Chapter 9
Lincoln, NE - Day 4
Angelique was going out of her mind from the suspense as she listened to Lincoln's half of the conversation to his private detective friend. It was close to midnight and they were due to arrive in Denver tomorrow, however, Lincoln planned on stalling one extra day by claiming car trouble.
Lincoln kept giving her reassuring nods and gentle squeezes to her hand as he spoke to the other man. "Yeah, of course, whatever it takes."
Angelique nodded her agreement not knowing what it was she was agreeing to, but whatever it took worked for her.
Lincoln talked to Jeff for another five minutes before hanging up the phone. As soon as the 'End' button was pressed on his mobile Angelique was on him, literally, pressing him back against the bed and straddling his waist, her hands pinning his over his head as she stretched out over him.
"So! What did he say?"
In one powerful, fluid motion Lincoln turned the tables on her, flipping her over to her back and settling himself between her legs. His mouth lowered to her neck and he strung a line of kisses from her collarbone to her ear lobe.
Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled him down tight to her, and moaned as his cock hardened against her stomach sparking her desire for him. It was as though she couldn't get enough of him. She could have happily spent days doing nothing but lying in bed, naked with him and being fucked into exhaustion.
He pulled up slightly to look her in the eye. "Well, apparently the witness that claims to have seen you leaving Nathan's house in bloody clothing has come into a windfall of cash recently."
"Hmmm. Really? She was bought off?"
Link nodded. "Jeff did some digging and suspects that's the case. She just got a little anxious and started spending too soon. He's going to visit Mrs Greenberg tomorrow and see what he can find out."
Her brow furrowed, and she chewed at her bottom lip in thought for a moment. "Well, how is he going to get anything out of her? It's not as though she'll just tell the truth."
"Jeff and his men have ways of getting to the truth."
Angelique eyed him suspiciously, wondering what he meant by 'ways of getting to the truth,' but kept her questions to herself. Mrs Greenberg lied to the police and seemed to have no issues seeing her go to prison for the rest of her life, so whatever happened to the old nosebag was none of her concern.
"Okay, so they find out she's lying; and say she comes clean, then what?"
"Then if the prosecutor won't drop the case you go to trial, with the prints on the weapon and the bloody clothes in your trunk as evidence. No motive and no eye witness. But even if you do get off, which, as long as Jeff gets to the truth with Mrs Greenberg is probable, there is the issue of failure to appear in court."
He flipped onto his back again, taking Angelique with him and she cuddled against him, laying her head on his chest and being soothed by the thump of his heartbeat. She was grateful for his hard body, and the emotional support he'd given her. She had hope now and it was because of him.
"Will you be there?" she looked up into his eyes. "For the trial... If there is one?"
Cupping her chin in his hand, he kissed her softly. "Oh course I will, and if you have to go to prison I hear that conjugal visit sex can be pretty wild."
Laughing she swatted at his shoulder and rested her head back on his chest. "You're such an ass, you know that? You shouldn't even be joking about that," she murmured as she kissed his shoulder.
Chuckling he kissed the top of her head and pulled her tighter to him. "You know how to bring out the best in me, Angelique."
****
Denver, Co - Day 6
Angelique was a ball of nerves sitting in the holding room waiting for her lawyer and Lincoln to show up. Jeff had come through for them. The nosy neighbor, Mrs Greenberg had cracked under some intense interrogation, admitting to lying about seeing Angelique that night so all the evidence they had against her was the clothing with his blood on it and the knife. And of course her jumping bail didn't look too great on her record either, but there was nothing she could do about that now.
Her lawyer had told her that he doubted the prosecution would drop the charges; there was some sort of push to get the case wrapped up. But he was in the process of speaking with them now and she was hopeful, otherwise she was going to be stuck locked up for the next four to five days while the trial was in session. It wasn't so much the few days or so that bothered her, it was the lifetime in prison that scared her senseless.
Voices sounded outside the room and then the door was unlocked to reveal her lawyer, a young dark-haired man fresh out of law school, followed by Lincoln. Her heart raced at the sight of him. It had only been six hours, but after spending five full days with him, six hours since he'd dropped her off had seemed like an eternity to be apart from him.
Standing, she rushed over to him and fell into his arms, burying her face against his shoulder. "Is it good news?" She didn't want to hear the answer, but needed to know.
His body tensed against hers and she knew immediately. Pulling away slightly, but still wrapped in the security of his embrace, she looked up into his eyes and waited for his official reply with baited breath.
