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For the police to hold him, they must have something damning against him. They were too smart to arrest a man like Tallon without strong evidence against him. No one was stupid enough to pick a fight with the family unless they were confident that they could win.
How could this have happened?
I stared down at my dark phone screen and tried to keep my crying from turning into sobbing.
I felt ridiculous. My crying in the dark wasn’t going to help anything. Vinny was hard at work trying to help Tallon, but all I could do was sit here and be sad. It made me feel so powerless.
On the other hand, I knew that Tallon wouldn’t want me to get involved in this at all if I could avoid it. He would be so worried about me being implicated in some way. If I inserted myself into the issue, the police might bring me in for questioning, and that would send him through the roof. I didn’t want to make things worse.
Staying out of it was the best thing I could do, but I wanted to help. I wanted Tallon to come home. It made me sick to think of him being locked up for an extended period of time.
I managed to force myself to move long enough to put my phone on the side table and lay down. I pulled Tallon’s pillow tight to my chest and stared at the ceiling.
Murder?
What was he thinking? That couldn’t be right. Tallon wasn’t new to this, and he was too clever and too careful to get caught in the act. Even if he decided that someone needed to be killed, why would he go out in the middle of the night to do it with his own hands? It was so unnecessarily risky.
I would know if he was doing something so risky, wouldn’t I?
I didn’t believe that Tallon would do something like this without giving me some kind of warning. This couldn’t be right.
I tightened my grip on his pillow as a new wave of emotion overpowered me.
I let myself sob this time. I hadn’t been this scared in a long time. My chest heaved as I sobbed openly. There was no one to hear me, so why shouldn’t I let it out? I knew that trying to hold this in would be too much.
We had to find who was really responsible for this. I knew that it wasn’t Tallon, so there had to be some evidence that would exonerate him.
No matter how thoroughly someone tried to frame him, there would be some proof that he didn’t do it. We had to find that proof. We had to find who was really behind this and force them to take responsibility. If we didn’t, then there was no telling what could happen to Tallon.
His lawyers were the best, but that might not be enough to protect Tallon from the police. It was not an exaggeration to say that the police and the local prosecutors hated the family. If they could take out the Don, then they would do it in a second. We couldn’t give them the chance.
That was ignoring the possibility that Tallon had in fact killed someone.
If he had done it, I didn’t believe for a second that it was planned. It must have been a self-defense situation. But who would believe that about him? Who would take his word that he was innocent?
I pressed my face into his pillow to stifle the sound of my own sobs. I just couldn’t get a hold of myself.
This could drag out for years, I thought. The courts weren’t exactly known for being swift and well-organized. I could see a world where a prosecutor would choose to delay as much as possible, just to make sure that Tallon stayed in custody and weaken the family.
I could end up having a prison wedding.
It was a selfish thought, but it flashed through my mind without warning. I forced it away and embraced the guilt I felt for my moment of selfishness.
Tallon was in trouble and I was thinking about how it inconvenienced me. I felt so stupid. I rolled onto my side and clutched his pillow as my breathing finally started to slow.
My exhaustion returned in full force, and I closed my eyes. I doubted that I would be able to sleep any time soon, but if I did manage to fall asleep it would be a welcomed reprieve from this waking nightmare.
If this was a setup of some kind, then Tallon could be in real trouble. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if he was found guilty of murder, but I couldn’t stop myself. If he was convicted, the courts would want to make an example of him. He could go away for life.
I could lose him forever.
*Tallon*
This wasn’t the first time that I had been arrested, or even the first time I had been booked, but it was the first time I wasn’t confident that I would be out by morning.
Whoever was behind this setup was thorough. There was no doubt in my mind that there was evidence in the warehouse that I hadn’t seen before I attempted to make my escape.
The police let me sit in the stress of the situation for what felt like hours before finally getting me booked into my cell. From there, they quickly escorted me to an interrogation room.
It was pointless for them to try to question me. This wasn’t my first time dealing with the law, and I knew better than to talk to the police without my lawyer by my side.
I looked down at the ink staining my fingertips as the detective across the table spoke. I was barely paying attention as he introduced himself to me. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was going to try to play good cop. It wasn’t going to do him any good.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” I said simply. “I won’t speak without a lawyer present.”
“If you’re innocent, why do you need a lawyer?” he asked in a curious tone.
“I need my lawyer because I’m innocent and you goons have never let that stop you from locking someone up,” I snapped. I cursed myself internally and bit the inside of my cheek. I couldn’t let them goad me into talking. They could twist every word I said and use it against me.
The detective held his hands up in a placating gesture.
“I won’t lie,” he lied. “Some officers do shady things like that, but I’m not one of them. I’m only interested in finding the truth about what happened to that John Doe. Do you know who he is? His name?”
I leaned back in the chair and stared at the wall behind him. I was determined not to speak again, no matter how much he pissed me off.
“This looks really bad. You understand that, don’t you?”
There was a long silence.
“Of course you do,” he continued. “You’re a smart man. We found you with a dead body and the murder weapon. You have to understand what that looks like.”
I sneered. They hadn’t even swabbed my hands or clothes to check for gunshot residue. It was obvious they were looking to hang me out to dry, not exonerate me. They didn’t care about the truth. They cared about getting this case off their books.
I didn’t say anything, and after a few beats of silence he nodded to himself. “Yeah, you’re smart. Smart enough to take precautions. He sat back in his chair and looked at me critically. “You know, we found a plastic poncho and gloves in a trash can not far from the body.”
I laughed, but I stopped myself quickly. If this guy thought we were wearing ponchos to carry out hits, he was watching too many movies.
“A man is dead,” he said in exaggerated shock. “What is there to laugh about?”
“You’re wasting your breath,” I told him.
He could ask questions until he was blue in the face. I wasn’t answering him.
Several minutes passed while we both sat in awkward silence and stared at one another. Eventually he sighed and leaned back in his chair. He looked at the clock and stood with a groan. “Are you a smoker?” he asked.
I shook my head no. It would take a lot more than offering me a cigarette to get me to drop my guard.
“Coffee drinker?”
I shook my head again. “I don’t need anything until my lawyer gets here,” I said.
“He’s on his way,” the detective said in irritation.
I smiled as he cursed under his breath. He hadn’t meant to tell me that. If I didn’t know how long I had to wait, he had a better chance of wearing me down. Now, I knew for certain that help was on the way.
