Electra Chapter 15 #2
“Electra, we’ve shared two intense kisses, and I want to talk about those. However, before we do, I want to ask you a few questions. It’s a hypothetical and was posed to me. I’m struggling to answer. Will you help me out?”
Relieved that the inevitable was postponed, I jumped in. “Absolutely. Fire away.”
“In your line of work, you encounter bad people who deserve to pay for their crimes. You find ways to obtain confessions and gather information to convict them, among other things. Knowing you, I guess you love that aspect.”
When he paused, I started right in. “Oh, yes, I do. It’s challenging, and it feeds my need to stretch my brain.”
“Do you ever have times when, no matter how good you are or how long you work at it, there are criminals who can’t be brought to justice, or if they are, they buy their way out, or the case gets thrown out, and they walk free due to some technicality?
Or the sentence they get after plea bargaining is hardly above a slap on the wrist?
When that happens, how does it make you feel? ”
I answered without hesitation. “It angers me to no end, Swerve. To know they’re guilty, especially of a horrible crime, and see them walk out of jail or a court free men or women makes me want to scream. The victim or their families are left without justice.”
“Okay, I figured you’d detest it as much as I would.
The next part is, what do you think of people who are solid, upstanding, and out to ensure justice, but when they see that people have been cheated of it, they find a way to ensure there is a reprisal for their crimes?
The criminal gets the max sentence. They don’t ever hurt another person again.
The world is free of their stain. Have you ever had that happen? ”
I wasn’t sure where he was headed with this conversation, but I did answer him.
I clenched my fists. “Yeah, I’ve had it happen to me in the field and to fellow agents more than once.
I watched as a rapist walked away a free man due to insufficient evidence.
The testimony of the woman he raped wasn’t sufficient.
She couldn’t pick him out of a lineup with certainty.
Her description of his body and birthmarks was overruled as not admissible, and he didn’t have to be examined since she said she wasn’t one hundred percent sure it was him.
In the end, the jury found him not guilty. ”
“I bet you hated that. So he walked, and you had to wonder if he’d hurt someone else.”
“I did worry about it, and to my horror, it happened again. He was caught, and that time, he was positively identified, and not just by the victim. There was a pedestrian who heard the woman’s cries and came to the rescue.”
“I’m glad they got the bastard. Have you had times when the perpetrator remained free?”
“God, yes, and it guts me every time. What does that have to do with what we’re talking about?”
“Did anyone take it into their hands when the law wasn’t able to do anything?” His tone was firm.
I looked away, but I answered. “There have been two that I personally know of. One was a victim’s father in a dangerous stalker case.
The other was a mother in a case where a man shot and killed a ten-year-old boy in a shootout between rival gangs.
They claimed the same territory. The kid was coming home from school.
” My voice sounded strangled when I recalled the boy.
“The boy’s mom was the one who was incensed in the last case. ”
“What did they do?”
“The mom attacked the man as he was leaving court. She surprised the bailiffs and reached him. She punched him and bit him. She stabbed him, but she was captured and separated before she did more than stab him once and scream profanities. The second one is a darker case.
“The young woman’s father waited until a couple of months had passed by after the dismissal of the stalker case.
He tackled the offender on the street. The guy smiled at the dad as he asked him how his daughter was.
The stalker told her father that she wouldn’t stay lonely for long.
The implication, according to the father, was that the man planned to go back to stalking her.
They suspected he had already been watching her.
Before anyone could intervene, the father pulled a gun and shot the man between the eyes. ”
I shuddered at the thought of how frenzied his trial was.
Desiring this conversation to progress, I spat out the last part.
“They crucified the father and found him guilty of murder in the second degree. They went for first-degree but weren’t able to prove it was premeditated.
The father always carried a gun with him when he was outside the home.
He was sentenced to twenty years. When they led her dad away after he was sentenced, he was smiling.
A reporter asked him why. He answered that the fucker wouldn’t hurt his daughter or anyone else’s again. Justice has been served.”
“Was he wrong? Was it justice? Or cold-blooded murder?”
