CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
AUBREY
WHEN SHE JUMPED into my arms and wrapped her shaking little body tightly around me, I swear the beat of my heart stuttered. Some part of me died holding her, seeing the red marks on her arms and face. A kind, understanding part of me. One that would have held back and rationalized what I could.
It all died along with some of her innocence.
I sat on the gravel, rocking her, soothing her, trying to absorb her fear and pain. Trying to rid myself of the fear I’d felt. Her disappearance evoked a new sort of panic in me. It made me realize all my panic before about crowds and social norms and spaces was irrational.
This panic and fear was real. Rational. Ferocious. And completely catastrophic.
I stayed quiet on the ride over because my mind wouldn’t stop thinking of the what ifs, the already had beens, and the sure to comes. Women and girls were taken advantage of everywhere, and Ollie didn’t have the luxury of money or status behind her. She only had us.
And what if? What if we hadn’t come today? What if Jax hadn’t schmoozed the cop? What if her mom didn’t remember what had happened?
What if Ollie really was gone and we couldn’t ever find her again?
The questions bounced around in my head, banging and clanking enough that no one could blame me if a craziness swept through me as a policeman approached us.
“Her mother is on her way. We should get going on some questions here.”
“She’s in no state to answer questions right now,” I responded, looking up at him and continuing to rock Ollie from the gravel.
“Ma’am, let me do my job.” He knelt down. “Ollie can handle some questions. Can’t you, honey?”
She gripped me tighter and shook her head into my neck. The red marks on her arm and face should have been indication enough that no one, especially a policeman who looked intimidating, should be anywhere near her.
As more tribal and state police arrived on the scene, I snapped back at him, “She can’t and she won’t.”
I stood abruptly without unwrapping Ollie from my body. She held me tightly as I whispered to her, “You want your purple shoes, baby?”
Her answer, a simple “no” cut through the wind, through my soul, and through her innocence.
I squeezed her tight ot my chest, trying to hold in that part of Ollie’s personality that made her fearless, that made her a giggling little girl who believed there was no evil in the world.
When the police officer stepped toward me, Jax, who I’d completely forgotten about for one of the first times in my life, moved between us. He turned to a stone wall, impenetrable and solid. Heat and fury swirled in the air from all of us but Jax’s was palpable, overpowering, and crushing.
When Jax spoke, every policeman, along with Jerry sitting in the squad car, turned his way. They all strained hard to hear exactly what came from his mouth, quiet and low. “Don’t do something you’re going to regret, Officer. Another step toward them won’t end well for you.”
“Are you threatening a man in uniform?”
“I never threaten anyone.”
“Then, what would you call that?”
“A complimentary warning that you won’t get again.”
Most of the time, antics like that against a police officer would have escalated the situation. Jax wasn’t in his city, and we probably should have been more careful. But with state police and tribal police there, maybe we had an advantage.
At least, that’s what I told myself.
Luckily, the police officer immediately took on a more respectful tone as he tried to disentangle himself from Jax’s wrath. I didn’t know if Jax had just read the man correctly, and knew what buttons to press, or if his Stonewood name had traveled quickly enough through the town that the officer knew he had to tread lightly.
Either way, I didn’t care. Repercussions of breaking the law be damned. I backed away with Ollie still in my arms and started for Jax’s car, ready to take her anywhere but here.
The squad car carrying her mother pulled up.
Ollie’s mother looked much more sober, like reality had set in. She jumped from the car and ran toward us.