22
Tanner marched into the sheriff’s station, his mood going downhill rapidly. He’d been driving back from talking to Janice Gates when Sam had called him. He’d found Abby. She’d been pulled over for reckless driving, became belligerent with the officer and slapped him, and then when they’d brought her back to the station Sam had searched her vehicle. With her permission.
He’d found a nine-millimeter which just might be the murder weapon.
Abby had been detained and all hell was breaking loose. She was asking for her attorney and Tanner.
He wasn’t sure what he’d done to get into that elite group, but he wasn’t all that happy about it. He was regretting giving in and helping her. This was a fucking mess, and wasn’t it always when it came to anything with Abby?
Sam was waiting for him inside the private sheriff’s office, closing the door behind Tanner. The area was crawling with press and he’d practically been blinded by flashbulbs as he’d walked up to the front door. They weren’t going to take any chances that a reporter was skulking out of sight trying to overhear something they could print.
“This is a cluster,” Sam muttered, pouring a cup of coffee from a pot perched on top of the file cabinet. It was probably the very same one Tanner had used when he was sheriff. “Coffee?”
If it was the same, Tanner already knew how the coffee tasted. Bad.
“I’ll pass, but thanks.”
Sam poured in a bunch of cream which was probably the only way the brew was drinkable.
“Abby was pulled over for erratic driving. She told the officer that she was on the phone while she was driving but she thought she was doing fine. He told me that she was all over the road. She didn’t take kindly to being pulled over and got nasty with the officer. Things didn’t go well from there. When he ran her plate, he found the BOLO I had out on her. He had to bring her in, and I guess she fought tooth and nail. Now she has an issue with hitting a cop.”
Tanner rubbed at his temple where a headache was beginning to form. Courtesy of his ex-wife.
“Christ on a cracker, what was she thinking? She knows better than that shit.”
“She must have forgotten, then. The patrolman cuffed her and brought her back here, and the vehicle was towed. I asked for permission to search and she said yes. That’s when we found the gun in the trunk. She’s now in the interrogation room with her lawyer but is asking for you.”
“Is that it?” Tanner asked wearily. “Is there anything else?”
“I think you’re all caught up. I’m holding her on the assault charge and in the meantime, the lab is going to check out the gun. They’ve put a rush on it.”
“I can’t believe she slapped him,” Tanner said more to himself than Sam. “As if she didn’t have enough problems in her life.”
“The officer is actually being nice about it. He says he won’t press charges if she apologizes. He says that he understands how she could be under a lot of stress right now. He’s more understanding than I would have been.”
“Let me guess…she says that she won’t?”
“Bingo. Her lawyer is trying to talk some sense into her, but I think she could use some help. Abby has dug in and is saying that the patrolman was rude.”
“So she hit him? That’s something you teach a three year old. We don’t smack people just because they’re assholes.”
“She told me that she’s been under a great deal of stress and pressure lately. That’s why she ran off, she said. To get some time alone and to think things through.”
“Where the hell has she been?”
“She isn’t saying. She just said that she needed to be on her own. The press was getting to her and she was confused. She said it was weighing on her mental health and she couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Now she wants to talk to me?”
“She’s been demanding it, and frankly, I’m all for it if it will get her to apologize to the officer. I don’t want to see her go to jail for this, and I don’t think you do either.”
A part of Tanner wanted to walk out of the sheriff’s station and never look back. But that wasn’t going to happen. He was tied to Abby, if only superficially. What she did reflected on him.
Plus, he didn’t want her to go to jail either. She was the mother of his children, dammit. But right now, she was acting like someone who wanted to spend the night behind bars.
“Fine, I’ll talk to her,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll try and get her to apologize.”
Sam rubbed at his chin and grimaced.