Roman's Vow (Riley's Pride #4) - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,10

dial 911, but she was afraid if she stopped the CPR the man would die, so she just kept up her chest compressions and breathing into his mouth, which caused air and bloody bubbles to escape through wounds on his chest. At one point she realized the vertical blinds covering the sliding glass doors that opened on the backyard were moving around in the breeze. She thought she saw Frederick outside, watching her. She even called to him, but when the blinds moved again in the breeze, he wasn’t there.

“I don’t know how long it was until I began to hear sirens in the distance. They got closer, and by that time I was crying because I didn’t know how much longer I could continue to perform CPR. He wasn’t responsive. There was no pulse, I knew he was gone, but I just couldn’t let myself stop. Then I heard pounding on the front door. I looked down at the man I was trying to save, then made a decision. If I unlocked the door, whoever it was could take over and I could call for help. I moved back from the man, and realized I was kneeling on the knife. I picked it up and turned to move quickly toward the door, but before I could get more than three steps away, the door was kicked in and police swarmed inside. They pointed their weapons at me, screaming to drop the knife. I looked at the knife in my hand and realized they thought I’d attacked the man. I dropped the knife and started trying to tell them they needed to start CPR. I told them I’d found him and tried to save him, but they handcuffed me while other officers checked for a pulse. They declared him dead and I was ushered out of the house and searched before they put me in a police car and took me to the station.”

“Where was your ex-husband all this while?” Mr. Schexnaydre asked.

“The last time I saw him was in the backyard while I was performing CPR. I’m pretty sure it was him standing there. He came and went at all hours. He was usually just coming in from the previous night about then, but he wasn’t there inside the house.”

“You’re sure he killed the man you tried to save?” Patrick asked.

“I can’t imagine what else happened. I saw him standing in the backyard. I was so sure I saw him that I called out to him for help. It wasn’t that much longer before the police showed up and you know the rest,” Talie explained.

“Tell me about the stolen goods,” Patrick said.

“Most days he’d get home about the time I was either taking Darcie to the bus stop or getting back from taking her. He usually had a friend or two with him and sometimes they’d have things with them that I’d never seen before. Frederick told me they’d bought them, or won them in a card game, but you don’t buy televisions and not have them come packaged in a box. There were guns, and televisions, and CD players and laptops. It didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on. I did what I could to stay clear of him and his friends and keep Darcie away from him too. They just stacked the items in the living room, so I moved them all out to the shed in the backyard so they were away from us. He yelled at Darcie for even getting near it all and she was a kid. She’s curious and they touch everything. I started with the guns, moving them to the shed, but decided to just move it all.”

“Why didn’t you call anyone, turn him in?” Patrick asked.

Talie shrugged, and looked at her hand in Roman’s. “I was afraid. He’s beaten me in the past. He’s threatened Darcie. He’s grabbed her up and shaken her so hard I threw myself at him while I screamed at him to put her down. I was afraid of him. I was afraid of what he’d do if I called the police and they didn’t take him in. If they investigated, or came to search and he managed to get away or they didn’t have the proper warrants and he wouldn’t let them search the house. Then, he’d know someone tipped them off. I couldn’t risk Darcie’s safety, or mine. I had to stay alive to be able to protect her. I just