Jo didn’t worry. She knew Karma wouldn’t touch the knob until Jo had given her the all clear. When Mr. Bradley still hadn’t gotten the message, she cleared her throat. “You sir can leave anytime you want. However, your clients are staying with me.”
“Excuse me?” he rounded on Jo, a cold mask of disdain on his face.
“I don’t think I stuttered.” Jo looked to Maker. “Did I stutter?”
“Nope.” His deep voice held a growl that sounded as if the hounds of hell were trapped in his chest.
She smiled. “I didn’t think so.” The smile fell from her face as she turned back to the three at the door. “Sit.”
Bradley met her gaze, and she arched her left brow, making him flinch. Her eyes seemed to terrify suspects and lawyers alike. They weren’t friendly, and nothing else about her would make them think friendly. Nor did her gaze express any warmth. Her eyes had been compared to the blue of water just under ice. So pale to be almost white. They were cold whenever someone crossed her, freezing them in place. These two had crossed so far over Jo’s boundaries she felt the need to snap a chain on them and slap them back in their place. But the captain frowned at that sort of thing, so she kept it professional.
“Fine, we’ll listen to what you have to say, then we’re leaving.” He motioned to the chairs and waited for his clients to settle into them again before taking the end one.
Jo turned her gaze on the couple. From her notes, she knew they’d been an item since the sixth grade. Even now their fingers were tangled together, the young man looked bored while the corners of the young woman’s lips held a self-satisfied smile, unimpressed with Jo’s authority. Their attitude didn’t matter-Jo had broken killers, rapists, and abusers worse than these two. They wouldn’t be a challenge even with the high-priced suit as their defense.
Opening the file that rested on the table in front of her, Jo flipped through the pages again. Pretended to read certain sections. She didn’t need to read them; each word was burned into her brain. “So you’re both eighteen, correct?”
When she received no answer, she raised her gaze and met Bradley’s.
“Yes, they’re both eighteen,” he said.
It always started out the same. The suspects would let the attorney answer a question or two before the feeling of being ignored ate at them and they needed to tell their side of the story. She didn’t figure the two teens would last beyond a third question. Amy was too spoiled and used to attention, she would hate not being in control. Zach was quiet, but his eyes flashed fire each time they landed on Jo.
She lowered her eyes back to the pages. “And you both know why you were brought down here?”
“To answer some stupid questions about pictures that are going around school,” the young man answered.
“That would be correct, Zach.” Jo flipped to another page while stifling her need to smile. Gotcha.
“So ask us already, I’ve got a nail appointment at four,” the girl stated.
“You’ll need to have your attorney cancel that . . . Amy, is it?” she hummed.
“You don’t even know my name and yet you’re bringing me in here to ask questions about half-naked pictures of a girl I don’t even know.”
Jo raised her eyes, the predator in her coming to the forefront. “Oh, I know your name. Just wanted it verified–you know, for the official report.”
“Can we get on with this?” Bradley cut in.
“Sure. Here’s how this will go: we’re charging your clients with the distribution of child pornography, which is a felony—”
“Excuse me?” Bradley snarled while Amy screeched in outraged.
“You heard me.” Jo stabbed a finger at Zach then at Amy. “And this is not their first offense. Just the first offense since they turned eighteen.” Jo held a hand up so as not to be interrupted again. “We have evidence from Zach’s computer, cell phone, and iPad of the pictures. He took them of minors, then distributed them across the internet to multiple sites. In this instance, however, Amy went a step further and printed the pictures out. Then she hung them around not only the minor’s neighborhood but several other public locations—”
“And you know this for a fact?” Bradley asked his eyes bounced between the two teens.
“This isn’t my first day on the job, Mr. Bradley. We have multiple witnesses that have positively identified them from an array of photos.” She narrowed her gaze. “So we know definitively it was her, and she won’t be able to silence all the witnesses.”
“Amy?” Zach jerked his gaze toward his girlfriend.
“What? Laura deserved it for even thinking she had a chance with you—”
“We agreed to only send it to the people at school—”
“You two need to shut up. Now!” Bradley commanded. “And you can’t charge them with that, they’re considered minors as well since they’ve not graduated yet.”
Jo smiled. It wasn’t happy, it held too many sharp edges. “That would be true. However, they screamed to high heaven how we needed to treat them as adults since they were eighteen. And as I said previously, this isn’t their first offense, which means there’s a pattern any good prosecutor will link together showing the judge and jury these two won’t change. To top that off, their latest victim is only sixteen, and just turned that age a month ago, compared to their eighteen. Which means the bullying began at fifteen. I could go on, but I think you see how my hands are tied with arresting them as minors.”
Bradley’s
