Page 124 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

“I just want you to have closure,” he said, threading their fingers together.

She squeezed his hand. “Me too, but I don’t know that can happen. Maybe there is something bad here regarding my father. If they found that Elise reacted in self-defense they will still have to provide that information to the police.” She turned her head to look at him. “I don’t want it to be that. I really don’t. But I also knew going in this was going to open a can of worms.”

“Let’s not get too worked up,” he said. The elevator stopped on their floor and they got out.

Garrett moved to the side while she walked to the front desk. “Justine Keller to meet with Roark French and Karly Paterson.”

“I’ll let them know you’re here,” the woman said.

She didn’t even have a chance to sit down before Roark was buzzed and they were told to go to his office.

“Glad you could come in so quickly,” Roark said. “We were able to go through the tapes faster than we thought once we had full access to view them and were gathering as much as we could.”

She nodded her head. “I appreciate this. I hope it’s good news.”

Roark smiled, but it was a sad one and her heart sank. “We’ll talk when Karly gets here. She’s on a call and just finishing up. Why don’t we get your sister on video while we wait.”

She took a deep breath to try to calm the pounding in her body. It wasn’t going to come.

Her eyes were starting to itch, her stomach was moving faster than a gymnast at the Olympics and she felt as if her head might spin off.

She reached for the chair and Garrett was right behind her, helping her in it. He’d walked over and got her a bottle of water on the side table.

“Sorry I’m late,” Karly said, coming into the room.

“We are just getting Jordan on video now and set up to share the screen with her,” Roark said.

Which meant they were going to see what was on the video. She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Her sister’s face popped up and Jordan said, “Justine, you’re looking white. Are you okay?”

Garrett turned to look at her face. “Take several deep breaths. Close your eyes, breathe in deeply, and exhale out slowly. Do it again.” She listened to his calming voice as she did and felt like an idiot.

She opened her eyes. “I’m okay. Just nerves and the unknown.”

“I know,” Roark said. “And we are sorry. I will tell you, what we found is going to be hard for you to see and you can tell us you don’t want to, but we are giving you the option. I have a call scheduled with the DA and detective on your father’s case in thirty minutes.”

“We wanted you to both know what was found first,” Karly said.

“I appreciate that,” she said. “I don’t want to be blindsided. But can you tell us before you show us? I might not want to see it.”

“You’re going to watch it,” Jordan said firmly. “I don’t care how hard it is, you need to see it like me. We need to know and not worry we aren’t getting the full truth. You know this. No running or avoiding. Do it for Dad.”

Justine blinked her eyes a few times and some tears started to fall.

“I’ll do it,” she said. “But I want to know what we are going to see.”

“You’re going to watch your father get justice,” Roark said, reaching his hand over. “But it’s going to be very hard for you to see. If you plan on going to the trial you need to be prepared.”

“We’ll both be there,” Jordan said.

“Then you should be fully aware,” Karly said. “But there may not be a trial after this.”

“You have her on video shooting my father?” she asked.

“We do,” Roark said. “Sound and video. Many more recordings of fights too. I’ll let Karly explain about the cameras first.”

“There were four cameras hidden in your father’s house. The kitchen, the dining room that looked into the living room, and then the living room looking toward your father’s office. The last one was a sunroom. From the history that we could find, we believe it had to do with your stepmother’s drinking.”

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