much. I’m here to listen to whatever you want to tell me.” Bobby squeezed her tighter and then crouched to lower himself to her eye level. She was still breathing erratically through her tears, and as much as he wanted to kiss her, he didn’t think this was appropriate. Piper needed his support, and he didn’t want any of it to be clouded by passion.
Piper let herself melt into him for a moment before she spoke. “I need you to hear what I have to say about Judge Lions. It’s important, and I’m not sure I can talk much more about my past right now.” Piper wiped at her cheeks and drew a deep, composing breath.
“All right, if you’re sure you’re up to talking about it then go ahead. But can we get back in the truck? It’s getting cold out here and I don’t want you getting sick.” Bobby walked over and opened her door. As she walked by him to hop in, he grabbed her elbow and spun her gently back around toward him, hugging her one more time before the seats in his truck would force space between them.
Piper wasn’t sure exactly how to start this difficult conversation, but she dove in. “I saw something in the alley behind my house one day. I was feeling so lost, school hadn’t panned out, and this seemed like a sign. Judge Lions was assaulting a young girl. I overheard enough of what he was saying to learn he was paying her to have sex with him. At first I didn’t know what to do or who to tell. I felt like the whole system had failed me, and everything I had learned in school led me to believe there was no way a man like Judge Lions would be held accountable for his actions. I started to concoct a plan to take down the judge without having to go through the normal channels I knew wouldn’t work. I saw that girl bleeding in the alley, and all I could think was that I wasn’t going to let someone else get hurt or killed when there might be something I could do about it. I’ve spent the last couple of months slowly gathering information. Well, that search led me to a mill this morning where I was listening in on a meeting between the judge and who I thought would be Christian Donavan.” Piper hadn’t fully recovered from telling her own story. She felt like there was no way she had the emotional energy to tell Bobby what she knew about Stan’s death, but she had no choice.
Bobby cut in, shocked by the thought of her solo surveillance. “Wait, what do you mean you were listening in on a meeting? Like you were hiding in this mill while the judge and Christian Donavan were there? Please tell me sometime in your life you’ve had some training or experience to prepare you for this. Maybe that’s part of the story you haven’t shared with me yet?”
“No,” Piper continued. “And I know that sounds crazy. I’ve mostly been taking it all really slow, thinking through my next move. The meeting this morning was a little impromptu, and I had to make a decision whether or not to go. I’m glad I did though. The person meeting with the judge wasn’t Christian, he was a cop. I need to know, Bobby, if and why you’ve been digging into Judge Lions’s business, because this cop was on to you.”
“I have been,” Bobby answered shocked at her knowledge of his recent activities. “I started a few weeks ago. I thought if you were involved in something this is how I would find out, and if you were in trouble, this is how I’d protect you. I thought if I could figure out what was going on I’d be able to get ahead of this, ahead of you.” He wanted her to know that even though they hadn’t been speaking he was still thinking of her every moment they’d been apart the last couple of months.
“Well whoever you showed the pictures of the judge to is the cop who was at that meeting today. They were talking about how they were going to deal with the situation, deal with you. They decided that hitting you where it hurts would be their best bet to get you to back off. That meant making you realize Betty and Jules were in danger.” Piper was half hoping that Bobby