Resilience Read online

  When they arrived, they were shown into a small interview room, and Detective Cash looked…

  Tyler wasn’t sure what her look was.

  Detective Cash waited until they were all seated to speak. “There have been some…developments.”

  “What kind of developments?” Nevvie darkly asked. “Because I gotta tell you, I’m not impressed with how y’all have been handling my daughter’s case so far. Kids are already talking about it on social media. It’s gone viral locally.”

  “We know. However, due to the social media explosion of attention this received throughout the student population over the past twenty-four hours, we’ve had six other victims come forward claiming that Cole Johnson also assaulted them within the past two years. Two of them from a previous school he attended. One of them insisted they know of at least three other victims. We’re currently pursuing those leads.”

  Tyler felt like he’d been gut-punched. Zoey let out a sob, and Tommy immediately pulled her close, holding her.

  Nevvie’s slow and low tone sounded all the more dangerous for it. “You’re telling us that little bastard is a serial rapist?”

  Tyler thought things couldn’t get much worse.

  How wrong he’d been.

  “We interviewed his current principal and head coach, as well as the principal and coach at his previous school, and apparently there have been past…allegations that were never properly reported, and—”

  Nevvie slapped the table with both hands, startling all of them. “Allegations? Are you fucking shitting me? Those sons of bitches enabled a serial rapist to play football instead of sitting in a fucking jail cell where he belonged?”

  Tyler tried to reach over and calm Nevvie, but she stood so fast her chair flipped back and hit the floor, rattling off the linoleum. She jerked her arms free of Tyler’s grip, her gaze never wavering from the detective.

  “Oh, no, he fucking does not get to have a life while he’s out there raping kids! And those fuckers who enabled him better be sitting right next to his goddamned ass in a cell!”

  Tyler gave the detective all due credit for remaining calm and not reacting to Nevvie’s outburst. “We’re in contact with the prosecutor’s office, and are bringing Cole in for another interview, and—”

  “Interview? He fucking raped my baby! Tyler is interviewed by NPR about writing books. You don’t fucking interview a goddamned rapist—you lock him the fuck up!”

  Another detective slipped into the room, a man—a rather large man—but Detective Cash waved him back. “We’re working on that, Mrs. Kinsey-Paulson, but I want this guy locked up as badly as you do. And to make sure he stays locked up and his rich parents don’t get him off on some sort of technicality, or get it pled down because he was a minor when many of the attacks happened, I have to follow procedures to the letter. I don’t want any of these girls to have to go through this process more than once because I failed to dot an i or cross a t. None of us want that.”

  He didn’t know if it was the content of the detective’s words, the way she’d remembered to use Nevvie’s full last name, or her rock-steady demeanor, but Nevvie seemed to rein herself in. She hugged her arms around herself and took a deep breath, letting Tyler pull her in close.

  “Oh, they want to see rich fucking parents?” Nevvie said from Tyler’s arms. “I’m going to fucking show them rich fucking parents. If it takes every last goddamned cent in my bank accounts, I will bury those motherfucking people who enabled this little bastard. I’m going to make everyone, including his own goddamned parents, wish his mom had swallowed him in a goddamned blow job by the time I’m finished with them!”

  “Tom, stay with Zoey,” Tyler said as he started easing Nevvie toward the door.

  Nevvie struggled, but Tyler refused to let her go. The male detective opened the door for Tyler, who fought to keep his hold on Nevvie.

  But…that was a mistake. Because when he passed through the door with her and turned, he spotted a smirking Cole Johnson and his stony-faced parents at the same time Nevvie did, walking down the corridor behind a detective and another man Tyler suspected was Cole’s attorney.

  “There’s that fucking rapist sonofabitch!” Nevvie screamed, lunging.

  Tyler body-slammed her against the wall, hoping she’d forgive him later. “Love, stop—”

  “I’m gonna fucking kill you, you sonofabitch!” she screamed as she tried to climb her way through Tyler to reach the kid. “You don’t fucking close your goddamned eyes, because I’m gonna fucking kill you! You fucking piece of shit rapist! I will fucking rip your goddamned raping cock off your body and feed it to you, you sonofabitch!”

