Karen did, the flash was evidence that she now had a complete mug shot. “Her parents beat her. Please. Just don’t let her leave with them. She’s scared.”
Officer Carmen hesitated.
“Please.”
“You can give a statement to my partner.”
Karen closed her mouth. Why was no one listening to her? “I get a phone call. I’m not talking to anyone until I have a lawyer.”
“Your choice.”
Nearly an hour later, they gave Karen a phone.
The phone rang several times, making her worry that maybe her friends weren’t home. Neil finally picked up. “Yeah.”
“Neil? Jesus, Neil…I need you guys.”
“Karen?” His voice was surprisingly awake for such a late hour.
The fact that she was calling from jail hadn’t hit her until that moment. “I’m in jail.”
“Jail?”
Her words tumbled on each other as she tried to explain the situation. “Listen. The police are saying Zach and I kidnapped Becky. We need a lawyer. We need to make sure Becky is safe. Her parents beat on her, Neil. And she’s pregnant.” The thought of Becky’s parents getting her alone sickened her.
Karen heard Gwen’s sleepy voice from beyond Neil on the phone. “What’s going on?”
“Karen’s in jail.”
Karen’s mind ran to the next obstacle. “Someone needs to call Michael. Oh, God. Becky’s going to need protection, Neil.” If anyone could know what needed to be done it was Neil.
“Where are you?”
“St. George.”
“OK…hold on.”
“Please hurry. The police aren’t listening to me about Becky. I have no idea where she is.”
Gwen’s voice picked up from a second line. “Karen? Are you OK?”
Tears swelled in her eyes and she choked on her words. “I’m going to need Samantha and Blake’s fancy lawyers.”
“Oh, honey. We’re on our way. Stay strong and don’t say anything.”
Karen’s hands shook as she hung up the phone. All she could do now was wait and worry.
Chapter Twenty-Five
If someone had told him he’d be calling his parents to tell them he was in jail by the day’s end, Zach would have told them they were on crack. Unfortunately, the call went to voice mail and Zach had little choice but to leave a message.
After the booking portion of his evening, he was placed in a holding cell with several other men, including Nolan.
“How are you doing?”
“They won’t tell me where they took Becky.”
“I’m sure she’s safe.” He wasn’t sure of anything, but he needed to say something to ease the kid’s pain.
“They’re accusing me of raping her.”
“It will all be worked out, Nolan. Just keep your mouth closed until the lawyers arrive.”
“I can’t afford a lawyer.”
Zach nudged him. “Don’t worry about that. I have you covered.”
Nolan shook his head and stared at the floor. “I should have just run off with her. Then you guys wouldn’t be here and she’d be safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
Nolan slammed his fist against the bench he sat on in frustration. “Dammit.”
There wasn’t anything Zach could say to ease the kid’s frustration. To add to his own, when Zach closed his eyes all he saw was Karen standing in front of the police with nothing on from the waist down. The humiliation of not being able to stop anyone from viewing her slapped him in the face. Where was she now? Was she scared?
Her father’s phone pinged as they drove down the mountain. Hannah had decided to stay behind for another day with Rena and her family, while Judy shoved into the backseat of her parents’ truck and rode with them back to Hilton.
The confidence Karen had infused into her during her brief visit gave her the incentive to discuss changing her major. To do that, Judy needed alone time with her parents.
Judy’s phone buzzed in her pocket as they reached cell service. She saw several messages from one of her college roommates and opened up her texts.
OMG is this your sister-in-law? Was followed by a picture of Karen shoved up beside a police car.
Judy gasped and read the next text.
Your brother? Not the one she’s married to?
Zach stood shirtless, hands behind his back.
“Oh, God.”
The next picture showed the two of them kissing in a parking lot. “Oh, God!”
“What is it, dear?” Janice said from the front seat.
“Daddy, pull over.”
Sawyer looked at her through the rearview mirror.
“Are you sick?”
“Just pull over.”
The last thing she wanted was her father to see any of this while driving.
Her mother was turned around now and staring. “Judy?”
There had to be a mistake…Zach would never, Karen would never.
Her dad pulled over, not that there was much room on the road to do so, and put the truck in park.
With a shaky hand, Judy handed the phone to her dad and let the images sink in.
“This has to be a joke.”
Janice took the phone next and Sawyer looked at the screen on his cell phone. He clicked a few things and put the phone to his ear.
“Oh, my.” Judy’s mom’s face turned white.
“This can’t be true,” Judy said. “A tabloid ploy.”
“Son of a bitch,” her dad said as he tossed his phone to the seat beside him and shoved the truck in gear.
“What?”
Sawyer’s hands gripped the steering wheel and his expression turned stone cold. “Zach’s in jail. So is Karen.”
It wasn’t a joke.
“There must be a misunderstanding,” Janice said quietly.
“He said he needed a lawyer, and that Nolan was with them.”
“Nolan?” Judy asked. “What does Nolan have to do with Zach?”
“I have no idea,” Janice said. “I know he’s been working with him on his job site, but can’t imagine why they’d be in jail.”
“Unbelievable!” Sawyer grumbled.
They rode down the mountain in silence, and instead of driving toward home, they took the highway and drove toward St. George.
The sun streamed through the windows in the early morning hours as they pulled into the police station. The three of them filed into the sterile county building and walked past several people waiting in metal chairs before approaching the desk. Behind the counter sat a female officer who had one ear on the phone and her hands on a computer keyboard.