Marked (Marked #3) (19 page)

With him, I felt just that. As if he was insulting me in the most political way he could get away with. 

“Mr. Clark, I am more than positive that you know the answer to those questions, but I will humor you anyways.” In my mind I was replaying my tatt boy’s smile the day we met. How his brown eyes smoldered and how naked I felt underneath his intense gaze. The way his hand felt in mine when they touched. Moments that will forever mark me as his. “Talan and I met at his tattoo shop where your client was previously employed. He was doing some work on my friend Esther’s back, and I tagged along that day. We were introduced and clicked. Have been together ever since.”

“Was Ms. Moore employed there at the time?” he continued his line of questioning as if I hadn’t called him out a second ago.

“Yes, she was. Janice was the receptionist when my boyfriend and I met. That night she was rude and a bit desperate for him to turn us away and reschedule. Claimed they had plans, which he shut down right away. Made it clear there was nothing between them and he was her boss.”

“Moving along, Maya.” Soto took back control of the conversation. “Let’s forward to both the day she was fired and Halloween. Explain each in as much detail as you can remember of both.”

“Hmm,” Grasping the bottle, I took a quick few sips before placing my water down. “Janice was fired a month or two before Memorial Day last year. I’d been so busy with school and Talan with work, that we hadn’t seen each other in a week. Missing him, and since our professor had let us out early, I decided to surprise him. We’d been communicating through text all morning, and I knew he had a two-hour window where I could surprise him with lunch. Turned out he was ecstatic. Ms. Moore, not so much.”

“He’s busy,” Janice sneered at me. Arms crossed over her chest and her posture stiff. She was pushing the wrong person; I was desperate to see Talan. “And you aren’t allowed in the back. Employees only—”

“Then call him out here, sweetheart,” I interrupted with a huff.

“What part of busy and you aren’t welcome, didn’t you get? You are nothing more than a dumb groupie who fell for Talan’s charm and he—”

“He what, bitch?” It was my turn to turn defensive. One wrong word, and I’d knock the smug expression from her face.

“Sees you as nothing more than easy pussy.”

“Suffice is to say that she wanted me gone. Problem was, Talan didn’t, and that was something she was scared of.” Another few minutes of the loud clacking from what I gathered to be the court reporter’s machine and a laptop or two combined sounded through the line. The sound was both loud and obnoxious, and my temples were beginning to throb.

“Why was she dismissed from her employment—somewhere I’ve gathered she’d been faithful to for years.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Clark, but that is something you should ask her old employer. That’s not me.”

Not seeming content with my reply, he huffed loudly. “Were you not the catalyst?”

“You are out of line, defender,” District Attorney Soto snapped, and the sound of what could be described as the palm of her hand slamming down on a table reverberated through the line. “I will not warn you again.”

“I apologize, Ms. Owens. It was never my intention to make you feel uncomfortable.” The line remained silent on my behalf; I didn’t believe the asshole’s repentance. “Let’s forget about my last line of questioning. Can you tell me why, from what you personally heard, she was fired?”

“As with every encounter, Janice became very angry; her entire emotional wheel was like an off-track roller coaster. One minute she would insult me, and the next say that I’d hit her. On camera, from Talan’s security feed, there’s a video that was presented to the detectives leading the case of her doing just that.  Clear as day it shows her hitting herself and then crying to everyone in the room, begging for the cops to be called because I’d assaulted her.” After tatt boy had shared this news, I’d demanded to see copies of everything. To say that I was frozen in place, nauseated by what I’d seen, would be lying. Every nerve in my body locked down in absolute shock.

How had I been so blind to her behavior? Considered her a non-threat?

“Who are the detectives?” As if I hadn’t just seen Gulver exit this office when I came in. This man must think I’m a total and complete moron.

“Detective Gulver and Detective Marquez. As a matter of fact, Gulver was just leaving when I was brought back here.” If I were being videotaped right now, they’d see the smug expression on my face.

“Ah, yes. I’ll contact him for a copy of that video.”

