Chapter Eleven
Caleb’s gut was churning and he hated leaving Emily like that, but he set his jaw and acted confident and unaffected as he interacted with the police officers. They were all respectful, and a couple of them told him they’d been to his games and enjoyed watching him play. One of them said his son had been at several of Caleb’s guest practices last fall and the kid worshipped him. None of them treated him like he was a murderer, but did they believe it? Did they believe he could viciously kill a man with his bare hands? Caleb had been in many a fight, quite often with his brothers, but he’d never intended on maiming or killing anyone.
They didn’t take him to a jail cell; instead, they led him to a holding room. They uncuffed his hands, which reassured him a little bit, and they gave him a water bottle, telling him they’d proceed once his lawyer arrived. He had a lawyer that he’d worked with and liked, but he’d wait and hope that Emily had been able to get ahold of one of his brothers. He should’ve insisted on Luke—he was as wealthy as Joshua, so they would both have the best lawyers—but Luke was only half an hour north of him in Boulder, where Joshua was mostly based out of Florida. Luke’s lawyer would be closer. Caleb hoped none of his siblings called his parents. It would break his mom’s heart. He smiled wryly. Well, maybe. She’d planned on him and Seth being arrested many times throughout their lives, but not for murder.
Murder. It was a horrific word. Caleb had broken the law plenty throughout his life, mostly with bombs and fireworks. He’d never been caught, though. Maybe this was karma.
Was Jeff really dead? He supposed he had to be. He didn’t feel any compassion for the man or remorse for beating him up. Jeff had been attacking Emily in her home. Nobody could blame Caleb for stepping in. Yet could one of the hits to Jeff’s face somehow have caused internal bleeding and killed him? He’d heard of crazy stories like that and with Jeff’s track record of head injuries and concussions he’d be more susceptible to such a death. Why would they blame Caleb so quickly? Could Jeff possibly have been smart enough to kill himself and somehow blame Caleb? Why would anyone be nuts enough to do that? Yet Caleb had known athletes with repeat head injuries like Emily said Jeff had experienced. It messed them up.
Caleb had drained the water bottle, toyed with it for a while, and then resorted to pacing the room when Chief Garner walked in with a tall, thin guy with a military cut and a tailored suit.
The man stuck out his hand. “Doug Turner. Luke called me.”
“Thanks for coming so quick,” Caleb said, shaking the man’s hand.
“Of course.” He gestured, and they all sat. Doug nodded to the police chief, and the guy started in on basic questions about Caleb.
After a while, Caleb held up his hand and said, “Can you please tell me exactly what happened?”
“I would hope you would tell us that,” Garner said.
Caleb splayed his hands. “I fought with Jeff Gehring because he was physically assaulting his ex-wife, Emily Housley, in her home. He had her on the floor in a choke hold when I interrupted him. I beat him up, I’ll admit to that, but he walked away and looked fine, besides some cuts and future bruises. How did I supposedly kill him?”
He looked to Doug, who was grimacing. Caleb had nothing to hide, though, and he wanted to get to the bottom of this.
Chief Garner lifted his eyebrows. “A neighbor, Vivian Nelson, heard the fight. She saw Jeff staggering as he left Emily’s home. She knew Jeff from when he’d lived in the neighborhood. She took him to her house to clean him up. He claimed you were trying to kill him, and then he collapsed. She called us. He died before we got there. We assume a brain hemorrhage, but we won’t know until the autopsy.”
The chief kept asking questions, and Caleb tried to answer them truthfully while Doug shifted next to him. Caleb’s gut churned. Maybe he had killed Jeff. He’d hated the guy and would do anything to keep Emily and Krew safe, but murder? It was horrific. He’d never in a million years thought he was capable of murder.
* * *
The policemen who greeted Emily at the station were very nice, but they told her she’d probably be more comfortable waiting at home. She explained that she was going to wait until Caleb was released. They gave her sympathetic smiles, their quick glances to each other revealing how long they thought that might be. One of the men showed her into a waiting room with some couches, chairs, a water cooler, and a pop machine. She thanked him and paced. Her mind scrambled for how to help, but she didn’t even know if Jeff was really dead or how they could accuse Caleb of killing him so quickly. Didn’t they need probable cause and all of that?
She heard some voices and movement in the main area and stole toward the door, overhearing the man introduce himself as Caleb’s lawyer. Thank heavens. He was taken down a hallway and out of sight. It was probably only fifteen minutes later that she heard voices again. She looked out and saw Eve, accompanied by a man who could only be Caleb’s brother, Luke, he was a little shorter than Caleb but the blue eyes and the handsome face were distinctive. A petite, dark-haired woman was holding Luke’s hand. They talked to the police, then were shown into her waiting room.
Emily pressed her hands down her sweater, self-conscious about meeting Caleb’s brother and sister-in-law and seeing Eve again. Would they blame Emily for Caleb’s situation?
“Emily!” Eve greeted her warmly, crossing the small room and hugging her briefly. “Oh my goodness, are you okay? What a mess!”
“I’m okay. Caleb came and …” She had to swallow hard at the rush of emotion. Caleb had protected her, but now she couldn’t help him. “Protected me, fought Jeff.” She splayed her hands. “Now they’re claiming Jeff is dead.” She still couldn’t wrap her mind around that. It had to be a ploy from Jeff to hurt her and Caleb. She turned to Luke. “I’m sorry. I’m a mess. Emily Housley,” she introduced herself.
Luke shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Emily. It’s going to be all right.” His confident self-assurance, blue eyes, and striking facial features reminded her so much of Caleb that she had to swallow again to keep from crying.
His wife gave Emily an even longer hug than Eve had. She smelled like the most incredible perfume, a sassy mix of fruity and musk. She was small and should’ve made Emily feel like an Amazon woman, but this lady was too kind and welcoming. “I’m Mar.” She leaned back and smiled. “Oh, you are just gorgeous, and I love your accent. I’m so happy Caleb’s found you.”
“Are you sure?” She sniffled. “It’s my fault he’s in here.”
“Oh goodness, it’s about time Caleb got arrested for something, and you’d better not be thinking it’s your fault. If I know Caleb, he’s in there joking with the cops.”
Emily’s jaw dropped. “You understand he’s been arrested for murder?”
Mar nodded, and her eyes darkened. “It’ll all work out. I’m sorry about your ex.”
Emily shrugged. She had no love lost for Jeff, yet she had loved him years ago, and he was Krew’s father. It was horrifying to try to wrap her mind around him really being dead.
Mar seemed to understand that she was conflicted and changed the subject. “Now the family’s all on their way, so you’re about to be inundated.” She shared a secretive smile with her husband. “Not to worry. They’ll all love you. Tell me about your little boy.”
Emily appreciated the distraction. She, Mar, and Eve got chatting about Krew and Paisley while Luke pulled out a laptop and clicked away. Emily prayed he was researching how to free Caleb, and she prayed his high-dollar lawyer was throwing the book at the police department. Mar shared with both of them that she was fourteen weeks along, getting a teasing grin from her husband and a murmur about not being able to keep secrets. She simply pushed a hand at him and laughed. Eve and Emily both hugged her again and answered her questions about pregnancy and newborns.