Chapter 25
“ S o this guy . . . Fury, he stabbed you just for grabbing his arm?” the older detective asked skeptically.
And with that, Hayes had had enough. “Get out.”
“Excuse me?” Detective Brown blustered. “You cannot tell me that! You’re lucky I allowed you to stay.”
“You’re lucky I let this continue. But I’ve had enough. Until you can learn to speak to a victim with respect and empathy, you will not be anywhere near Devi.”
Detective Williams had the good sense to look slightly ashamed. Since they’d come in, these two detectives had had an air of condescending superiority toward Devi.
And he was done.
They could leave. And he’d have their badges.
Well, maybe not the younger one. He’d shown some sympathy to Devi.
“You have no say in what we do or where we go, Mr. Hayes. And if Miss Dawson refuses to answer our questions, then we’ll have to arrest her for obstructing justice.”
“Is that right, Detective?”
Hayes glanced over as Kent stepped into the room, along with Gwen, who was the one who’d spoken.
“Who are you people?” Detective Brown demanded.
Hayes gave Kent a questioning look. What was Gwen doing here?
“Dominic told Gwen what was going on,” Kent explained. “They both decided to fly out here and see if they could help.”
“We landed just over an hour ago,” Gwen said. “And just in time. Did you just threaten to arrest the victim of a brutal crime, detective?”
Gwen whipped out her phone and quickly took photos of both of their badges, which were displayed on their belts.
“What’s going on?” Devi asked.
“Settle in, baby, things are about to get fun,” Hayes told her, sitting on the bed next to her. He leaned back so she could see as Gwen warmed up.
“Who are you? You can’t be in here!” Detective Brown said.
“Of course I can. I’m Devi’s attorney.”
“Attorney?” she whispered.
“She’s JSI’s lawyer,” Hayes told her. “She’s also a complete shark. Just wait.”
“Her attorney?” the older guy asked. “Why does she need an attorney? We’re just interviewing her.”
“Then why did you threaten to arrest her? That would imply she needs an attorney. Of course, I’m sure the chief of police will be very interested to learn that his detectives go around threatening victims. And if not, I’m sure the press will be.”
“You cannot go to the press about this! I’ll have you disbarred.” Poor Detective Brown was growing an unfortunate purplish-red color.
“Oh, I didn’t say that I would go to the press,” Gwen said with a toothy grin.
See? Shark.
“Wherever did you get that idea, Detective? Now, on what grounds are you threatening my client, who I might add, is in a hospital bed after being stabbed?”
“Your client is lying to us,” Detective Brown said.
“Really?” Gwen asked.
“I’m not,” Devi said, sounding upset.
Gwen glanced over at her. “Of course you’re not. You have no reason to lie to the police. Why would this detective imply that you are? What evidence do you have, detective?”
“Well . . . she has a brother in jail.”
“Oh my gosh. Well, I didn’t realize. That changes things entirely.” Gwen checked her phone. “We should go around and arrest everyone who has a sibling in prison.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. You’re putting words in my mouth.”
Gwen smiled. “Well, considering the words that come out of your mouth are utter diarrhea, I think that’s probably a good thing.”
“Now see here!” Detective Brown pointed a finger at her.
“I would suggest that you don’t come any closer, detective,” Gwent said. “See, if you threaten me, lay a finger on me, then I’m going to get upset. If I get upset then everyone who loves me gets upset. And I have some people you don’t want to get on the wrong side of.”
“Is that a threat?” Detective Williams said.
“My, no! Why would I need to threaten a police detective? You are all here to protect me. That’s what I pay my tax dollars for, right? I will be sure to mention you both to the Chief of Police when I speak to him later.”
“Why are you meeting with the Chief?” Detective Brown asked.
Gwen checked her phone again. “Hmm, oh, well, I had some questions about this investigation and also about an older case. One involving Devi’s brother. I’ve got some thoughts.”
“Some thoughts?” Detective Brown said.
“Yes, you were on that case too, weren’t you, Detective Brown? I do hope you crossed all your t’s and dotted all your i’s.”
“That’s a threat.” Detective Brown took a step toward Gwen.
