The Fighter's Block (34 page)

In about ten seconds Dani went from being the happiest girl in t
he world to the most devastated when the detective said, “Donovan Kemp, you are under arrest for the murder of Brian Thompson.”

Chapter Eighteen

“I want to see my husband,” Dani growled for the tenth time. “Let me see him.”

“Mrs. Kemp, I don’t know how many times I ha
ve to tell you this. He’s
in
booking
right now
. You can’t see him.”

“Then tell me what makes you think he had anything to do with killing
someone
.”

“Why don’t you start answering
my
questions?” Detective Pearce replied.

“You’ve asked me real questions? I’m sorry, I thought you were just being a stupid
ass
.
My husband didn’t kill anyone!
”

Detective Pearce only smiled, willing to be tolerant of this scared but feisty beauty queen in denial. He sat down across from her in the interrogation room. “If he’s innocent, then we can clear this up right now. Just answer my questions so we can get to the bottom of this.”

Dani wasn’t stupid, and she knew it didn’t matter if she told
the truth or not. They c
ould manipulate anything she said into something they could use. “I
already told you that I was with him all night. I
f you need to question me
further
, then you should allow my lawyer to be present.”

“Are you requesting a lawyer
,
Mrs. Kemp?”

“
I guess so, since you won’t allow me to talk to my husband
.
I’m not answering
anything else because it’s not even relevant
, so if I have to sit here and wait it out until I’m legally allowed to leave, then I guess that’s what I’ll do.
”

Detective Pearce
gave her an indifferent shrug
and motioned for her to make
the
call. She retrieved her phone from her purse
to call
Clarence
, but for some reason she paused
. She wasn’t as familiar with him as her father was, but at least he was familiar with the things going on in her life
, right?

She considered calling her dad first, and that was the choice she made.

He was upset. Not only was he furious that Van had been arrested, but he was afraid of what the media was going to do once they got a hold of the story.

“They didn’t question him first? They just arrested him with the charge?”

“Yes,” she replied quietly. “Dad, get him out of here. They won’t even let me talk to him; they won’t let me see him—”

“Danielle, your husband has been arrested for murder. This is going to ruin you, the family. For now you need to stay away from him, okay? Until Clarence gets down there, I want you to just sit tight.”

“What?” she scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I am not going to stay away from him.” She tried to say it quietly, even though Detective Pearce had left the room. “Is this you doubting his innocence? Can you honestly tell me that you think he did this?”

Dominic was quiet for several seconds and it made Dani angry. She wanted to reach through the phone and choke him. But he finally said, “Sweetie, I didn’t say that. Just wait a little longer, Clarence is now on his way. Just wait until he talks to you, okay? Follow his advice, Danielle. I’m on my way too. I’ll see you in about an hour.”

“Send Clarence to Van first. He needs him more than I do.”

Dominic paused again. He wasn’t about to tell his daughter that he had no interest in setting up representation for her husband. He only c
ared about Danielle’s wellbeing
and the family name that was
going to be tarnished.

Instead he
told her everything was going to be okay.

Van’s only phone call had been to Mickey. He refused to
talk to anyone
at all, and sat for three hours in a
n empty
cell. He knew Dani was probably freaking out by then. The look on her face had almost destroyed him as she cried and tried to
come
to him, but the police wouldn’t let her.
They’d cuffed him
and then stuffed him into a squad car, and Dani was left standing there in utter disbelief as they drove away.

“
Fuck
,” he sighed to himself. He sat against the cold
,
cement
wall with his eyes closed. For sure the
y
believed they were making
him suffer, but it wasn’t going to happen. He’d survived worse.

He stood and walked two steps to the iron
bars
in front of him. Two
officers
were near the far wall by the hall entry
, talking with one another
. They stiffened and eyed him carefully, like Van was going to stretch open the bars right then and there and make a break for it. “Hey,”
Van
called gently to the
other
officer at the desk. She barely looked up
when
he asked, “Why can’t I see my wife?”

She finished entering something into a computer and answered, “Because you’re in
timeout
.”

He measured her up for a
second,
making the assumption that she
didn’t know
what was going on.
“When do I get to talk to my lawyer?”
he asked anyway.

“When he gets here.”

“I already know he’s here.”

She slowly narrowed
her
eyes at him but didn’t respond.

He sighed and said, “Look, I know he’s here, okay? Can we stop wasting time? I have a right to talk to my lawyer and you’re taking away that right.”

“No one is interrogating you right now, Mr. Kemp. And your lawyer isn’t ready for you yet.”

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged and said, “It means he’s not ready for you yet.”

