The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday (32 page)

Handcuffed, Karen started for the door. The officer closest to her grabbed her arm and swung her against the wall. The crack of Karen’s face against the hard surface had Zach pushing against the cop holding him.

“Karen? Fuck, leave her alone.”

“Get him out of here.”

Two cops grabbed each of Zach’s arms and shoved him out the door and into the night. He struggled against them, looking over his shoulder to witness them leading Karen out behind him. A small trickle of blood ran down her face from a cut above her eye.

Outside, police cars were parked everywhere. He saw Nolan in the back of a squad car.

Bystanders were surrounding the scene, flashes of light filled the night as someone took pictures.

His eyes saw stars as he tried to adjust to the flashing.

Karen continued to yell at the police to keep Becky safe, even as they were shoving her in the back of a waiting car.

Right as someone pushed Zach in to a separate car, his eyes fell on a lone, familiar figure in the crowd.

Tracey?

A strange satisfied smirk played on her face.

Her head throbbed, and her heart ached. How had this happened?

Nolan was in a holding cell, probably separate from Zach, and the police were shoving her fingers on a computer screen and telling her to hold still for the camera, and Becky wasn’t anywhere in sight.

A female officer handled her from the time she entered the police station. With her, Karen thought maybe she could get through. “I don’t care what you do with me, but you have to keep Becky away from her parents. She’s not safe.”

“Ms. Jones. Right now, you need to think about yourself. Kidnapping, resisting arrest, harboring a criminal.”

“Harboring a criminal? What are you talking about?” As for resisting…well, she couldn’t argue that without a lawyer.

“Turn to the right.”

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.

Judy stood behind her parents and glanced around the lobby of the station. She felt the eyes of someone fall on her from across the room. Trying to be careful of who she looked at, Judy removed her phone from her pocket and pretended to read a text as her eyes found those who watched her.

Light green eyes followed her every move. The man who possessed them had military short hair and a neck that was thick enough to bounce baseballs off it. His broad shoulders sat under a jacket that looked too small…or maybe the man was simply too big.

Judy couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling down his frame any more than she could stop the sun from rising. He filled up the small space of the chair he sat in and long legs stretched out in front of him. As her gaze traveled back up his frame, she noticed those green eyes laughing above his dimpled smile.

She jumped and forced her eyes away.

“We’re here for Zach Gardner,” she heard her father tell the officer when the woman managed to hang up the phone.

“Two of you can come back.”

Her mother looked at her and smiled. “Will you be OK here alone?”

“Mom, please. It’s a police station.”

On the other side of the glass, Zach’s parents sat with their backs perfectly straight and their expressions full of shock.

Even though he knew the charges against him were bullshit and that they’d be dropped as soon as light was shed on the entire
situation, talking to his parents from jail had to be one of the lowest points in Zach’s life.

“Hey, Dad.”

“What the hell is going on?” Sawyer jumped right to the point.

“I know it looks bad.”

“Do you? Jesus, Zach…you’re in jail.”

Zach glanced behind him at the officer guarding the door. “I’m aware of that.”

“Karen and Nolan are in there with you.”

He nodded. “I know. We need a lawyer.”

Sawyer shook his head, disgust sat deep in his eyes.

“What’s this about, Zach? What did you do?”

The back of Zach’s jaw grew tight. “Nothing. We did nothing wrong. Becky Applegate ran away from home. Karen and I found her and Nolan hiding out and we put them in a hotel until we could get to the bottom of the situation. The kidnapping charge is bogus.”