Page 50 of Home Team Advantage
ANNA
Anna felt like she was in a bad dream.
At first, they’d been friendly. Patient. They offered her water and coffee and let her use the ladies’ room. They’d asked her the same questions over and over. She’d answered them. Different cops, different approaches, same questions, same answers.
After several hours, a man in a suit came into the room, whispered something to the guy asking the questions, and things changed. The feigned niceties were dropped. Tones became harder, colder, and she was informed that she was being taken into custody.
It was a new experience for her. The television shows weren’t far off, but the reality was far less dramatic. The cops weren’t as good-looking either.
They used phrases like attempted murder and grand larceny and a bunch of other things. She’d done none of those things they’d said, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t prove she hadn’t.
They informed her of her rights, including her right to remain silent, which she invoked immediately. She’d been cooperative and truthful up to that point, and it hadn’t worked in her favor. There was no reason to think it would now.
She should have just kept her mouth shut. How many times had her brother told her there was no such thing as an honest cop? That the only truth they cared about was the one that put money in their pockets? And God knew, she’d grown up surrounded by corruption. Why would she think, even for a moment, that things would be different in a small town like Pine Ridge?
They told her she had the right to an attorney. She refused. The lawyers she’d known were more crooked than cops.
Of course, that had worked in her family’s favor at one time. Her father and his associates rarely saw the inside of a station, let alone a jail cell. On those rare occasions when there was an error in judgment, everything was handled with a phone call or a personalized visit from one of her father’s men. There would be none of that here, however.
Anna was on her own.
She went through booking. They asked her for personal information. She remained silent, so they used the information from her ID, which they’d confiscated, along with her wallet, phone, and the bracelet Mrs. Campbell had given her. So much for its protective energies.
She was placed in front of a wall that had height markings, and she was photographed from multiple angles. Full-on frontal. Left side. Right side.
She was fingerprinted and taken to another room, this one grayer and gloomier than the last one. She sat in a hard chair in the room by herself for what seemed like hours while the cops did whatever it was they did.
She remained calm and quiet and still. She was an expert at that. Her entire childhood had been an exercise in how to not be seen, how to not be heard. The trick was completely disassociating from everything around her. To become one of the many statues that had graced her parents’ mansion.
Then, the barrage started again.
They reminded her of her right to an attorney. She said nothing.
They tried intimidation, but they were amateurs.
They did the good cop, bad cop thing. Poorly.
They even brought in a female detective who tried to relate to her. As if some small-town pantsuit with a bob and badge could ever relate to the likes of her.
Anna was bored by it all. At some point, she dozed off, and that was when they decided to give up and take her to a holding cell.
At least it was quieter there.
She stretched out on the bench seat and stared up at the ceiling.
Ten years. For ten years, she’d flown under the radar, but apparently, she was a blip again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
MATT
Matt looked out the window toward Mrs. Campbell’s place. No lights. No indication that Anna had returned.
She hadn’t called or texted. Not for a ride. Not with an update. Surely, the police couldn’t still be questioning her. It had been hours.
The phone rang from somewhere behind him. Kieran answered. After a few brief words, Kieran hung up and joined Matt at the window. “Shane’s on his way.”
“Did he say anything?”
