Page 4 of Justice for JoElla

“You’re still alive.”

“And he’s dead. And I’m not a cop anymore.”

Roy shook his head and pointed to the sofa, so JoElla sat, even though she didn’t want to. SheriffBillings had always been kind to her. His wife, Brenda, had baked cookies and made cupcakes for her to take to school when they had a party because she hadn’t had a mother to do those things. Roy and Brenda had been a young couple with two kids, and yet they took time to be especially nice to her. If RoyBillings pointed to the sofa, she supposed she should take a seat. “JoElla.”

“Roy.”

“JoElla, you know what happened. It was a major shitshow from the very beginning. It was engineered to be. That kid did that to draw you and Lance into that warehouse.”

“And it worked.”

Roy sighed loudly. “Ofcourseit did. It was supposed to. They laid a trap, and you and Lance walked right into it. You couldn’t have known.”

“Yeah? Ask Lance about that.” She could feel bile rising in her throat. “And for that, I was fired.”

“You weren’t fired. You quit.”

“I didn’t quit. I was fired.”

“You were suspended for two months.”

JoElla shook her head. “I walked into that warehouse and shot a kid who had a water pistol.”

“A water pistol with the red safety tip snapped off.”

“I should’ve known…”

“Specifically to make you think he had a gun.”

“I should’ve known!”

“NO! You couldn’t have known! You did what you had to do to save yourself and your partner in that moment.”

It all came rushing back. That kid tossing that brick through the back window of their cruiser as they drove by. They’d skidded to a stop. He ran, and they gave chase. When he ducked into that warehouse, they followed him right in. That had been their downfall.

She remembered the way he’d pulled the gun out and pointed it directly at her. It wasn’t until she’d pulled the trigger that she saw the movement behind him, guns, at least three, and then she heard the shot from behind her. One shot was all she’d gotten off before her slide locked open.

JoEllaTompkins was accused of killing a teenager brandishing a water pistol. But LanceMargolis had been deemed a hero for saving himself and his fellow officer from three pistol-carrying thugs. In order to join their gang, the gangbangers had made that kid do what he did. They assured him cops would never shoot a kid. He was expendable, at least to them.

Kids shot and killed people almost every day. With few exceptions, school shooters were kids. A kid pointed a gun at her. She did what she thought she had to do to save herself and Lance.

And look what it got her.

JoElla hadn’t even realized she’d been pacing again, and she plopped down on the sofa, buried her face in her hands, and struggled to breathe. She’d been held at the station for over thirty hours while they grilled her and Lance. He’d backed her on everything she said, but no matter. She got a two-month suspension. He got a medal. And a promotion. And eighteen months later, he became the police chief.

She’d made a horrible decision. She’d slept with her partner, and it had clouded her judgment. Once they’d told her she was suspended, she knew he’d told them. They all knew. They looked at her differently. They treated her differently. Even her union rep had shunned her. Somehow, sleeping with LanceMargolis had becomeherfault.Hehadn’t done anything wrong, and that made no sense. And the worst part?

He’d treated her the same way everyone else did. There were a lot of ways she would’ve described that slice of her life, but the first word that came to her mind waspainful. The girl without a mother. The girl with a dad who gave up when his wife died. The girl who’d worked her ass off in high school and still couldn’t get a scholarship. The girl who’d thrown herself into the police academy’s coursework and done everything she was asked. And it had left her there, alone and unwanted. Everything she’d worked for?gone.

A soft voice roused her from her thoughts. “JoElla, honey, you couldn’t have known. And I can tell you this. What they did after that… Wrong. It was all wrong. You should never have been suspended. That investigation took three months, and it should’ve taken three days.” He stopped, and JoElla couldn’t imagine what he was going to say next. The words rang in the room when he finally spoke.

“Come to work for me. SpencerCounty could really use you.”

Her head snapped up and her eyes found his. “You don’t mean that.”

“Idomean that. You’re a good cop, a really good cop. You’re smart and dedicated and have great attention to detail.”

“I missed a detail?”

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