“Take her out. Don’t let her speak anymore until I come out to explain.” Her whisper was urgent. Spencer didn’t hesitate, but took Meggie out into the hall.
Paddy O’Malley followed.
“What’s happening?” Spencer asked the older O’Malley. Meggie had sat quietly on the bench when he had asked her to.
“Doona know, but she gave me the signal and I hightailed it out here too.
She’s got something up her sleeve, you can bet that.” Spence noted that Dee had come out and was sitting next to Meggie.
Spencer watched as his daughter walked over and went right into Paddy’s arms and started talking to him. The man spoke back and before Spencer could wonder about it; both Cait and Ronnie came out arguing.
“I said to squeak, not make the man think you were in labor, for cripes sake.
You scared the shit out of him,” Cait was saying as she hurried out the door of the session.
“I do not squeak. And it got him back to you, didn’t it? I think it was a brilliant plan and I think we’ll use it again sometime. Hello, Spencer. I love your girlfriend,” Ronnie said as she hugged him. Cait walked over to her uncle and was talking to him when Meggie came back to him. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Paddy was nodding and smiling a lot.
“What’s going on? She told me to take Meggie out and she would explain and her uncle doesn’t know either.”
“Oh, I’ve got to learn sign language faster. I’m not sure; it was something Meggie said to Cait. She whispered it to Devin when he came back to see if I was in labor. You should have seen his face. It was priceless.” Ronnie laughed.
“It was not priceless; it was mean. You were just supposed to...never mind.
Thanks for your help. But if he beats your butt like he said he was going to, then don’t come running to me. I need to speak to Grant; can you please keep an eye on Meggie for a moment?”
When Ronnie and Meggie walked away together, Cait stepped up to him and took a deep breath. When she closed her eyes and leaned to him, he nearly reached out to pull her into his arms. His cock hardened more.
“You smell too good to be allow out in public. You should be considered lethal and put in a bubble. Listen, Meggie told me that Ms. Ames has brown bottles in her desk and that she drinks them all day long. I didn’t ask her if it was beer because I wasn’t sure she would know what it was. Does she, you think?”
“Not that I’m aware of. I mean, I’ve had one at Mom’s or out with my brothers, but there isn’t any in our house. But until recently, she was living with her mother, so maybe. Why, is that important?”
“Just for future reference, Grant, don’t kiss me with beer on your breath. I don’t like it and I hate the taste. Uncle Paddy is going to call a favor in and have the police go to the school and check out Ms. Ames’ desk. If there is beer there, that’s a class A felon and the rest of this is just gravy. If not, then we aren’t out anything but some time.”
“Am I going to get to kiss you again, O’Malley—taste you?” He heard the rest, but all he could focus on was her mouth and the tingling sensation of knowing he was going to get to taste her again.
“If you play your cards right. Are you listening to me, Grant? I said—” He gave in and he kissed her. Her mouth was closed when he first touched his mouth to hers and he may have stopped with just a small kiss, but when she groaned and opened under him, he pulled her closer and deepened it.
Hot and wet and she tasted of cinnamon and sugar. Need and desire moved through him and he rocked into her gently. When her arms came up and over his shoulders, he tightened his arms around her waist and moaned. Her tongue swirled against his and she suckled it into her mouth. Spencer could feel his blood heating and everything going on around them simply faded out.
“You two wanna come up for air? I doona think this is the place for what you’re currently doing to each other. I’m pretty sure that it’s illegal in all fifty states.”
“Go away, Uncle Paddy. I’m busy,” Cait said to her uncle, then she went back to kissing him. Spencer didn’t mind.
He heard the man chuckle as Cait pulled away slightly. He didn’t let her go because he wasn’t sure he could stand if he didn’t have her support.
“The police are going to the school now. It’s an anonymous tip; dinna think you wanted it bandied about that the information came from a six-year-old,” Paddy said.
“Good. Thanks, Mr. O’Malley. I appreciate your discretion on this. You’re right about my daughter.” He looked over at the man and noticed an odd look on his face. Spencer was about to ask when Paddy laughed at him.
