“What’s this regarding?”
“Again, please open the door so we don’t have to disturb your neighbors.”
Red flags were firing with every receiving synapse, but he had no choice. One way or the other, the police had rights as much as he did. He slowly unbolted the main locks and opened the door just enough to see each other’s faces. The cop closest said, “We have a court order for Ms. Boehler to be returned to her guardians.”
“It’s Mrs. Barrett. We’re married. She’s twenty-two. Legally old enough to make her own choices. She’s choosing not to return to them.”
“She doesn’t have that right, legally,” he stated firmly, but the softening around the edges of his eyes belied the sternness of his words.
“We’re married.”
“But her guardians are still her parents and they have filed for her return.”
“They’re abusive. She can’t go back. We have a meeting with our lawyer at ten. He’s filing. Just pretend we weren’t here and let us go to that appointment.”
The officer sighed and looked down. When he looked up again, Taylor saw the sympathy in his eyes. “Hey, Mac. I may not understand the details of this case, but I have to follow orders. Ramirez here has to follow orders as well. We’ll have to arrest you if you keep us from our job.”
Taylor was not going to let her go without a fight, again. “Officers, let me ask you this: if someone had been drugging your wife, emotionally torturing her, physically abusing her, would you just step aside for her to be taken back to those people?”
They stared at Taylor a good, hard thirty seconds, then the cop said, “You’re in a towel. I have no idea how she’s dressed, but here’s what I’m going to do. We’re gonna step back, a few feet down this hall and pretend we haven’t had this conversation. You’re gonna get dressed, make sure she’s dressed, and open this door in five minutes when we knock. You seem like a nice enough guy, so we’ll extend you that courtesy, but we can’t walk away without Ms. Boe… Barrett in our custody. If you fail to open this door in five minutes, we’ll bust it open and arrest you and your wife for obstructing justice.”
Like rats—they were trapped. He started to shut the door, but the police officer added, “I’d also spend that time calling your lawyer, Mr. Barrett.”
The door shut and he locked one of the bolts. When he turned around, he saw Jude standing there in a pair of pants, a sweater, and sneakers. Her gaze lowered to the floor and she said, “Call your lawyer and go into the bedroom and wait until I’m gone.”
“No.” His eyes, like his tone, were defiant. “I’m not letting them take you.”
“You have no choice, Hazel. Please. You can’t help me if you’re in jail.”
He went to her, taking her by the arms, his eyes pleaded as his hands squeezed. “I’m not giving up. Don’t you give up either!”
“I’m not giving up. I’m playing by their rules. It’s poker and they have a better hand this round. We’ll have the better hand next deal. I’m going with them. You’re not going to stop this. You can’t. All you can do is help me through the legal system. Please, Hazel, I beg of you. Go into the bedroom, get dressed, and call the lawyer.”
He shook his head. “I can’t just let them take you.”
“Then come with me. Follow them to the station. They can’t just deliver me back home. There’s a paper trail they have to deal with. Go get dressed.”
They stole seconds together and stared into each other’s eyes. He touched her face and said, “Don’t open the door yet. I’ll follow you to the station.” Taylor wasn’t going to give up this time. He had failed her two days ago. Never again. She was his, and he will defend her from those determined to make her powerless.
Jude had accepted her fate this early morning and went to the door while her destiny stayed firmly wrapped up in the man in the bedroom. One bolt. Her hand shook, but unlocked it. When she opened the door, the two officers straightened themselves after having been leaning on the wall. She stepped out, and whispered, “Please don’t hurt him.”
They nodded. The deception of what was happening might not have been understood by the cops, but the gravity of ripping two people in love apart was. “I’ve got a wife at home. So does Ramirez.”
Jude nodded this time and lowered her head as she shut the door. The three of them walked to the elevator and were safely on it when she heard Hazel calling for her.
Inches remained when he caught sight of her while he pushed the button erratically to stop the door from closing. “Jude! Don’t go! Fight!”
An inch left before the door closed, blocking him. She said, “I love you. Always.” She heard the slam of his fists on the outside of the elevator as they started to descend. With her back to the officers, she glanced at them in the reflection of the doors. “We need to hurry. He’ll fight for me.”
The tall man standing directly behind her said, “I’d do the same for my wife.”
She found some comfort in the fact that he shared that with her, and she smiled.
TAYLOR JUMPED TO his feet when his lawyer, Caleb Monroe, walked into the police precinct. “Are you getting her out?”
“She’s not in jail, Taylor.” He walked with purpose to the counter, but added, “We’ll find out where she is, but right now, you need to calm down or they won’t tell us shit. Now go sit down and let me handle this.”
“Caleb—”
“Go.”
Taylor’s hands fisted and his teeth were grinding together, but he did what Caleb told him to do because he wanted to know where Jude was and everything, other than going to her family’s home—which he was threatened by Caleb not to do—he had tried had failed so far. From his chair he saw his lawyer discussing what seemed like the weather from the way they laughed and were so relaxed. After a few minutes, Caleb came over to Taylor, and said, “Let’s go.”
“Where is she?”
“We’ll discuss it outside.”
They walked out onto the busy sidewalk and down half a block before Caleb stopped and said, “She’s with her parents. We could have assumed that since she wasn’t under arrest. That leaves us to file papers on her behalf if you feel she still wants to pursue her rights at this point.”
“What are you talking about?” Taylor asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“Because she went willingly. She returned to these apparent monsters on her own.”
“No, she didn’t. They were going to arrest me. I would have fought for her. She knows that. She went to protect me.”
“But right now, we don’t have a statement from her saying that or to back that as her claim. We only have that she returned to their home willingly.”
“We need to go. They’ll send her right back to Bleekman’s.”
“As your lawyer, I’m advising you once again to stay away from the Boehler residence until we have the law on our side. They can have you arrested on a number of charges, Taylor, and those arrests will make it more difficult to change the guardianship.” He sighed. “I know this is har—”
“No, you fucking don’t know. You don’t know what it’s like to live with the knowledge they’re abusing her emotionally and physically. When I saw her strapped to that damn bed at the hospital, she was so drugged she was unconscious, her face was pale, and her lips were dry, which means they hadn’t given her anything to eat or drink in about sixteen hours at that point. Look me in the eyes and tell me you could see someone you love like that and just sit around and wait.”
He looked away, and then down the street, anywhere but at him. When he turned to face Taylor again, his voice was lower. “Work. Within. The. System. We’ll get her freed, but in the meantime, you have to use the law against them. Vigilante actions only hurt our case and ultimately, her.”
“I’ll give you two hours.”