All of My Soul (27 page)

“I’m sorry!” she said as she held her face
away from the ground. “I didn’t know how else to get in contact
with you. Deacon won’t return my calls.”

A sliver of pride went through my body for
Deacon. I was glad he hadn’t gone back to her. I may have had
compassion for her, but I still thought Deacon deserved better.

Brody grabbed her arm and told her to stand
up, but kept the handcuffs on her.

Now that she had been tackled and rolled on
the ground, she looked even more unkempt. If I saw her on the
street, I wouldn’t have recognized her as the woman I gave money to
months ago after the concert in order to make sure she had a safe
ride home.

Lincoln hobbled a few steps to put himself
between Daisy and me. “Why do you need to talk to Jillian?”

Her eyes scanned over my face. “I—I saw what
they are saying online about you. That you’re bipolar? Is that
true?”

Was that all she wanted? To clarify some
rumors?

“No,” I answered. “It’s not true.”

Her eyes flicked between Lincoln and me as
she pursed her lips. “So you’re not seeing a therapist?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and
sighed.

“Don’t answer that, Jillian. It’s none of her
business.” Lincoln turned and began to walk away from her, taking
me with him.

“Wait!” she cried. I looked back and saw her
struggling against Brody’s grasp. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry,
but I can help you.”

Lincoln turned us around to face her again.
“Help us how?”

Daisy’s eyes were full of remorse and regret
as she looked at me and then Lincoln. “I know who broke your
window.”

~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, Lincoln and I sat at a long
conference table at a police station in a room with sad gray walls.
Brody stood in the corner of the room. I would have thought this
was the last place I would need a bodyguard, but there he was,
dutifully watchful, like always.

After Daisy revealed she knew who broke
Lincoln’s window, we decided to call the police. Lincoln and I met
with the Blackhawks’ medical team and coach while Detective Murray
interviewed Daisy. I wished we could watch Daisy being interviewed,
but we were ushered in here and told to wait.

We had been sitting for so long on the hard
metal chairs, completely uncomfortable and unforgiving, that my
butt had gone numb, but I refused to leave Lincoln’s side. He sat
close to me with his good arm over my shoulders in a protective
manner.

Neither of us knew how to feel, but hope
tried to build inside me. Maybe this was the break we had been
waiting for. If Daisy knew who was doing this, maybe the police
could finally catch the person, and we’d be out of danger.

Then again, neither Lincoln nor I could
fathom why anyone would do this. Trying to guess a motive was
maddening. We just didn’t have enough information. Suspicion
tingled in my mind; however, there was nothing we could do but
wait.

And wait.

And wait.

I shifted in my seat, wanting blood flow to
return to my posterior region.

Lincoln hugged me tighter to his side. “Are
you cold?”

I shook my head. “No. Just sick of waiting
and worrying.”

He kissed my head. “It’s going to be okay.
This shit will all be over soon.”

Detective Murray and two other men abruptly
walked into the conference room and took seats across the table
from us. Murray slapped a manila folder down on the table in front
of him. A mug shot of Daisy was paper clipped to the front.

Oh, I couldn’t believe this. “You arrested
her? Why? She was trying to help us!” I felt like that smidge of
hope inside me was snuffed out in an instant.

Murray held his hands up. “Calm down. I’ll
explain everything.”

“Detective,” Lincoln said as he fumbled with
his phone. “Before you begin, I need to call my brother. He needs
to be in on this.”

“Mr. Monaghan, this is merely an
informational meeting. You don’t need your lawyer.”

Lincoln had already pulled up Carter’s
contact info. He pushed send and set the phone down. “No one in my
family speaks to the police without him present. If he weren’t in
DC today, he’d already be in this room with us. He’s been informed
on what happened earlier and is waiting for my call.”

Murray relented as the sound of the phone
ringing filled the room.

“Linc,” Carter said as he answered.

“Carter. We’re in a conference room with
Detective Murray, about to be given an update. You’re on speaker
phone.”

“Go ahead,” Carter said quickly, not mincing
words.