  At least the smirk finally slid from Cole’s face. He’d apparently never faced true righteous fury before. If Tyler didn’t know Nevvie, he’d be terrified by her screams and struggles. Hell, he loved her and he was scared of her in this mood.

  Everyone had stopped and was watching this play out now. A couple of detectives and uniformed deputies moved into position between Nevvie and Tyler, and Cole and his family., The detective in charge of them quickly shuttled Cole and the rest of them into another interview room and closed the door behind them, while a uniformed deputy stepped in front of the door to prevent entry.

  The male detective led Tyler as he wrestled a thrashing Nevvie into a nearby interview room, where he stood inside with them once he’d closed the door behind them, blocking Nevvie’s exit, and looked on with sympathy. Tyler got it—the man was doing his best not to put hands on Nevvie. Victim’s parent or not, if she thrashed and hit the man, she could be charged with assaulting a police officer.

  And yes, Tyler wanted to murder the little fucker every bit as badly as Nevvie did.

  He was just barely more in control, enough to know those kinds of words could lead to bad things later, and negatively impact court cases.

  He’d blown his cool in a courtroom once, and he was determined he wouldn’t do anything now, no matter his emotions, that could possibly jeopardize the case against Cole.

  Nevvie crumpled against him, sobbing, and he slid to the floor with her in his arms. The detective, realizing Tyler finally had control of her, passed him a box of tissues and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

  “Love,” Tyler said, keeping his tone low, “you have to keep control of yourself for Zoey’s sake. You are her mother—”

  “He raped our baby, Ty!” she raggedly sobbed. “That motherfucking monster raped our baby and no telling how many other kids, and he’s not in a fucking jail cell yet!”

  “I know, love, but we have to be strong for her now.” He nuzzled her forehead as she sobbed, now clinging to him, her old demons freshly raised once more to wreak havoc within her psyche. “We shall get through this as a family, together, the way we’ve faced everything else life has thrown our way, right?”

  “I want him dead, Ty. I want to kill him.”

  He sighed, grateful he no longer carried a gun. He had no doubts Nevvie would have been wrangling him for it out in the hallway, and that would have been very, very bad.

  I need to confiscate the keys to the gun locks on her shotguns.

  He wished he was overreacting, but he knew he wasn’t.

  * * * *

  By the time Bob arrived, Tyler had reached his limit, and so had Nevvie. Fortunately, Bob helped Tyler get Nevvie out to his car, and, leaving Tommy to handle Zoey and finish talking with the detective, Bob drove them back to the house.

  “Listen to me, Nev,” Bob lectured from the front seat. “I know you’re pissed off at me right now, but this isn’t my first rodeo. Your focus needs to be on Zoey and helping her get through this, not your anger. Your anger needs to take a backseat to everything else right now.”

  Andrew brought lunch over for them, and while he was there, Crystal arrived. As Tyler caught them both up on what had happened, Crystal looked grim. “It wouldn’t shock me to find out his father’s been paying to help cover things up.”

  “Why’
s that?” Andrew asked.

  “Well, apparently there’s some sort of Hurricane Franco relief fundraiser for the Red Cross his dealership is putting on tonight. It’s been scheduled since last week, to help victims of that storm in the Caribbean. He’s been promoting it all over Facebook. He and his wife are supposed to be there. I guess they coordinated it. I mean, if your son is accused of multiple rapes, wouldn’t you cancel it? Or at the very least, wouldn’t you yourself not go and cite personal reasons?” She shook her head. “To me, that speaks to a level of ego, thinking that his reputation and maybe his money will get him and his son out of this mess, too.”

  Bob seemed to study her. “You sound like you’ve had experience with this.”

