Page 34 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

And then, when he finally turned to look at us, my heart caught in my chest.

Pure indignant rage shone from him.

His expression shifted slightly when he saw me there.

“What’s she doing here?” he demanded, his low timbre cutting through the atmosphere like a knife.

“I came to see you,” I said, walking forward, but he didn’t even look at me.

“I didn’t ask for any visitors,” he said. “Get her out.”

“You’re not in any position to be making the rules around here,” Evan replied, tapping the metal bars with his baton. “And I certainly don’t take orders from murderers.”

“He’s not a murderer.” I turned to glare at Evan, not believing he could believe this nonsense too. “What are you talking about? He’s been in this town for years.”

“Familiarity doesn’t make someone less of a murderer,” he said.

“When did it happen?” I asked, but Marcus moved then, drawing up to his full height. Even though there were metal bars between us, Evan reacted quickly, pulling me back and facing up the giant.

Marcus didn’t spare me a glance, keeping his eyes on Evan.

“Get her out of here.” Marcus’ eyes were dark. “I mean it.”

This time, Evan agreed, dragging my struggling body out of the room. But I wasn’t ready to give up yet.

I immediately found out that he was accused of doing it on Friday night, which was the evening we usually had our long talks. He routinely went home late and passed by that alleyway on his way back from work. The only evidence they had against him was the receipt he left behind for something he had purchased.

Adam said that because of that, they assumed he was the last person to see the man alive, and since he was big and threatening-looking, they arrested him.

I remember being so enraged at the time about the injustice. Everyone thought he did it. The court case was a sham because all the evidence was circumstantial, and a better lawyer could prove it. Unfortunately for Marcus, he couldn’t afford a better lawyer, and neither could I on my restaurant salary. I asked my dad for an advance, but Adam ratted me out on what it was actually for, and they refused to give it to me. My whole family thought I was insane for siding with a potential murderer.

I thought they were insane if they couldn’t see that he didn’t do it.

Eventually, I had no choice.

I’d had to make the ultimate decision to go to the stand and tell the judge under oath that Marcus hadn’t been the one to kill the poor man because he couldn’t have been. He was walking me home on the night of the murder because he’d saved me from a maniac who attacked me, and then I asked him to stay over for a few more hours to make sure I was okay.

And all the details were true.

It was just the date that wasn’t.

My attack happened a full week before the murder. Even though we had our usual talk while eating restaurant leftovers on the night of the murder, he hadn’t walked me home that night. I’d left him much earlier too.

So I stood there under oath and lied. And when they asked me why I hadn’t come forward with the information sooner, I’d said it was because I didn’t want to give the town the wrong impression that anything was going on between Marcus and me. I acted like I was ashamed of being associated with him.

It hurt to do so even though I knew Marcus likely understood the need for the lie…at least, I thought he understood. It was kind of hard to understand his expression from the stand. It had turned stormy, like a cross between disbelief and some intense emotion. Not mad, just…intense.

And his lips had pulled into a tight line like he wanted to yell out something, but he didn’t.

Because denying it would cost him his freedom.

So he had no choice but to go along with it.

His mother had never forgiven me since that day, believing that I almost let her son go to jail because I was too ashamed to tell the truth.

“She should have come forward sooner and saved us this whole farce,” I remember her grouching as she glared at me. They both came over to talk to me after the trial, finding me as I stood outside, trying not to throw up from anxiety and nerves.

Marcus’ mother left us alone for a little bit per his request, and he took a second to collect his thoughts. He still didn’t look happy.

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