Chapter 10 Cami #2
“He’s still here. He won’t let the dog out of his sight.
” She frowned. “He hasn’t ingratiated himself to my fellow officers.
He must really care about you.” She swept her arm in front of her, reminding me that I was being deposited back into the small, windowless room with a metal table and two chairs, by myself.
I only had a few minutes to pace and sigh and mentally run through gratitude exercises, this time adding Bella’s continued safety and Kyle not leaving me here alone to my list. Then the door opened again, and my new interrogator joined me.
It was the man in black, the one who’d seemed to be in charge at the scene of my detainment.
He sat down and placed a manila folder on the table in front of him.
“Ms. Vaughn, please have a seat,” he said. His voice was flat, unemotional.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s Dr. Vaughn.” Normally, I didn’t insist on the title. But under the circumstances, given the ongoing detainment, excruciating boredom, and obviously useless fishing expedition, I was pretty damned salty.
“Dr. Vaughn, please have a seat.” He smiled, but it wasn’t friendly. “This won’t take long.”
I sat down but kept my arms crossed in front of me.
This session began with the same series of questions as the previous ones.
How did you come to be in possession of a female English Staffordshire on the date of August 11th?
I found her on Centennial Street. She was alone, and had no collar.
Why didn’t you check in the pet supply store to find her owner?
She wasn’t in front of the store and I had no reason to believe her owner, if she even had one, was there.
Where did you think the dog had come from?
Could have been from anywhere. She could have been dumped in the town square. A box of abandoned kittens was found in the gazebo there this past May.
What condition was the dog in when you found her?
She was dehydrated, emaciated, and in obvious distress.
I nearly launched into a recitation of the rest of my answers, but he spoke too quickly.
“Tell me about your sister.”
“My sister?” That threw me completely off my game. “What does Lizzie have to do with any of this?”
“I’m hoping you can tell me.” He clasped his hands on top of the folder.
The question, his blank countenance, the manila folder, all raised my hackles. “Lizzie lives in Arizona. What could she possibly know about a stray dog in Maryland, Mr…? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name, detective.”
He raised an eyebrow, my pointed statement obviously catching his attention. “Special Agent Forrester.”
Special Agent. Not a local or even a state cop, then. He was probably with a federal agency, which meant there was something big afoot in my small, quiet town.
“Now, Dr. Vaughn, about your sister.” He flipped open the manila folder and stared down at the paper on top. “She was arrested in three separate incidents on drug possession charges.”
“Two of those were dismissed, and she got probation for the third.” My voice shook. How dare he? Lizzie had been through hell and she’d worked hard for years to maintain her sobriety. “What’s going on here? Why do you have a file on my sister?”
“We just need to be sure there’s not more to your story, Ms. Vaughn.”
“Doctor Vaughn, and I want a lawyer.”
“Dr. Vaughn, you’re not under arrest. Fifth amendment privileges don’t—”
I jumped to my feet. “Then place me under arrest and let me call a lawyer, or I’m leaving.”
He jumped to his feet as well. “You need to calm down.”
Someone banged on the other side of the mirror. We both ignored it. Forrester brushed his suit jacket out of the way and placed his hand on his hip, inches from the gun holstered there.
This is the part where a small, unarmed, and wise woman would sit back down and reiterate her request for counsel. But I was too old for this bullshit and apparently too young for wisdom.
“Is that a threat, Special Agent Forrester? Are you threatening to shoot me for rescuing a sick, starving dog?”
The interrogation room door banged open. I did a double-take when I realized it was Kat in the doorway. “Special Agent Forrester, a word,” she shouted.
The buzz of the police station quieted to silence. I stared at her, wide-eyed, as the agent let his jacket fall back into place over his weapon and he swept up the folder in his hands.
“Cami, you’re free to go,” Kat told me. She took a few steps into the room, giving me space to pass.
Dazed, I walked into the hall to find Kyle and Bella waiting for me. Kyle pulled me into a hug. The shock of the agent’s treatment of me was wearing off and I was shaking, which I didn’t realize until I vibrated against his strong arms.
“Are you all right?” he whispered.
“I’m fine. Really.” I pulled slightly away.
Despite how amazing it felt to have him hold me, I was well-known in town, there were far too many people watching us, and I was going to have enough to live down after this day without adding rumors of an affair with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dog-Loving to the list.
Kyle gripped my shoulders and searched my face, then nodded. He handed me Bella’s leash and turned to follow his boss, who had stepped out of my interrogation room with a sheepish looking special agent behind her.
“Not a chance,” she told Kyle. “Cami’s your priority.” She patted my arm. “You’re done here and are being placed under our protective custody. Kyle’s going to take you home and keep you safe.”
That sounded like what we’d been doing for the past twenty-four hours, but her tone indicated something had changed.
Kat glared at the agent. “As for you...”
She turned on her heel and stalked down the hall with Forrester following her, his head down and his tail between his legs.
I had no idea why the boss at a private security company had that effect on a fed, but I hoped it was because she had the ability to bring the wrath of his superiors down upon his head.
Still, I had questions. “I don’t understand,” I told Kyle. “Do you and Kat work with him? Are you…” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Are you with the FBI?”
He scowled as he watched his boss and the fed enter a room down the hall. “Not in this fucking lifetime.”
“What does protective custody mean, exactly?”
“It means we’ll stop at your place, pack a few bags, and then you’ll come stay at my place. Before you argue, the reason is I have a security system that’s even better than yours. Also, you’ll have to take some of that vacation time you’ve been accruing for the past two years.”
I frowned. “You’ve been talking to Gina?”
He nodded. “I needed to walk her through erasing this morning’s security footage so your employees didn’t see you in handcuffs, and I told her you would need some time off. I’m sorry, I would have told you first, but—”
“But I was in the aforementioned handcuffs.” I nodded, not because I approved of my fate, but because I knew when I was defeated. “What’s going on, Kyle? And how are you and Kat and your company involved? Are you really a security firm, or—"
“Cami, please.” He touched my hand. “Please don’t ask me anything more. I won’t lie to you, but I can’t tell you the whole truth.”
Panic clawed up my throat again, but I swallowed it down.
I patted Bella’s head and took comfort in the way she leaned against my leg.
Kyle wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
Despite knowing he was hiding things from me, I wanted to trust him.
I would let him watch over me and be my hero again, at least for now.