Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) (23 page)

BY
the time they finished processing Derrick, it was early Saturday morning. Once they arrested him and transported him to holding, Derrick never saw the detectives again. They didn’t ask him any questions, nor did they corroborate any of his previous statements. They simply cuffed him, put him in a car, and drove him to the station.

Once there, he was photographed, fingerprinted, given an orange jumpsuit to wear, and placed in a cell. Luckily, the jail chaplain was making his rounds shortly thereafter, and gave him a Bible. He spent the weekend in a cell with two other men. He left them alone, and they left him alone to sit on his cot and read or pray.

Monday morning, they let him shave but did not let him change clothes. He was forced to enter the courtroom shackled to a long line of other prisoners, who waited their turns for the bail hearing. He saw Sarah and the rest of the family in the courtroom, and gave a brief nod of his head so that they knew he saw them.

Sarah’s face looked drawn and pale, but she seemed calm. He watched Tony lean over Robin and speak to Sarah, saw her speak in reply and look back at him again. She smiled, placed a hand over her heart in a silent gesture of affirmation. Derrick didn’t realize how much tension he felt over her condition until he saw her and felt it slowly dissipate from his body.

He didn’t feel concerned for himself. He only felt concerned for Sarah and for the rest of the family. What would a murder conviction do to them?

When his name was called, he waited for the bailiff to remove him from the chain gang train, then took his place next to Clifford at the table.

The judge originally denied bail, but Clifford fought and assured and fought some more until he finally relented. Derrick closed his eyes and raised his face toward the heavens, silently thanking God that he didn’t have to wait out the time until the trial from a jail cell.

Three hours later, Derrick left the jail wearing his tuxedo. He went straight to his borrowed downtown apartment where he found his family congregated in the sunken living room.

After he showered and changed clothes, he joined them, his bare feet sinking down into the plush carpet. He walked toward Sarah, who sat in an armchair. She looked up at him, her face mostly expressionless. “Can we talk alone for a minute?”

Sarah hopped up. “Sure.”

“We’ll go make some coffee and come back out.”

He put a hand on the small of her back and assured Tony he’d be right back. “Clifford will be here in thirty minutes,” Tony said.

“Good. We should have something brought in. I’m starving.”

Maxine waved her hand. “I’ve taken care of it. There’s a pot of stew on the stove and biscuits just out of the oven. You two go talk. I’ll get it on the table when you’re done with the room.”

He led Sarah through the dining room and into the kitchen. As soon as the door shut behind him, she turned and put her arms around his waist, her face buried in his chest. “It’s so good to see you.”

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek against her hair, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of her shampoo. “It’s good to see you, too.”

She pulled back a little and looked up at him. “Was it just awful?”

With a shrug, Derrick stepped back and put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Actually, not so bad. The food was pretty terrible, and the bed uncomfortable, but otherwise I was left alone. The chaplain got me a Bible, so I was able to spend a lot of time with God.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “What about you? Fallout from mommy?”

“Strangely, no. She came up with me to Tony’s office Friday night and asked me what was going on. Robin and I filled her in on all we knew. She asked if you’d done it, we told her no, and she said to tell you she’d be praying for you. The next morning, she even called me and told me if I needed to talk, to give her a call.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?”

Sarah shrugged and tugged at the sleeves of her shirt. “Maybe she just loves me.”

Derrick felt a warm glow in his heart. He tucked a strand of auburn curls behind her ear. “Easily done.”

He pushed away from the counter and set about making a pot of coffee. “I’m glad that dealing with her is now off your plate. You have enough going on.”

“Derrick,” Sarah said, putting a hand over his, stopping him from measuring coffee beans. “Are you afraid?”

Derrick felt his jaw clench and cleared the emotion out of his throat. “Sweet Sarah, fear is not of the Lord.” Every time he felt like the world was closing in on him, he referred back to that verse.

“I’m trying not to be afraid, but I just keep thinking –”

He pulled her into his arms, partly to comfort her, partly to comfort himself. “It’s okay. I won’t go down without a fight.”

“WHAT
will our strategy be?” Barry asked, file folder open in front of him. He turned a page and read the arrest report. Next to him, he made notations in his legal pad.

“According to our client,” Clifford said, sipping his coffee as he turned a page in the book before him, “profession of innocence.”

Barry raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Derrick clenched his teeth. “What else is there?”

Barry turned his head to look at him. “Nothing, really. But the way the police handled this, I’m sure they bungled something.”