  “I did, in college.” Crystal’s gaze dropped to her plate for a moment. “The guy was finally convicted, but I had to really push for it. It happened in college and the campus police botched it from the start. He was finally convicted, and then he hung himself in jail after he was sentenced. His family had money, though. Thought they could buy their way out of trouble because of their donations to the campus.”

  “God, that sucks,” Nevvie said.

  Crystal’s smile looked forced, uneasy. “But I’m proof that standing up for what’s right can win, in the end.”

  “Nev, I promise you, we’ll sue the ass off the school board for Zoey and the others, if it does turn out the principals and coaches helped cover this up. But you have to keep your mouth shut. Let me and Crystal deal with this.”

  Tyler felt a measure of relief when she finally did nod. “Yeah. I get it. I just hate feeling helpless.”

  “Well,” Andrew said, “if you need me, loves, I’m going to go with Colin over to his house and spend the night there. He wants some help sorting through his things, and perhaps it’s best I’m not underfoot right now anyway.”

  “Sorting through his things, Dad?” Tyler asked.

  He smiled. “Yes, well, he’s indicated he’s ready for a big change in his life. It’s quite possible that change will be moving in with me. We’ll wait and see how that goes, though, right? At any rate, we have fun together. And we both love walking together. There are several lovely trails around his house that we walk. We’ll probably take one tonight before dinner, if it’s not raining.”

  Nevvie and Tyler both hugged him. “Good luck, Dad, and have fun,” Nevvie said. “We’re rooting for you. I need a good ending to a story right now.”

  He smiled and gave them a thumbs up before heading out. Which…in some ways was a relief to Tyler, because maybe it was just him, but it seemed like his father wasn’t warming up to Crystal the way Nevvie and others had.

  Maybe he’d sensed Tyler’s own initial reticence about her which, while more muted, still remained. A little.

  She was so…intense. No, nothing he could put his finger on, exactly, and her actions certainly contradicted his usually spot-on intuition, but…

  I’m just exhausted and really, really upset.

  When Tommy and Zoey returned a little later, Zoey hugged them all before retreating to her room to nap.

  “Well?” Bob asked.

  Tommy rubbed the back of his head. “Well, Bob, let’s just say that between me and you and the fencepost, Detective Cash seems to think we might have a damn good lawsuit against a few people. Us and any other victims. She said you’re free to call her any time today.”

  “I will, believe me. I plan on sticking to her ass like a fricking sandspur, and being just as much of a pain in it, too.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Nevvie spent a lot of time talking to Crystal that afternoon, and she and Crystal had even gone upstairs to talk to Zoey for a while. Eventually, Crystal had to return to her hotel to handle some things for Elliot’s office. Bob also left to go get updates on the investigation.

  Tyler gathered Nevvie and Tom in their bedroom to talk before dinner. The usual Friday night football game was the least of their worries, because that night’s game had been cancelled, as had practice all week, due to the storm.

  “What do we do about Monday?” Tyler asked. “School will probably be open.”

  “We probably need to let Zoey decide.” Nevvie had never felt less sure of anything in her life, but the earliest they’d be able to get in to talk to any counselors or victim’s advocates or anyone was next week, thanks to Hurricane Gladys. “It’s only Friday night. We have time to decide. I want to see what else happens over the weekend, if they throw him in jail or not. But I don’t want her going to school with him if he’s not in jail, you know?”

  “That’s what I meant,” Tyler said.

  “Adam will need to go back to Athens on Sunday,” Tom said. “We can’t keep him away from his classes.”

  “I know,” Nevvie said. “It’s been nice having him around, though.” She slumped back on the bed. “If this fucks up Zoey’s grades, I’m going to want to kill that bastard all over again. She’s worked so hard.”

  Tyler took her hand in his. “Are you all right, love?”

  “Was that a rhetorical question, Ty, because, seriously.”

  “I don’t think any of us are all right right now,” Tom said. He headed for the door. “Let me see if she even wants to eat dinner with everyone.”

  “We can’t let her stay in her room and never come down,” Nevvie said.

  “We can if that’s what she needs right now,” Tom said. “I’m not saying for forever, but while she needs time to get through this, we’ll give it to her.”

