Page 66 of Claimed By the Deputies

TASSIA

I’ve decided not to tell them about the baby yet. It’s too soon and there are too many unknowns muddying the water. Trevor on the loose, the DEA pointing fingers at me, a drug trafficking ring and murders besmirching Frost Valley. I tell myself not yet over and over again as I follow Lucas and the guys into one of the interrogation rooms.

“Why do I feel like a suspect all of a sudden?” I nervously chuckle as I take a seat at the table.

“You’re not in any trouble, Tassia” Lucas calmly replies as he sits across from me.

Mitch and Tyler pull up chairs on either side, and I suddenly feel cornered. “Yet here we sit, in an interrogation room.”

“It’s for your benefit as well as ours,” Tyler says, turning on the table-mounted camera. “This is an official interview, which we’re going to keep for our records. For the purpose of clarity, and honest, open communication within the sheriff’s office.”

“Oh, wow,” I sigh, my cheeks burning red hot.

Lucas shakes his head. “Agent Patterson made some nasty allegations earlier. We’re just trying to get in front of it and do things by the book.”

My stomach sinks again. I thought I’d get used to the sensation by now, but it keeps getting worse. A bigger pill to swallow, every damn time. But I put my game face on. I’ve got clarity and the presence of a plus sign in the back of my head—I’ll worry about the latter later on. Right now, I need to keep myself on this team and out of Patterson’s crosshairs.

“Shall we begin?” Mitch asks.

“Yes,” I reply, hands resting in my lap. I’m tempted to cradle my belly as I look at him. Maybe he’s the dad. Or maybe it’s Lucas. Or it could be Tyler. Either way, I’m going to be a mom at the worst possible time.

“For the record, please, state your full name,” Lucas says.

“Tassia Callaghan, though I intend to change my surname as soon as I can afford the legal fees,” I say.

“And your job here.”

“I’m in charge of the sheriff department’s evidence room. An administrator. I analyze and correctly log evidence from each case investigated by this office.”

“How did you get here?”

“I’d just gotten out of prison. I served a year, and my friend and former social worker, Timothy Jackson, put me in touch with the New Beginnings foundation.”

“And what is that, exactly?” Mitch asks.

“A non-profit organization that receives grants from the federal government and public donations to help reintegrate non-violent offenders into society after serving time in prison. It’s specifically focused on people whose guilty verdicts do not encompass anything within certain categories, including financial crimes, theft, or fraud.”

“Which means?”

“Which means I qualified for the program because I had a relatively short prison sentence for conspiracy to sell Class A drugs.” I pause and sigh deeply. “I didn’t stand a chance in court, but the New Beginnings program helped me get some semblance of life back.”

“Tell us about how you got to Frost Valley,” Lucas says.

Tyler watches me with the same quiet doubt as the other two, and it breaks my heart.

“My friend, Timothy, gave me three possible job offers through the program,” I continue. “Two were in New York City, and the third was here, in Frost Valley. I wanted to get out of the city altogether, wanted to get as far away from my ex-husband as possible, so I chose to apply here.”

“Your ex-husband was serving a longer sentence down in Sing Sing, right?”

“Yes. The city was always his playground. I figured he’d stay there once he got out. Stay away from me. That was the point when I chose Frost Valley.”

“Tell us about the hiring process from your perspective. Again, this is just for the purpose of this interview and for clarity,” Lucas replies.

“Timothy reached out to the sheriff’s office of Frost Valley on behalf of the New Beginnings foundation. He provided your office with my resume and a letter of recommendation, signed by him and by the prison warden, who added his own support for my employment in the evidence room. Then, I was summoned by you, Sheriff Lucas Riggs, to attend an interview. I attended said interview, and a week later, I got a call from your office with an official job offer.”

“And during that time, have you had any contact whatsoever with your ex-husband, Trevor Callaghan?”

“No. None whatsoever,” I say, shaking my head. “From the moment I was arrested, I cut all ties with that man. As soon as I learned that he’d dragged me into his mess, I also filed for divorce.”

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