Page 79 of Coveted Justice

“Listen, I’m only saying this because we found the gun. If she’s done something…if she and Marty had a fight or something and it got violent…it would go better for her to admit it. Throw herself on the mercy of the court. We could talk to the prosecutor…”

Sam sounded slightly desperate, and troubled. He didn’t want the killer to be Abby any more than Tanner did. They’d known each other for years.

“I’ll talk to her about that, too,” Tanner replied. “But if I know my ex-wife, she isn’t going to admit anything. She doesn’t like to be wrong.”

Sam led Tanner back to the interrogation room where Abby was sitting with her attorney. She didn’t even have to say a word; he could see what she was thinking in her expression. Defiance. Anger. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Abby.”

“Tanner.” His ex-wife nodded to her lawyer. “I’d like to talk to him alone.”

The woman pursed her lips, her gaze darting back and forth between her client and him.

“I’m going to advise against this, but I know I’m wasting my breath.”

She didn’t say anything else, simply gathering her briefcase and exiting the room so that Tanner and Abby were alone.

He and Abby had been married for many years a long time ago. They’d been divorced even longer. He wasn’t about to play any games with her. He was going to get straight to the point.

“You have fucked up,” he stated, pulling out a chair and sinking down into it. “First, running off without a word to anyone. That makes you look guilty as hell, Abby. Then you smack an officer of the law? What in the hell were you thinking? That’s a felony. That’s jail time.”

“It’s so lovely to see you, too,” Abby said, her tone mocking. “I feel all warm and fuzzy with your visit here.”

“I don’t want you to feel all warm and fuzzy,” he growled, his irritation making him grouchy. He was far too old for this shit. “I want you to think before you act. Just think first. That’s it. You’re in over your head and now I hear that you won’t apologize to the patrolman that you hit. Abby, if you don’t they’re going to prosecute you. I’m sure they have you on their body cam, so you wouldn’t have much of a defense.”

“He harassed me,” she replied hotly. “He was awful to me.”

“Are you saying he was asking for it? Because that’s not a defense that’s going to work.”

“He said I had to go with him. I didn’t want to. I wasn’t ready to come back.”

“Oh, you weren’t ready to come back? Well, why didn’t you say so? If you weren’t ready, then he should have just let you go on your merry way. Completely ignoring that you’re a major suspect in your husband’s murder and that you disappeared a few days ago without telling anyone. I thought you might be on your way to Mexico.”

He didn’t try and hide the sarcasm in his voice, wanting Abby to know that he had little patience for her crap today. She’d done all of this to herself because for some reason she thought that rules and laws didn’t apply to her. He didn’t know where she’d come by that attitude. She hadn’t had it when they were married.

“I get it,” Abby said. “You’re mad. But I needed to get out of here. I couldn’t take the pressure and the stress. I just lost my husband, you know. Not that anyone seems to care about that. I’m a grieving widow but I’m being treated like a criminal.”

“And now you’ve acted like one. Not once but twice. First, you ran off, and then you slapped a cop. Neither one of those actions are going to endear you to the press. Jesus, Abby. This isn’t a game. You could fucking go to prison for Marty’s murder if you aren’t careful. You’re not helping yourself here. If you don’t care about anything else, care about what potential jurors are going to think about you after they read about this fiasco in the newspaper.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but then her expression seemed to crumple and she began sobbing, her face buried in her hands and her shoulders heaving.

“Shit, I’m sorry. Dammit, don’t cry. It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry I got upset. I won’t yell anymore, I promise. Just please stop crying.”

He couldn’t stand tears. Anyone’s.

Sniffling, she wiped at her damp cheeks.

“I don’t want to go to prison.”

“Good. This is progress. No one wants to send you there. You need to apologize to the patrolman for hitting him, Abby, and he’ll drop the charges. But you need to be sincere about it. You have to be actually sorry.”

Her lips pressed together into a thin line.

“He was really awful to me but okay…I’ll apologize.”

That was one weight lifted from Tanner’s shoulders.

“Thank you. Trust me when I say that later you will be glad that you did. You’ll be happy that you’re not talking to a judge about this.” He leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. “Abby, we need to talk about the gun that Sam found in your trunk.”

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