"The trial starts tomorrow and there is no chance of bail for the trial, Angel. You're stuck here for the next four or so days."
Nodding she fell back into him and savoured the feel of him against her, allowing the smell of his cologne to wash over her.
The sound of a man clearing his voice brought Angelique back to reality. "Miss Donovan."
Slightly embarrassed, Angel turned to face the young attorney assigned to her case. "Sorry." She quickly took a seat across from him at the small four person table, Lincoln following suit, keeping her hand firmly in his grasp.
"Well, the prosecutor is going ahead with the trial and we start tomorrow morning."
She nodded, she knew that.
Opening his brown leather briefcase he began pulling out the folder he had on her case. "Well, let's get down to business, Miss Donovan. The sooner we get this over with the sooner you can get on with your life."
She looked up at Lincoln and he caught her gaze, then brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her palm. There was so much she wanted to say to him. Soon, she promised herself, soon the nightmare would be over and life would be good again. Soon.
****
Denver, Colorado, One Week Later
"Has the jury reached a verdict?"
Angelique's heart was in her throat and her eyes jumped back and forth from the stern-looking, middle-aged male judge to the twelve members of the jury and then back again. She then chanced a glance back at Lincoln; he caught her gaze and gave her a reassuring nod and smile.
Despite his age, her attorney seemed to be a natural in the courtroom over the past days of her trial. There was still no clue as to who had murdered Nathan and framed her, or why, but her attorney had done a great job, at least she and Lincoln felt, in putting the doubt in the jury's heads.
One, I just need one to say not guilty.
So lost in her thoughts was she that she actually missed the verdict, but the murmurs behind her gave her a good feeling. Looking up into the jury she noticed a couple of smiles. They wouldn't be smiling if she was guilty right? She looked back at Lincoln and she immediately knew all she needed to know, his grin said it all.
The next hour seemed to go by in a haze for her, and the whole thing seemed surreal. It didn't actually seem to be over until she was standing outside, next to the Impala and clinging to Lincoln.
The one thing that bothered her was that Nathan's killer was going to walk away. It wasn't right, but this was now down to the police to solve, not her. She’d opened up new possibilities for them and hoped that they would follow the leads. After the ordeal she'd experienced over the past six months, for the moment, she was grateful to be free and no longer needing to run and that was all because of Lincoln.
"Hey, get in the car I have a surprise for you." Opening the door, with a hand on the small of her back he ushered her into the car.
Getting in, she closed her eyes and leaned back into the leather seat. She couldn't help but think about how thankful she was that this was all over. After some time, once the relief of being outside and free had finally sunk in, a problem occurred to her that hadn't even crossed her mind until that moment. She had no place to go and not a cent to her name!
Opening her eyes, she glanced over at Lincoln who was slowing down the car and signalling to turn off onto a street to their left. She realized that they were in the suburbs. Cute little houses with white picket fences lined both sides of the road.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see." Grinning over at her, he pulled the car into the driveway of a duplex. A sweet house with a red brick exterior and a cosy, well kept front lawn. Her eyes spotted the 'For Sale' sign that had a big red 'sold' sticker over it.
He quickly shut off the car and hurried over to her side, to open the door for her. Stepping out and onto the paved driveway she gave him a bewildered look. "Whose house is this?"
Leaning back against the car, he took her hand and pulled her over to him, closing the door behind her. "Well, I know you’re homeless."
She scowled at him. "I'm not... Okay, yeah, actually, I am."
He slipped his arms around her, pulling her tightly to him. "I know we've only known each other for a couple of weeks and one of those weeks you were in jail…"
She was about to protest, but he placed a finger to her lips, silencing her.
"But I know you feel the connection we have. You drove me insane the week we were on the road, but those were also some of the most enjoyable days of my life. I'm not asking for marriage or anything like that, yet, but I want you in my life, and I feel this is right."
She looked around them. The house and the neighbourhood were quiet and serene. It was perfect. She looked up at the man who'd stood by her, believed in her and protected her for the past couple of weeks and knew what he was saying was true.
Cupping her chin in his hand he brought her eyes to meet his, "This is the part where you tell me you love the house and would like nothing more than to spend every night with me. And sex, by the way, is required."
Laughing she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly. "I love the house and I would like nothing more than to spend every night with you, enjoying every inch of your magnificent body."
"Just what I wanted to hear."
She squealed in happiness and surprise as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her into their new house to begin the rest of their lives... together.
The End