Page 16 of Caleb's Cause
“Do you ever go by the name Katie?”
“No, I love the name Katherine, and I hate it when people try to shorten it.”
“Good,” Erin laughed as she looked at a man beside her, reached over and laid her hand on the back of his thigh. Katherine knew by that move they were a couple. “This is Reid, my boyfriend, and his girlfriend’s name is Katie. I don’t want to get the two of you confused.”
“Excuse me?”
Reid laughed as he pulled his phone and accessed the photos, he turned it so show her a picture of him and Katie, the horse.
“Oh, wow, your Katie is a horse.”
“Yep. If you stay, we can tell you all about it later, but first, we need to know your story. Just know that between the eight of us, we have roughly one hundred years of military experience. All as Navy SEALs.”
“And we’ve been in every possible situation you can think of. Once we have your story, we’ll decide whether you’re telling the truth or not. If you are, and as you said, you have proof to back it up, then you can rest easy that we will protect you.”
“Thank you,” Katherine drew in a deep breath, and looked around until her eyes landed on Duane. She had to wipe the tears from the corner of them to clear her vision. No one said a word as someone pressed several tissues in her hand. She looked directly at Duane as she asked her next question, “Former FBI?”
“Yes, and the name is Duane.”
“Well, Duane, you’re going to want to take notes, and I hope like hell you still have contacts with your former employer. They may come in handy.”
“Tell us what you have to say, and let us take it from there.”
“Fair enough.” She nodded drew in a deep breath, and looked directly at Erin as she spoke. “A little over two years ago, I started dating a guy that a friend of mine introduced me to. I may be twenty-five, but I’m not a bar hopper. I have a college degree in business management, and I’m not a real partier. I never have been. Not that I haven’t been known to have a drink or two, but while I was in college, I concentrated more on my studies than wondering if I’d get an invitation to the next big frat party. Most of the time when I went out with a group of people I was always the designated driver.”
She saw everyone nod in understanding and knowledge, so she continued, “Anyway, this guy, Michael Babcock and I started dating. At first it was just hanging out with each other when we were in a group. After six months, he asked if he could date me exclusively. Like boyfriend and girlfriend. I agreed. Fast forwardto six months later.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Nothing happened in those six months, nothing significant. I was busy concentrating on getting my career off the ground. We’d hang out, go to dinner, stuff like that. However, we did not live together yet. I didn’t think our relationship was at that level.”
“It wasn’t until about a month later, that I started getting suspicious that he was cheating on me.”
“How?” Caleb demanded, then held up his hands in a surrender motion. “Sorry.”
“No, I understand. Michael would borrow my car every now and then, and when I would get in after he used it, I would smell a different perfume or fragrance from what I would wear. There would be lip gloss containers in the glove box, again, not my color.” She saw them nod, and sighed. “This is where I might have been a paranoid bitch, but I talked to my mom about it. We’re close, oh, and another reason why I talked to Mom was that I didn’t want to get into trouble with the law. She’s a lawyer.”
“Why would you get in trouble with the law?” Duane asked in confusion.
“I asked Mom if it would be considered entrapment if I installed those dash camera things. I wanted to get one that faced the front and back.”
“Ah, I understand now, what did she say?”
“She said no, that it wouldn’t be entrapment, because I was being a safe driver.”
“She’s right, it’s not entrapment.”
“Well, fast forward another couple of months, and Michael and I, along with the friend that introduced us, and her boyfriend, went to a party. The party was two hours away, they were drinking on the way, I was the DD. To this day, I don’t remember, and you can hold a gun to my head, and I can’t tell you what happened at a certain part during the party. All I knowis that my friend and her boyfriend got into a gigantic shouting match, causing a big enough scene that the party stopped and everyone was watching the action, and he stormed off. She was distraught, and when I couldn’t calm her down, Michael said we should leave. Remember, this was two hours away from home, and it was already one in the morning by then. I have no clue where Stephanie’s boyfriend ran off to. Again, I don’t know if he stayed there out of sight, or if he called an Uber. All I do remember is that he wasn’t in the car with us when we left. Oh, and he never even tried to stop us when we did leave.”
“Had you had anything to drink at the party?”
“No, I even brought my own water or soda. I kept them locked in the trunk. I don’t trust people with a drink.”
“Got it. What happened?”
“Michael climbed into the backseat with Stephanie, to console her. And she practically climbed inside his body, and she was crying like the world had ended. Maybe I’m the bitch here, but to me, it was overly dramatic.” She shook he head and looked around at the men standing there, then zeroed in on Erin. “I get she was upset, but the way she was carrying on was way over the top. I mean waaaay over the top. If Michael hadn’t gotten her to shut up, I was about to pull the car over and tell her to shut her mouth, because of her screaming and carrying on, I couldn’t concentrate on driving. Yes, she was actually screaming at the top of her lungs about how she had been mistreated by her boyfriend. For Christ’s sake, it was only the three of us in the car.” She shook her head and sighed as she slumped back in her chair.
“But to Stephanie, with the adrenaline and alcohol running through her system it was traumatic,” Erin said quietly.
“I never thought of it that way, and now that you mention it, she did get overly sensitive, and dramatic when she drank. Anyway, Michael was able to calm her down. I had no problemwith him dealing with her while I was driving. I concentrated on what I was doing, and it was roughly thirty minutes into the drive when I felt the car handling funny, it wasn’t until I looked in the rearview mirror that I realized what was going on. Pardon my language in this next part, but right there in the back seat, the two of them were completely naked and fucking each other. The only shock was that neither of them made any sounds, not until the climatic finish. Again, this might be where I’m a bitch or because I wasn’t drunk, but it sounded fake and overly dramatic to me. I waited until they stopped screaming their love for one another and called Michael a bastard, and Stephanie a bitch. I did this while still driving down the road. Then I asked how long had they been using my car to fuck each other. That’s when all hell broke loose.” She sighed and shook her head, then looked at one of the men in relief when he handed her a bottle of juice from the small refrigerator in the corner.
“What happened?” Erin asked gently.
