head; they had to shave it to put in stitches where the glass from the picture frame cut my scalp.

Briefly I think about how Bryce will hate the fact that I’ll have to cut the rest of my hair short to make it look okay, but then I remember Bryce won’t be around to care.

He’s dead now. The fact that I forgot that almost makes me break out in hysterical giggles.

The lack of sleep and emotional whiplash I’ve been experiencing is beginning to wear on my tenuous grip of my sanity.

The sound of the door opening snaps me out of the delirious path my mind is starting to wander down.

I raise my bleary gaze up to find Serena standing there, out of uniform, a wary look on her face.

Last I saw her, she was at the hospital, waiting for Dane to wake up from surgery.

She had stopped by my room to make sure I was okay, but two officers had already arrived to take me down to the station for questioning .

I made her promise to stay with Dane and contact his mom as soon as he woke up.

She tried to argue with her fellow officers about bringing me in, but the guilt clutching my heart in its unrelenting fist would not allow me to get her involved.

Too many innocent people had been hurt already because of Bryce and his lies, and I didn’t want her to get swept up in my mess.

I just needed her to stay there and make sure he was going to be okay.

I rise to my feet, tears stinging the backs of my eyes, afraid she’s here to give me bad news about Dane.

“Is he…” My words trails off, unable to voice my greatest fear.

“He’s awake. He’s okay.” Serena gives me a sympathetic smile, and my knees go weak, causing me to collapse back onto the cold, hard steel chair behind me.

“Oh, thank fuck.” I sob, burying my face in my hands, unable to hold back the relief I feel.

Serena’s arm snakes around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug as I weep, soaking her soft gray hoodie with my tears. I don’t know how long she holds me, letting me sob on her, as the exhaustion, adrenaline, and fear that has been building up inside of me finally pours out.

When it feels like I’ve been wrung dry, we finally pull apart.

I expect to see judgement or pity on her face, sure she’s here to give me bad news about my situation.

I know we are friends, but she’s also a cop, and I killed a man.

There is no getting out of this for me. Dane will likely tell them about how I helped Bryce cover up the murder of his father, and I’ll be charged with something, I’m sure.

I don’t expect anything less. I don’t deserve anything less.

I know he said he loved me before losing consciousness, but I can’t expect him to be okay with my lies.

No matter if I let Bryce manipulate me into believing they were justified.

“Why are you here? I thought I was supposed to be making a statement or being questioned or something…”

“Dane told me to come here and make sure you’re okay. He told me to make sure you don’t talk to anyone without a lawyer present.”

My mouth falls open in surprise at Serena’s words. “D-Dane said that?”

She nods solemnly. “Keep your mouth shut.” Her words are low, so only I can hear them, but there is a gravity behind them I can’t ignore.

“Do you have someone you can call? A lawyer?” I let out a small, incredulous huff of a laugh at her question.

Lawyers are the one thing I have too much of in my life.

“I can call my dad. He’s a judge, but he knows people. He has plenty of friends he can call on.”

“Good, then call him and tell him you need a lawyer. Do not talk to anyone until they get here. Do you understand me?” For the first time since Bryce stormed into our bedroom, I feel the faintest flicker of hope.

“I understand.”

“Okay, good. I’ll get you a phone and make sure no one comes to take your statement until your lawyer gets here.”

I watch Serena leave the room, trying and failing to keep the hope that this means Dane forgives me for my part in keeping the truth from him from bubbling up. I don’t dare to hope that we still have a future together. Not after everything I’ve done.

Serena returns a few minutes later with a phone I can use.

I call my father and wait for him to pick up.

My stomach is in knots with anxiety. Logically I know he won’t leave me high and dry, and me being arrested will be almost as bad for him as it will be for me, but I still can’t push away the thought that maybe he would’ve rather had Bryce still here instead of me.

When his rich baritone voice comes through the line, it opens the flood gates, and I am once again a young girl who needs her daddy.

“Daddy, it’s me. I need your help.”

Serena sits with me for the next hour while we wait for my lawyer arrive.

When I explained to my dad I was at the police station waiting to be questioned about Bryce’s death, the silence that met me was so complete I thought he had hung up on me.

After a long moment, when he finally spoke, I was surprised by the concern that laced his words.

All he said was, “Don’t say a word. I’ll have Jessica there in an hour.

” His tone was that of the concerned, loving father I hadn’t seen in nearly twenty years.

The fact that he was calling Jessica meant he understood exactly how seriously he was taking my situation.

She was a junior associate at my dad’s law firm before he became a judge, and was one of his star employees.

When he left, she rocketed to the top of the firm, becoming the youngest partner there.

She was on track to become a senior partner there and take on a more managerial role, until ten years ago when her sister was arrested for the murder of her husband, a prominent local politician on track to run for congress.

Jessica dropped everything to handle her defense and managed to prove her sister had been acting in self-defense.

The trial was a circus, and the police botched the investigation, causing the tide of public opinion to turn against her sister, but Jessica managed to build a strong case in spite of that.

Her experience defending her sister highlighted a need for more strong, competent female attorneys defending other women from a system rigged to diminish their fears and support their abusers.

Jessica moved and switched to focus solely on criminal defense, and is now the lead defense attorney at the bigger firm in Richmond.

As far as I know, she only takes high profile cases after thoroughly vetting her clients, and her rates are astronomical, but she is very good at her job.

She uses the salary from those cases to enable her to take on pro bono cases for women without the financial means to hire her.

I don’t know if he is only doing this so that this doesn’t get out of hand and ruin his reputation, or if he truly cares about me, but I will gladly take the lifeline he is throwing me.

I can worry about fixing our relationship after Jessica makes sure I’m not arrested for Bryce’s murder.