The Defendant Read Free Page A

cheeks.
    Chase felt like a prick. He was harassing a child, a boy who had suffered through the worst kind of horror and torment way too early in his life. If it wasn’t so necessary to know what had happened, Chase would have offered comfort, like he wanted to, rather than threats. He stood and met Jake’s gaze. The constable’s expression was also tortured.
    “I’m going to confer with the boss,” Chase murmured. Jake merely nodded.
    Retracing his footsteps, Chase returned to the bedroom. Riley now stood near Daniel’s mother, talking quietly to her. She responded through gasps and sobs, her words disjointed.
    Chase cleared his throat to gain Riley’s attention.
    Riley glanced up at him and then eased himself away from the woman. “What is it?” he asked when he reached Chase, his voice pitched low.
    “It’s the boy. He’s in a bad way. Shocked almost to the point of muteness. Can barely spit out a syllable. We’re not going to get anything out of him while he’s in that state. What did you get out of the mother?”
    Riley’s lips compressed into a thin line. “A little, but she’s still in shock. She lives here with her husband, Trevor Logan and their two sons. Trevor’s a truck driver for New England Transport. Right now, he’s out on the road. We’ve tried to contact him, but he hasn’t answered his phone. Probably asleep.”
    Chase closed his eyes and shook his head. “Poor bastard.”
    “Yeah. Anyway, Kelly said she was in bed asleep when she was woken by a noise. The next thing she knew, Whitcomb was standing over her, threatening her with a knife. She didn’t want him to discover her sons, so she did her best to stay quiet. Unfortunately, Daniel woke and came upon them.
    “Hell.”
    Riley drew in a deep breath and released it on a heavy sigh. “Yeah. By that time, Whitcomb had his pants down. Daniel saw everything. She tried to warn him away. He left, but a few minutes later he returned, this time with a gun. He put a bullet through the back of Whitcomb’s head.”
    “Did you find the knife?”
    “Yeah, a four-and-a-half-inch Bowie. It had fallen down the side of the bed. Whitcomb’s got a scabbard on his belt.”
    Dread cemented in Chase’s gut. Knowing he would have done the same thing if he’d been in Daniel’s position didn’t make it any easier.
    “Christ,” he breathed, shaking his head slowly. “No wonder the poor kid isn’t talking.”
    “Yeah. No wonder.” Riley sighed again. “What do you want to do?”
    “I’m not going to hound him any further. He’ll talk when he’s ready. We need to get someone in to see him, a professional trained to deal with children and trauma.”
    Riley nodded. “My sister Josie’s just returned home. She took up a private position through Rural and Regional Health in Watervale about a month ago. She’s a child psychologist. I could call her and see if she can meet us at the station.”
    Chase stared at Riley in surprise and his heart pumped double time. Josie. The sweet sound of her name rolled silently off his tongue. He didn’t realize she’d left Brisbane and was so close by.
    Nervousness surged through him, coupled with an underlying feeling of anticipation. He’d been in love with Josie Munro all of his life. The last time he’d seen her was the night of her high school graduation. It had been the most beautiful night of his life.
    Then the memories of what happened afterwards crashed in on him and he had to turn away. The pain of it, as raw and fresh as if it had happened yesterday, battered him from all sides.  
    He’d promised her a future and he’d reneged. He hadn’t even told her why. She’d loved him; she’d trusted him, she’d believed in him…and he’d let her down. The hurt he’d caused was ingrained in his memory. It would be naïve for him to think she could ever recover from it, let alone forgive him, no matter how much he yearned that things could be different.
    “Chase? Are you okay?”
    The concern