Page 18 of Justice for Samara

“You’re very welcome. See you in a bit.” She watched as Michael wound his way through all the boxes and opened the front door. It wasn’t until she heard his truck drive away that she felt like she could breathe.

AlexStadler. Kentucky State Police Trooper AlexStadler. That’s where she’d heard Glenna’s name. She wondered if Glenna had any idea what kind of shit he was up to. Did she know all the things he did? Did she know what a reprehensible, barely human asshole her husband was?

And then everything tumbled around until it was in pinpoint focus. She thought about the rape cases she’d inherited. There was one thing they all had in common, only one. Every one of those young women was terrified to name her attacker. Samara knew how that felt.

Because five years into her job as a trooper, AlexStadler had raped her.

* * *

She spentthe rest of the time before she had to be at Carter and Sharla’s trying to figure what, if anything, to say to Michael. She felt safe around him, but if she had to tell him something like that, she’d better have a way to back up her allegation. So she hatched a plan.

On Monday, Samara would start calling other departments in the Post1 area to see if they’d had similar reports. It was almost a sure thing that if he’d done it to women in TriggCounty, he’d done it in surrounding counties too. Did he live in TriggCounty? The thought made her queasy. If she had to deal with him, she didn’t know what she’d do. But if she could convict him, she’d be thrilled, even if her own situation had to be brought to light.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting Carter’s home to look like, but she was a bit surprised. It wasn’t large, just big enough, and modest. That puzzled her, given that she had some vague knowledge of what he made, and she knew his wife worked too. They could surely afford a bigger, nicer house, but then she remembered the teenagers in his pictures. If they were in college, that would explain their thriftiness.

Michael’s truck was already out front, so she got out and strolled up the front walk, looking at the landscaping as she went. Very nice. It was obvious he kept things up and tried to keep it all looking pretty. The front door opened and Michael stepped out, letting the storm door close behind him. “You okay?” he asked quietly when she’d taken the three steps up to the porch.

“Yeah. I’m okay. Just pushed a little too hard, I guess.”

“Good. You had me worried for a minute there. I didn’t know what was happening.”

“I’ll probably be fine once I’ve had a good night’s sleep.” He held the door for her and she glanced around once she was inside. Spacious and well-appointed. Beautiful furniture, classy artwork on the walls, expensive drapes. And a portable crib turned playpen on the far side of the room. Yep. There was definitely a baby there somewhere. “Hey, y’all,” she called out as she stepped into the kitchen.

“Hi! I’m Sharla,” a very, very attractive blond said. The woman made a beeline straight to Samara and hugged her. “It’s so good to meet you! The guys have said some very flattering things about you.”

“Oh! Well, that’s nice. What kinda lies did y’all tell on me?” she asked, grinning.

“Not a single one. We were talking about how well you’ve just fit right into the department,” Carter answered.

Michael nodded. “Yeah, and what a good officer you are.” Thoughts of the rape cases started swirling in her head, but she fought to keep a lid on them.

“Well, thank you, both of you. That’s nice to hear. So can I help in any way?”

From somewhere in the house, she heard a shriek. “Uhhh, do you like kids?” Carter asked, a look of desperation clouding his face.

“I love kids.”

“Then first door on your right down the hallway. She probably needs changing. Been napping. And she’ll be blowin’ and goin’ in a couple of minutes, so time is of the essence.”

“Gotcha. Be right back.” She dropped her purse on the sofa as she darted by and tiptoed down the hallway. When she came to the first door on the right, she peeked in, but she wasn’t sly enough.

The baby heard her and began to shriek again. “It’s okay! It’s okay! Come here, sweetie,” she said and lifted the little thing. The cutie was a chunk! “Hey, hey, hey, it’s all good, baby girl. Let’s get you changed so you can go see Mommy and Daddy, whaddya say?” The infant stared at her for a minute, then touched her hair. “Yeah, probably never seen anything like that, huh? Wait. You’ve got a brother whose hair looks like this,” Samara said with a chuckle. “Okay, where are… There they are. So let’s get it done, shall we?” she asked as she placed the baby on the changing table and reached for the wipes.

A presence behind her startled her just a little, but her training kept her from jumping. “So you know all about babies?” she heard Michael’s voice ask.

“My little sister is about eleven years younger than me, so I helped out with her a lot.”

“Oh. Well, I know nothing about babies. Nothing at all. But you look pretty proficient there.”

“That’s because I am.” She sprinkled some powder on Angel and inside the diaper, then pulled the tabs and stuck them down to hold the diaper on. “There we go! Now, let’s go find Mommy and Daddy.” Michael stepped back with a grin on his face as she made her way back toward the kitchen. “All cleaned up and prettified,” she announced.

Carter chucked the infant’s chin. “Hey, sweet girl! Mommy’s almost finished here. Do you wanna play in your play yard? Your toys are in there.”

“I can sit here and hold her if that’ll make her happier. I don’t mind,” Samara told Sharla.

“That would be great. I’m afraid if you leave her in there, we’ll either have to go sit in there or you’ll wind up bringing her back in here. She wants to be where she can see what’s going on.”

“How old is she?”

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