Page 71 of Justice for Samara

Samara’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god! That’s horrible!”

“She’s okay now. Has a little bit of a deficit, but otherwise fine. Oh, and she’s partially blind in one eye, but her vision’s actually getting better. Her name’s Martina.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Michael said with a smile.

“She’s a pretty lady.” Bud practically glowed as he talked about his wife. Michael wondered if he looked the same way, because he felt the same with Samara.

As soon as the dishes were cleared and they’d all gotten fresh drinks, Cruz glanced at the men on either side of him, then gave Samara an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I know this is going to be hard, but you’ve got to tell all of us everything that happened and everything that you know. I understand you’ve started reinterviewing the victims of the assaults, and we need to know what came from those too.”

Her face turned toward Michael and the light seemed to go out in those big brown eyes. Instead of saying anything, he dropped his hand to the table, palm up, and waited. In a couple of seconds, she pressed her palm to his and he wrapped his fingers through hers. He could feel her strength even through her fear. “Okay. I’ll just start at the beginning.”

From time to time as she talked, one of the men would ask a question, and it was obvious to Michael how careful they were being with their words. They made sure they didn’t say anything that would be disrespectful or hurtful to Samara. At one point, Amos stopped her. “I have to ask, you seem like someone who can definitely take care of herself. How did he manage to overpower you? I mean, did he hit you from behind, or restrain you, or what? I’m sure you fought?”

“I didn’t realize he was behind me, and he hit me full force between the shoulder blades and knocked me to the ground. As soon as I hit, he was on me, and he zip-tied my hands behind my back. From that point on, he was in control. I was too off-balance to do much else. And I was on the back seat of the cruiser with my legs out the door and bent toward the ground. There really wasn’t much of a way to get enough power to land a kick hard enough to fend him off.”

Bud sat there, arms folded across his chest, and looked down at the table before looking back up at Samara. “Did you get the impression that he’d done it before to someone else?”

“Yes. Absolutely. I don’t know who or when, but I felt that was a distinct possibility. Then when I started talking to the victims, it was confirmed. He did practically the same thing to them.”

“So he found a formula that worked and used it repeatedly. Okay. Just wanted to clarify. Sorry I interrupted you.”

“No, that’s fine.” She kept going, and Michael noticed something. The longer she talked, the stronger she seemed. Those men were treating her with respect, handing her dignity back to her, and she was responding. They’d never know how much he appreciated that, watching her reclaim her power as she spoke.

She outlined what she knew about each of the assaults, and then began to tell them about the house fire and the things they’d discovered there. At one point, she turned to him and said, “Michael, do you want to fill in the details on that?”

“Sure. So when we got there…” He outlined everything they’d done, then talked about going to Glenna’s parents’ house, and the interview he’d done with Stadler at the station. “Oh, and I’m going to call him when I get back and ask if she’s ever gotten back from that Alaskan cruise,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Wow, he’s an arrogant bastard, telling you stuff that he knows full well you can check out for validity,” Amos growled. “I want this guy taken off the streets.”

“Me too,” Bud agreed. “He’s a menace and an embarrassment to the badge. And that’smybadge. I’m part of KSP, and I’m not happy about this.”

Carter leaned back in his chair. “I’m sure you aren’t. I’m not either, and I’m not KSP. He’s been pulling this shit in my area, and I want it stopped.”

“And that’s what we’re here for. So let’s do this. We’ll go home and Amos and I will talk back and forth, call you guys, just talk this out and work on it until we come up with something that will take care of this arrogant asshole.” Bud glanced around the table. “Does that sound like a plan?”

“Sounds good to me,” Carter agreed.

Michael nodded. “Me too.”

Amos turned his attention to Samara. “Does that sound okay to you?”

She nodded and quietly said, “I trust you.”

Cruz sat back in his chair. “Good. I think I’ve got the right people together here, so I’ll probably be going back to SanAntonio in a day or two, but I’m confident that you guys are in the best possible hands. Bud and Amos will work with you, and you’ll get it taken care of. And I’m always available to help or offer ideas if you need me. I’ll get on a plane and be here in a few hours if I’m needed. I’m not abandoning you. This is just outside the scope of my jurisdictional limits, but I’ll still do what I can and offer support.”

“Listen, you guys…” Michael could feel himself losing his composure and he was trying hard to regain it before he spoke. “I, we, appreciate it. Anything you can do. Any way you can help. You just can’t know…”

“Yeah. We do. We all do. Wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, we’re going to be thinking about all three of you and trying to come up with something that will knock this bastard down. In the meantime, keep doing those interviews, Samara. You may eventually find a woman who’ll crack, and when you do, it won’t just be your word against his. There will be two of you, and then maybe three. And maybe four. And check the other counties around. You guys have a good handle on this, but we’re going to do everything we can to give it all a boost.” Amos stopped, then smiled. “Because we know all of you would do it for us.”

Carter smiled. “We absolutely would.”

“Okay. We’ve all got our assignments. Let’s touch base in a couple of days and we’ll see what we come up with. You guys, please?be careful. This man is dangerous,” Bud said, his voice firm. “That’s one call I donotwant to get.”

“I promise, we will be.” Michael hoped he was telling the truth, but it was hard to know for sure. How could you possibly keep yourself safe from a madman?

That was the question of the century.

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