Jill eyed me, “A word in private?”
“Sweet girl, go be with your mama and share some of your candy with her,” I said.
Jill smiled her contagious smile. “I totally love how your Texas twang comes out when you talk to these victims.”
“Um, thank you?” I smiled, wrinkling my nose.
“So, what do you think? Will this victim talk once she’s in the courtroom and in front of this perpetrator?”
“Jill, I wish I could tell you with absolute certainty that she will do great and you have nothing to worry about, but the truth is I just don’t know.” I continued, “She’s well prepared and she’s in a good place now. I think she’ll do just fine.” I was hoping she’d do fine. Talking about facing the perpetrator was one thing but actually doing it was quite another.
I placed my hands on my hips and said in exasperation, “I swear, Jill, nothing else better go wrong today or I’m going to punch someone.”
“Tell me about it! This case just needs to be done and over with. I sure hope the defense doesn’t drag it out.”
“Well, don’t let that happen and git in there and git ‘er done!” I exclaimed, my twang inadvertently coming out. She giggled and gave me a thumbs up before walking out.
We waited for what seemed like the entire day. My victim was asleep on the sofa; her mother was starting to nod off; the other witnesses that were in the room with us were all gone. I supposed their cases had finished for the day. The clock on the wall read 3 o’clock. Jeez, we’d been in this room for five hours! What gives? I decided to leave and go find out what the holdup was. As I left the room, I heard multiple footsteps and high heels. It was Jill with both FBI agents. The agents seemed tense and on guard—Jill wore a concerned expression.
“Uh oh. What did I miss?” I asked pointedly.
“One of our witnesses didn’t show so we sent an investigator to go fetch her and he found her dead.” Jill’s voice caught in her throat.
“Dead?” I was stunned.
“Yes, and we think she was murdered but whoever did it made it look like a drug overdose.” Agent Stevens’ voice was sharp.
I was afraid to ask who the witness was. I was afraid to hear it was one of the girls I was helping. I had to know.
“Who is it?” I asked nervously.
“It was Tori.” Jill’s face puckered for a brief moment. “Your victim’s friend.”
Oh no! Not Tori! She was going to school now. I helped her get her GED. She was doing so well and wanted to help herself and other girls who were sexually assaulted like her. I was never her therapist but I knew her and cared about her. The room started swirling and I staggered, gripping the wall. The next thing I knew, I was sitting on one of the benches outside the witness room with Agent Rockwall’s arms around me, my head on his perfectly hard chest and pounding. I could hear him smelling my hair. For cryin’ out loud, we just got the worst news ever and he wanted to sniff my hair? I looked up to see Jill and Agent Stevens fanning me. “I’m okay, please stop. You don’t need to do that.”
“It’s probably better if you just sit for a minute.” Rockwall’s voice was deep and sultry, his hot breath hitting my ear, giving me shivers down my spine. OMG! Enough with your nerves and this dude! Get it together, Isabel, before you look like a complete idiot! I stood up, too hastily, only to be caught by Rockwall’s giant arms again. AAAHHH! I was screaming in my head. This room just needed to stop spinning. I inhaled sharply, grabbed on tight to him and just gave up. I thought I noticed him grin.
“What does this mean then? As far as the trial going forward today?” I asked.
“Jill asked for a motion to re-set the trial date so we could regroup and get a handle on what’s going on. The judge granted it, but only gave us a week,” Agent Stevens said, sounding irritated.
“Jill, I need to speak with my victim and her mother. We can’t let them know what happened, at least not yet! I’m afraid the mother might disappear again. She’s afraid of this perp and what he may do to her and her daughter. Whether she’s lying or not, let’s not take any chances,” I said in a hushed tone.
Agent Stevens’ voice turned sharp. “Yeah, I agree. However, we also believe Jill and you may be in danger as well.”
“Me?” I was surprised. “Why me? I mean, I can understand Jill because the perpetrator has seen her and she’s the prosecutor and she wants to put him away but why me? I’m just the psychologist and no one knows about me.”
“Your name and picture were found at the murder victim’s apartment when the investigator went to fetch her,” he added.
“So what?” I said. “I knew Tori and she knew me. My victim talked about her in our sessions and Tori was starting group therapy with my victim. So that doesn’t surprise me one bit.”
“Nevertheless, we want to take every precaution and have someone assigned to you and Jill, twenty-four, seven,” he said.
“A sitter?” I scowled. “You want me to have a sitter like a five-year-old?” The thought of a strange man or woman following me around, watching me like I was some sort of infant made me uncomfortable. “All you have is a picture of me with my name on it; she could’ve googled me. You have no evidence indicating that someone, anyone, wants to come after me.” I paused. “I’m
