The Defendant Read Free Page B

in Riley’s voice reached him through the plethora of decade-old memories. With a determined effort, Chase shut down the personal thoughts and concentrated on his boss.
    “I-I’m fine. I was just thinking about…all of this.”
    “Yeah, it’s a fucking tragedy all round.” Riley’s gaze fell on the body and his eyes hardened. “Except for this piece of shit. He got exactly what he deserved.”
    “Yeah, when word gets out, there won’t be too many around who’ll sympathize with the son of a bitch.” Chase glanced at Kelly Logan who remained standing in the corner of the room, quietly sobbing, the paramedic still by her side. “I hate to think what this will do to their family.”
    Riley followed his gaze and his face darkened. “She needs to get to the hospital where they can do up a rape kit. We’ll talk to her again a little later. I’ll call Josie. It’s early, but when I explain to her what’s happened, she’ll be more than happy to help. That poor boy needs her.”
    The thought of seeing Josie again after all this time, let alone being in the same room as her, made him feel a mixture of emotions. He pressed his lips together and nodded. Silently, he sent a prayer heavenwards that he’d have the courage to handle it.

CHAPTER FOUR

    Josie blinked hard and wiped the sleep from her eyes with her fist. She glanced at the clock mounted on the dashboard of the forest green Boss 351 Mustang she’d borrowed from her father and stifled a groan. Four-thirty . It was way too early in the morning to be out.
    When Riley had called her, waking her from a deep and dreamless sleep, she’d immediately thought something had happened to one of their parents. They were both elderly and while they still enjoyed good health, that kind of thing could change in an instant. She had only to remember what had happened the previous Christmas.
    It had only been four months since her father had been lying in the ICU, unconscious, after a brain hemorrhage. The scar that ran from the base of his skull to just below his ear was still puckered and pink. Seeing him so still and pale against the white sheets of the hospital bed, with tubes and monitors and other medical paraphernalia surrounding him, she’d been rudely reminded of the fragility of his existence and how tenuous one’s grip on life could be.
    After forcing herself to ask the question, she’d been beyond relieved when Riley assured her he wasn’t calling about their parents. He’d gone on to explain in the briefest of detail why she was needed at the station. She’d immediately agreed to come in and it only took a few minutes for her to throw on her clothes.
    Now, she peered through her windscreen, grateful for the extra powerful driving lights her brother Riley had insisted she install now that she was back living in the country. The bright beams cut a wide swathe through the darkness and illuminated the road in front of her. She’d been warned by her neighbors to watch out for kangaroos while driving at night and she now had her eyes peeled to the shoulders and ribbon of asphalt unfurling before her.
    She was thankful she didn’t live too far out of town. She’d accepted the job before making enquires about the availability of houses to rent. When the time came, she searched on the Internet and was a little concerned to discover decent rentals in Watervale were in short supply.
    Her parents had insisted she could stay with them and while she loved them for making the generous offer, she’d come home to Grafton to take stock of her life. Standing on her own two feet, with her shoulders back and her head held high—finding a place to call her own was an important first step on the journey.
    Not that she could call a rental house her own, but at twenty-eight, it would be better than moving back in with her parents, no matter how dearly she loved them. To move home would have been the easiest thing to do, but it would feel like she’d failed to make it if she