bullshit story that her brother Tobias had forced her to escape. She was then given not even two years in juvenile jail! Lucy saw red. She didn’t know how to convince these people that Elise was a pathological liar and a cold-blooded killer and that she was intimately involved in everything that had happened today.
“She followed me!” Lucy could not believe this. Had this been Elise’s game? To tie her down here in San Antonio? “Do not be fooled by her age,” she continued. “Elise Hunt is a sociopath and a liar. Talk to my lawyer; he was there. He can corroborate everything I said.”
Patrick had his hand on her arm. “Thank you, Counselor,” he said. “Do you have the documentation so we can read it?”
“Of course.”
Patrick took the papers. “Thank you,” he said again.
“This is bullshit!” Lucy said.
“Good night,” Patrick said and closed the door. “Lucy, you need to calm down.”
“Calm down? Really? She followed me. She confronted me. I didn’t threaten her. This is her playbook. She’s going to do something and now I can’t go after her!”
“You’re not the only cop in San Antonio,” Patrick said.
“I’m the only cop who understands Elise Hunt!”
She brushed past Patrick and went to the kitchen. This was … unbelievable. Just a mess.
Patrick followed her. “Right now, our focus is Sean.”
“But she’s planning something!” Why could no one see that girl for who she actually is?
“We’ll be in Houston tomorrow,” Patrick said. “Nowhere near her.” He handed Lucy the papers. “This says you need to be in court at three on Monday.”
“No,” she said. “I’ll be in Houston bringing Sean home.” Still she looked at the papers, getting angrier by the minute. “She’s supposed to be in Los Angeles!” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and called Garrett Lee—she didn’t care that she woke him up.
She told him what had happened, and said, “According to the papers, I’m supposed to be in court at three on Monday. You were there today. You know I didn’t threaten her.”
“Yes, I was, and no, you didn’t, but I need to read the report. Fax it to me. We’ll talk in the morning.”
She walked back to Sean’s office and faxed everything to Garrett. Then she sat down at Sean’s desk and stared at the papers.
Lucy Kincaid Rogan is a sworn federal agent and used her badge and weapon to intimidate Ms. Hunt.
Ms. Hunt fears for her life.
What was her endgame? To keep Lucy in San Antonio because of something going on with Sean in Houston? Lucy had to be there, with Sean, when he was arraigned. He would be granted bail—he had to be granted bail. She couldn’t abandon him to defend herself against trumped up charges!
Garrett would stay. He was her lawyer, he could speak for her, right? He’d been there at the gas station. He didn’t like everything she’d done today, but he knew that she hadn’t followed Elise, and none of the other events were relevant to this. If he swore to the court that Elise followed them and that Lucy hadn’t threatened her, they would believe him, right?
She didn’t know. She didn’t know which end was up.
Patrick came into Sean’s office and closed the door. “You okay?”
“No.” She slapped her hand on the papers. “She has Brad Donnelly. I know it. There’s a reason she did this—she set me up. She lied to get this ridiculous restraining order. But why?” She wanted to talk to Dillon, but it was far too late in Washington.
“Let’s focus on what we can control. And right now, that’s helping Sean.”
“But I can’t control what happens to Sean! He’s in jail for a murder he didn’t do. So many things are up in the air. They think they found the murder weapon in his plane. They really believe he killed her. It’s … it’s…” She was going to say too much. But she’d faced worse in her life. She’d faced a greater evil than a little sociopathic bitch.
But the truth was, she would rather face evil head-on than the unpredictable Elise Hunt.
“You need to sleep.”
“I can’t sleep.”
“You can. You need to get a couple of hours or you’ll be worthless to Sean. We’ll leave at five, okay? Beat traffic and get to Houston long before visiting hours. You’re not in this alone, Lucy. And if we have to investigate Mona’s murder ourselves, that’s exactly what we will do.”
She had someone on her side. Someone who loved Sean, had faith in him. Someone who believed