“Swerve, why are you asking me this?”
“It’s something under debate. I want to know your thoughts as a law enforcement officer. I’m not asking for your politically correct answer.”
“We have laws for a reason. Letting people run amok is a slippery slope. What if they hurt or kill someone innocent? Guilt is determined by twelve people, not one or two,” I told him.
“Did you ever find the ones responsible for what happened to your best friend/your sister?” He blindsided me.
Instantly, rage filled me. I narrowed my gaze on him. “No, we did not.”
“Do you still hope to find them and make them pay for what they did?”
“Of course.”
“And if the case is found not to have enough evidence or somehow they wiggle out of it, would you be okay with it? Was justice served?”
“Fuck no, I wouldn’t be happy. They’re animals!” I half-yelled.
“So the question is, could you allow them to walk away, or would you want them to suffer and be brought to justice, even if it wasn’t within the purview of the law?”
I opened my mouth to tell him it wouldn’t be right, but then I snapped it shut. I couldn’t lie to him. Instead, I said nothing.
Swerve nodded his head. “I’m like you. Watching someone get away with murder, rape, or some other crime goes against my entire being. Thanks for your input on the debate I was having with one of the brothers. They’d run into someone who had a different opinion.”
“I’m part of the law, but I’m not blind to its inadequacies. We serve to the best of our ability while suppressing certain instincts. Would you have done what was prescribed by the law?” I asked.
“I should say yes, but I can’t. In my mind, certain crimes are so heinous that they are impossible to come back from. Throwing them in a cell for years doesn’t heal anything. If they get out, they’ll more than likely go back to it.”
This conversation wasn’t the one I thought we’d be having. However, it did give me insight into Swerve’s character. The silence between us stretched out for a few minutes, but our bodies were relaxed. I waited for him to ask me more about the topic, but what he said next wasn’t it.
“Why did you let me kiss you? Why did you respond not once but twice?”
My mouth hung open as I stared at him and blinked.
I should have had some reason tripping off the tip of my tongue, but there was none.
Swerve’s gaze was intense. My heart sped up, and I found myself recalling those kisses and how they made me feel, which triggered my body to life.
God, no, I had to stop this. My self-control was weak.
This conversation was a dangerous thing to have right now. Finally, I gave him a vague answer.
“Swerve, you took me by surprise, and you’re not unattractive. I believe any woman would be willing to kiss you back. I’m not made of stone.” I smiled to make it sound offhanded.
“So what you’re saying is if one of my club brothers had been the one to kiss you, you would’ve responded the same way to them.” There was a tone to his words that made me wonder what he’d say or do if I said yes. I didn’t, and the ensuing silence made me nervous.
“That silence better mean that you wouldn’t because the thought of you allowing any of them to kiss you or touch you makes me insane, Electra. It wasn’t just a kiss to me. Not any woman would do. The only one bringing those feelings out in me is you.”
His words exhilarated me. The tips of my nipples tingled, and a slight throb of something hit my clit. I pushed those sensations away and gave him a rebuttal.
“Swerve, I was the only one around at those moments. Maybe that’s why.” It was the first thing to come out of my mouth. I worked not to flinch at how stupid it sounded.
“Like hell, that was why. It may have been a while since the last time I had sex, but I’m not kissing or molesting random women.” He snorted.
“Now, who’s talking crap. Like, I believe you go without sex. I’m not stupid,” I snarked back.
I yelped when he turned, pushed me back into the pillows, and placed a hand on my throat. It wasn’t done to make me feel threatened. If it had, I would have had his ass on the floor. His eyes bored into mine. My breath caught at the burning intensity in his gaze.
“I don’t lie. I’m not kissing other women, and I’m not having sex with anyone. I hate to point out my obvious inadequacies, but a man in a wheelchair isn’t exactly high on a woman’s dating or fucking list.” There was an underlying growl to his voice.
His dismissal of himself upset me. “Then those women are fucking idiots if they let that scare them off. I don’t believe that chair makes you less of a man. You should find better women.”
“I believe I already have,” he said a moment before his mouth sealed itself to mine.