“Boy, you play tonsil tag with my Caddy-did like that, you can damn well call me Paddy, don’t you think?”
Spencer flushed, but was saved from further embarrassment by the bailiff calling Cait to the courtroom.
~CHAPTER 8~
“Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” The bailiff was smiling at her. She knew he had seen her kissing Grant in the hall. It didn’t embarrass her so much as made her want more. Spencer was fast becoming addictive.
“I do.”
“Please state your full name and your occupation for the clerk, please.”
“Caitlynne Alexander O’Malley, detective third grade, homicide, Chicago PD. I’m also carrying and I have my badge.” The bailiff nodded. Cait had filed a request when she came in, so he had probably been made aware of it.
“Homicide? I didn’t hear anyone was killed. Why didn’t someone tell me that the venue had changed?” Judge demanded of his bailiff.
“No, Your Honor, I’m here as a witness for the prosecution. Not as a detective. I apologize for the misunderstanding,” Cait quickly explained.
“You related to that old Irishman O’Malley that was in here earlier this morning, Detective?”
“Yes, sir. He’s my uncle, Patrick O’Malley. He’s running an errand for me, sir. He’ll be back soon.”
“He’s a good man. You come from good stock. Let’s get this show started.
Counselor, start.”
“Miss O’Malley, it says here you are on administrative leave; is that true?” Phillip Clamp asked her.
“It’s Detective, and no.”
“You’re not on leave? I thought the file said that you were...let me find it.
Yes, you’re on leave until your doctor releases you.”
“Yes.”
He looked up at her, confusion written all over his face. Cait just stared back at him. She had learned from enough court appearances that you never volunteered information to a lawyer, not even your own. Ever.
“Yes, you’re on administrative leave?”
“No,” she answered. Now it was just plain fun. Messing with an attorney, any attorney, was a point in her favor, she thought.
“Miss O’Malley, you need to be—”
“It’s Detective O’Malley. I would very much appreciate if you would remember that, Counselor. I worked very hard for that title.” She knew she should not have snapped, but she was getting aggravated, as well, at his refusal to acknowledge her status.
“Your Honor, Detective O’Malley is being very uncooperative. Is there anything you can do to help me with this?”
Cait snorted, but didn’t open her mouth.
“Detective, could you please tell the counselor what he wants to know? He seems to be under the misunderstanding that you are supposed to read his mind.”
“No, I’m not on administrative leave. Yes, I’m on leave.”
“So, you are on leave. I guess I don’t understand what the issue is.” He looked at her expectantly and she looked back. “Detective?”
“Yes?”
“I asked you a question. The judge has instructed you to answer my questions, remember?” He had a tone. Not even a little one either.
Cait looked at Devin and then at the judge. She didn’t hear a question and, apparently, neither of them had either.
“You asked me if I remember the instructions, which I do. Prior to that, you whined...sorry, asked the judge to make me answer you. But other than that, you’ve not asked me anything. Usually, at least the last I heard, a question is started with a ‘who, what, when, where’...you get the idea. You stated a fact, not asked a question. You want me to answer something?”
“Are you trying to be smart?” He was snarling now. It didn’t bother her, but she did refrain from laughing—out loud anyway.
“One of us should to be.”
“Your Honor…” The courtroom was having the worst case of sudden coughing in history, Cait thought. Even the judge was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Cait looked at Spencer and he winked at her.
“Counselor, perhaps you need to pretend you’re on that show where you have to answer things in the form of a question. Could help you with the detective, I’m thinking,” the judge informed him. Cait was sure there was another small tone there, but then, she didn’t know the judge all that well.
“What sort of leave are you on?” All pretense of politeness was gone.
Finally
, she thought.
“Medical.”
“Was that so hard? What is the difference between the administrative leave and the medical leave you are currently on?”
“Medical means someone has been bad to me; administrative means I’ve been bad to someone else. And before you ask, yes, I’ve been bad before. Very bad.”
“Your Honor, while this is very educating, do you think we could maybe move on to the case at hand now that Mr. Clamp has a handle on how to ask questions?” Devin asked as he stood. Cait noticed that he, too, was having a hard time not laughing at the other lawyer.
“Move on, Counselor.”