Hayes tensed and so did Kent, who moved closer to Gwen. He didn’t know where Dominic was, but it had probably been a strategic move to leave him out of the room.
Kent would likely judge better about when to step in than Dominic would. Not that Hayes would blame Dominic.
“Let’s leave,” Detective Williams said. “Uh, thanks for your statement, Miss Dawson. Hopefully your father will be found soon.”
“Drunk asshole like him? Probably everyone in this town is hoping that he isn’t found,” Detective Brown said.
“Oh, that’s an interesting opinion. I’ll be sure to let the Chief know what you think of an ongoing case of a missing man who was stabbed and kidnapped,” Gwen said.
Both detectives quickly left and Gwen turned to Devi. “Hello, I’m Gwen. I’m your new lawyer and don’t worry I have everything under control.”
Devi stared up at the older woman in complete and utter awe.
“I want to be you when I grow up.” Oh no. Hopefully she didn’t take that as Devi saying she was old.
But she just let out a delighted laugh and waved her hand through the air.
“Thank you so much for doing that,” Devi told her. “It was amazing. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to a detective like that. To anyone like that.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Gwen told her.
“That was so much fun. I needed something to sink my teeth into. Don’t get me wrong, it’s never boring in Wishingbone.
The other week, I even got to do some detective work.
Seemed that there were a number of shoes going missing from one particular neighborhood and everyone was blaming this one person as the shoes would turn up in her backyard.
But it turns out, it was Mrs. Whiskers.”
“Mrs Whiskers?” Devi asked. “Is that a . . .”
“Cat? Yep. The cat was stealing shoes. Don’t know what she wanted them all for. Or how she even carried them. One was a boot. Mind you, she is a very big cat.”
That was . . . crazy.
“Anyway, Liam gave me all the information he had on your brother’s case?”
“Liam?” Who was Liam?
“Oh, sorry.” Gwen shot Kent a look.
“Liam works for me, Devi,” Kent said gently. “He was looking into your brother’s case because of these threats Stein was getting.”
She felt nauseous. “You thought that Rohan was sending Stein threatening messages. He wasn’t!”
“No one thought that,” Kent told her. “There’s no way he could have from prison anyway. We were investigating the last few cases Stein lost. Your brother’s case caught Liam’s interest.”
“And now it’s caught mine,” Gwen said. “I’ve decided I’m going to help Rohan.”
“Help him?” she asked faintly. What was happening right now?
“Yes, I’m going to take his case. There are a number of inconsistencies and issues with it.”
As much as Devi would love to hire Gwen as Rohan’s attorney, she didn’t think that Gwen would come cheap. “Oh, that’s really nice, but?”
“Pro bono, of course.”
That would be amazing. But Devi knew she was only doing that because of Hayes. Gwen didn’t even live here.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Devi said.
“You’re not asking. Besides, I want to do it.
It intrigues me.” Her phone started to ring and she drew it out.
“Hey, yep, I’m here. Already run into some interesting cops.
Detective Brown. He threatened to arrest Devi for obstructing justice.
Yep. I’ll put you on speaker.” Gwen put the phone down.
“This is my friend, Reuben. He’s also a lawyer. ”
“So you’re taking the case?” Reuben asked.
“Of course.”
“The case of the missing shoes wasn’t enough for you, huh?” he said dryly.
“Well, it was gratifying. But this has a bit more meat to it,” Gwen said. “Are you going to help?”
“Of course,” the other man said smoothly. “I’ll always help you.”
“Great. Can I send you a few things and you look over them?”
“Send away. Miss Dawson?”
“Yes?” For some reason, the guy on the other end sounded terrifying. And yet so supremely confident that she also found herself feeling more confident as well.
If this guy was helping then . . . then Rohan just might get out of jail.
“Just wanted to say that once you get out of hospital, it might be a good idea for you to leave town for a while. These gang members won’t be happy that you reported them to the police.
And the local police don’t sound like they’re particularly good at their job.
Something I’m going to have fun looking into.
All right?” His voice was stern. And certain.
He didn’t sound like a man who was used to people disobeying him.
“Yes.”
Only problem was, where was she meant to go?