“If I want to continue to do what I do for a living, I’ll need to be completely exonerated.”

With a shrug, Barry made another note in his pad. “That is absolutely true.”

“That may not even be enough,” Tony said, lips thinned. “I’m still angry about the way they arrested you. There’s no way to keep the covers on it now.”

Derrick sighed. “You know I can’t work until the trial. You’ll lose customers.”

Tony waved his hand. “Non mi importa.”

“Well, you should care.”

“If I lay you off, or fire you, or send you on sabbatical, it will make it seem like I think you’re guilty. Since you’re not, you’ll work.” Tony stared intently at Derrick. “Tomorrow morning, be in your office. No excuses.”

Derrick held Tony’s stare for a long time before breaking it and laughing. “Very well.” He pointed his finger at his friend and mentor. “But be prepared for a serious decline in clientele.”

“Bah,” Tony said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture, “maybe for a while. Actually, I expect a spike of looky-loos. After that, well, people have short memories.”

“Speaking of clientele,” Clifford said. “Tony, I need you and everyone else to leave. Barry can stay, but we need to talk to Derrick alone. Your being here destroys attorney-client privilege.”

Tony stood, his jaw clenched. “I understand.” He turned to Derrick. “Call if you need me.”

Derrick nodded. “Thanks.”

After Tony left the room, Clifford stared hard at Derrick. “During your time alone,” he said, “did you give any thought as to who might want to set you up?”

Derrick ran both hands through his hair. “Of course, but I can’t come up with anything. I would have said James Castolli would set me up, or his dad. But if his dad did it, he would have done it out in the open, with cause, and to send a message to everyone else: I’m willing to kill my own son … watch your step. There wasn’t a single person in that neighborhood who would have had the guts to cross Castolli enough to kill his son.”

“But they didn’t do it with guts. They framed you.”

“Maybe because I was already gone?”

Barry paused in his note-taking. “Who knew?”

“Who knew what?”

“Who knew you were leaving?”

With a shrug, Derrick said, “No one. I…” Memories flooded. “Wait. Maybe one person knew. Let me think.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “Yeah. Ginger knew. I asked her if she wanted to come with me, and she laughed at me and told me I’d be back.”

Barry raised an eyebrow. “Ginger?”

“Yeah, uh,” Derrick cleared his throat. “Ginger Castolli.”

“Let me guess,” Clifford said, rubbing his forehead. “Castolli’s daughter?”

Derrick sighed. “She was seventeen. We’d been on and off for about a year. Right then we were on about to be off again. We’d had a huge blow up fight, but I saw her out that night and asked her to run away with me.”

“Do you think she told anyone?” Barry asked.

“I don’t know. She was pretty…” Derrick paused again, feeling ashamed for some reason. “She was pretty stoned at the time. There’s no telling.”

Barry scribbled something in his notepad. “It’s worth following up.”

“Following up?”

“Sure.” Barry capped his pen and closed the cover of his nottopaz. “It might be worth a little bit of Perry Mason to poke around and see if we can get any idea as to who framed you.”

“What good will that do? No one else is on trial here. All of the evidence points to me.” Derrick pushed away from the table. “Go digging up old bones and everything I’ve worked hard to escape will come crashing back down on me.”

Barry stood as well, towering over him. “You are a new creature in Christ. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t investigate other possibilities. Bones are going to come out of the closet. We can’t stop that. Just don’t lie, stand firm, and you’ll get through this.”

“Easy for you to say.”

Barry cocked an eyebrow. “Yes. It is easy. What else would you like for me to say?”

Releasing a heavy sigh, Derrick sat back down. “Nothing. There is nothing that can be said.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and made himself a message. “I’ll go visit her. Talk to her.”

“Not alone,” Clifford said, making notes. “You take someone with you. Barry or Tony.”

“Okay.”

DERRICK
rolled his head on his neck before lifting his fist to knock on the door of the apartment number six. The six had loosed itself from the nails holding it in place and swung downward, making it look like a number nine.

Tony looked around him, at the dingy hallway, the garbage strewn floor, the flickering fluorescent lighting, and said, “Not exactly Castolli’s castle.”

“I know. I heard Castolli got busted about a year after I left. Looks like he didn’t leave Ginger with the fortune.”

The door swung open onto a chain and a very haggard and prematurely aged face appeared on the other side, but he recognized her. Lines formed around her mouth, circles darkened the skin under her eyes, and a bad hair dye job made her once black tresses look sickly purple, but he recognized her. “Ginger?”