Page 3 of Justice for JoElla

“No. I mean, I suppose it’s possible, but I’d say not. What kind of vehicle did the male drive?”

“Dark blue Chevy Suburban. Probably early two thousands. Dent in the left front quarter panel.”

Joey looked up at her from under his brows, his face still angled downward toward his tablet. “Once a cop, always a cop, huh?”

That pissed her off to no end. “No. I’m just very observant.”

There was an edge in his voice when he countered with, “You’re nottooobservant, now are you?”

The anger boiling just under the surface of JoElla’s composure ramped up instantly. “Do you need anything else? Because you fuckers cost me a day’s work by blocking in my car.”

“You could’ve asked us to move it.” The corners of his mouth turned up almost imperceptibly, and JoElla wanted to slap him.

“We’re done here. Anything else and you’ll just have to wait.” Without another word, she slammed the door shut and leaned against it.

“We’ll be in touch,” Joey called out to her, obviously heading toward his cruiser as his voice faded away.

You can be in touch all you want, but fuck you, you’ll get nothing else from me.Did she want that kid’s killer caught? Of course she did. But she really hoped none of that hinged on her or anything she could tell the cops. She’d been done the day she walked out of that department building.

And at that very moment, she wasn’t any less done.

* * *

Macaroni and cheesewith a can of tuna in it. That was all she could manage for dinner. There wasn’t money for fancy stuff, and after missing a day’s work, there wouldn’t be any extra. She only got two stations on the old TV, but it was something, so she sat down with her fork and picked at her plate.

She’d only gotten half of it down when there was a knock at the door. “You’ve got to be shitting me,” she mumbled under her breath. It was tempting to pretend she was gone, but the TV was on, and if it was who she thought it was, they’d just keep knocking. With her H&K .380 in her right hand, she gripped the doorknob in her left, spun it, and threw the door open. “What the hell do you…” A couple of blinks told her she wasn’t imagining things. “Roy?”

He gave her a warm smile. “Yeah. It’s me. You doin’ okay? Heard you had some visitors this morning.”

She blew out a big sigh, gently placed the handgun on the table beside the door, and motioned for him to enter. “Come on in. Want something to drink? I’d offer you food, but I really don’t have any.”

“Actually…” He drew his left arm around from behind him and held up a six pack of beer. “I brought you something. Thought after the day you’ve had, you could probably use it.”

“Awww, now that’s a nice thing to do!” she snarled. “I’m sure that comes with some kind of request. So what is it?”

“Let’s just sit down and talk, okay? I’m not here to get anything from you. I’m actually here to give you something.”

Jesus, please don’t let it be a job, her brain moaned. Law enforcement was the last thing she wanted to re-enter, and RoyBillings had been sheriff of Spencer County for as long as she could remember. He handed her a bottle after he’d twisted the top off, then twisted off one for himself and motioned to the sofa. “Sure. Go right ahead.” JoElla waited until he was seated, then sat back down behind her puny dinner and hit the button on the remote to turn the TV off. “I can’t imagine what in the world you’d want withme.” The words came out almost like a curse, and that was exactly how she’d meant them.

“I heard you were first on scene next door.”

“I was, but not by my own volition. I was summoned by civilians.”Fuck, I sound like a damn cop, she told herself.

Roy took a swallow of beer and set the bottle on the coffee table. “That’s what I heard. Those three women had nothing but kind things to say about you.”

“Well, they should call my former boss and tell him what a peach I am.” The words were bitter coming out of her mouth, and she didn’t care. Talking about that mess was the last thing she ever wanted to do.

“What happened with you was wrong, JoElla, and I know it. We all have decisions we have to make in a split second. They’re life or death. It comes with the territory. You did what you had to do in that split second.”

“Yeah, and a fourteen-year-old kid died.”

“A fourteen-year-old kid you thought was going to shoot you.”

JoElla leaped up from the sofa. “I should’ve looked closer!”

“If you’d taken that extra nanosecond, you could be dead.”

“And yet, I’m not.”

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