Page 8 of Justice's Reward
“This is definitely an unusual way to get my attention for a date,” she said, sitting down and opening her briefcase, pulling out a notepad and her pen.
“I feel like you’re enjoying this,” Justice grumbled.
“Little bit,” Adley said, holding her thumb and index finger close and winking at Justice. “But seriously, first off, can you move your hands okay, and are you experiencing any numbness? If you are, I want to have one of the paramedics come in and assess your hands.”
Justice flexed both hands, then sighed deeply. “My right thumb and index finger are numb with that pins-and-needles feeling when I try to move my thumb.”
Adley stood up and opened the door. “Captain, can we get a paramedic to assess Justice’s hand? He’s experiencing numbness that hasn’t gone away after the cuffs were removed.”
“Are you kidding me? Does he need a fucking lollipop, too?” Detective Stanza groused from outside the door.
“I will send one in,” the captain replied.
Adley let the door close, then sat back down. When Justice started to talk, she held up a finger. She pulled a second pen out of her briefcase, clicked it once, and laid it by the notepad.
“I don’t trust Detective Stanza. Too many things have been off on the cases where he is the arresting officer,” Adley said.
“Do you think he’s violating my rights and listening in?” Justice asked incredulously.
Adley appreciated that Justice was surprised that a law enforcement officer would do that, but Adley had seen too much. It’s why she’d bought the pen. It created white noise for any listening equipment but didn’t disrupt the video. If he was trying to cheat, he would just hear static.
“I don’t know,” she said, dropping her eyes toward the pen, hoping Justice would feel comfortable. At his nod that he understood, she continued.
“My sister, who usually does my research, is out of town, but I was able to have one of my friends pull together some stuffbefore I got here. Do you have anyone who can vouch for your whereabouts early this morning between the hours of four a.m. and seven a.m.?”
Justice nodded. “My mom and then Ariel, Pit’s wife. Ariel and Pit are expecting and wanted to practice with a live baby but didn’t want to be all on their own. I slept at their house last night. After Ian’s five o’clock bottle, he wouldn’t stop crying, so Ariel woke me up to see if I could settle him down. By six, when he still wasn’t happy, I called my mom to see if she had any suggestions.”
“Okay, did she see you in person?” Adley asked.
Justice chuckled. “Umm, yeah, there’s no way she was going to let her grandson cry if she could fix it.”
Aknock at the door had Adley holding her finger up for him to pause.
“Yes?” she asked.
“EMT to assess Justice.”
“Come in,” Adley said.
The paramedics came in and talked with Justice while checking out his hands.
“It’s our assessment that he has numbness from the handcuffs being too tight. It’s most likely superficial since you indicated it’s getting better. You need to seek medical attention if it persists, worsens, or if pain sets in,” the EMT informed.
“Thank you. We’ll need a written report of your assessment and treatment for the file,” Adley said.
The EMT huffed. “This isn’t the first one we’ve filled out and won’t be the last with Stanza.”
Adley nodded her head and then waited until they exited the room.
“Does the compound have any type of surveillance that we could have that would show you were where you said? The eyewitnesses are key, but it would help.”
Justice shook his head. “We do, but not that we want anyone to know about. I’d like to see if you can get me released with the statements of the witnesses and go from there. I didn’t do it.”
Adley smirked.
“What’s that smirk for?”
“I’ll tell you when I drive you home. Let me see if we can get the captain in here instead of the detective.”
