Travis's Gift (Riley's Pride #3)- Sandra R Neeley Page 0,72

me. But I need your help to help you. As it stands, it looks like you’re guilty. There are no prints other than yours on the recovered property.”

“I don’t know. Maybe Frederick cleaned his prints off everything in preparation of selling it. Then just left it in the living room. If you check the rest of the house, you’ll find his prints and the prints of whoever else he had there while I was working.”

“Okay, assuming you’re right. Why did you decide to move everything to the shed?”

“Because it was all over the sofa, the chairs. It was clear to me that laptops, expensive smart phones, jewelry, all without boxes, was not gained legally. I didn’t want it around Darcie. And even more, I didn’t want Darcie to fool with any of it and break it. My ex’s anger issues are not a new thing. I didn’t want her to bear the brunt of any of it.”

“Then why didn’t you just leave?” Ms. Autry asked.

“I was working on it. I’d begun to make arrangements. I was planning to move far away from here before he was ever released. But then Frederick got out of prison. No one warned me. He showed up at the motel one day. I never got a chance to be away from him.”

“If what you say is true, when he and his friends were out taking all these things that now have your prints on them, you could have left then.”

“I thought about it. But, I was afraid to. He said if I ever left him, he’d take Darcie away. He said he’d come after me, he’d find me, and he’d take Darcie from me and I’d never find her,” Talie said.

“And you believed him?” Ms. Autry asked.

Talie nodded. “He took my cell phone from me. It’s only a cheap prepaid phone, but he took it. He checked every number in it. There are only a few. But he knew the calls I was making and receiving were from Missouri. He knew the numbers, he knew where to start searching if I went missing. I could have gone there, but he’d have followed, and then I’d have brought trouble to their doors, too. I couldn’t take that chance, and I couldn’t risk him having Darcie without me. I thought that if I just held on long enough, he’d slip up again, and end up back in jail. Then I could continue with my plan to leave,” Talie explained.

Ms. Autry sat back in her chair. She took a good, hard look at Talie. The woman had no prior record of any type. By all accounts, she did nothing but work and try to keep herself and her daughter fed. Even the arrogant manager at the truck stop she’d worked at mentioned that her child was always with her when she wasn’t in school. She displayed all the classic signs of an abused woman. And, Ms. Autry should know. She’d had close up personal experience in trying to save a woman from an abusive relationship. She’d failed that time. This time, if she could manage to prove that Talie was as innocent as she believed she was, maybe she’d be successful.

Ms. Autry sat forward. “I believe you, Talie. I think that someone stumbled on Frederick robbing their home, followed him to confront him and get their belongings back, and Frederick grabbed the knife from the kitchen and stabbed him.”

“You do?” Talie asked, sitting forward and placing her still cuffed hands on top of her court appointed attorney’s.

“Yes. I do. But we’ve got a lot of work to do. And there are some things happening that need to be addressed long before I ever get the chance to prove you innocent.”

“Okay. Like what? Tell me, I’ll help anyway I can,” Talie said.

“Frederick’s mother is attempting to prove her maternal DNA matches Darcie’s. She’s trying to gain a court order to give her custody.”

“No! No, you can’t let that happen. She will give Frederick access to Darcie. He doesn’t care about her. He only uses her to get me to cooperate. And she doesn’t care about her either. She’s never even met her!”

“Frederick’s claimed he had no idea you were quietly robbing all his neighbors. You know this. He’s on his best behavior. Maybe letting his mother have temporary custody of her would achieve two things. It would get Darcie out of the state facility, and it would give Frederick a false sense of security, thinking they have the upper