He could tell she wasn’t going to talk to him anymore, so he paced back to the wall and dropped
onto
the hard bench. He waited another hour before the buzzer sounded and
three
more men entered from the hallway. Two were
police officers, and the last one…

Van
offered
a sigh of relief
.
“Jack,” he said softly
as he stood and returned to the front of the cell.

Jackson Tate stood eye level to Van and placed his hands on his shoulders
through the bars
. He didn’t say any words, but Van felt his support. Jack motioned for the cell to be opened, and then Van was cuffed and led to a private room down the hall.
The windowless room wasn’t much of an improvement from where he’d been, but at least Mickey’s brother was with him.

Jack
sat down with Van at
the
table
.
He glanced him over for a few seconds, realizing the kid looked ten years older than the last time he’d seen him. It’d only been a year, but the stress and the worry were there.

“Te
ll me where you were last night,
”
he finally said.

Van stared at him for a few seconds and then glanced around the room.
The door was shut and
there were no windows, but he still didn’t feel comfortable.

“We can talk in here; it’s private,” Jack
assured him
.

Van nodded and took a deep breath. “Uh, last night
I was at home with my wife.
I got home around five-thirty; she was already home before me. She had dinner in the oven, uh, I showered, we ate…
w
e just…spent the evening at home. Watched TV for a little bit…”

Jack barely nodded. “What time did you go to bed?”

Van thought for a few seconds. “Uh, probably before eleven, I guess.”

Jack paused again. “You were at home all night?”

Van stared at him, slightly confused. “Yeah we were home all night. Jack, what the hel
l is going on? Tell me what
happened.”

“Van you need to be completely honest with me right now, okay? I’m not kidding around. If you lie to me—”

“What the hell would I lie to you about? Jesus Jack. Tell me what happe
ned. Brian Thompson? What
happened to him? He’s dead? Is that the truth? Tell me what’s going on!”

Jack sighed and leaned back in his seat. “He was shot. One bullet through his head.” He motioned with his finger pointing
into his right temple
.

“It wasn’t suicide?”

Jack barely smiled but said, “Not unless he could kick his own ass as severely as it was kicked.”

Van tilted his head slightly. “Someone roughed him up?”

“Roughed him up? Jesus, the guy had si
x
broken bones. There was more blood from
that tha
n there was
from
the bullet to his head.
Not really, but just
sayin
’…
”

Van thought silently. Someone had
beat
him to it. Someone found the little shit and gave him what he deserved. But Van’s other concerns
were that of the brotherly sort
and he knew where Jack was heading next.

“Van, you know anyone that could do something like that to a guy?”
he implied
.

Van scoffed, well
aware of
what Jack was suggesting. But it wasn’t any of his friends. Not without Van knowing about it. “It could be anybody. The guy was a piece of shit.”

“Thompson?”

“I’m sure you’re aware of what’s been going on.”

“Yeah, I’ve been informed somewhat.
I’ll be studying it even further now
,
though. Your wife’s history with this guy…
”

“Oh God,
Dani…”

“She’s fine. I’ve already spoken to her.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s still in the precinct. They, uh, kept her for questioning.”
Van’s heart sank, but before he could respond Jack said, “She had her lawyer with her.”

“N
ot Clarence
Teagan
.”

“Yeah
,
Clarence
Teagan
. I hate that asshole.”

“I don’t trust him, Jack. Is there something you can do?”

“You mean like kick his ass?”

Van smiled. “Yeah, something like that.”

“He’s your wife’s lawyer?”

“Her parents’ lawyer. But he’s done nothing for Dani.”

“Hmm.” Jack thought for a few seconds. “She hasn’t been charged with anything; they just like to get what they ca
n while they’re able to. But she’s only said that she was with you all night
, far as I know.
Even after
Teagan
arrived.
”

“Is there any
way you can get him out of this?
Honestly, Jack… I don’t feel comfortable with it. Just tell Dani that I’m asking her to trust me, okay?
Tell her to cut him loose.
”

Jack nodded. “She doesn’t need a lawyer right now, but y
eah, I’ll do what I can. But you’re my priority, Van.
I’ll be honest with you
,
it doesn’t look good
.
I took a lot of time looking over what they got and… There’s gotta be something you say that changes things.”

“What evidence? Tell me how they’ve pinned this on me.”

Jack sighed. “Well, there’s a matter of the gun. It was a nine mil.”

Van barely shrugged. “I don’t own a gun.”

“They found it in your truck
.”

“What?”

“Under the seat. One round was fired, and it’s the same round that went through Thompso
n’s head and into the floor of his living room
.
The gun was wiped clean
of fingerprints. Every inch of it
.
”

Jack paused as he watched Van shake his head. “A nine mil? Quincy owns a nine mil.”

“There was no serial on the weapon.”

“Yeah, it’s not registered,” he mumbled.

“
When was the last time you saw Quincy? You had a
disagreement
?”