  Once they were alone, Tyler touched her hand. “Once we have a chance to sit down with a counselor for Zoey, we also need to see what we need to do for Willow and Mikey, especially. Maybe even Adam.”

  He had a point, and she knew it, even felt a little guilty that, for now, Zoey would be the focus of her world, getting her through this.

  Not abandoning her the way she’d been abandoned.

  Not letting her fight alone, like she had.

  Staying in the cops’ and prosecutors’ faces and forcing them to make the little bastard face justice, unlike in her case.

  Refusing to let it get swept under the rug, or letting Cole’s parents buy him out of it.

  So many things in her life she could track directly from that night her car broke down and she accepted a ride from a guy she’d thought she knew. Alex, for starters, the biggest mistake that’d nearly gotten her killed, more than once.

  “I know.”

  He leaned in to kiss her. “Love you, angel.”

  “Love you, too.”

  * * * *

  They were all in bed by nine that night after yawning and feeling like they were going to fall asleep during dinner. Despite being exhausted, Nevvie had trouble sleeping. Every time she drifted off, she felt consumed by nightmares, of not being able to rescue her children…

  Of Alex killing her and Tommy.

  Of taking a gun and hunting down that little fucking bastard Cole Johnson and making him beg for his life before she killed him.

  Daylight broke Saturday morning, and she was lying there in bed between her men when the doorbell rang.

  Sonofabitch.

  “The hell?” Tom muttered as he looked at the time. “Not even seven o’clock yet.”

  Nevvie climbed out the end of the bed rather than trying to get over either Tyler or Tom. “I don’t know, but I’m gonna give ’em a piece of my mind.” She grabbed a bathrobe and pulled it on, already out the door before Tyler even made it out of the bed.

  She almost opened the front door without deactivating the alarm, but remembered at the last moment. When she looked through the viewfinder, she spotted Detective Cash standing there, behind another man wearing a badge holder.

  Nevvie pulled her robe a little tighter around her before she opened the door. “Can I help you?”

  The man was Detective Nick Dunn. “Mrs. Paulson—”

  “Kinsey-Paulson,” Cash corrected him.

  Dunn shot Cash a dirty look. “Mrs. Kinsey-Paulson, where are Mr
. Kinsey and Mr. Paulson?”

  She turned and pointed where Tyler, in the lead, was almost down the stairs. Tommy was slowly limping his way down.

  Willow, Zoey, Mikey, and Adam now stood at the top of the stairs.

  “Kids, stay upstairs,” she called. She turned and stepped out onto the porch. “You arrest that little bastard, I hope?”

  She didn’t understand why there were also two marked cars in their driveway, uniformed deputies standing behind Detective Cash.

  “No, ma’am. Can you account for your whereabouts last night, from around ten o’clock p.m., until about three o’clock a.m.?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that a trick question? We were here. All three of us.”

  “All night?”

  “Yes.”

  “And your children?”

  Tyler stepped forward. “Officer, do we need to call our attorney?”

  “I don’t know. Do you? Mrs. Kinsey-Paulson here threatened Cole Johnson’s life at the station, in front of over a dozen witnesses.”

  Detective Cash put her hand out and stepped forward. “Do you have any way to independently verify your whereabouts?”

  Nevvie pointed inside the open front door, at the alarm pad visible on the foyer wall. “That thing. Call our alarm company. We even have motion sensor cameras.” She pointed up at the eaves. “Front door, back door, and the main driveway entrance down at the road. Takes pictures anytime someone comes in or out, or a car comes into our driveway. The alarm company can give you a data dump. We were all in bed around nine. Just deactivated it before I opened the door. You want to tell us why you’re asking us questions about being in our own home and treating us like criminals?”

  Dunn looked up at the camera and sensors, then back to Nevvie. “Someone murdered Cole Johnson overnight. So I’ll ask you again—can you verify your whereabouts last night, Mrs. Kinsey-Paulson?”