Dance With Me - By Hayden Braeburn Page 0,10
hands up in surrender. “I get it Mason, I do, but you can't act like a lunatic when we walk in. We'll see what they know, what they charge her with. I have to know what I'm working with in order to help.”
“We can't bail her out?” He leaned against his Audi. “God, I just want to take her home.”
Carter adjusted his rectangular glasses before answering, his grey eyes solemn. “Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the judge and the charge.” At the pain in Mason's dark gaze, he hurried to add, “We'll try. That much I can promise.”
Mason blew out a long breath. “Just get her out, Carter.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I swear she didn't do this.”
Carter's lips went up into a half-smile. “How long have we known each other now? Fifteen years? I never doubted you. I'm just worried about whatever evidence they have and what we can prove.”
“I don't care if we have to make shit up to put Priscilla away. I just need Kat out. Now.”
“C'mon then. Let's see what we're up against.”
It didn't take much for them to find Kat once they'd walked in, her pink dress a bright spot in a sea of blue. She was cuffed, her hands in her lap, sitting in a straight-backed chair. He was by her side in seconds, kneeling on the floor before her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Physically, I'm fine. I just can't figure out how it got there.”
“Someone put it there, then called in the tip. It's classic”
“Classic? What kind of person would do that?”
“Priscilla,” he spat.
“Wow.” She shook her head. “I love you, Mase, but framing someone for drug trafficking to get them out of the way is a bit extreme.”
He appreciated her stab at levity, even if he didn't feel like laughing. “Unless you're selling drugs on the side, I can't think of another reason there was coke in your ceiling.”
Neither could she, but she couldn't wrap her head around it. Instead of questioning him further, she asked, “Can you get me out of here?”
“Carter is trying now.”
“Jamieson?”
“How many lawyers named Carter do you know?”
She almost smiled at that. “His mother offered to buy Dance With Me just last month. Maybe I should've accepted the offer.”
“Don't think like that. Carter is the best defense attorney in Northern Virginia. He will prove you're innocent, and you will teach for years.”
She opened her mouth just as Officer Longwood returned to his desk. “You can't talk to her, Everett!” he shouted.
“And just why the hell not? She's my fiancee, and I brought her attorney with me.”
“She's in custody.”
Mason stood up, drawing himself to his full six feet. At least four inches taller than the officer, he used that to his advantage, coming toe to toe with the shorter man. “She may be in custody, but she has done nothing wrong.”
“Four kilos of coke says different,” the officer shot back.
“Four kilos she didn't even know was there.”
“Says you.” He stepped away from Mason to grab Kat by the handcuffs. “The lady has an appointment with me and her lawyer. Step aside, lover-boy.”
It was all Mason could do not to slug the short, mustached man. Hands clenched at his sides, he watched Kat disappear behind a scarred wooden door, and there was nothing he could do to help her.
THREE
“State your name for the record,” the detective directed as he turned on the recorder.
“Katerina Nikol Nemecek.”
“Russian?”
“I am American, but my mother is Czech.”
“Checked into Fluvanna,” Longwood joked.
Carter shot an exasperated look to the detective. “Is it necessary for him to be here?”
“As the arresting officer, he is entitled,” the detective started, flicking a glance over his shoulder, “however, if he spits out another idiotic comment, he will no longer have that privilege.”
Frowning like a child, Longwood sat in folding metal chair. “Davis here has no sense of humor.”
Detective Davis ignored the other man, turning his attention to Kat. “Want to tell me why there were four kilos of cocaine in your ceiling?”
“I wish I knew. I didn't know they were there, don't know how they got there, nothing.”
“You sure that's your answer?”
“My client has clearly stated—over and over again—that she is not responsible for the drugs hidden in her studio.”
“Who else had access? Does anyone else have a key?”
“I have not given anyone else a key,” she answered truthfully. “Obviously someone else got in, though. Have you checked the locks, the windows?” She shook her head as she thought. “I wouldn't even know where to get drugs if