Murray cleared his throat and set down a
recording device. He leaned toward it and spoke. “This is Detective
Joshua Murray. Today is Thursday, June 24 at about twenty minutes
after noon. With me are Inspector Jacob Rollins and Sergent Xavier
Peters. The purpose of this recording is to document the
informational meeting with Lincoln Monaghan and Jillian Thompson.
Carter Monaghan is on speaker phone.” He looked up at us. “You have
not been read your rights as you are not under arrest, and you are
free to leave at anytime. By saying yes, you consent to have this
meeting be recorded. Is everyone all right with that?”

Carter was the first to agree followed by
Lincoln and me.

“Okay, now that that’s out of the way, Daisy
Norwood has been charged with obstruction of justice.”

I sputtered my protest, but the detective
held up his hand to stop me.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve interviewed
her. She knew who broke that window and has been lying to us for
months. We can’t overlook that simply because she’s had a change of
heart. However, I will be asking the prosecutor to go easy on her
and cut her a deal, considering the information she just gave
us.”

Lincoln leaned forward slightly. “What
information is that?”

Murray opened the manila folder and placed a
sheet of paper on the table in front of us. An enlarged printout of
Courtney Savak’s Illinois driver’s license took up half the sheet.
Her blown-up picture filled the upper left side.

“Do you either of you know her?”

Lincoln and I studied the woman staring back
at us from the picture. She reminded me of a poodle. Her hair was
puffed up, curled, and clipped to the perfect shape. Her eyes were
wide and coated with black charcoal, and her lips puffed out as if
she had had them injected with silicone. She looked
one-hundred-percent store-bought and high maintenance.

“Courtney Savak?” I asked. “Is she the one
who broke his window?”

Without answering my question, Murray laid
another piece of paper on the table. It was another enlarged
driver’s license. This skinny, dark-skinned beauty had gorgeous
brown hair flowing over her shoulders.

“What about Kallie Pickering?”

I shook my head in reply to Murray’s
question; I had never seen that woman before. Lincoln, however,
stared long and hard at the woman’s picture, his good hand gripping
the paper so tight I thought he would rip it.

I touched his arm. “Baby, do you know
her?”

He exhaled sharply and threw the paper back
across the table. “No. I don’t.”

Detective Murray looked at him dubiously.
“You sure about that, Mr. Monaghan? Took you an awful long time to
answer.”

Lincoln glared at him. “I was trying to
remember every crazy fan who has ever been overly affectionate.
Every psycho girl who has ever asked for an autograph and then
slipped me her hotel room key. Any pathetic chick who has sent me
an inappropriate picture of herself. So yeah, it took a while to
answer because I want to see these women behind bars. I want this
shit over. I want them to suffer for even thinking about hurting
Jillian.”

Lincoln’s nostrils flared, and his eyes
burned with emotion. I reached over and squeezed his thigh, trying
to offer some comfort. He looked down at me, covered my hand with
his and held it tight, offering his own comfort in return.

Detective Murray looked surprised at
Lincoln’s intensity but ultimately was satisfied with that answer.
He set down another piece of paper.

“Jayda Dubois?”

I picked up the paper and held it close to my
face, analyzing the driver’s license picture staring back at me.
She was younger than me and extremely gorgeous. Recognition
flickered in my brain.

“God, she’s so familiar. I think I’ve seen
her before.”

Lincoln leaned closer to me. “Can you
remember where, baby?”

I closed my eyes and tried to place her into
different memories, but she didn’t seem to fit anywhere. Setting
the paper down, I shook my head and tapped the picture. “No. But it
was somewhere recently.”

“Was she at the game when you were
drugged?”

I tried to picture the faces of everyone I
had seen in the suite. “No. I don’t remember her being there. I’ve
seen her somewhere though.”

“Okay, one more. Take a look at this. Do you
recognize him?”

A mug shot was set down in front of us. The
man was muscular, but not in the way Lincoln was. This young man
was built, but it was a stocky build as if he were a fighter. His
buzz cut showed a scar above his left eye. It ran from his temple
to above his eyebrow. This man had definitely seen better days.

I pulled the picture closer to me. “Was this
taken today? Did you arrest someone else?”

Carter’s voice filled the room. “What is
it?”

