Page 141 of Contentious

“Not sure I’ll ever relax again,” Cresley said.

“Yes, you will. You don’t have to worry about him anymore. He’s out of your lives for good.”

“I’ll never get over him hurting you—twice.”

“I’m fine. You’re fine. Ty’s fine.”

“I’m great,” Ty said.

“Ty’s great,” Carson said, smiling.

When the nurse brought the Tylenol, he worked around them to take the pills and chase them with a cup of water.

“A police officer is here to speak to you,” the nurse said. “Do you feel up to that?”

“Yeah, sure. That’s fine.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A young Black woman with shoulder-length hair and a friendly smile introduced herself as Officer Angela Martin. “How’re you all doing?”

“Much better than we were,” Carson said.

“Our crime scene team would like to process the vehicle. Could I have the keys?”

Cresley pulled the keys out of her pocket and handed them to her, telling her where to find the car in the parking lot. “It’s a silver Range Rover.”

“Beckett was in the front passenger seat the whole time. I drove, Cresley was behind me, and Ty was sitting next to her.”

“Got it. Be right back.” Officer Martin left the room for a minute. When she returned, she said, “Can you take me through the series of events that brought you to our neck of the woods today?”

“Let me,” Cresley said. “He needs to rest.”

“Would you like me to have one of my colleagues watch your son while we talk?”

“No,” Ty said. “I don’t want to leave them.”

“It’s okay,” Cresley said. “Unfortunately, he already knows the whole story.”

Cresley told the story, beginning with the custody battle, Marlon’s unending demands for money, her refusal to give him any more, the pending court date and how his escalation into violence had led to the stalking, car crash, attempt to sign Ty out of school, the stabbing, the kidnapping and his demand that they leave their phones behind and drive him to Mexico.

“Where were you when he found you?”

“We’d moved to a friend’s home in Laurel Canyon while the police and FBI looked for him.”

Carson recited the address for her.

“How do you think he found you and got into the house?”

“He told me he’d had an AirTag in my car for two years and always knew where I was. I believe he came in through the back door to the yard and must’ve jimmied the lock or broken a window. All I know is that when I went into the bedroom, he was standing there, pointing a gun at me.”

Cresley told her about the tense hours in the car, the threats Marlon had made, how he’d held a gun to Carson’s head and said terrible things about him in front of Ty, as if trying to poison them against him.

Ty raised his head off Carson’s chest. “It didn’t work.”

The officer smiled at him. “I’m glad to hear that. Take me through what happened at the gas station.”

Carson told her about Marlon taking Ty inside and how they’d opened the glove box where his gun and extra phone were kept. “We called 911 to alert them of our position, and I told Cresley to get Ty out of there when they came out. She did a great job of rushing them and running off with Ty.”