did another quick scan of the now massive crowd. The many media crews were already set up, some giving a preliminary live report with cameras panning the huge gathering while the reporter chirped her spiel as if this was something good and exciting.
Her lips curled in disgust and then she froze, all her breath leaving her lungs in one forceful exhale. She stared, nearly paralyzed with panic and anxiety as she watched a procession of police cars flanking a four-door sedan pull up to the cordoned-off and guarded section of street directly in front of the courthouse on the opposite side of the grassy area from where the press conference was set up.
She stared in horror as the driver stepped out, doing a quick scan of his immediate surroundings before opening the door to the backseat. A half dozen police officers converged as Thomas stepped from the vehicle, surrounding him as they began walking slowly across the grass to where the platform and podium had been set up.
Even spending years in prison, Thomas looked as though time and age had been good to him. Even in his twenties, he’d possessed a timeless look, making it hard to accurately judge his age. And now, he looked only slightly older than he had at twenty-eight. Even more unbelievable, he had grown more handsome over the years.
He’d always possessed a quiet, distinguished air that drew people to him like a magnet and that look had only intensified. Anger and bitter hatred boiled in her veins. It wasn’t fair! He’d viciously murdered women with no remorse or regret. He felt nothing at all. They were dead, their lives cut short and he was now a free man whose looks and appeal had only heightened during the time he served, and he still had a long life to look forward to. The women he killed had nothing, their young lives ending in terror and unspeakable agony. Her only consolation was that if all went according to plan, his life would end just when he thought it would begin again.
Her hands shook when she saw Thomas smile at the cop nearest him and the two shared a laugh. Thomas looked happy. Satisfied. Like he didn’t have a care in the world. How could he be smiling or laughing when he was about to appear on live television to presumably proclaim his innocence and express his gratitude for the cop who’d supposedly tampered with evidence coming forward and admitting his part in sending an innocent man to prison?
Innocent my ass.
She was seething with fury and she quickly got a handle on her rage and forced herself to calm her rioting emotions before Thomas stepped up to the podium. She couldn’t blow it now. She only had one shot at this and she had to pull it off before Thomas selected his first victim. She would not let that happen to another woman. Never again.
She sucked in several steadying breaths, purposely focusing on more pleasant, bland and nondescript thoughts. She immediately shut down the most pleasant thought that crept into her mind. Thomas dead, no longer wearing that smug smile, no longer laughing, never being able to hurt another person again and boarding a one-way trip straight to hell for his appointment with the devil.
He didn’t immediately see her when he stepped to the microphone, his police entourage strategically placing themselves to ensure his protection. She quickly swallowed back the bile rising in her throat at the knowledge that the soulless bastard was being protected by men sworn to bring men like Thomas to justice.
He smiled broadly at the crowd, as though greeting long-lost friends and as if he were expecting a hero’s welcome home. Strangely, the crowd was completely silent. Eerily so. It was as if time stopped as everyone anticipated the purpose of Thomas calling the press conference.
“It is with great joy and relief that I stand before you here today. A travesty of justice has been corrected and I am grateful to the officer who came forward to right the wrong committed against me.”
She was going to be sick. He dared to speak of travesties of justice when he stood there, a free man, exonerated of crimes he was guilty of? It was hard but she forced blankness to her face, an expression of disinterest as if it didn’t matter to her whether or not he was guilty and was here for one reason and one reason only.
She knew the instant he saw her. Felt