“You do that.” I had to bite down on my lips to hold in the chuckle that threatened to escape. “Or contact Cox Tattoos. My boyfriend would be more than happy to provide one for you.”
Asshole.
“As for what pushed her termination; after being ignored by Talan, she tried to attack me. Threw punches and a glass at my head, but missed on both accounts. By that point, the owner had enough and asked her to leave. I believe his words were:
‘Pack your things and go before I call the cops.’”

“And did she?” he asked.

“No. Not at first.” For some reason, at that point I began to tap my fingers on the desk, adding the beat of a disjointed song to my testimony. “She made two attempts after that to put her hands on me. It was on the final when she grabbed an empty glass and threw it at my head that she was physically removed. And before you ask, Lance or Simon—can’t remember which—carried her out all the while she kept verbally insulting me and making threats on my life.”

“Was the incident reported?” Why he continued to ask rhetorical questions beat me. They had the files for every report we made.

“Not on that occasion. To be honest here, I didn’t take the threats she made to heart.”

District Attorney Soto made an unintelligible sound. “Why not?”

“People tend to say horrible things when pissed. We think them, but it’s rare to act them out. Maybe I was being naïve, but I thought she was all talk. A mistake I’ll never make again.”

“Never underestimate a person’s malicious intent, Maya. Remember, in life, there is no such thing as an empty threat.” While she spoke I felt chastised, as if my mother was in the room adding her two cents.

“Understood.” Then I swallowed a few sips of water before continuing. “That was the last we saw of her for a while. Talan found her a job at a friend’s shop to help her out, but she was terminated from there as well. Bad attitude and caught more than once by Terry, the owner’s wife, talking about hiring someone to harm me. They informed us. We filed a temporary restraining order with the county, which you should have a copy of?”

“We do,” they replied in unison.

“Good.” A final sip, and then I tossed the now empty bottle into a small bin behind me. “That was after last year’s Memorial Day weekend. As I said before, after that she was quiet. The next big blowout would be a day she showed up uninvited to the shop while Talan was out. She looked out of it. Crazed. Talking to herself. Claiming that we were all fired and that her boyfriend,” I hissed from between clenched teeth, the word tasting bitter on my tongue, “would get rid of us all.”

“Did she confront you?” Now I knew that he was just being stupid on purpose. Impossible for him to not be.

“Yes.” I caught myself mid eye roll and let out a heavy sigh instead. Who knew if this place had a camera recording everything I did? It was more than likely. “As soon as Talan walked in, she tried to cling to him like second skin. More than once he had to remove her hands from his body. Janice cried; told him we were keeping them apart. That we’d mistreated her. He became furious and told her to leave, which again, in her delusion, she didn’t do. Instead, she picked a fight with my friend Esther and me. Claimed we were the reason they’d turned on her…that we had stolen her life.”

“Were the cops called?”

“Yes, they were, sir. Her threat this time had been more direct, and just before they reached the back door, she turned to face Talan. Wild and angry, her eyes narrowed and spat fury at us. She said, and I quote,
‘Every day and every minute is accounted for. I promise you this—she will die.
’
As you can imagine, my boyfriend was visibly shaking with fury. The magnitude of her words hit us all
.
Before things could escalate any further, she was taken outside by Lance. From inside the shop’s reception area, we could still hear her cursing up a storm outside. Threats continued and eventually the cops arrived. Simon had called while Lance kept her from entering once more.”

“Jesus,” the District Attorney muttered from under her breath. “We are almost done, Maya. Do you wish to take a minute and grab some water? Maybe use the restroom?”

“No, I’d rather just get this finished and over with.”

“Very well, Maya. Let’s discuss last October 31
st
and what led to Ms. Moore being Baker Acted involuntarily. Where were you, and who else was involved in this incident?”

“We’d been, and by us, I do mean every single one of the people who work in the shop; Lance, his girlfriend Veronica, Simon, Esther, myself, and Talan were all at this party to celebrate Halloween with our good friends Terry and Steve. They’re the owners of the shop my boyfriend found Janice employment at after firing her. Everything was normal. We were all having a good time; talking, dancing…making fun of the costumes the girls had picked up for their significant others. Just some random good fun and ribbing.”

“Was Ms. Moore there when your group arrived?” For some reason, her voice got a little high pitched at the end of her question.

