Falling Fast (Falling Fast #1) - Tina Wainscott Page 0,73
for the more drastic ones. Like chasing down a cop car or storming the sheriff’s office.
“Mia? What’s going on there?”
Her father’s voice pulled her from the sight of the door closing behind Raleigh. “They just arrested Raleigh.” She ran to the window and watched the cruiser disappearing down the gravel road.
“What?”
“I have to go.”
“No, wait! Mia, tell us what’s going on. What was he arrested for?”
She had to force out the word. “Murder.”
“What?” Her mother, in the background.
“We’ll be right over.” Her father disconnected.
Mia really didn’t need their presence right then, but they were coming anyway. She dialed the first number Raleigh had written down.
“Rose, it’s Mia. Raleigh wanted me to call you. They found a body in a truck in the lake at George’s property. It’s…it’s Cody’s dad.”
“Oh, God.”
“And they just arrested Raleigh for his murder.”
“Oh, God,” Rose said again. “No.”
“I’m working on hiring an attorney. He’s going to be all right. He wanted you to hear it from us first. Look, I have to go.”
She looked up Grace Parnell’s number. It was only as the phone was ringing that she realized the office wouldn’t be open yet. The outgoing message, though, gave an emergency number. Grace was, after all, a criminal-defense attorney. It took Mia a couple of minutes to get her on the line, and then everything came out in an avalanche.
“Raleigh West?” Grace said when Mia had finished. “I’m not sure I know him.”
“He’s lived here his whole life. He works over at Peter’s Garage.”
“Oh, wait a minute. Good-looking, tall, mid-twenties?”
“Yes.” And so much more. “He’s a good man, Ms. Parnell. Tender and gentle and loving and…” Her voice caught in her throat. “He wouldn’t kill anyone.”
“He’s a good mechanic, that I know. He always fixes my car’s problem, explains it in a way I can understand without being condescending, and he’s honest. Why don’t you come by my office in thirty minutes, Ms. Wentworth? I’ll call the sheriff’s office and find out when he’s being arraigned.”
“Thank you!” Mia called the garage next and spilled the news as soon as Raleigh’s boss answered.
“That’s crazy! Raleigh wouldn’t hurt a fly. Well, he would hurt a fly. He’s a master with the fly swatter—”
“Sir, I want to start a fund to help with the legal fees.”
“I hear she’s good, and she charges for it. See Marta over at Chambliss Bank. She can set up a fund. I’ll spread the word.”
The bank wouldn’t open for another hour. Mia wasn’t the least bit hungry—the thought of food turned her stomach—but she knew that if she didn’t eat something her blood sugar would drop later. And she would need all her strength and wits to get through the day.
The moment she slathered peanut butter on a piece of toast, her parents barged in.
“I knew that boy was trouble,” her mother said, pointing to her father. “You wanted to believe in him, but I knew—”
“Shut up,” he snapped, shocking Mia. Her father was all business as he assessed her. “Are you all right? They didn’t question you, did they?”
“No. This has nothing to do with me. And it doesn’t have anything to do with Raleigh, either, other than it’s his father whose body they found. And it was found near Raleigh’s cabin.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” he said.
No, it didn’t. “But they don’t have a motive. Why would a man kill his own father? The man was a drunk and a lousy provider, which is why Raleigh hasn’t lived with him since he was fifteen. Why would he kill him all these years later?”
“People do things that don’t always make sense,” he said.
“Like you being so attached to this boy,” her mother muttered, turning away.
Mia had to fight not to mirror her father’s raw order. “He’s not a boy any more than I’m a girl. We’re adults. And he’s innocent.”
“Mia, I think you’re in over your head here,” her father said. “If he goes down, you’re going with him. Not legally, but emotionally and in reputation. And you have your job to consider.”
“I’m not leaving Raleigh.”
“What if he’s guilty?” Not her mother’s emotional, angry words but her father’s logical, calm ones.
“He’s not.”
“You don’t know him all that well. You might think you do, but you don’t. What, two months over a summer seven years ago? When he was committing illegal acts. And two weeks now? You can’t base major life decisions on a shaky foundation. I know you think you love him, but could it be that you’re in love with him?”