Page 46 of Love Me Fierce

“What do you want? I’m working.”

“How’s Logan?”

There’s no way she’s really calling to ask about our son. “He’s great.”

“I haven’t seen him in so long. He’s probably getting tall like you, right? Can you send me a new picture?”

“Sure. Where?”

“Rock Creek. You need the address?”

“No.”

“Right, of course.” She gives a little laugh that’s so fake I wince. “I’d really love to see him. Maybe you could…?”

My chest pinches. I know what she’s doing, but a part of me hates making her suffer, even after what she’s put me through. What she did to Logan his first six months, before I even knew about him. I still have nightmares about walking back into that filthy, dilapidated house, frantically searching for my baby boy.

“What are you in for?” I ask.

“I got a bum rap,” she says with a huff.

“Teresa,” I warn.

She sighs again. “Possession. Solicitation.”

I take a slow scan of the barren highway and the distant Bitterroots, but it fails to calm my quickly fraying nerves. “I’m a cop, not a D.A., remember?”

“There’s a lawyer,” she blurts. “He helped my cellmate’s case get thrown out.”

“No.”

She scoffs. “Why won’t you help me? I’m Logan’s mother. I promised him I’d be there for his birthday.”

I clench my eyes shut, like it can make this conversation disappear. “You what?”

“I miss him.”

Unbelievable. “I told you to stop making promises you can’t keep.”

“It’s not my fault.”

“The fuck it is.”

“Please, Everett. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had to endure in here.”

“Sorry prison isn’t meeting your expectations, but that’s sort of the point.”

“What if I have information?”

I rub the bridge of my nose. “What information?”

“I read the news. You put that guy away. The one that killed those women, only it was never proven, right?” She exhales a tight breath. “So, this girl in here. Cheryl. She was talking… she says it’s not him. That you got the wrong guy.”

A chill walks down my spine, but I shake it off. Teresa is full of shit. “Did you come up with that all on your own? I’d like to say I’m impressed but… hmm… no, I’m just not feeling it.”

“I’m not making it up.”

“Tell Cheryl to contact her lawyer.”

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