yet, but, at a minimum, he seemed to have stepped in when Piper needed him.
“Cindy Martin,” Michael whispered, shaking his head. “I know you don’t want to think about what might have happened, and tomorrow neither will she, but you both should. She’s mixed up in something, Bobby, and tonight could have ended much differently. Sean has been charged twice with some pretty serious crimes, one of which was drug facilitated sexual assault. The details of that crime will be seared into my mind forever. Cindy Martin, the girl he drugged and assaulted had three broken ribs, a fractured cheek bone, and was covered in scrapes and bruises. He rolled her out of his moving car and left her on the side of the road in the middle of December. She was on the verge of hypothermia when she was discovered by a woman driving home that night. Yet, there was a parade of people willing to corroborate his alibi. Once they had destroyed Cindy’s credibility on the stand because she had a history of recreational drug use in her past, the case started to fall apart.” Michael was speaking mostly through his teeth with an angry hiss. He was motioning his hands animatedly as if he were giving an impassioned closing argument.
“I almost didn’t come out tonight. I was tired and had more work to do, and if it weren’t for my buddies convincing me I needed a break, I’d be at home trying to find a way to prosecute a crime while Sean was out committing another one. Tomorrow when she wakes up and doesn’t want to tell you what the hell she was doing here tonight, when she tells you she’s fine and that she had it all under control, you tell her about Cindy Martin. You tell her about the beautiful twenty-two year old girl who can’t eat out at a restaurant anymore without having a panic attack, has three locks on her door, and hasn’t been on a date in a year and a half. Here’s my card,” Michael said, pulling a business card out from his pocket. “If you’re really her friend you’ll get her to tell you what she was doing with Sean tonight, and you’ll convince her to stop before it’s too late. Give me a call in the morning to let me know she’s all right.”
Bobby tucked the card into the breast pocket of his uniform shirt. “I hear you,” he said, shaking Michael’s hand. “I’ll see what I can find out tomorrow. Hopefully a scare like this will be enough to get her out of whatever stuff she’s mixed up in.”
Michael nodded a goodbye. As he turned back toward his car he spoke over his shoulder. “I don’t know what it is about this girl that makes me give a damn. It’s impossible to cut my losses and mind my business. The easiest thing in the world for me to do would be to get in my car and forget this night every happened, forget about Piper all together. She shoots down every date I ask her on, she plays me like a fool, and I know almost nothing about her. She’s like fireworks, captivating and gorgeous, you can’t help but watch and be amazed, but you better keep your distance or you’ll get burned.”
Chapter Eleven
Piper refused to open her eyes. She had woken up a few moments earlier and realized something terrible had happened. She thought if she could only keep her eyes closed and attempt to piece the previous night’s events together she could make sense of it all. She knew once she let herself come fully awake, she may not like what she faced. She remembered talking to Michael in the back of the bar, she remembered finishing her awful drink and making idle conversation with Sean, and she remembered rapidly losing control of her faculties. Had Michael come over and intervened, and now she was safely sleeping in his bed? Had Sean been able to slip her out of the restaurant unnoticed and now she was who-knows-where and in further danger? As fear began to overcome her she took mental stock of what she could with her other senses, still unwilling to open her eyes.
She was dressed, still in the uncomfortable black cocktail dress, though her shoes were off. These sheets felt like her own, the flannel set she had just put on the previous day. Her body was sore and her head ached, but she