Another police officer helps me up from the floor and asks, “Are you the one who called 911?”
“My friend did. She and another girl are locked in the office for safety.”
I nod toward Sandra, then to Shep. “They came here to take the girl that is in the back, but they don’t have legal custody.”
Another police officer moves over to Sandra, takes her by the arm, and leads her away from me.
A third officer moves to Shep and because he could be a physical threat, he’s placed in handcuffs. This gives me safe access to the office, so I knock on the door to let Clarke and Janelle know it’s safe to come out.
Clarke, Janelle, and I explain the situation, including that Riggs has custody. His name is well known and the cops are impressed that they were called in to help an Arizona Vengeance player’s family. Once they have the gist of our story, they move to talk to Sandra and Shep.
Janelle, who has been very brave throughout all this, throws herself into my arms. She squeezes me so hard, I can barely breathe. “I’m so sorry. You protected me with your life. You’re so crazy, Veronica. I can’t believe you did that.”
I give her a squeeze back, my eyes pricking with tears. “I love you, kid.”
“Love you too,” she whispers.
When she pulls back, her eyes make contact with my face, and they narrow in anger. She reaches out a trembling hand and touches my cheekbone, which is sore. “He hit you?”
With gentle fingertips, I press on the bone, wincing. “It was an open-hand slap. Barely felt it.”
Janelle tries to smile at my attempt to minimize what happened but it fails. We both look over to her mother, furiously trying to talk her way out of something with one of the officers. Shep adamantly refuses to talk. The officer says Shep is going to be arrested and charged with assault, and after they talk to Riggs, possibly attempted kidnapping.
“We have to call your brother,” I say to Janelle.
She shakes her head. “He’s at the arena getting ready for a game tonight.”
“Sorry,” I say solemnly, “but he needs to be here.”
Janelle reluctantly nods, and I release her to grab my phone from the office. I am not looking forward to making this call.
?
Luckily, the arena is no more than a ten-minute drive from the bookstore, and Riggs makes it in less time than that. He pushes open the door, storms in, and looks wildly around. His eyes land first on his mother and Shep standing in a corner with police officers, and then his gaze searches again until it stops on Janelle. She’s beside me, and he calmly walks our way. His eyes rove over her first before sliding to me. His expression hardens from what I am assuming is a mark on my face where he seems to be focused.
Riggs looks over his shoulder at Shep and then back to me. “He do that to you?”
I give him a bright smile. “I’m sure it looks worse than it feels.”
Riggs reaches out and pulls Janelle into a brief hug before pushing her back slightly so he can peer down at her. “Are you okay?”
Janelle nods and glances toward me. “Veronica saved me.”
Riggs looks back at me. I didn’t give him any details on the phone, other than his mother and Shep had shown up and were insistent Janelle leave with them, so we called the police.
I refuse to give the dirty details, so Riggs looks back to his sister with one eyebrow raised in silent demand that he be told everything.
Janelle proceeds to explain the sequence of events, dramatizing my involvement in her rescue when Shep came after her. Riggs’s expression becomes more and more thunderous as he learns exactly what his mother and Shep did.
When Janelle finishes, Riggs excuses himself and heads off to talk to the officer in charge. Eventually, he comes back to us and says, “They’re taking Shep down to the police station, and he’s going to be charged with assault on Veronica. They’re going to consider attempted kidnapping, but before they do that, they need official statements. Given that I’ve got a game right now, they’ve agreed to let me and Janelle come down to the station tomorrow morning. I’m going back to the arena, and I’ll take Janelle with me. She can stay in the owner’s box for the game.”
Clarke pipes up. “I’m going to the game. I’ll stay with her.”
Riggs nods and gives his attention to me. He doesn’t say a word but reaches out and takes my elbow, leading me away from Janelle and Clarke to the opposite side of the bookstore, away from everyone where we can have some privacy. “The police want you to go down to the station right now and give a statement so they can file the charges.”