“No. She was not.” I felt stiff from sitting in a hunched-over position the last few minutes. Uncomfortable and in need of a good stretch. Standing up, I did just that. Still within reach of the phone’s speaker so they could hear me as we continued, but far enough that I was able to release some of the tension in my upper back and sides. “Talan was whispering something to me in my ear when she arrived. Standing behind us, she called me a whore loud enough for the room to grow quiet and for us to turn around.” There was no way in hell I could continue to sit still, and began to pace. “Terry demanded she be kicked out. Janice looked dirty. Crazed. Haunted. Like she hadn’t slept in days and had lost ten pounds in a short amount of time. For the first time since this all began, I felt fear. For her. For us. There would be no winners.”

As if a wave of cold water had taken me under, I became detached. Numb. I stood just behind the chair I’d been sitting at with my hands placed above the table to ground me.

“Explain that.” To say that I was glad District Attorney Soto had taken over questioning would be putting it mildly. Clark had already gotten on my nerves more than once today, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. “Why afraid for her?”

“The woman who stood before us then was not in the moment. Just gone. So far removed from reality that nothing she did or said made any sense. One minute she was all smiles and flirting with Talan, and the next it looked as if she wanted him dead.”

“So she attacked him?”

Scenes replayed behind my now closed eyes as if on fast forward. A memory set on repeat that caused all the worry and fear to manifest itself once more. Breathing labored, I clenched and unclenched my fist to calm myself. Find my center.

When I spoke again, it was a bit robotic.

“Esther was first. My friend had murmured the word ‘crazy’ low, but Janice heard it. In a flash, the second after the last syllable had passed her lips, she was in her face with a knife pulled out. No one saw where she got it from, but there it was, in her hands that were being flailed about.”

“Was your friend injured?”

“No, she wasn’t. Her boyfriend, Simon, pulled her back while Talan attempted the same with me.”

“Attempted?” There was a hint of surprise in her tone.

“When he moved, Ms. Moore snapped and faced him head on. He warned her. Asked her to leave, but she refused and once more screamed how this was my entire fault. ‘
I’m going to end you, little girl. Start counting those minutes.’
When her hand with the knife came down toward me, Talan stepped in, this made her angrier. Her passionate hate turned on him, and she only missed cutting him in the arm because I pulled her arm back and defended us. In other words, I, myself, became physical and knocked her—pardon my French—on her ass.”

“Is that when the cops were called? Who made the call?” There was a bout of silence after her question. Not even the insistent clacking of keys from the court reporter’s machine. As if they were all awaiting to be told the culmination of an interesting movie or book.

“Lance did, and he also waited for them outside.”  Had to bite the inside of my lip and breathe deep through my nose to not snap at them.
I get it, it’s your job to analyze every single altercation that occurred, but you have a copy of the police report. Her medical notes from her stay at the looney bin. Enough already.

“How long before they arrived on scene?” Clark seemed to have found his voice again.

“Give or take ten minutes.” Fuck, did I want to get out of here. “Once on scene, they subdued her by placing her in handcuffs, which she fought them on. They’d walked into a war zone outside. Janice had broken three planters, tossed a few chairs, and was cursing up a storm. Unstable was how they described her, and we agreed. Then, like all the times before, they grabbed our statements and took her weapon, which was still on the floor where it had landed. There were so many people inside the house, and everyone’s testimony’s matched. Janice needed to be taken in and evaluated. She needed help—”

“That should be enough for today, Ms. Owens.” Clark cut me off. “You’ve given us more than enough to continue working on this case.”

“I agree, Maya.” District Attorney Soto agreed. “On my behalf, I have everything needed to proceed on the state’s behalf. My office will be in contact with you. Thank you for coming and being so forthcoming, I speak for myself, but I hope your recuperation is going well and that we are able to put this matter behind us soon.”

“What happens now?” Had to be asked.

“We will be filing to set a date and you will receive, as the victim and witness, a subpoena for a court-mandated appearance. You’ll receive a call from my office and we’ll instruct you on what to do next.”

“Thank you. May I leave now?”

“Yes.”
Thank you, God!