“Mr. Scott would like to see you this afternoon to discuss your case. Would you be available at three o’clock?” Ryan Scott’s ever-efficient secretary had the perky voice of a cheerleader turned receptionist.
“Sure, I’ll be there.” Like I had anything else to do besides hide inside my house as I’d been doing for the last six days. The story surrounding the case was still news fodder, and with my fate about to be decided, I didn’t see it vanishing off the front page anytime soon.
I called Lacey. “Ryan Scott wants to see me this afternoon. You want to come with me?”
She paused for such a long time that I began to wonder if she were still on the line. “I think … you should call Rick and see if he wants to go with you.”
Over the course of the last few days, Rick had given a support I would never have thought him capable of. He’d even been staying in the guest room since Monday. “I don’t know.”
“He wants to help you, Alisa. It’s time that you quit pretending like you can handle everything, and let him be the man he wants to be.”
Let him be the man he wants to be. The words slammed into me. Is that what I’d been doing in all the years since Nick’s death? Had I been so preoccupied with putting on appearances, with showing everyone what strong faith I had, that I’d completely shut out the people God had put in my life to help me? “I … uh … maybe you’re right. I’ll give him a call.”
My fingers shook a little as I pushed the buttons. Whether or not Rick wanted to help me, he didn’t like personal calls at work. Unless it was an emergency. Wouldn’t this qualify?
“Alisa? Everything okay?”
I could hear the roar of heavy equipment in the background. “Well, Ryan Scott wants to see me in his office this afternoon at three, something about my case. I wondered if you would want to come with me?”
I could hear shouting in the background—something was obviously going wrong at the jobsite. “Hey listen, I’ve got to go.” I heard a shuffling sound like a hand over the phone and could just make out him saying, “I’ll be right there,” then the shuffling again and, “I’ll be by to pick you up at two thirty.” He hung up without another word.
I spent the afternoon wondering if he was mad that I called. Would he resent this because of a busy afternoon at work he’d be missing?
I watched out the window for his truck to appear. I didn’t want to inconvenience him by making him wait. If he was upset already, there was no reason to add to it. At 2:27 I saw his truck coming down the street. By the time he pulled into the driveway, I was standing ready at the passenger’s side. I climbed in. “Sorry to disrupt your day like this. I know you were busy.”
“Yeah, well, you happened to call at the exact minute that Kevin hit an underground waterline. You should have seen the geyser.” He laughed. “Lucky for us, Carroll Plumbing was working on the business across the street. Between us and those guys, we had it fixed in record time.”
“Good.” I looked out the window, relieved that he wasn’t angry, but found myself worrying about what I was about to hear. Was I about to be locked up? Were official charges about to be filed?
Ryan Scott’s office was upstairs in a chic little shopping alcove just off State Street. I climbed the stairs, looking at all the shoppers, the sidewalk diners laughing and enjoying the carefree spring day. What I wouldn’t have given to be able to do that again. Live my life carefree.
Rick and I sat in the upholstered leather chairs across from Ryan’s large desk and waited for the news. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it.
“I spent some time talking with the DA’s office today. There are several areas where they can charge you. Destruction of evidence, which is a misdemeanor, but there’s also obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact, both felonies.”
“What are they going to do?”
“They tell me they’re going to file charges for all three.”
Rick reached over and took my hand. “What does that mean?”
“For now, it means that there will be an arraignment hearing where Alisa will be formally charged.”
“Will we need to post bail?” I was thankful that Rick was here to carry on this conversation, because I’d lost my ability to think or speak.
“I expect them to release her on promise to appear. She turned herself in, your son is under arrest, they don’t expect her to be a flight problem. What they will do is use her to keep the pressure on Kurt. That’s why the full slate of charges—they want to make sure he knows something bad could happen to his mother if he chooses to run.”
I finally found the gumption to at least nod. “Okay. When will all this take place?”
“They’re taking their time so they can keep their options open. Next week at the earliest. I’ll call you as soon as I know something for sure.”
Rick squeezed my hand and looked at me. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.”
I wasn’t sure how he felt he could make that statement, considering there was no way things were going to be “fine,” but I didn’t have the strength or the desire to argue. I just needed him to somehow be right.