Seth (Casella Cousins #2) - Kathryn Shay Page 0,32
Casella?”
“I came for my brother. He called me.” His expression darkened. “I got a right to be here, Sanders.”
“Not officially.”
Seth and Julianne exchanged “What the hell?” looks.
“Just so everybody understands I’m in charge,” Anabelle stated.
They nodded and took seats at the dining table.
Taking out her tablet, she talked directly to Julianne. “Start from the beginning.”
As Seth listened to her recount their experience at the Hidden Cove Inn, he tried to think about the online dating thing in a different light. If she was a man, he wouldn’t be upset. On the other hand, if Ali got dates that way, he’d be pissed. Was he chauvinistic? He’d never thought so.
“Julianne, I don’t understand why you’d go on these sites.” Gideon couldn’t keep himself from speaking up after she finished. “You’re a beautiful woman.”
Anabelle rolled her eyes.
“I’ll talk to you later about why women go online to find dates.” She faced Anabelle. “What do we do now?”
“Can you arrest him on this and the texts and calls? Seth asked.
“We could, if we can find him. He gave a fake name. But to get him on texts and phone calls and confronting you in a restaurant wouldn’t necessarily get him jail time.”
“Isn’t that harassment?” Julianne asked.
Again, Gideon jumped in. “Harassment charges range from misdemeanor to felony. The charges are more likely to stick if the person has previously been convicted of harassment or of communicating a threat.”
“That’s right,” Anabelle put in. She didn’t bother to tell Gid to shut up. “If he has previous charges against him, he’ll get jail time.”
Julianne twisted the linen napkin on the table. “How can we find him if he gave a fake name?”
“Maybe we can turn tonight into an asset.”
“How?”
“I would guess our mystery man frequents the Hidden Cove Inn. Maybe he’s trying to pick up women or meeting them from an online connection. But I’m more inclined to believe that he was hoping all along you’d show up there, Julianne. It’s the site of your first date so it’s special to him. And he’s convinced himself you feel the same.”
Seth had a bad feeling about this. “What would you do? Surveil the place until he shows?”
“We could.” She focused on Jules. “Or you can go to the Inn with me. And other police officers, all in disguise, of course. If Jason shows, we can grab him up and find out his real identity. Get his DNA and see if it matches what we found on the bathroom mirror at your house.”
Seth’s blood pressure spiked. “That sounds like you want to use her as bait? And I object.”
Anabelle ignored him. “What do you want, Julianne?”
“I’m sorry, Seth. I want this over. I’m in, Anabelle.”
* * *
With a new case file in front of him, Seth thought back to last night. Their evening had ended surprisingly well. He told Julianne he was mad at himself not her, and she made him see that she needed him to trust her to make her own decisions. They’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms.
He started reading the new file on a discrimination case and five minutes into it, his cell phone buzzed. “Seth Casella.”
“Seth,” a voice croaked, then the speaker cleared his throat. “It’s Johnny Cordello. My application got rejected by OCFS committee.”
“Aw, John. Did they give reasons?”
“Yeah. I’m not the cookie-cutter candidate. I’m young, unmarried, kicked out of my own house and was in a group home myself.”
“I’m sorry. But there’s one more step we can take. We’ll get a Fair Hearing set up.”
“What’s that?” The kid didn’t sound hopeful. He sounded dejected.
Seth explained to Johnny that a Fair Hearing was a meeting with an unbiased officer or attorney from OCFS. Usually, Seth had attended them on the side of biological parents who had kids taken from them. Evidence, testimony, cross-examination and rebuttal would be allowed. The children in question would be interviewed.
“I don’t know. I’m so tired of doin’ my best and getting shit on.”
“You’d quit trying to get Marcy and Juan?”
“Hell no. I could grab them from the Craigs easy, and run away with them. I got money saved.”
Just then his phone buzzed to indicate another call. From Julianne. He couldn’t leave this boy hanging. Though he was desperate to hear if Anabelle got permission for her plan, he let it go to voicemail.
“Johnny no, please don’t do that. Are you at home?”
“I’m at work.”
“I can come there. We can talk.”
“I’m off at six. There’s no place here to talk. I could come to your office, I guess.”
“I