Chapter 48
Elenie
Elenie was past hunger but she couldn’t eat anything. Her eyes, gritty from exhaustion, begged to close but she couldn’t sleep either. Shivers wracked her body. And she was pretty sure she stank.
To hold it together, she thought about Caitlyn and the baby, who must have been born by now. Girl or boy? She hoped they’d have a girl with just as much sass as her mother. She wanted to see her new friends so much. And Roman even more. But it didn’t look as if he was coming.
Elenie rubbed at her chest. Her heart hurt like it had been scooped out with an apple corer.
She tried to have faith. Roman would come through for her in a professional capacity, one way or another. That was the kind of person he was. Sleeping with him gave her no automatic rights to keep tabs on his every move. There was probably a good reason for him to have been with Zena. As she had pointed out, Zena was a better fit for him in every way. And they had history.
Neither Dorsey nor Booth had shown up yet either, but the custody officer had done his job and passed on her message. In a small side room, a Detective Belltower listened carefully as she told him about the CI deal, the data recovery device in her bag, and, with some hesitation, her connection to Roman.
Eyebrows more animated than the rest of his face, Belltower gave nothing away and said little. He made copious notes, brought her a chocolate bar and a coffee that tasted like ditchwater but was at least warm. Then he took her back to her cell, told her to sit tight—like she had other options—and promised he would be back.
Elenie counted the blue tiles that ran in a band, two deep, halfway up the wall. There were twelve across the longest walls and eight along the shortest one. The rest of the tiles were white. She counted the number of rows from floor to ceiling and spent a while estimating how many tiles there were in total. It helped to focus on something so methodical.
She imagined the nearest Zena would ever get to the same experience would be counting ceiling tiles at the beauty salon while she got her bikini line waxed.
The sliding hatch in the cell door clattered across. The custody officer met her eyes through the gap before fitting his keys into the lock on the outside of the door. He pulled it open and stood back.
“This way, please.”
Elenie followed him out into the corridor. Her pulse hammered. The constant wash and backwash of adrenalin was exhausting. She didn’t know whether she felt ready to fight an army or sleep for a week. A sign sayin.
“Consultation Room”
was fixed to the door the officer pulled open and her heart leaped into her throat.
Inside the room, radiating frustration and with a scowl as deep as she’d ever seen, was Roman.
Huge, fierce, and furious, like a dark avenging angel, both hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans, the sleeves of his black shirt rolled up and forearms tight with tension. Her knees threatened to buckle. Never had he looked more attractive. And never had Elenie felt less worthy or more pathetic.
“Detective Belltower says you can have fifteen minutes.”
The custody officer closed the door and locked it behind him. A CCTV camera blinked in the corner of the room.
Roman’s eyes raked over her tangled hair, her sodden clothes, her filthy legs and shoes, and a muscle rippled along his jawline. When he closed the gap between them, Elenie took a step backward, afraid to contaminate him. She’d been in the same clothes for more than twenty-four hours and hadn’t brushed her teeth. She felt disgusting.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
His voice vibrated in her chest.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Elenie glanced away. “I did.”
Roman’s eyebrows knitted together.
“I didn’t have a missed call.”
“I spoke to Zena. She said you were busy.”
He cursed explosively, eyes blazing.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
He looked like he wanted to punch something. She felt dangerously near to breaking down. She didn’t know the rules for needing someone so intensely it made your thighs shake. Being that weak could only end badly for her.
“I didn’t know you’d called. Believe me, I would have come immediately.”
“OK.”
Elenie gave a small nod and a tiny shrug, as if it didn’t matter.
“I think there was a perfect storm of missed communication.”
Roman sounded seriously pissed.
“I was tied up during the evening, and Dougie and Summer stayed at the hospital all night. His phone was off and so was Milo’s. Dougie only caught up on things this morning when he got to the station.”
Roman’s eyes burned into hers.
“I should have been here.”
She chewed on her lip.
“How is Caitlyn? Has she had the baby?”
He nodded.
“A little girl. They’re both doing well.”
“I called it,”
Elenie murmured to herself.
Roman tugged at his ear, jangled his car keys. The awkwardness between them an unwelcome blast from the past. She hadn’t known what to make of him when they first met, and she wondered if she really knew him any better now. It had never occurred to her that his plans in the city might involve Zena.
“Elenie—”
He broke off, muttered a curse under his breath and tried again.
“Look, I’ve spoken with the detective in charge to clarify the situation and Booth’s just turned up, too. Flint PD had the guys Frank was doing business with under surveillance and they moved on them, not knowing the wider picture. Dorsey’s on her way now. She should have fucking been here already but the DEA were caught on the hop as well and she had to head up a coordinated search on your house. You shouldn’t have been held all night without support but all the multiple police jurisdictions muddied the water.”
“I get it.”
“Detective Belltower wants to conduct a formal interview once Dorsey gets here. They’ll let me be there in a professional capacity so I’ll be able to ask questions but not answer any of them. They’ll use digital equipment that will audibly and visually record everything for evidential purposes. Are you OK with that?”
“Sure.”
Elenie nodded, automatically.
Every bit of him was calm and decisive now.
“My advice would be to let the on-call public defender support you initially and, if it turns out you need more specialist legal representation, then I’ll give a signal and we’ll call a halt to regroup. But I don’t think it’ll come to that.”
She nodded again.
“Any questions?”
“Yes.”
His piercing eyes met hers and Elenie swallowed.
“What time is it, please? I’ve lost track a bit.”
Roman moved closer, his huge hands encircling her upper arms. Heat flooded from them, warming her chilled skin. Elenie held herself rigidly in his grip. Exhaustion threatened her shaky control. For a moment she thought he might pull her into his arms, and she closed her eyes, praying for him to do it.
Instead, he hesitated and his hands fell away.
“It’s just before eleven a.m.”
She wondered if he found her as repulsive as she felt.