“Detective O’Malley, can you tell us why in your report to the police you suggested that Ms. Ames should be charged with attempted homicide?”
“Yes.”
Cait could swear she could see the steam roll out of his ears and she had to look down at her hands before she could look up at him again. At this point, she thought he might strangle her without much thought to the consequences.
“Detective O’Malley, tell us why you think Ms. Ames should be charged with attempted homicide,” Clamp said to her.
“The minors were tethered to the post with no means of escape. They were also without visual adult supervision.”
“Escape? Wouldn’t that be what the tether, as you called it, would have been for, keeping them together and safe? I can understand you being concerned about the children and them without adult supervision, but that still doesn’t mean homicide. Please, tell us in your opinion why you would come to such a conclusion.”
“You have a child under the age of one who is having issues with its formula, correct?” She hated to play this way, but he had asked her opinion.
The lawyer looked at the judge then back at her. His face registered first disbelief then anger.
“How did you…?”
“I wouldn’t be much of a homicide detective if I didn’t notice things. There is formula on your shoulder and you smell of baby powder and lanoline. I would guess you changed a diaper before leaving for work and you cuddled a kid.
Diapers tell me it’s yours; otherwise, you’d have left that job to the parents. You have no shine on your otherwise shiny shoes; that indicates that you lack time very recently. You either have a new sick baby or you have very weird eating habits, as well as bathing ones.”
“A baby. He’s five weeks old. But what does that have to do—”
“Imagine, if you can, those nine children tied to that pole, and little Bobby Clamp is one of them. The driver comes barreling down the street and slams on his brakes. He nose dives his car to stop—this time. Yes, he was speeding; posted limit in that area is thirty-five, but he was traveling at about forty-two easy. That aside, because going thirty-five or fifty-five, had he have swerved instead of braking there, would have been a fifty-fifty chance he would have driven into those children. They had no means of escape, no one to pull them to safety, and not one of them could hear the shouts of the others around them. At either speed, all nine, plus little Bobby, would be dead. How would you feel about that? How would you have felt knowing that the teacher, the one you have entrusted to keep them safe from the hours of eight until three, took them to the store, and tied them to a pole so that she could go into a store and purchase a beer?” The room was quiet. Counselor Clamp had to lean back against his table, his face pale and drawn. Cait looked over at Devin and he, too, was pale. She was beginning to think she had gone too far when the back doors to the court room opened and three uniformed officers and a nicely dressed detective walked in.
Cait’s uncle was right behind them.
“Sorry for the interruption, Your Honor, but we have an arrest warrant for Miss Amelia Ames on child endangerment, reckless endangerment, delinquency of a minor, public intoxication.”
“That’s a lie!” Ms. Ames jumped up. “I never once offered them damned brats any of my beer.”
Cait couldn’t help it. All the stress of the past few weeks, she just burst out laughing.
~~~
Spencer watched as O’Malley talked with the police who had arrested Ms.
Ames. She looked so at ease and happy. His family had gone to lunch and he was to bring her along with him. Paddy O’Malley clapped him on his shoulder as he came up behind Spencer.
“Got it bad, don’t you, laddie?”
Spencer didn’t answer, but smiled at the man. But yeah, he had it bad.
“She’s all I got left of my brother. She’s a good girl, but it will take a hell of a man to claim her.”
“She and I just met, Paddy. I’m not sure either of us is ready to talk about claiming each other. Besides, she’s made it perfectly clear that she’s leaving as soon as this is over.”
“Maybe. That brother of yours, the one that’s a lawyer, he’s been using her for another case, ain’t he?”
“I think so. But he pissed her off and she told him she wouldn’t help him anymore. She has a hell of a stubborn way about her, he said.” He looked down at the little man and noticed a twinkle in his eye. Spencer smiled; he thought it suited the man, for some reason.
“He’d be correct in that—got that from my sister, Dee. She was two weeks late, wouldn’t be born until she was ready. Same way with my Caddy-did.” Spencer had thought that Dee was Paddy’s wife and was surprised to hear otherwise. He looked over at the woman in question and noticed that she seemed to know as many of the police as Paddy did.