Page 27
He jerks his hand away as if I burned it. Unfortunately, not because of me, but because the door bangs open, revealing two men in suits. One looks like it was custom-tailored, the other bought off the clearance rack at Walmart. Both look like Feds, regardless of the financial discrepancies between the two.
They take the seats opposite me and look at Jacks in disdain. “You may leave,” the smartly dressed one says to him. Jacks bristles beside me, but he recognizes when someone in the room has a bigger dick than him. He stands up and backs down like a good little beta male. It’s those tendencies that have him bucking his constraints and taking out his frustrations over his inadequacies on women.
He walks out and slams the door, leaving me alone with two men who have yet to identify themselves. They both sit there watching me for ages, and I wonder if this is part of their act, hoping I’ll get nervous and break first. If that’s what they want, they’ve seriously underestimated what I’ve had to deal with. This is like a cake walk compared to the mental gymnastics James had me jumping through.
Eventually, the one in the expensive suit speaks, his fingers laced together on the table in front of him. “My name is Special Agent Bowser. This is Agent Mikos. We want to ask you some questions regarding your husband, James Taylor.”
“He’s not my husband, and as I said to the previous officers, I won’t be talking without my lawyer present.”
“I don’t think you understand the severity—”
The door opens, and in walks a huge man in an even nicer suit than Special Agent Bowser. I have to bite my lip at his name, finding it hard not to think of him as the large green reptilian character from one of my favorite video games.
I jolt when a furry body rounds the table and presses against my leg.
“Lucy!” I whisper, bending down to give her a fuss, which is when I catch sight of her little jacket declaring her a service dog.
“What is the meaning of this?” the pompous agent snaps.
“Now I know you weren’t about to interrogate my client without her lawyer present,” the guy drawls. So this is my lawyer. I instantly like him for not cowering to the agent with the over-inflated ego.
“We were just getting started,” Agent Bowser growls as the lawyer moves to sit next to me.
My attorney looks me over, his gaze softening. “I’m Lane Arlington. How are you doing, Lilith?”
I swallow, surprised he used that name. The twinkle in his eye tells me it’s intentional.
“I’m okay.”
“Good, I’m glad. Your boyfriend was nice enough to bring me your service dog, which should have been arranged to begin with.” He turns to glare at the Feds.
I dip my head to hide my smile. This was Powers’s doing. “I appreciate it. I was worried I might have a panic attack. Everyone here has been less than friendly.”
“Yes, they have a surprisingly bad track record with female victims at this station, something I think I’ll have my team dig into. I’m hoping these lovely agents will have more respect for the law, though.” The threat is left unsaid, but the message is clear.
Agent Mikos coughs to clear his throat, which snaps his partner out of his musings.
“We’d like to ask you some questions—”
“Is it standard practice now to have female victims harassed and intimidated into answering questions when no crime has been committed?”
“That’s for me to decide.”
“Actually, it’s not. And I would be careful about building your house of cards here because I’ll blow the whole fucking thing down. I don’t give a single fuck whose payroll you’re on.”
Silence prevails for a minute, enough to make Agent Mikos squirm in his seat before Agent Bowser starts asking his innocuous question. “A woman matching your description was seen with whom we believe to be Dr. James Taylor. Where were you three nights ago?”
“You don’t have to answer that,” Lane tells me.
“No. It’s okay. As I told the cops who addressed me, I haven’t seen that man in years. As for my whereabouts, I was in a hospital in Atlanta after being attacked. And yes, there are both witnesses and camera footage.”
His mouth snaps shut. Guess he didn’t do his homework after all.
Mikos takes over with a frown. “I’m sure you can understand that we are anxious to apprehend your husband for questioning so that he can answer for the crimes he’s been charged with.”
“He is not my husband. He’s married to the Lilian Taylor who came before me. The woman who was missing when I came on the scene. I’m Lilith Taylor. It’s her face I’m wearing because her husband is a sick fuck who did my reconstruction surgery after I was hurt, and he built my face in the image of the woman he was obsessed with. We share a face, a name, and a psychotic ex. But I never took the vows she did, thank god.”
That strikes all three of them mute. James would never tell people that part, of course. It makes him look exactly like the creep he is, though he’s somehow managed to convince people before that I was the one who provided the photo. Even going as far as claiming he thought I was Lilian’s twin. The fact that people bought that bullshit always dumbfounded me. But it fit his narrative, especially when he pretended to cops that I was the one who manipulated and stalked him, preying on his feelings for his missing wife. It’s one of the things that helped him get me locked up in a mental health facility.