Detective Murray cleared his throat. “This is
Asher Epps’s mug shot. It was taken the last time he was arrested.
About eighteen months ago. He’s got an extensive rap sheet.
Carjacking, B&E, assault, disorderly conduct…”

Murray read off several more charges, and my
mind raced. What did this dangerous man have to do with Daisy and
these other women?

“… and finally, aggravated criminal sexual
assault.”

“Do you have details on that charge?” Carter
asked immediately.

“No. We’re contacting the prosecutor for
access to the case record.”

“I want to know what made it aggravated.”

I looked up at Lincoln with confusion, and he
leaned forward toward the phone. “You lost us, bro.”

“There are several factors that can elevate a
rape charge to aggravated. Use of a weapon, age and mental capacity
of the victim, or if the accused delivered a controlled substance
to the victim during the assault.”

My breath was heavy with fear. “Controlled
substance? Like GHB?”

The detective nodded.

“So he’s the one who drugged me?”

“That’s unknown at this point.”

“Wait. Detective. I’m still confused. I don’t
know any of these people. What do any of them have to do with
me?”

Detective Murray sighed. “According to Ms.
Norwood, Mackenzie McKay recruited Ms. Savak, Ms. Pickering, Ms.
Dubois, and Mr. Epps to help her carry out a plan to stalk and
harass you. Ms. Norwood claims she was bullied by Mackenzie into
helping commit certain crimes against you.”

Silence filled the room as Lincoln and I
absorbed this shock.

Mackenzie. Mackenzie. Mackenzie. Not only was
she trying to destroy my life, but she recruited others to help!
What did I ever do to her?

A small laugh escaped from me followed by
another. Detective Murray looked at me with confusion. I’m sure the
last thing he expected was for the victim to laugh, but this was
beyond ridiculous.

I laughed harder and tears began rolling down
my cheeks. Whether they were happy or sad tears, I couldn’t tell
you, but now that it started, I couldn’t stop the hysteria from
flowing out of me.

I crossed my arms over my stomach and leaned
forward until my forehead rested on the table. Lincoln’s hand
rubbed circles on my back, and he whispered words of comfort into
my ear, telling me the police would catch them and it would all be
over soon.

Poor injured Lincoln could not have been
comfortable at that angle, and crying wasn’t going to solve
anything, so I sat up, wiped my tears away, and offered an
apology.

“It’s okay.” Inspector Rollins offered me a
tissue.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “She
formed a gang.” I laughed humorlessly. “She formed a fucking gang
to get me. Who does that?”

Carter’s voice filled the room. “What’s your
plan, detective?”

“We’re bringing them all in. Officers have
been sent to detain them and bring them to the station for
questioning.”

“You’re not arresting them?” Lincoln asked
harshly.

“Right now, it’s Ms. Norwood’s word against
theirs. We have no evidence to support Daisy’s accusations. We’ll
interrogate them and see what they say.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m not saying we won’t arrest them, but we
need to hear their side first.”

“Detective?” Carter asked over the phone. “Is
this Asher Epps on parole?”

“No.” He held up Epps’s sheet. “Eighteen
months ago, he was arrested on a drug charge. Class C misdemeanor.
He served his sentence and hasn’t been arrested since.”

I shook my head. “How did Mackenzie get
involved with someone like that?”

“That’s also unknown at this point. Ms.
Norwood only knew he was involved with Ms. McKay but didn’t know
the extent of his participation. That’s our next step. We’re going
to determine how everyone is connected.”

I tapped Jayda Dubois’s picture again. I
couldn’t get over the feeling that I’d seen her before. “Do you
know anything more about her?”

“Ms. Norwood didn’t know the extent of Ms.
Dubois involvement, but she has a clean record. She’s a resident of
Chicago. Her address is listed as near Little Italy, and she’s a
student at UIC.”

“What’s her major?”

Murray flipped a few pages in his folder.
“Um… looks like it’s listed in the student database as Computer
Science.”

Everything clicked together then, and I
smacked the table. “That’s where I’ve seen her! She works at the
front desk of the tech department. I took my laptop there when it
crashed. I bet anything she had something to do with it.”