Chapter 42 WHENEVER YOU’RE READY
Chapter forty-two
WHENEVER YOU’RE READY
I shovel as much food into my mouth as possible in the five minutes I am given before we leave, and try to block out the argument between Jalen and Cameron that has started over Cameron’s insistence on coming with us to the station.
Each bite is a struggle to force down, but it might be the last good meal I have for a while.
I clear my plate with nothing more than stubborn determination.
“Use your brain, Cameron. You know why you can’t come with us.”
“I don’t care how it looks. She needs me, so I am going to be there.”
“What she needs is for someone to make the right choices for her defense, especially now. You’re just too tangled in this to be objective.
” Cameron opens his mouth to argue, but Jalen raises his hand to silence him.
“You asked me to defend her, and I can’t do that if you keep interfering to spare her feelings.
We’re past that now. So, unless you want to find someone else to take my place, you need to back off and let me do my job. ”
Cameron practically snarls in response, and I take it as my cue to step in. “Can someone please explain to me why it’s bad for Cameron to come and wait for me in the lobby? I don’t want to do something that could be bad for my case, either.”
Jalen deflates with a relieved sigh. “Thank God at least one of you is thinking clearly.”
Cameron’s shoulders tense, but he stays quiet.
“Drew, you and Cameron showing up together is very bad for your case. If they see you as a united front, they will assume that you have coordinated your stories to protect each other and therefore can’t be trusted.
You need every single person who saw you last night to be deemed credible by the detectives.
Val and Ollie saw you in the master bedroom within the window of death, but then you and Cameron went off alone.
You saw Leah for a few minutes, too, but then you were alone again.
That’s a lot of time you are unaccounted for, and even more if they think Cameron would lie and say that he was with you in your room because he has a personal interest in covering for you. ”
“What about everyone else, though? They were alone, too, at the times that they weren’t with me.”
“It’s not my job to worry about everyone else. It’s my job to worry about you. And if you were as vague as you described when you told me about your initial interview, and the others were more specific, it all starts to paint a picture.”
I stare at my shoes in shame at how royally I messed this all up. As much as I wish Cameron could come with me for support, Jalen is right. I need to ask him to stay behind.
“I’ll still be there if you want me to. Even if it’s just in the parking lot.”
“They have cameras on the parking lot, Cameron,” Jalen scolds. “You know that.”
I squeeze Cameron’s arm, both to comfort him and to keep him from ripping Jalen’s head off. “Thank you so much for looking out for me, but I need to do everything perfectly from here on out. I really, really, really don’t want to miss out on the birth of my nephew because I’ve been arrested.”
“It’s settled then,” Jalen says. “Thank you, Drew, for having your head in the game. Now let’s get going before we are even more late.”
Cameron’s face crumples as I take a step towards my bedroom. I pause to guide his face down to meet my eyes. “It’s going to be okay. You helped make me stronger from our talk earlier, remember?”
He blinks a few times to hide what I think is some moisture gathering behind his eyes and brings his forehead down to rest on mine. “You were already strong, even before that.”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “But you, Jalen, Reggie, and Monika are all sticking your necks out for me, so I need to do my part too.”
I let him go and hustle to get my things so that I don’t add being late to an appointment on my already growing list of missteps as far as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is concerned.
As expected, Jalen jumps into coaching me the second we are alone, and begins throwing out instructions before he even turns over the ignition.
“Stick to the facts, and nothing more. If you are unsure about something, don’t guess.
Remember, you can always turn to me if you’re confused, and I can advise you. That’s what I’m here for.”
“No guessing, defer to you. Got it.” I turn away from the window to buckle my seatbelt and keep my eyes forward so that I don’t have to see Cameron’s defeated expression from where we left him back in the lobby. “Will Detective Harvey be handling my questions again?”
“Not necessarily,” he says, pulling away from the hotel and onto the busy street. “But if he does, then that gives us a clue as to what they might be thinking.”
“Because he’s their star detective, so they will most likely assign him to the prime suspect?”
He nods with approval. “You’re catching on.”
I resume gnawing at the inside of my cheek while he gives a few more pointers, but we pull into the police station parking lot within minutes, so our time is up before we even really have a chance to get started.
I reach for the door handle to let myself out. “Hang on a second, I want to tell you one more thing.”
I turn to give him my full attention, because if he is willing to make us even later, it must be important.
“With so many potential suspects, things can get convoluted for the detectives, so every single detail matters. I have worked hundreds of cases in my career, both more straightforward and even more complex than this one, so I need you to trust me.”
“I do,” I say. “The fact that Cameron isn’t here with us should be proof of that.”
He shakes his head. “I’m pleased that you agreed with me on that, but any reasonable person could have seen the logic behind that decision.
It won’t always be that clear moving forward, because there are certain instances or details that might seem straightforward, but they actually aren’t.
If one of the detectives asks you a question that you think will help your case, but I tell you not to answer, then I need you to defer to my judgment, no matter how counterintuitive it feels. Understand?”
The food I just ate threatens to make a reappearance, but he’s the expert, and Cameron trusts him with my defense. I need to trust him fully too, if I want to walk out of here tonight and return to the hotel instead of a holding cell. “I understand.”
“Good. Let’s go inside.”
I follow him up the sidewalk in silence, and the second we enter the police station lobby, I set my features in a way that I hope reflects that I am sad about Delaney, but not guiltily so.
When we check in at the front desk, Detective Cartwright comes around the corner to greet us, and my shoulders instantly relax, causing my mask to slip.
I put it right back in place, though, and follow Jalen’s lead to return Cartwright’s professional handshake, even though I’d much rather throw my arms around him.
“Hey, kids. Nice to see you both. How have you all been holding up?”
“As good as expected,” Jalen says. “We’re ready whenever you are.”
“Oh, sorry. I’m not doing Drew’s questioning today.
I’m actually here for Valentina.” He looks over our shoulders as Val materializes and glides across the floor like an ethereal being, causing Jalen’s jaw to drop slightly open.
I wave to her, and she speeds up to close the distance to pull me into a tight hug.
I stiffen and peek sideways at Jalen, half expecting him to reach forward to wrench us apart himself, but he is still too stunned to do more than gawk.
“It’s such a relief to see a familiar face.” Val pulls away to give me an approving once-over. “Ollie and I have been cooped up with nothing but our thoughts, and it’s been terrible.”
I chuckle at her brutal honesty, which is one of my favorite things about her, and can’t deny that I’m relieved she’s here, because at least that means I am not the only person they called back.
Not that I want her to be a suspect, either, but having her here does give me a small bit of hope that maybe they aren’t as far along as we thought they were, and that it’s not all over for me quite yet.
“How are you guys doing? Other than feeling cooped up?”
“I’m all right, but Ollie isn’t doing well. He’s—” She is forced to stop mid-sentence when Detective Harvey comes around the corner and clears his throat.
“Hi, everyone. Nice to see you all again. Thanks for coming back.” The air seems to still as we all turn to look at him.
From the way Val’s shoulders rise a fraction, I am certain that she got a prickle on the back of her neck at his presence despite his wide, boyish grin.
“Jalen, Miss Bailey, I’ll be handling your questions today, and we are a bit behind schedule, so come with me, whenever you’re ready. ”